Bedrock and Gold: The mysteries . . .

[Lanny in AB]

Do you love to chase the gold? Please join me--lots of gold hunting tips, stories of finds (successful and not), and prospecting poetry.

Nugget in the bedrock tip:

I had a visit with a mining buddy this past weekend, and he told me of an epic battle to get a nugget out of the bedrock, and of what he learned from the experience. I thought some of you might like to learn from his mistake.

While out detecting one day, he came across a large sheet of bare bedrock. The bedrock was exposed because the area had been blasted off with a water cannon (a monitor), by the old-timers! It was not fractured bedrock, in fact it was totally smooth.

He was not optimistic at all of the prospects of a nugget. But, for some reason (we've all been there) he decided to swing his detector over that bedrock. After a long time, just as he was about to give up on his crazy hunch, he got a signal, right out of that smooth bedrock.

There was no crevice, no sign of a crevice, nada! So, he had to go all the way back to camp to get a small sledge and a chisel. The signal in the rock intrigued him, but he still wasn't overly optimistic. For those of you that have chased signals in a similar situation, sometimes there's a patch of hot mineralization in the bedrock that sounds off, but this spot, according to him, was sharp and clear right in the middle of the signal, not just a general increase of the threshold like you get when you pass over a hot spot in the bedrock.

Anyway, he made it back to the spot and started to chisel his way into the bedrock. If any of you have tried this, it's an awful job, and you usually wind up with cut knuckles--at the least! Regardless, he kept fighting his way down, busting out chunks of bedrock. He kept checking the hole, and the signal remained very strong.

This only puzzled him all the more as he could clearly see that it was solid bedrock with no sign of any crevice. He finally quit at the end of the day, at a depth of about a foot, but still, nothing in the hole.

An experienced nugget shooting friend dropped by the next morning to see him, and asked him how the hunt was going. My buddy related his tale of the mysterious hole in the bedrock, and told the friend to go over and check it out, and see if he could solve the riddle.

Later in the day, the other nugget hunter returned. In his hand was a fine, fat, sassy nugget. It weighed in at about an ounce and a quarter! After my friend returned his eyeballs to their sockets and zapped his heart to start it again, he asked where the nugget had come from.

Imagine his surprise when he heard it came from the mystery hole!! He asked how deep the other guy had gone into the bedrock to get it. "Well, no deeper" was his reply.

So, here's the rest of the story as to what happened. When the successful nugget hunter got to the bedrock, he scanned the surface got the same strong signal as my buddy. He widened out the hole and scanned again. Still a solid tone. He widened the hole some more so he could get his coil in, and here's the key and the lesson in this story, he got a strong signal off the side of the hole, about six inches down, but set back another inch into the side of the bedrock!!

My unlucky friend, the true discoverer of the gorgeous nugget's resting place had gone deep past the signal while digging his hole!!

Now, of course, a good pinpointer would easily solve this problem. The problem was, my buddy didn't have one, so why would he widen the hole, right? Well, the other guy was the one with more experience, and that's why he did. It was a lot more work, but what a payoff!

So, my buddy's butt is still black and blue from where he kicked himself for the next week or so for having lost such an incredible prize.

Some nugget hunting lessons are harder than others to learn. . . .

All the best,

Lanny


P.S. When in gold country--check the bedrock, regardless of whether it looks likely or not! Mother Nature likes to play games sometimes.

 

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[Lanny in AB]

Eagle--wow--a buddy that complained about nuggets. That's a real problem--not!! I actually did work in a couple of different areas where we only got coarse gold--no fine stuff at all, and no black sand. It was in an area where, anciently, everything was moving very fast. In fact, the gold was deposited around a lot of boulders. Moreover, that's what the gold was traveling with, and that tells you a lot about the velocity of the water and the specific gravity of the objects being moved. My partner kept complaining that there was no black sand!! He'd never found gold before without black sand: it kind of drove his crazy. Me--I'll take nuggets over flake gold and black sand any day.

By the way Eagle, I loved your dredging story about that three foot strip of nothing but nuggets--man, what a party that must have been. (For any of you that want an outstanding read, here's Eagle's linkhttp://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?board=666.0--it's well worth the visit.) [You'll find his thread under the title of "The Many Lost Treasures of Mariposa, CA (Photos Added)". Excellent treasure tales, prospecting stories, gold tales, and dredging tales--very relaxed, easy reading.]

