One 5 Gallon Bucket

[AzViper]

This is from this Saturday’s digging. We did not bother to sample this past Saturday and just went down to dig as we were confident we were on the gold. This is from one 5 gallon bucket that we classified to 1/2" while digging then further classified to run through the sluice. The second photo is some of the clay balls. Sorry for the quality of the gold photo. My buddy insists on using his iPhone and has no clue how to take a photo.

Also this is from the first run. We run it a second time and recover more due to the clay.



Some other gold that came out of the same hole the week before. We have yet to finish processing all from that weeks dig.

 

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[Sawyer]

Looks like you need to spend more time at your spot---that looks rich! Congrats!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Hey Keith! We've still got about 2-1/2 buckets left to process from last weekend down the gulch from you. Looks like the gold is pretty consistent between the two locations. Got the cons panned down this afternoon and got a little over 3 grams out of them not counting the tiny tiny stuff that I'll save up for amalgamation later. The bagged cons pretty much turned into giant clay balls when they dried out a little but broke back up very quickly.

Sluice gets the tweaks done on it tomorrow and then I'll run the rest of that material. I don't know about you but I really think we owe Barry a beer or two for his help.

 

[DesertNuggets]

Very nice. Is this from your time around Greaterville?

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

recover more due to the clay.

View attachment 852794

Who's jealous?,.. this guy!

I'd love to play with spray nozzles and those damn clay balls! Gotta be a way to kill'm.

I rebuilt a chipper/shredder for my dad and I keep coming back to swinging breaker bars or chain. If it's as hard as what I had to dig in the back yard, you'd almost need a rock crusher. I'm thinking a slightly longer version of this:



Around 1:20 he opens it up and you can see the bars.

Or even a simple manual pipe tamper type crusher. I use a 10' piece of 2" pvc with a cap on the end that 3/4 filled with sand to tamp the soil <cough> back into holes. A shorter piece that you could fill in the field would be like a portable sledge hammer.

 

[AzViper]

I don't know about you but I really think we owe Barry a beer or two for his help.

I would enjoy sitting down and having a beer with Barry and You...

 

[AzViper]

I knew in the back of my mind that we were not getting the rocks and clay balls complete broken up and clean. Until the trommel is completed we are taking what does not pass through the 1/4" classifier and placing the rock and small clay balls in this cut down 15 gallon barrel with water and using a paint mixer, works like a charm. The rocks I thought were completely clean were not. The rocks are now completely clean and retrieve a little more possible paydirt. Will pan it just to have a look.

 

[kazcoro]

Why do I get excited to see a handful of sludge in the bottom of a bucket? Good to see that you didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. That is a good idea to use the mixer. The idea that came to mind right now is to use a carpet roller to crush it. It is not rock, so it would not take too much to crush it up. But, using the water has to get more material out.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Keith... Have you been checking your black sands from K.G. for flour gold and finding any? After pulling out the magnetic sands I've been finding a lot of Galena along with some flour. I need to magnify it to be sure but some of those "Sands" sure do shimmer.

 

[AzViper]

Keith... Have you been checking your black sands from K.G. for flour gold and finding any? After pulling out the magnetic sands I've been finding a lot of Galena along with some flour. I need to magnify it to be sure but some of those "Sands" sure do shimmer.

We are finding flour gold but I have not seen any Galena.

 

[AzViper]

Very nice. Is this from your time around Greaterville?

Hi DesertNuggets,

Yes I have been working this area. Had been working the Arivaca area but have given up on this area due to the illegal activity. To bad as that area I have hunted for years and its just gone to crap. Plus I can be onsite in 45 minutes from my home.

 

[AzViper]

Yet some more gold from last Saturdays trip southeast Arizona. We still have about 10 buckets to run. Can't want to get the trommel in action. This classifying, breaking up clay balls, etc. is for the birds.

 

[elgatodelnoche]

I got some steel balls sitting around if any Arizona folks are looking to build a ball mill out of a portable cement mixer.

 

[Doitlaynstyle]

That's some pretty hot ground AZ. Your trommel is going to tear that stuff up! Cant wait to see a video after you get it dialed in.