california crumbs

sounds like some of you may be interested in my new Ronco Gold Magnet ( not sold in any store)
 

thanks Goldwasher.
We had a need to get ore crushed, not a lot of funding in the mining trade, so we built a crusher out of rocks thing works great crushing our ore for just a few pennies in electric a day, no parts to wear out, nothing to break and none of that dadgum tramp metal in the cons, might find a piece of my chisel now and then but that's about it.

We can do customs mill runs here soon if they aren't to big, we should be getting a jaw crusher that will finish the mill off in a few weeks, a little more concrete work I will get a picture of the mill all complete leach system included. Heres a cool looking fine gold shot.
Thanks n hope you enjoy.
GT..........

View attachment 998350
 

Impressive pic GT, very, very clean! I hereby hand off my title of Master of Fly Poop to you!
 

KevinInColorado said:
Impressive pic GT, very, very clean! I hereby hand off my title of Master of Fly Poop to you!
Click to expand...

You retain the title there Kevin, im the Cpt.
Thanks buddy I wish I had the patience to get a bunch of that stuff cleaned, I get going real good and next thing I throw a bb of mercury in ruin the whole thing. one of these days I will sit down and try to pan out some 100 and fill a bottle for youall to see.
GT....................
 

LoL, a bb of merc is definitely cheating but I might have done that before too ;-)
 

Herb, just watched the video of your arrastra at work...absolutely awesome! :occasion14:

With all the decent ore you can acquire in your area, I'd bet you've
got that running several hours a day. Only worry Id have would be
the "grinder rocks" wearing down over time, but then there's no
shortage of rocks around your place..:icon_thumright:

Can't see the motor drive...you got your boys chained up to it? :laughing7:
 

DizzyDigger said:
Herb, just watched the video of your arrastra at work...absolutely awesome! :occasion14:

With all the decent ore you can acquire in your area, I'd bet you've
got that running several hours a day. Only worry Id have would be
the "grinder rocks" wearing down over time, but then there's no
shortage of rocks around your place..:icon_thumright:

Can't see the motor drive...you got your boys chained up to it? :laughing7:
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike.
just testing right now, we are trying to get back up to our dig before it gets really hot, bust out a new pocket?
Later in the summer when it gets real hot we will fire up the mill and start running proper.

The stone that i used should last a few years, i used a very tight grained Diorite, for the floor stones.
And tonalite granite porphyry for the grinders, its a little softer which enables the stone to have a little tooth to it, meaning it can grab the ore for grinding.

They do a very good job together and I find no need to use the other test stones that i picked up, we do have some stones that are about 100 lbs heavier than the ones on the unit now, these will be used when i run into really hard ore.

will get a pic of the drive unit when its hooked up permanent we are still working on that area.

GT..................
 

some pics of the bottom stones notice drag marks we were grinding 3/4 hard quartz, these stones are 2 to 4 inches thick and grouted in place so they can be repaired.
Drag stones one can really see the porphyry, they are already starting to get flat, once i run off an inch they will become garden stones.
extra weight provided by a monster hot rock makes finishing a little faster.
View attachment 999437View attachment 999438View attachment 999439View attachment 999440
 

Way cool...classic tech!
 

KevinInColorado said:
Way cool...classic tech!
Click to expand...

knew you would like it Kevin, That one is a monster of a hot rock i think it may weigh 30 lbs ?

little update for those that dont get over to my site.

still running the mill and trying to get grubstaked up for our next part of the project, going to just build a stamp type mill for our primary crusher it will go good with the arrastra.
we got a little mining park going on in our front yard now.
Almost finished on our recent dig doing a little placer and chasing some hard rock stains make sure theres no micro pockets, wish we could get into some bigger stuff this hole is very fine gold takes alot to make up any weight, at least the diggins are easy, next hole will be better?

4th of july we are having a hullaballoo and are going to run the mill that day with some special ore i have been saving, I hope to have a couple oldtimers out to watch it run.

just milling for a few more days as the tortoise is broke down, maybe i will work on a gold shot.
Hope every ones getting some gold.
GT......................
 

Very nice! Looking good GT!
 

Friday night at Claudette mill.
Running off some stuff we mined last june it was going to be our 4th of July run but i couldnt wait no more, 27 days we mined n back packed about 600 lbs of ore off the mnt from a small ledge, i call it my little burro prospect.

Had to put a heavier stone on the mill, ran into some harder quartz.

Some pics of tonights run and a gold pic, we are going to hit the shnapps and grind some ore, its a rare occasion where one can find the Cpt partaking in the party, its been a long haul.
we still got a lot of work to finish the crusher n pachuka system, should be finished by mid fall ?
hope you enjoy the pics.
GT..............