All the best,

Lanny

 

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[nuggy]

Hi again Lanny, thanks for the link to Eagles thread, I enjoyed it very much - as I do this one, you are both talented writers. Nuggy

 

[Lanny in AB]

Glad to see the forum back--thanks Marc for working so hard to get it going again. I'll try to re-post the things that are gone so we can get the stories going again.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Eagle and Nuggy,

I’m reminded me of a fellow (he's now passed on to the great gold camp in the sky) that I met close to ten years ago. He lived off the side of the road in a clearing, in a trailer that was one step away from disintegration, but one that he had cleverly patched and made very livable. It was a large trailer (more along the industrial size than travel size) and he'd used the salvaged materials available up north where he was working to make it very comfortable (the closest place that had supplies was about four hours away). He was a very interesting bush-dweller--rugged in the extreme. He had callused hands, gnarled fingers, and he smoked like a 24/7 copper smelter. He was tough, determined, and very learned in gold prospecting. As a matter of record, I believe he'd originally come from the East at some time, but he had fallen in love with the vast emptiness of the mountains and forests of the West. He spent his winters in a town a bit farther to the south of where he was mining when we met him.

You see, the area he was working had a year-round population of under thirty people (no electricity, no telephone service, no running water, no law enforcement, only a little combination store and gas station--you get the picture), and it was no nice place to winter over in. In fact, a lot of the trees in that area are broken off about fifteen feet up--the snow gets very deep there in the winter time. Moreover, on a side note (I may be repeating information here), people have had their chimney pipes knocked off in wintertime by people riding their snowmobiles right over the tops of cabins buried in the snow! But, I'm wandering and need to get back to my tale. So, anyway, this fellow rigged up the trailer so he had a comfortable place to stay in the summer. One it's best redeeming features was that it was bug proof--it kept out all of the mosquitoes, horse flies, and the nefarious black flies (blood-sucking terrors of the north doesn't come close to conveying the true demonic nature of these little horrors). So, because it was bug proof, he'd invited us in while he made coffee for a chat (we were prospecting an adjoining claim).

Now, I'd just met him that day on his claim--we'd stopped to ask directions on how to get to a claim renowned for its large nuggets--we were on a nugget-shooting only mission that day. We were armed with our Minelabs and were determined that we were going to get some nuggets. That area is well known for it's chunky gold (never saw a flat piece the entire time I was there--spent several years nugget-shooting up there and got some incredible rough gold). So, we wanted to know the best way to get into the aforementioned claim. Over coffee, he started to talk to us about the claim, but the talk wandered, as most prospecting chats do, to more gold tales than just the humdrum directions we were seeking.

He started to talk about the history of the claim he was on, and then stated that it wasn't uncommon when it was raining to be walking over the fractured bedrock and suddenly see the flash of the tops of one-gram nuggets sticking out from between the standing sheets of slate. He'd picked up more than one coming up the hill from the creek in a rainstorm. (The rain washing down the perpendicular [at a right angle to ground level] broken tops of the bedrock sheets flushed off the crumbled overburden and exposed the gold.) Now, you're probably wondering why we didn't detect that bedrock he told us about? Well, I know this sounds stupid now, but we had other areas in mind, and never really gave it much serious thought or effort. I say effort because we did detect it a bit one day when it wasn't raining and we were driven crazy by all of the bits of dozer-blade, pieces of rusted tin can, and little square nails that seemed to pervade the entire area (the claim had been occupied since the 1800's and it sure showed its irritating trashiness in ferrous magnetic residue!).

So, we did try, but now that I reflect on it, we were sure stupid not to stick with it, and I'll tell you why (fast-forwarding here--forgive my wandering). We detected another patch of bedrock about a hundred feet to the left of the area I've described, got some good signals, and this fine fellow came over and scraped the bedrock with his loader for us! We got busy in there and found a bunch of nuggets in the three to four gram range--cemented in a conglomerate in the crevices they were, but we were so excited to detect that patch that we really neglected the rest of the exposed bedrock I've described earlier. It's strange how that works out when you're actually there (the obvious places you neglect), and how clear your focus gets when you're back home, in the cold winter, with no place whatsoever to detect. Your mind is suddenly razor sharp and you just want to find someone that's not busy so they can kick you in the butt for being so stupid for not taking advantage of such blatantly great nugget-shooting ground!!

