Best bagged paydirt to buy?

[EvilVOG]

I know there has been lots of discussions on this subject, I've read through most of them. What it comes down to is, I live at least 300-400 miles from anywhere that has enough gold to make panning for gold rewarding. I don't have much free time as it is, and i'm not looking to get rich. I just want to pan and find enough gold to have it be entertaining.

Not looking to hear a debate on why people should or should not buy bagged dirt. This is just for me (or anyone else) who has already made the decision to buy some and are looking for recommendations. Or maybe if you have bought some share your experience with the seller/dirt.

I have panned a little before, but just bought my first pan that came with a 1/4lb of concentrate dirt:from ebay seller. Kit cost me 19.50, he sells a 1/2 lb bag for $10 just for reference. Not an expert at panning, nor have i weighed what i have, but below is a pic of my 2nd of what will be 3 pans I will get out of the 1/4 lb sample.




So if you could help me make my next purchase, and if anyone has any tips on getting flour gold out of this blond sand without a miller table... thanks

Also I see a member here sells some, I may contact you, or send me a pm.

 

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[mace420]

Thank for the input. So to clarify a couple of questions 1st I'm not going to use bags salted with gold only "unsearched" pay dirt.
2nd I agree that eBay is not the greatest place to purchase pay dirt and as time and budget allow I'll be testing concentrates from a variety of vendors.

I'm currently building a sluice / finishing table. I'll be running everything using that just to keep things similar. I'll post pictures when I have it completely assembled.

I have another batch of pay dirt due in shortly. Ill post the results and pictures on my blog.

Also as a reminder I'm new to this and my purpose with the blog and subsequent posting on treasure net are to generate discussions and help to educate myself and others.

Above all just have fun.
Thanks and keep the input coming.

Mace.

 

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[cjd1467]

Does anyone have recommendations for "unsalted", unsearched concentrates that are known to be honest?

 

[mace420]

I have only tested one. however I'm waiting for the material for my second test. I will be posting the results on my blog. http://mace420.blogspot.com
I have one person I tested and it
was off eBay. Results were about what I expected.

 

[GeorgiaGold]

Hi BH Prospector,
I agree about eBay siding with the crooks. They really do. Unbelievable.

 

[EvilVOG]

been mostly sticking to smaller samples right now, have a few i bought and will post about later.

Personally, i'm looking for as close to the real experience as possible, but it's clearly cheaper and more effective to go with concentrates than just raw dirt. I would like the possibility of maybe finding a nugget or picker, and would be willing to pay more than I have been for that, but that's why I started this thread. Don't want to pay 80-100 for a bag only to find out it's salted with gold leaf, or as happened with a sample bag i bought, I find a "picker" made of pyrite.

Salted/gold added would be ok as long as I don't know about it, again real gold bearing material I could go out and dig myself (that's worth making a trip for) is at least a twelve hour dive from here, so that's out, but i still would like to get close to what that's like.

 

[cjd1467]

I've bought some concentrates and will be setting up soon to provide results for people to give them a bit of knowledge on buying bags of concentrates.

Stay tuned...

 

[JUNKER]

Thanks everyone for the info have never done it before and maybe will try some once some of the results are in just didn't want to get screwed from E-bay like some have said they protect the crooks now days isn't that how the whole country is going now GL and may your pans be full

 

[mace420]

New Sample arrived today. Hope to get some time tomorrow to start. This one is 5 pounds and it's from Arizona.

mace

http://mace420.blogspot.com

 

[B H Prospector]

Does anyone have recommendations for "unsalted", unsearched concentrates that are known to be honest?

Hi cjd and welcome to the net. Search the forum archives for similar threads of this subject. In them you will find members who are highly recomended by other members. Pm those who sell as some don't always have cons to sell. If they do they will.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector

 

[cjd1467]

Hi BH,

Thanks for the reply...I've purchased a variety of cons from different vendors and will be posting the results once I have everything in place and done. This will at least give others a place to start if any of the vendors I've purchased from have decent material.

Stay tuned...

~Chris

 

[EvilVOG]

Ok here are my reviews so far:

First purchase was a gold pan kit from ebay seller fishing4gold aka Lucky Dawg Mining. seemed like the best deal on a pan and dirt I could find on ebay. 1/4 lb dirt. So far the best gold i'be seen, but also the most dirt I bought from a single seller. paid 19.50 for the kit and you could buy a 1/2 lb of concentrates from him for a mere $10. so far the best deal i've seen with the best gold.

