Placer Claim Mined Out?

[desertgolddigger]

I belong to a local club that owns a claim. This club has had this claim for many years, and acquired it after the old timers had mined it previously, and others after they commercial outfits closed up.
I walked quite a bit of the 160 acre claim, and noted that just about every wash had been worked. Most of the surface nuggets has also been detected by those with gold detectors. In other words, this place has been picked over and over and over.
But I m a stubborn type of person, and I figured, just watching how people ram their puffer and blower drywashers, that some gold was just being blown through them. maybe not much, but some small stuff that never got a chance to settle behind the riffles.
I know many of you would never go to the effort of digging for three to four hours through the tailings in these washes. Again, I'm a bit stubborn, and anyway, I just wanted to have some fun locally, instead of driving 300 miles roundtrip to something that gives a little more for less effort.
I've spent the last three weeks, digging a few times a week along about 30 yards of wash, and have recovered just about a gram of gold. That might not seem like much, but I have only dug up 5 grams, not counting this one gram in almost 20 years out here drywashing in the desert of southern California.
As you would know, things always seem to go wrong. My gas powered blower motor decided it was time for the repair shop, and haven't heard from the shop in two weeks. So I purchased a WORX WG521 corded electric leaf blower to use with my Royal Large drywasher. I'm using a portable generator to provide the power. And it actually is working better than with my old gas powered blower. I have to run the blower on the lowest speed, or I just blow everything through the riffles. Results are very good, as I am getting gold specks so small that I will have to use the Blue bowl in order to recover them.
I'm not only getting a little gold, I'm having some fun, and I am getting a good workout. I've lost 10 pounds since I started. So things are going well.
I'm still digging test holes around the old time hard rock mines in the hope I will find where the gold has drifted downhill below these mines. So far just a couple specks here and there. I figure I just have to move laterally one way or the other before I get something better Of course, I' don't really know if the old timers stripped the hillsides. Even if they have, they apparently aren't as thorough as I am. I hope that I may be lucky and find a larger piece of gold that the old timers, previous placer miners, and detectorists have missed.
Hope everyone is having as much fun as I have been having.

 

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[desertgolddigger]

My chain mill likes it all unless wet. Never backs up I pour sand down it's throat all the time moisture is my enemy. If you're getting thermal shutdown maybe overloading a bit? feeding too fast I've, had it happen when rushing things. It makes a lot of noise when fed larger than a 1/4 inch. Before I had a jaw crusher, I was stuffing whatever would fit down it's throat and sounded like a bucket of bolts.

I think the reason I have that shutdown is that my source for chains sent me the correct diameter for the chains, but each link is 1/4 inch shorter. So my chains don't reach out towards the sides as close as the old chains. My pea gravel went through fine, but smaller doesn't get knocked around until it fills up enough for the chains to reach the material in the housing.

I'm just dealing with what I have, trying to find a way to at least get use out of these shorter chains until I need to purchase more, which hopefully will be the correct link length. What I have are the German version which are a tad harder than what I've been getting. I'm guessing since they're of German origin, they're metric.

One positive is that my screens aren't getting destroyed like with the American version.

 

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[southfork]

I think the reason I have that shutdown is that my source for chains sent me the correct diameter for the chains, but each link is 1/4 inch shorter. So my chains don't reach out towards the sides as close as the old chains. My pea gravel went through fine, but smaller doesn't get knocked around until it fills up enough for the chains to reach the material in the housing.

I'm just dealing with what I have, trying to find a way to at least get use out of these shorter chains until I need to purchase more, which hopefully will be the correct link length. What I have are the German version which are a tad harder than what I've been getting. I'm guessing since they're of German origin, they're metric.

One positive is that my screens aren't getting destroyed like with the American version.

I have some chain off amazon that are just a little longer than stock and run super close to the screen. I cut them myself to try and save a buck not worth the extra work. I have some truck tire chains that I will cut and try next no matter what you use the material piles up in the back. But acts like a chute I rerun most of that on clean out.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I changed to my longer chains this morning. The material, regardless of size, ran fairly well. I still wait at least a minute between two scoop full of material.

I managed to process almost half of the dirt and pea gravel from the old timers waste pile. Results were surprising, with nearly twice what I was getting out of the hole I dug, just down the slope. As usual, the gold is very small at smaller than 300 mesh.

Here's something that puzzles me. After two days of sluicing, and panning material, and adding the gold to the mercury ball, I ended up 1/10th gram lighter than the mercury ball starting weight. I always check my pan to ensure no mercury got stuck in the waste material. My only guess is that my scale sucks, as I've been having this problem the past year, never getting the same weight two days in a row

Anyone have a scale they think is super accurate to the hundredth of a gram?