But, I've left the trailer and our chat and wandered far off topic. So, back in the trailer, the rain started to pour outside and he put another pot on and invited us to take out coats off and stay a while. He got up and walked over to one of the back-cushions of a bench seat and pulled it up. Inside was a little cubbyhole containing jelly jars filled with gold nuggets! I couldn't believe that he trusted us so implicitly as to pull his gold out right then and there when we'd only met him, and to show us his hiding place to boot. He had us pegged though--he had nothing to worry about--neither of us were the type to ever tell or ever take advantage of his secrets, but it just amazed me that he could read us so well.

To continue, he brought one of the jars over and let us heft it (man was it heavy) and he told us to take some of the nuggets out to have a look. Well, I'll admit happily that we did. Those nuggets were very bumpy and rounded--not a bit of flattened area anywhere, and quite a few of them had bits of that black slate adhering to the mini-crevices their rough shapes held. It was such a surreal experience--all that gold and he just sat there with a soft smile on his face, smoking his roll-your-owns while we drooled and gaped. He even asked us if we wanted to buy one of the jars. Looking back on it, it would have been one of the best investments ever as gold was barely over 200 bucks an ounce at that time. Shoulda, woulda, coulda--the story of my life when it comes to missed investment opportunities. Every nugget in that jar, and in all of the others, was a character nugget--every one individual and unique. Like I said before--no blah, blah boring hammered gold on that claim--no sir.

But, I've not even got to what he told us about the upper claim or about how and why he was mining the claim he was sited on, or about how he'd mined the adjoining claim to the one we were looking for. It's all fascinating, but I've got to rush off to a dinner appointment, or my name will be extra-dead meat!

All the best, and later,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Well, I’ve got some more time to give some more details about that fellow and his tips on gold prospecting. In fact, now that I look back on it, he told us a whole bunch of secrets that I was just too stupid to recognize at the time. Moreover, he was telling us exactly where to look for the gold, but we were so jazzed to get to where we thought the gold would be, that we missed what he was saying.

Now, that’s not to say that we got skunked, nor is that saying that we didn’t know how to find any of the gold up there, because we did. It’s just that if I’d have recognized what he was really trying to tell us I’d have come home with a not only a lot more gold, but with a lot more big gold. For instance, he told us about the claim adjacent to the one we wanted to detect. It was to heck and gone up a series of canyons, and then down a series of other canyons, ones connected to an entirely different river from the one following the claims he was working on next to his trailer.

Anyway, we wanted to detect the claim adjacent to the (we’ll call it the upper bench claim for simplicity of detail) upper bench claim he had worked before. We wanted to nugget shoot it because we’d seen the reports on how much coarse gold they’d taken from that claim. Well, we waited out the rain and then he said he’d go with us to the upper bench claim to show us how to get there. So, we headed out and about forty-five minutes later we arrived. The whole area was hemmed in by huge up-thrusts of black fractured slate—the perfect trap environment for catching and holding coarse gold.

Naturally we were eager to get out the MD machines and get busy pounding the ground. However, he wanted to show us a few things, and so we indulged him. (It sounds so stupid now—thinking that we should have been spending every minute detecting and not burning daylight by following him around. As a matter of fact, I’d give anything to be able to talk to him today and just have the opportunity of following him around, listening carefully to every word and tip, while taking notes on every detail.) He showed us where the original claim owners had set up their wash-plant (big processing plant with washing screens, shaker decks and sluices).

He walked us all over that claim showing us where they’d taken out the pay dirt, where they’d tested ground, where they’d put their foot-valves in for their pumps, every little detail. (He even showed us where he’d seeded clover for the bears!! He had a great love for bears.) But, then he did something extra—he walked us up to the adjacent claim that he’d worked. Well, the whole time he was walking us up that hill, I was only thinking about how sweet detecting that fractured bedrock behind us would be.

A bit later, we walked out onto a large bowl-shaped area that was swampy. There was an old, broken down backhoe (tractor-mounted excavator) parked in the middle of the bowl. He explained to us that it was his, but that he couldn’t get parts for the fuel pump (diesel) any more, so it was just resting for a while. Then he took us out into the bowl. There were a series of excavations that seemed to go everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. I couldn’t make any sense out of it. He explained that what he’d done was arrived at a theory of how the gold had traveled through that upper claim. There had been a massive blowout of a glacial wall somewhere upstream (we’re talking seriously ancient history here—one of the long ago, far-gone ice ages) and a whole whack of boulders and nuggets had come roaring down that canyon. But, the water was moving so fast that no fine gold or black sand traveled with the boulders and nuggets deposited in his little honey hole. So, he’d determined that the best way to find the gold was to move the boulders with his excavator and mine the dirt under them and downstream of them. And guess what? All he ever found were nuggets—three grams and up!

