Need Advice on gold concentrates sunk in lake

[Kenjmor2006]

​Hello all,hope I have this posted in the right place,i have first hand knowledge of three barrels of concentrates that was sunk in a lake, it has been over 50 years ,the gold was sunk in the lake after a mine robbery the 3 men cut a hole in the ice (wintertime) and dropped three 30 inch by 18 inch oak barrels in the lake.The barrels weighted just over 200 pounds each, This was from a mine robbery. Now here is the problem, the water is approximately 15 feet deep where it was dropped There are some kind of stringy weeds growing from the bottom thick,so cant run a metal detector,nor see the bottom. I would like to hear ideas on how to proceed, Thanks for reading.......Ken

 

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[Sandman]

Get scuba training to look for the barrels. They won't be laying on top of the muck.

 

[Kenjmor2006]

Get scuba training to look for I am not for sure that the detector would find the barrelsthe barrels. They won't be laying on top of the muck.

Forgot to mention I have already scuba-ed and that's when I seen the big weeds or what ever it is,the weeds are almost to the top of the water,I have underwater metal detector made by white. the weeds are really thick I was thinking maybe a fish locator.

 

[Hitndahed]

Man,,,
50 years worth of settling,,, in shallow bottom muck.
In my opinion,,, those barrels are far below the reach of any detector I am aware of.
Maybe spend some time with a LONG thin metal PROBE,,,
Noting all "hits" and "sounds" that the probe returns.
I would approach this as a giant privy,,,but with GRIDDING.

 

[Sandman]

I assume the barrels are below the surface of the muck so fish locator is out. But probes are a good idea.

 

[releventchair]

Were the barrels not flush or below the silt ,and stumps not present ,a fishfinder with a grey line adjustment similar to locating bottom hugging fish could work.
Weeds die off in winter after being deprived of sunlight long enough making early spring a good time to survey.

A waterproof two-box or similar capability detector should locate large buried targets.

 

[Hobo]

What kind of a botton in the lake, sandy, mud , rocky. natural lake. reservoir. ?? What kind of concentrates? if the contained lots of black sand, thats anouther problem. barrels with iron bands?

Maybe in the spring the weeds might be less.

 

[huntsman53]

If the concentrates are heavy on Gold and Black Sand, it might be possible to find them using an Aquascan Aquapulse or Fisher Pulse 8X.


Frank

 

[Kenjmor2006]

I want to thank you all for the advise,here is what I know the bottom is rocky(small stones) with sandy soil,the concentrate is electrum that was processed by floatation ,the concentrate is 85 percent pure electrum (electrum= half gold ,half silver) weight was suppose to be close to 208 lbs a barrel. The Lake is a small natural lake,not man made.

 

[Hobo]

Wwith a rocky bottom they probably didn't sink too far into the sand and rocks but electum would be heavy so the barrels could be small if they were full. I think copper sulfate will kill vegetation in lakes and not harm fish. Wildlife people use it at times.I f the electrum is a natural alloy it will probably be small particles which will be hard to detect.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

600 pounds of barrels and 600 pounds of men plus whatever gear or vehicles all in one spot on the ice. Good ice

So how big is the search area? An acre? Er ...what?

The weeds at the bottom are thin wisps compared the the broad-leaf at the top, usually, unless the water is so clear that light penetrates well despite all the shade from the upper leaves. I'd go swimming along the bottom to see what is down there.

Clearing weeds manually is not that bad a deal, but if your search area is huge the problem can be huge.

Depending on oxygen conditions those barrels might still be visible, even if broken apart.

600 pounds of material ... we have to consider ounces per ton likely in the concentrates.

We don't know about your site, and obviously you wouldn't want to publish that info, but is there some reason no one went after this at the time or since?

 

[Kenjmor2006]

The reason no one has went after the barrels was because there was three who done the robbery,and two of them were killed the third is in the penitentiary for life,he told a friend of mine who visited him and wants a share for his family,all told it would be worth close to 4 million dollars now.You cant swim in the weeds,too thick,cant run a metal detector too thick,thank you again for the advise.The are to search is too broad to manually clean the weeds,I will check copper sulfate and see if that will work,thanks for the idea.

 

[Kenjmor2006]

Again the barrels were 30x18 inches,and yes very fine particles of electrum.

 

[releventchair]

Killing the weeds would require their removal still.
A weed razor could be built if lake was private (I seek no details).
Depending on lake depth, water clarity , and bottom contours ,weeds seldom grow beyond sixteen feet of depth.
Several feet of water ,again depending on visibility , may not hide a small barrel in clear water.

Then too... recovery by those who placed barrels, if beyond waist deep , would require more time and equipment.
If allowed and not impacting fish or critters I'd lean towards a small ,self built folding weed razor weighted enough to feel a clunk on an object , but light enough to deploy repeatedly.
Light small cold rolled stock grappling hooks to pull cut/dead weeds.

 

[Hobo]

The electrum would be very hard to detect, if there is no other metal with the barrels, but imo there is a very good chance the barrels had iron rings on them which will be very easy to detect.

 

[Kenjmor2006]

The barrels had iron bands and for the one that said good ice I was told they rolled the barrels out on the ice then cut a hole in the ice and dropped the barrels in approximately 50 feet from shore,just where they rolled it is not clear ,the men were trying to ditch the barrels to keep from getting caught, It just happened to be where they dropped them,there was a lot of weeds along the shore line out quite a ways .I cant get by with too much because of fish habitat.One man suggested to use rock salt to kill the weeds,I will wait untill winter and dive under the ice if I have too.

 

[Kenjmor2006]

Yes the barrels had iron rings,you would be surprised to know how many houses can be built around a lake in 50 years,new development,I found out today by research that the mine is closed long ago and the FBI was looking for the concentrate because it was stolen interstate shipment (new can of worms ).