Gold Ore

southfork

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A little sample that was found with a metal detector. Crushed by hand then panned to wash away some of the dirt and clay? The photo is macro so real small particles, but the quartz shows and what looks like iron and free gold. I think we need a small smelter to retrieve the values trying to speed up the recovery what's your thoughts ?
 

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So, this mine dump is really clean little to no iron trash so if the machine beeps more than likely you have Gold. Did not regrind just panned a little dirt out heavy gold on side of the pan the small quartz sand on the other side has a lot of gold in and on it. Love to have a five-gallon pail of this. Starting to rain let's see how long Seth lasts out there today lol. I have the furnace set up indoors in the barn so I can play through the series of storms this week.
Amazing! Really motivating.
 

You have permission go for it just use common sense easy on the muddy water. This is California and there's always someone going to try and stop you.
Thank you for your help. This will be my first time panning, except for Knott’s Berry Farm when I was little. Funny thing is, in the middle of all the population, it still captured the imagination. 2 experienced people in Oakhurst at Big 5 were very helpful. One older man who worked there, one older gal who pans for fun - she even gave me some tips on the area. If this is any indication of the ‘culture’ of people who pan, I’m in.
 

Burned brush yesterday while watching the piles burn, I picked up a few samples of float. I crushed them in the chain mill panned then classified with a hose on a 30-mesh screen with a little dish soap on top of a five-gallon bucket. I panned everything on top of the 30-mesh nice pile of gold couple of grams or more. The slurry I ran on the ribbed sluice and recovered a nice pile also. Best personal day in a long time I'll weigh it in a couple of days after clean up.
 

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Southfork, you're so fortunate to have such a resource near home, and have it pretty much clean of manmade debris. Arizau suggested I go farther down from where our mines are, and look for "float". Maybe that stuff was over looked.

Look forward to your final weigh on this batch.
 

Southfork, you're so fortunate to have such a resource near home, and have it pretty much clean of manmade debris. Arizau suggested I go farther down from where our mines are, and look for "float". Maybe that stuff was over looked.

Look forward to your final weigh on this batch.
Thank you this is from right behind the house on our property. I might try again tomorrow not bad for a couple pounds of rock.
 

Thank you this is from right behind the house on our property. I might try again tomorrow not bad for a couple pounds of rock.
Still enjoying the ride.
For future reference... plowed fields often yield more arrowheads....maybe more float too. Just saying.lol
 

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Still enjoying the ride.
For future reference... plowed fields often yield more arrowheads....maybe more float too. Just saying.lol
I ripped this area to remove brush and trenched a couple hundred feet. Time to dig a few holes.
 

For the cleanup I panned a little more and ran a little through the blue bowl and cleaned with a magnet. 3 grams of dirty gold good day for me and short walk only a couple hundred feet from the house.
 

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I went back behind the house and filled a 5gal bucket with float same area where I found gold. Big pieces of float so I single jack them to size then into the chain mill same results GOLD. This is from about 4 / 5 pounds of quartz rock this is a slow process I've just started on the bucket. It's a treasure hunt no telling what's hiding in this bucket of rocks or my backyard. I stopped for coffee and a choker back to crushing rocks and making dust and noise.
 

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I crushed about 5 quarts of rock 2nd run today lots of micro dots but still gold on cleanup. I have a half of bucket to break up and run through the chain mill. Smashing quartz looking for a specimen only one picker today maybe tomorrow.
 

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I finished running the half bucket the chain mill worked flawlessly running smaller rock 1" to 1" 1/2 inch powdered up great. Spent more time with the single jack. Breaktime now I'll be back after I wash all this with a report. Today I ran twice the material and little rewards some micro gold but not enough to pay for the power. Storm on the way a few days break from mining. Seth is still out detecting he had a good day yesterday maybe today also. It just takes one good rock around 4 grams total so 1 gram from a five-gallon bucket Happy Mining This was the largest bit in the whole bucket. raining today so I'll look for a few more samples to crush after the storm passes.
'
 

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We let this ore specimen soak in whink solution overnight to clean it up a little. There are little veinlets running through the whole rock the top side has a thick layer of gold. Seths metal detector find from a mine dump
 

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We let this ore specimen soak in whink solution overnight to clean it up a little. There are little veinlets running through the whole rock the top side has a thick layer of gold. Seths metal detector find from a mine dump
You Guys definitely hit a good place to look for gold. Very nice specimen.
 

We let this ore specimen soak in whink solution overnight to clean it up a little. There are little veinlets running through the whole rock the top side has a thick layer of gold. Seths metal detector find from a mine dump
That looks like and excellent candidate for cutting and polishing. There is a good return on that type of specimen. Capture the top side for a two sided piece and maybe a single double sided slab?
 

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That looks like and excellent candidate for cutting and polishing. There is a good return on that type of specimen. Capture the top side for a two sided piece and maybe a single double sided slab?
Don't have a rock saw if times get rough it will get crushed that little slab is heavy.
 

Don't have a rock saw if times get rough it will get crushed that little slab is heavy.
There would probably be some satisfaction in the product. Personally it would be worth trading services for gold. To have a bolo tie or something. I’ve seen some amazing polished stones with gold contamination. Just an idea. I have a feeling that’s how heirlooms are made.
 

I have another bucket of rocks single jacked to the right size ready for the chain mill. Also, from behind the house on the hunt for the mother lode lol I'll run tomorrow looking for some nice color.
 

My latest bucket was disappointing there was gold but so fine it would take 5 buckets to get a pinch. But most of this came from around the woodshed ankle breakers that wash up after each rain. I'm just sampling from around the house until my son brings up some mine waste. Big storm on the way we might be able to do some placer mining if the seasonal creek starts flowing. We have a huge pile of pay waiting
 

looking good Southfork...........Bring in a back-ho :icon_thumright:
 

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