Do you think that I even paid much attention to that huge gold secret—that marvelous free tip on where the coarse gold really was? This was virgin ground—he’d been the only one to work it—lots of ground remained in that bowl. Everyone else to work the area had passed it by. In fact, it didn’t look like a likely spot for gold at all. The place down the hill and behind me sure did, so after he’d finished his story, we thanked him politely, drove him back to his active claim, and then hightailed it back to the bedrock claim we couldn’t wait to pound.

We hammered that bedrock all the rest of the day (up north the sun doesn’t go down until around eleven o’clock, and it’s still light at eleven-thirty) and we got skunked—no gold—not a sniff! So it would logically follow that the next day we’d head back to the upper claim and electronically slam into it with our big, deep seeking coils, right? I mean with our aforementioned tour and explicit information on exactly where the nuggets really were, you’d think we’d simply find the boulders and detect around them, right? Or, at least a person would detect all of the disturbed ground he’d moved while he was mining, don’t you think?

Well, a person with half a brain would have, but we had bigger fish to fry. Yup! For sure—much bigger fish. We already had several other more promising sites mapped out and we were going to hit them hard. We never once detected a single inch of that claim, and I have another related story that proves just how absolutely bone-headed we were for not doing what I’ve postulated. But, that’s a tale for another day as I’ve now burned up all of my writing time and I have to head off to a Christmas party.

Later,

Lanny.

As posted previously (before the big TNet Thanksgiving wipe-out), this is a shot of one of the nuggets from the area--one I found with the detector, and then I had to chisel it out of a crevice where it was locked fast in some conglomerate.

 

[EagleDown]

Thank God Tnet is back up!!! I've missed your tales of adventure. Yep, definate signs of withdrawal.

It's really a shame that the only way we get smart is through experience. I think back to all of the advice and tips I've had over the years that I didn't pay attention to. YIKES!!! I've probably passed up veritable fortunes over the years, just because I thought I had a better idea.

Well, now I realise my name isn't Ford, and my ideas aren't necessarally better. (lol)

I'll be waiting for your next well written post!! Now I need to make an over-due post.

Eagle

 

[Lanny in AB]

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?board=666.0 Hello again Eagle--this is your link for others to read your great stories: The many lost treasures of Mariposa, CA. For those of you that haven't read them--it's a great read. (A few things disappeared when the site went down, and this link was one of them.) As well Eagle, I'm with you--I'm happy the site is back up again, and a big thanks to those responsible.

Yes, I've blown some incredible leads to the gold in the past as well. Now, I hope I'm a better listener (two ears, one mouth, and brain on pause when someone is trying to give me genuine, golden wisdom!!)

Keep writing Eagle--it's such a rare find to tag along with someone that has so much practical experience, one that's willing to unselfishly share it, that is.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[SushiDog]

Just a big hello to Lanny and Eagledown!!!! I really missed you guys during the outage, and will read the posts later....SushiDog

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sushi--how did your prospecting adventure go? Were you able to chase the gold for a bit?

All the best,

Lanny

 

[strickman]

great story as usual lanny

 

[FiresEye]

Hey Lanny,

One night I was out on the river later in the year in the south east united states. Down here around October a cool dusk can whisk in when the sun sets, and this particular night, as the sun went down over the trees, I sat in my perch on this particular stream watching the water wash over my sluice and eyeing some of the gold I'd found in the last of the fading light.
I was out there alone, as a I usually was, fearing no man or beast and only welcoming any fate that may befall me. I had confidence in my weapondry and willfullness. The stream flow meander over the riffles was perfect, and the sand was moving through my sluice precisely, turning up nice flake small sized placers, some of them in a cylinder shape, like they had broken off a larger chunk of wire gold. The gold in the Dahlonega gold belt is some of the purest in the world.
As the dusk settled and the darkness grew, a mist began to come down the river towards me as I took a deep breath and felt some sparkling energy in the air. A cold air creeped up from behind me, and whisked past me towards the mist, still growing and bubbling towards me.
At this point, I'm freaking out because I realize I was staying out too late because the sand was good, and now, this strange natural phenomena was occurring as the cool air met the mist rising upstream. As I began to pack up the mist overcame me and my encampment on the bank... For a moment, I could barely see my own hand stretched out. as the cold air broke the mist in a swirl I could have sword I saw the figure of Indians dancing on the far shore, in some sort of ritualistic misty dance. Infact, as close as it was to Haloween at the time, I wondered if the legends of the lost Cherokee tribe Indians that were said to wander the hills at night had come back to display this awesome trick of nature.
As I shivered, wet and soggy, back up to my car, I would never forget the chill of that mist, coming down the river, meeting the cold air at my back, and the way the rising full moon cast the shadows...The gold was great that day. I'll never forget those Indians!