 

[southfork]

I changed to my longer chains this morning. The material, regardless of size, ran fairly well. I still wait at least a minute between two scoop full of material.

I managed to process almost half of the dirt and pea gravel from the old timers waste pile. Results were surprising, with nearly twice what I was getting out of the hole I dug, just down the slope. As usual, the gold is very small at smaller than 300 mesh.

Here's something that puzzles me. After two days of sluicing, and panning material, and adding the gold to the mercury ball, I ended up 1/10th gram lighter than the mercury ball starting weight. I always check my pan to ensure no mercury got stuck in the waste material. My only guess is that my scale sucks, as I've been having this problem the past year, never getting the same weight two days in a row

Anyone have a scale they think is super accurate to the hundredth of a gram?

I just bought a Weigh Gram Digital pocket scale to weigh some small gold. Not sure what the capacities are yet I guess I need to read the directions.

 

[HeavyMetalThunder]

I changed to my longer chains this morning. The material, regardless of size, ran fairly well. I still wait at least a minute between two scoop full of material.

I managed to process almost half of the dirt and pea gravel from the old timers waste pile. Results were surprising, with nearly twice what I was getting out of the hole I dug, just down the slope. As usual, the gold is very small at smaller than 300 mesh.

Here's something that puzzles me. After two days of sluicing, and panning material, and adding the gold to the mercury ball, I ended up 1/10th gram lighter than the mercury ball starting weight. I always check my pan to ensure no mercury got stuck in the waste material. My only guess is that my scale sucks, as I've been having this problem the past year, never getting the same weight two days in a row

Anyone have a scale they think is super accurate to the hundredth of a gram?

Nature of the beast with portable electronic scales at consumer price points...

have you checked your scales calibration/ accuracy lately...it should have come with a test weight, likely a just a 50 g. weight and likely instructions on how to test for calibration PASS/ FAILon the case/cover...perhaps you might have to look up instructions for your scale online.

EMI/RFI...is your scale in close proximity 1'-2' of any electric hand tool, rock crusher motor or microwave, radio speaker...they'll have a affect running or not...a more pronounced effect if they're running.

Is your scale by anything made of iron/ steel...hammer, wrenches, steel work bench, vise that has picked up a magnetic field and needs degaussing?

Old batteries?

 

[desertgolddigger]

I've done a bit more reading about mercury, and how the weight of my mercury/gold amalgam could be reduced in weight without my seeing anything obvious.

Seems mercury can combine with other things than non-ferrous metals. It can combine with chlorine, and sulfur to name a couple of them.

I noted silvery specks in my panning tailings, that were not mercury balls. These were very small and flat, something too small to tweeze. I'm guessing I'm getting loss from one of these other elements/minerals, of which I can't do anything about. I'll make sure I dispose of the remains of my panning way out in the desert.

All I can do is write down my current weight to use as a reference.

My scale is accurate, after calibration with provided weights.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I finally did the last version of my check of the material from the old timer waste pile. This time I only ran the pea gravel, no dirt. I ended up with a little less than my last run that contained both pea gravel and dirt.

While most of you wouldn't bother with the small returns for effort that I'm dealing with, the results are still better than last year, which got me discouraged by what I had thought was zero gold. Like I said in the previous posts, I wasn't looking for smaller than 300 mesh gold, and I missed it due to me trying to pan results, instead of what I'm doing, sluicing.

To me, while the take won't pay for my gas, it still means I'm finding gold that I hope, will eventually net me one ounce of the yellow stuff from hard rock mining.

Tomorrow is my scheduled day out, so I'll go to the club claim, and sift out the pea gravel, minus anything smaller than 1/16 inch. Hopefully I can load my truck with 15 half buckets. I'll probably pile the dirt in a pile for drywashing at a later date.

I'm guessing it will only have possibly 1/10th gram when those 15 half buckets are processed. I'll try to save all the gold from those in a different mercury ball, so I can see how much gold came out of them.

 

[southfork]

I finally did the last version of my check of the material from the old timer waste pile. This time I only ran the pea gravel, no dirt. I ended up with a little less than my last run that contained both pea gravel and dirt.

While most of you wouldn't bother with the small returns for effort that I'm dealing with, the results are still better than last year, which got me discouraged by what I had thought was zero gold. Like I said in the previous posts, I wasn't looking for smaller than 300 mesh gold, and I missed it due to me trying to pan results, instead of what I'm doing, sluicing.

To me, while the take won't pay for my gas, it still means I'm finding gold that I hope, will eventually net me one ounce of the yellow stuff from hard rock mining.

Tomorrow is my scheduled day out, so I'll go to the club claim, and sift out the pea gravel, minus anything smaller than 1/16 inch. Hopefully I can load my truck with 15 half buckets. I'll probably pile the dirt in a pile for drywashing at a later date.