View attachment 1015694View attachment 1015695View attachment 1015696View attachment 1015697View attachment 1015698
 

gold tramp said:
Friday night at Claudette mill.
Running off some stuff we mined last june it was going to be our 4th of July run but i couldnt wait no more, 27 days we mined n back packed about 600 lbs of ore off the mnt from a small ledge, i call it my little burro prospect.

Had to put a heavier stone on the mill, ran into some harder quartz.

Some pics of tonights run and a gold pic, we are going to hit the shnapps and grind some ore, its a rare occasion where one can find the Cpt partaking in the party, its been a long haul.
we still got a lot of work to finish the crusher n pachuka system, should be finished by mid fall ?
hope you enjoy the pics.
GT..............






View attachment 1015694View attachment 1015695View attachment 1015696View attachment 1015697View attachment 1015698
Click to expand...



Fine shine Tramp . :icon_thumright:
 

saturday mornin at the shaker table,

Ran into the wee hours of the morn, didnt get any night shots of the mill running, or of rodding the pan, just too dangerous at night had no one here to film and its better not to try and be a movie star while DUI, end up getting tangled in one of the chains and get run over by a 300 lb stone. that new stone shakes the ground when its grinding those course materials.

Over at the shaker table got buckets lined up like rail freight cars heading up the Cadiz grade, today will be a good 6 to 8 hour run non stop except to change water when it gets to thick, these tables use major amounts of water even though i have a well i just dont waste the water, so we reuse it and then dump on trees. without water all life Dies.

I only have a couple more days ramblings before my electronic world is gone for a while so i will try to get a couple more gold shots worked up.

We should be getting started on our new addition to the mill by mid month with anyluck, have to move a bunch rock again i put in the way i was going to get a smaller type crusher, before my idea for the stamp. cant wait to get to building it will be a little over kill but we are crushing some mighty hard rock and dont need to spend the time broke down, some days we can run all day long just primary crushing.
We brought over from Mitchels mill about 10 ton, some of it was that stuff i have from the shady rest is perhaps the hardest rock i have ever crushed or tried to dig without explosives, its just a waste of time to try to dig, and will shred most mills in short time. good pocket gold, very spoty but chunks.

So bigger is better i think the stamp with rod will weigh in at 120 lbs? will have a drop of about 3 inch ? that will geter done im sure, still always have that sledge work for the bigger than 3 inch, for the most part i try to break it down when i mine it, so we hand classify to 3 inch.

Heres a shot of my hole at the Shady Rest mine Dale Mining district Calif.
GT..............

Love that rusty little dude Takoda !!!!
 

Last edited:
Been a few, so heres a little desert update.

Run 14 at the mill, still not getting a real good payday very fine gold is hard to get weight from, it may look like a pan of fire but once its smelted, your looking around for the guy who took a big pinch while you are not looking, it just takes a lot to get a bead.
cleaned the mill yesterday, disconected the stones taking the arm off to inspect the workings, lube the bearings if needed.
When cleaning out the mill pan the grout lines which are very wide 1.5 inch or so, they are like this to kinda give the bottom some toothy action to help break down the larger harder ore, well it gets impacted with small pieces of ore, As im picking them out and looking them over, they have been flattened and some contain gold specks, these will most definitly will see my rock polishing unit hope they hold up to finishing might be a nice little bonus in finished gold specimens.

Dont really have any intresting looking pics of mining its just the same ole mill n desert no trees or running waters but i will throw in a hole shot for those who are intrested.

Working on a spot for a couple days now got it down i think about 6 foot or so took about an inch off the new estwing chisel and loosed the head of the three pound estwing hammer, it wont be long till it just flys off then its back to wood handle.

Had to sharpen tools at the beggining of the dig, this hole has been very hard and its wearing down all the steel fast i think the top of the chisel will loose 1/4 or more daily, picks last much longer as do shovels, never pry with your shovel or your pick, thats what a pike is for ! Cant stand to see this practice shovels n picks are for diggin and if i see one of the guys using a shovel as a pry tool, they will be mucking hole with a rusty tin can for the night, next time they will think about the proper tool for the job.
Gold shot soon.

Till next time
Gt....................


View attachment 1024120View attachment 1024121View attachment 1024122View attachment 1024125View attachment 1024127
 

Great update! Hope you guys are getting some nice ore. Sweet mill!
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Greenhorn prospecting in Southwest CO

⬅️ Previous Thread

"PLACE YOUR BID NOW"

Next Thread ➡️

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Simplex Metal Detector

Latest Discussions

Back
Top