-Fireseye

 

[SushiDog]

Hi Lanny....thanks for remembering what I was talking about just before T-Net went down, and it is so nice of you to ask....well, I started doing research from what EagleDown gave us in his post, (and I am sure glad you gave us a link to his awesome posts in another forum that you said were lost) and I soon became overwhelmed with so much information....I tried my best to locate where EagleDown was in Bagby, but it was difficult even using GoogleEarth and GoogleMaps.....I was going to make a post to EagleDown just before the outage to get additional information, but T-Net went down....Lanny....the area is so rich in history, and there are so many old mining towns in that area that a person would really need a few days just to putz around and get the lay of the land....I determined that the drive from my house is about 150 miles one way (revised up from a previous post), so I should have at least a few areas to check out before I make that long trip....I will only be able to make a day trip since my doggie is really sick, but I can head out a few hours before sunrise so I arrive at daybreak in the Bagby and Coulterville area....I did a bit of a respite on Friday and on Sunday when my wife was home, and just drove around locally to check out some places that LQQKed interesting to metal detect....(I have to find the post on how to find the owners of the properties in question using the Internet).....I did go up to the Auburn area to see my buddies at Pioneer Mining Supplies (Frank & Dennis are the owners), and to my surprise, I learned something important! Lanny....you motivated me to get into dredging, so I wanted to check out the dredges being sold at Pioneer.....to my surprise I found out about a California State Law - SB670 - that totally outlawed any type of dredging in the State sometime last year....I just had no idea of such a law....So Frank is selling his Keene and Proline dredges, and dredging parts for cost+10% just to get out of that part of the business (I went to his website and he has a window on the front page that says something to the effect: "The State of California put me out of business....all Keene and Proline dredges at cost+10%...." Wow! As a matter-of-fact Lanny, the law is SO strict that you can't even have any type of dredge within 100 feet of a body of water!!! Man! I am so sick and tired of the "Eco-Nuts" in this State! When T-Net went down, so did my small little world because of me being homebound with my little doggie....and not even T-Net to read and research....I still need to do some research of the Bagby and Coulterville area....it would be nice to research an area and then try to find it on a trip....Keep the stories coming Lanny because I have learned so much from you (and EagleDown), and I enjoyed the posts you made previous to this one....SushiDog

 

[Lanny in AB]

Strickman--thanks for your generous comments. It takes a lot of time to put the stories down and it's nice to know they're appreciated.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Fireseye--that's a remarkable tale. You've got an interesting way with words--quite the haunting scene you've crafted with your verbal imagery while out there sluicing on that chilly, misty river.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sushi--keep trying. If you go, the gold will come. Seriously--enough time and research invested and you'll get some. Too bad about the dredging ban in California. Get your mining buddies active in lobbying the new Governor to see if you can get things turned around. California, from what I understand, still has a lot of gold that needs to be dredged.

All the best, and I hope you'll get some more break-time soon,

Lanny

 

[SushiDog]

