Alaskan Pay dirt

SteveDigsGems

SteveDigsGems

Jr. Member
Dec 22, 2012
90
33
Aliso Viejo, Ca
Detector(s) used
Garret AT Gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Earlier this evening I decided to pan some Alaskan pay dirt that I bought from an eBay seller. I bought 1 pound for $15, and it is guaranteed to have gold, because the lady sprinkles a pinch in. I didn't get rich, but I am really happy with the experience I got out of it. I have a lot of friends that want to travel out to my local gold bearing rivers with me to sluice, but before we go, I'm probably going to have them pan some of the dirt in my backyard. It is a good opportunity for them to see how the gold behaves, and it will motivate them for the upcoming trip.

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Sorry about the quality, my camera ran out of batteries, this is an iPad picture. I'll get some batteries next time I'm at the store and upload what I found.







-Steve
 

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Well folks we managed to run another few hours. I'm sorry I just can't seem to get a good picture of gold in the sluice our mats and carpets hold the stuff so well it's difficult to see the gold. Most of it works its way through the moss to to carpets underneath. Ended up with a little more than a quarter ounce .27 to be exact. Ran about 18 yards total for the last couple days.

Have big plans to adjust the grizzly so stuff should run faster next weekend.

Anyone know a sure fire way to keep leaves and stuff from clogging up the intake on a pump, yet not reduce the water flow a whole bunch? Our firehose pump and the main were driving us nuts with all the leaves and stuff in the water this time of year...

Dialing in the equipment is always so frustrating, especially when know you have good dirt, just can't run it efficiently yet.

On the bright side, had two days of sunshine and got to spend it outside with the people I love doing what I love best.
 

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Looking amazing Elkie! I would love to see pans like those. So how about some shots from the side of your plant so we can see your sluice setup? Do you have the carpet in front or the gold hog in front?
 

"Anyone know a sure fire way to keep leaves and stuff from clogging up the intake on a pump, yet not reduce the water flow a whole bunch? Our firehose pump and the main were driving us nuts with all the leaves and stuff in the water this time of year..."

How about a couple pair of knee highs? Or a made to fit classifier?
 

I don't, but I would suggest plastic fence material as a huge filter around the pump maybe 10ft diameter across see if that works something with 1inch - 1 1/2" holes maybe someone has better idea. Maybe there's an easy way to keep leaves out in first place simple cover or something.

If you don't read the newspaper your uninformed if you do read it your mis-imformed. Mark Twain
 

I have the small plastic screen on on my 2" pump and I made it better for semi clear water applications by wrapping it in screen door screen. For recirculation ponds with lots of debris I adapted it to the bottom of a bucket.
1. drill hole the size of threads on hose in bottom of bucket near the side of bucket
2. Insert hose through bucket and thread filter on the other side.
3. Put big A$$ rock inside bucket
4. Place screen door screen over bucket opening and zip tie in place.

The larger surface area of the screen over the bucket opening reduces the suction at the screen and doesn't let the debris stick as hard to the screen. (edit: the big rock sinks the bucket. Was thinking I didn't have to explain that part but if you worked with the guys I work with you would understand the point of this edit LOL)

The same results could be achieved with a 15-50 gallon plastic water barrel for larger pumps. If that's not enough reduction then drill 1/16th-1/8th holes all around the outside of the bucket/barrel or larger holes and wrap the bucket/barrel with more screen
 

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Doitlaynstyle said:
I have the small plastic screen on on my 2" pump and I made it better for semi clear water applications by wrapping it in screen door screen. For recirculation ponds with lots of debris I adapted it to the bottom of a bucket.
1. drill hole the size of threads on hose in bottom of bucket near the side of bucket
2. Insert hose through bucket and thread filter on the other side.
3. Put big A$$ rock inside bucket
4. Place screen door screen over bucket opening and zip tie in place.

The larger surface area of the screen over the bucket opening reduces the suction at the screen and doesn't let the debris stick as hard to the screen. (edit: the big rock sinks the bucket. Was thinking I didn't have to explain that part but if you worked with the guys I work with you would understand the point of this edit LOL)

The same results could be achieved with a 15-50 gallon plastic water barrel for larger pumps. If that's not enough reduction then drill 1/16th-1/8th holes all around the outside of the bucket/barrel or larger holes and wrap the bucket/barrel with more screen
Click to expand...

So I drop my screened 2200 GPH pump in a container, sink it, screen it, fill it up and fire it up? That is exactly what I'll do. :icon_thumright: Perfect KISS solution :notworthy: Thank you!
 

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That is a great solution, it took a minute to sink in I had to read it twice lol. I'm prob like his employees. "Uh whats the rock for again boss?"
 

I'll take pictures this weekend and post. I'm out for the weekend. Wish me luck!
 

We got the grizzly bars adjusted last night.

We are working on a pump solution similar to above. Thanks for the inspiration!

And we have made smaller grate for the hopper in the wash plant.

Well see how it all works out tonight! Hoping for a half ounce this weekend, just got down to some clay on our dig spot...

Be safe out there this weekend chasing that yellow gold....
 

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What a day, got the pump screens in, the grizzly modified and a new grate for the wash plant. Dirt was flying through the plant. Then, we broke a hydraulic hose. One of us drove 60 miles to get a new hose and the others stayed to do spill containment. Shoveling dirt and burning it. Ugh.

Got to run for a few hours, not a great showing but ill take it.

The other pic is us building the screens, basically welded steel cubes and covered them. No big a$$ rock nessesary.
 

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So awesome! Way to go. Your almost ready to run full time. We rocked it for the weekend too and came up with our first nugget.
 

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Who hoo that IS a nice nugget! Never forget the first one.


Had a great morning run, ran 10 or so yards in nothing flat and cleaned up for lunch. While trying to get more pay dirt we discovered the square pin that holds the back hoe on sheared off, gonna need a welder.

Oh well. we had some company visit so we set them loose with a sluice box down on the creek. It's fun to show beginners how to find gold. Also took the time to saw a few trees hanging over our dig spot that were getting kinda dangerous.

First pan is today's take the one with the quarter is the weekend total.

Also I was picking up quartz rocks on the tailing pile and found one with visible gold in it. Hope you guys can see it in the pictures. I tend to find it more in the green ones, dunno what the green color is maybe one of the hard rock guys on here will know..
 

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Very nice gold elkie! You (and the problems you face) keep me going until Gold Rush gets back on TV. Thanks for a "True" reality show!
BTW, I used to have a couple pieces of quartz with a gold vein in it. The green on mine (so I was told) was oxidized silver but what do I know:tongue3:
 

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Found a cache of lead dredgin...To bad it wasnt gold!

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