Best single pan:

Total gold:



Next I bought some dirt from 365 mining, aka tammysncgold. Got 6oz. for 8.50 + 4.50 shipping = 13.00. Newer seller but took a chance on it. Came with a small vial (inside the dirt ). Pretty good gold out of it, not an expert of course but I was pretty happy.

Total gold:


Next I got the "free" sample from prospector John (jbiadventures on ebay). sells quite a few of these, I paid 1.01 with 2.57 shipping = 3.58. weight unknown, but it was a very small sample. Fairly certain it was seeded as there were no fines or fine sands, there were 3 fairly large flakes, and there was also a small ruby, and a tiny pyrite (fool's gold) picker. Hard to gauge what his real dirt would be like. Supposedly the money paid for the sample goes to the make a wish foundation though. also came stapled to a free gift small polished stone "gratitude rock" with a card with a story, thought that was nice.

After that i got a bag from slicek692012 on ebay, generally sells tagged "flakes, fines, nuggets gold paydirt #298. Big rocks in this one. craploads of black sand that make it very difficult to pan. been working on this same pan for almost a week now. Decent gold, most fines i've seen but wouldn't recommend without a miller table or something better at cleaning black sand.

Got more samples on the way, will keep updating, and if anyone could get me the contact info for the guy who sells on here or guide him to this post i would appreciate it. Would like to give back to the board.

 

[mace420]

Well I got 5 pounds of unsalted and unsearched pay dirt off eBay. came out of AZ after the first two pounds I found one small picker. I used a small home made sluice to run them and panned the concentrate after running it threw the sluice.
I'll post the pictures if the sluice later. It was if basic design using a fountain pump that ran 20-80 gpm. the water flows down a 3 foot long 1 3/4 inch wide corrugated plastic tubing the kind used in a sump pump. the rise was 1 inch per foot.

I'm changing the design and will post the new one when the miners matting arrives. I'll post pictures when I have a final report. Should be this week.

 

[ingram4868]

mace420 - I am curious if you seasoned your plastic pans? I have yet to pan my first dirt but have wondered if it really makes a difference when dealing with small flakes.

 

[mace420]

mace420 - I am curious if you seasoned your plastic pans? I have yet to pan my first dirt but have wondered if it really makes a difference when dealing with small flakes.

That was the first thing I did. I had some better luck with other samples. I keep all of the concentrates I run anyway I'm working on a finishing table and home sluice. Sometimes you just get a bad batch, but instill have 3 more pounds to go. Hope to get to it Thursday.

 

[NEPADIGGER7]

I like to send for.samples. there's so many good ones though.

 

[KevinInColorado]

mace420 - I am curious if you seasoned your plastic pans? I have yet to pan my first dirt but have wondered if it really makes a difference when dealing with small flakes.

The smaller the gold, the more seasoning matters. Also the use of Jetdry or a drop of dish soap....either one to cut the surface tension and keep the gold specks from drying out as you move the water around in the pan.

But back to paydirt...you should get about $10 in gold for every $20 you spend on paydirt. Never gonna get rich that way but it pays better than most past times.

 

[mace420]

I agree, I used a Brillo pad, dish soap and sand to season the pan. scrubbed the hell out if it.

This is a hobby and I know I'm not going to get rich. I started my blog just to see who had some decent pay dirt and to check how well I could pan. Now it's moved on to building a home made sluice. Wanted to make sure it would catch gold before going out. There are some reports if gold bearing streams here in ct and I wanted to make sure I had equipment that works.

I have been using dish soap in the water I'm panning with and in the sluice water. think I just got a not so good batch. but to be fair I still have 3 more pounds to do before I can make a true and accurate report.

 

[ALewis]

mace420 - I am curious if you seasoned your plastic pans? I have yet to pan my first dirt but have wondered if it really makes a difference when dealing with small flakes.

Matters more than you would think...season / rough that thing up. (I think they look more legit too, you can't have nice and shiny gold pan !!)

Also for some paydirt, listen to BH Prospector, (cough, goldhog, cough.....)

 

[mace420]

I scrubbed the hell out if my pan with dish soap sand and a Brillo pad did I two times.

 

[73dguard]

I brought the "free" Felix sample for $2 shipping. If I did that about 500 times I might have a weigh-able amount.