Lanny....thanks for your reply, and also the encouragement....wow! You just opened a can of worms! Ha! ha! ha! I am approaching 60 years young soon, and I remember Jerry Browns father as governor, and of course, when Jerry was governor, aka, "governor moonbeam" (long story) smile......Anyway, there is no way Jerry will intervene on SB670 other than to delay the outcome of all the court ordered studies that are required for the many lawsuits already filed....there is some big money behind fighting this Lanny, and a lot of people who are being activists in turning this around, but don't hold your breath....I mean, I think the ban is here to stay....I can belabor this, but I choose not to do so.....I will make a short rip to Briceburg and the surrounding areas just to check things out....oh, sure, I will have all of my prospecting equipment with me, and of course my survival gear, but my initial intent will be to just drive around and enjoy the different areas....so Lanny, my mindset is to take the trip to enjoy God's country, and to become one with the land and let it whisper to me....."she" will tell me everything I will need to know....I really had my heart set on getting into dredging, but you know the story about that dream....Lanny, I just learned that Frank (who co-owns the Pioneer Mining Supplies shop) has bought the rights to the "Blue Bowl" system....I am not too knowledgeable about the "Blue Bowl", but that LQQKs like a good investment.....I really don't think Frank would throw in the towel on all of his dredging equipment and parts if he could see anything positive coming out of the many lawsuits that are pending with respect to SB670.....I mean, that bill was passed as an "emergency" bill some time last year, and became effective immediately....so I think Frank needs to get his investment back with his inventory, and Frank would not be throwing in the towel if he thought we had a chance to overturn the bill any time soon....well, so much for the commentary.....the next best thing to do is "High Banking", but you better make sure none of the water (if used) goes into any river or stream....I think I will stick to my GoldMaster....SushiDog

 

[nuggy]

Hi Lanny and all, sure is good to see T-net up and running again, and yes there are a few lost posts.
I was looking back at some of your photos Lanny, and was wondering about the yellow fabric hanging out the back of your dredge box. Does this serve some purpose? I never saw that before, laundry?
I worked about 15 years ago in a small river that had been thrashed since the 1970's. There were old remnants of dredging gear lying around here and there in the forest beside the river. Subject to several big floods every year, the in river signs of dredging are long gone.
This was once a very rich area that still has gold moving down it re concentrating. Because of all the previous dredgers the pickings were pretty lean in most places except.............. In the rapids!
As you know it's a lot of trouble to set up to dredge in rapids. The water has to be raised a lot higher to make a dam to start in, and with the rising bottom this soon runs out. There are usually bigger rocks to move as well, but if it's a rich river - it can be well worth it.
Well I built those dams and moved them, used a Turfor and shifted rocks - got some good gold too. Soon as the bottom flattened out nicely at the top of the rapids - the gold got smaller, the bottom had that well scrubbed look to it, and the gold total per hour was way down. Good luck, Nuggy

 

[FiresEye]

THanks Lanny, and, Indeed Nuggy.. the gold is where you find it.. Epspecially if you find it in the rapids where most people don't look. This one guy working the river near me was pulling out pockets of black sand and gold out in the middle of the river and I'd never seen anyone do it.
I've witnessed excellent sluicers and snipers but when I first saw this guy I was like WHAT is he doing... But he was hand pumping larger rocks out in the rapids pulling up rich dirt...
One time in the same area, the water was so fast I was swept off my feet. This guy musta been in great shape and do yogo and fencing or something..
GOLDS WHERE YOU FIND IT

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sushi--sorry the dredging's not going to work out for you. Is Oregon close enough to you--or have they shut down dredging too? Regardless--it sounds like there's still lots of gold to find in California, and with the right tips, someone should be able to put you in a spot where you can find something with your Goldmaster. If I was closer, I'd head for the hills with you. And, you're dead on with keeping your mind open to enjoying the splendors of nature--nothing more healing--that venture will always pay off.

All the best, and hang in there,

Lanny

 

[SushiDog]

Lanny.....you are ALWAYS so kind, and you come here with a warm and honest heart!!! Um? I will have to check out the neighboring States like Oregon.....I believe Arizona is okay, but not sure about that.....I may do some research, or better yet, just call Frank at Pioneer Mining and ask him....Yeah....I'll be okay (smile).....and it's all good! (smile) I have been rereading your posts of past years (2003?) with respect to prospecting on and around granite.....gosh Lanny! Write that book or pamphlet on your experience and knowledge!!! You can even self-publish your work....Anyway.....you are precious and so is your soul....Earlier, I made a post to EagleDown, and told him that I will do a "recon" first of the Briceburg, Bagby and Coulterville area's....I hope to make that day trip soon, and when I do, I will take my wife's digital camera and take pictures as I go....I believe the camera has a big enough card for 150 photo's with the capability to scan the photo before you save or discard it......so.....I will let you and EagleDown know the day of my trip when I make a decision to go......More Importantly!!!.....How have you been doing?.....and what are your activities now in Canada during the cold months? I will keep my ear to the ground here, and LQQK forward to your posts, knowledge and wisdom.....SushiDog