Gold Ore

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,443
7,984
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

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Just a trickle of water building small dams to sluice and pan with. But there's enough water to wash the mud off the metal detector finds. You got to love waste piles
Unbelievable!!! I'm slowly working my way through a 40xx 10 x 2 foot waste pile. I sure wish I could find something like that. But if I'm lucky I'll just find one nor two rocks still loaded with the micro fine stuff.
 

Don't have one but have read that drop riffle sluices work well even in low flow situations. Some online are only 24 to 30" long.

Heavy pans.
I don't have one either I like some matting or vortex of some kind. But whatever floats your boat.
 

We took my mini 12 volt high banker down on one of the tailing piles below the house. And ran a five bucket test in a couple of spots. Little bits and micro gold my son did the shoveling I washed rocks both spots produced about the same we are chasing the bed rock from the edge going under the tailing piles. I'm glad it's battery powered it would be hard to pay for gas and lunch but fun I got cold and quit for the day. My son is chasing signals in the slate bedrock rain on the way. My son just called and the signal he was chasing ended up being two little pickers.
 

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We took my mini 12 volt high banker down on one of the tailing piles below the house. And ran a five bucket test in a couple of spots. Little bits and micro gold my son did the shoveling I washed rocks both spots produced about the same we are chasing the bed rock from the edge going under the tailing piles. I'm glad it's battery powered it would be hard to pay for gas and lunch but fun I got cold and quit for the day. My son is chasing signals in the slate bedrock rain on the way. My son just called and the signal he was chasing ended up being two little pickers.
Looks like you're getting a lot better placer gold than our club claim is producing; about 10 times better.
 

Crushing some small metal detector finds with mortar and pestle this morning. Loaded with gold hiding in the oxidized rock and red sands. When I look with a loupe there's micro gold all through the heavy red sands.
 

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Crushing some small metal detector finds with mortar and pestle this morning. Loaded with gold hiding in the oxidized rock and red sands. When I look with a loupe there's micro gold all through the heavy red sands.
Either that’s a really small pan or you guys are killing it. That’s pretty awesome.
 

Not long ago I posted about being careful out prospecting because of local mountain lions. Two brothers out hunting for sheds were attacked yesterday one was killed the other is in the hospital with severe injuries. This was in an area where I hunted and prospected hiked and went horseback riding for years just a few miles away.
 

Not long ago I posted about being careful out prospecting because of local mountain lions. Two brothers out hunting for sheds were attacked yesterday one was killed the other is in the hospital with severe injuries. This was in an area where I hunted and prospected hiked and went horseback riding for years just a few miles away.
Yikes.
 

Not long ago I posted about being careful out prospecting because of local mountain lions. Two brothers out hunting for sheds were attacked yesterday one was killed the other is in the hospital with severe injuries. This was in an area where I hunted and prospected hiked and went horseback riding for years just a few miles away.
Yup, Your warning actually applies to all of us, regardless of locale. You should always be aware of your surroundings, and the flora and fauna that are dangerous. It's one reason I refuse to use a headset when metal detecting. How can you hear an audible danger with your ears covered.

Of course, if possible, it's always good to have a partner or two. It's also nice to have knowledge of a defensible position that might allow you to fend off an attack by a predator.

I know there are groups of Coyotes in our area, but they don't seem to be a problem. We have one locally called "Tripod", missing the complete left front leg. He's a Kool Coyote, and you can stop the car and talk to Him, and he just looks and listens.

But Rattlesnakes are our big problem during the warm months. I've had to kill three, one at my front door, and two at the claim.
 

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Nice and warm when the clouds get out of the way. I'm working on my 12-volt mini high banker's sluice I added a Jarvine Riffle to help hold my ribbed rubber v mat down. And to help drop the micro gold! perfect fit I haven't tried it yet but I like the way it looks. I wish I had this years ago runs so quiet and catches the fine gold, but this Jarvine might help a bit. Something at the top under the grizzly to drop the gold a little faster. It's just that big car battery that's a pain but it runs for hours.
 

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Fresh gold with the detector this seems to be the average size! 1 gram plus. My son has been finding these small bits all over our place no concentrations except bullets and nails. I don't have the patience after a few bullets nails and bits of iron and lead bird shot I'm done. Give me a sluice and a good flow I'm happy a lot easier to clean the lead out.
 

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Fresh gold with the detector this seems to be the average size! 1 gram plus. My son has been finding these small bits all over our place no concentrations except bullets and nails. I don't have the patience after a few bullets nails and bits of iron and lead bird shot I'm done. Give me a sluice and a good flow I'm happy a lot easier to clean the lead out.
That's another WOW!! Tell your Son to keep it up. 8-)
My problem with metal detecting, now that I have a definable hearing loss, problems telling one tone from another, makes all you mentioned sound exactly the same to me. The only tone my detector makes that tells me it's a lump of some kind of natural junk metal is a resounding very low loud tone. Everything else is basically a beep.

I even tried putting lead shot and a 1 gram gold bar on the floor, and they both sound the same to me.. Sigh!!
 

That's metal detecting dig all signals if hunting for gold. Headphones and practice I've watched my son call the target iron but still dig it and call gold and out it comes. My hearing is not what it used to be so I don't like headphones can't hear that warning buzz.
 

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Started with about 5" 1/2 grams of concentrates from crushing a metal detector find. A two weeklong soak in Whink then poured off the dirty solution into another pan. recovered 2" 1/2 grams of gold added some dish soap to the saved dirty solution and recovered more micro gold with the help of mercury. The scratches in the bottom of the black plastic pan was loaded with micro gold. I think the gold in the last photo was in suspension and dish soap dropped it.
 

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Started with about 5" 1/2 grams of concentrates from crushing a metal detector find. A two weeklong soak in Whink then poured off the dirty solution into another pan. recovered 2" 1/2 grams of gold added some dish soap to the saved dirty solution and recovered more micro gold with the help of mercury. The scratches in the bottom of the black plastic pan was loaded with micro gold. I think the gold in the last photo was in suspension and dish soap dropped it.
Wonderful! That micro gold is what I get all the time. 90 percent is 300 mesh and smaller. Maybe someday I'll get lucky, and a rock will have a larger piece.
 

Melted some ore slag for a test downwind of course little balls of gold showing through. Time to whack with a single jack and toss in the chain mill and pan. The cupel is sitting in a melting dish for safety to catch any melted gold that makes it through the cracks.
 

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Melted some ore slag for a test downwind of course little balls of gold showing through. Time to whack with a single jack and toss in the chain mill and pan. The cupel is sitting in a melting dish for safety to catch any melted gold that makes it through the cracks.

Glad to see you at it. I was wondering about your progress the other day.

Is this slag you found or from your own smelting?
 

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