I'm guessing it will only have possibly 1/10th gram when those 15 half buckets are processed. I'll try to save all the gold from those in a different mercury ball, so I can see how much gold came out of them.

I finally did the last version of my check of the material from the old timer waste pile. This time I only ran the pea gravel, no dirt. I ended up with a little less than my last run that contained both pea gravel and dirt.

While most of you wouldn't bother with the small returns for effort that I'm dealing with, the results are still better than last year, which got me discouraged by what I had thought was zero gold. Like I said in the previous posts, I wasn't looking for smaller than 300 mesh gold, and I missed it due to me trying to pan results, instead of what I'm doing, sluicing.

To me, while the take won't pay for my gas, it still means I'm finding gold that I hope, will eventually net me one ounce of the yellow stuff from hard rock mining.

Tomorrow is my scheduled day out, so I'll go to the club claim, and sift out the pea gravel, minus anything smaller than 1/16 inch. Hopefully I can load my truck with 15 half buckets. I'll probably pile the dirt in a pile for drywashing at a later date.

I'm guessing it will only have possibly 1/10th gram when those 15 half buckets are processed. I'll try to save all the gold from those in a different mercury ball, so I can see how much gold came out of them.

Thats a lot of gravel it takes me all day start to finish to run a bucket. And I take breaks to hot today I have a bucket waiting for me.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Thats a lot of gravel it takes me all day start to finish to run a bucket. And I take breaks to hot today I have a bucket waiting for me.

This gravel sizes from 1/16 to 1/4 inch. It takes me less than an hour to mill it, and sift with the electric sifter. And then it takes me another half hour to run it through the big sluice, and mini concentration sluice.

I'll still have to run the material that drops on the catch buckets again, as I've discovered some of the super fine gold finds a way to get all the way through both sluices.

So it's a couple hours to process one bucket of pea gravel. Of course, the 80 mesh and smaller material I sluice is only fifty percent of the original. I either need to regrind these larger particles, or put it in the cement mixer ball mill to mash it to paste.

My scale brought me a figure of .002 grams for today's take. That works out to .15 gram per ton. Not very good if it continues that way

 

[desertgolddigger]

I was out at the club claim this morning, sifting pea gravel, and picking out possible larger ore. I thought I could gather 15 half buckets, never realizing that was not possible here in the heat of summer. I only managed a little less than 8 half buckets.

I processed the possible larger pieces of ore, and basically got zilch. It had just enough gold so that I could see it under a 10X loupe. Won't be picking out that type of ore again. It's a waste of time

Will find out if continuing to gather this waste pile pea gravel is worth it after running this current load.

 

[southfork]

This gravel sizes from 1/16 to 1/4 inch. It takes me less than an hour to mill it, and sift with the electric sifter. And then it takes me another half hour to run it through the big sluice, and mini concentration sluice.

I'll still have to run the material that drops on the catch buckets again, as I've discovered some of the super fine gold finds a way to get all the way through both sluices.

So it's a couple hours to process one bucket of pea gravel. Of course, the 80 mesh and smaller material I sluice is only fifty percent of the original. I either need to regrind these larger particles, or put it in the cement mixer ball mill to mash it to paste.

My scale brought me a figure of .002 grams for today's take. That works out to .15 gram per ton. Not very good if it continues that way

That seems like a small amount of gold for the work maybe test buckets from different spots on the claim. Just a couple from each spot until you find a little gold keep record of the better spots. When I was younger it was always a couple of days or more round trip.

 

[desertgolddigger]

That seems like a small amount of gold for the work maybe test buckets from different spots on the claim. Just a couple from each spot until you find a little gold keep record of the better spots. When I was younger it was always a couple of days or more round trip.

The pea gravel seems to be common to some of these old timer digs. I'm guessing it occurs when they are chiseling their way through the rock. I'm also guessing that they were mainly interested in the larger pieces of ore, 1/2 inch and larger, and just tossed this smaller stuff as too much to bother with.

I've seen this gravel at three locations now, and all have gold in them; not a lot, but usually a thin line one to two inches long in the pan. To me this amount is worthwhile, though like I said, most people would probably turn their noses up at it.

The stuff I processed this morning was larger than 1/2 inch, and while it did contain a miniscule amount of gold, it isn't worth my time to sort through.

This waste pile, I estimate, has 100-150 buckets of pea gravel. It's huge. It came from a vertical shaft mine.

If this weeks test of a couple buckets worth doesn't produce much, then I still have the hole I dug downslope that does have gold. But I want to work the easier part first, as starting a hole in hard rock is very difficult, even with a hammer drill.

As for testing around the claim, I've done a lot of that, and also moved off claim, doing some testing. None produced anything, except the hole downslope I just mentioned.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I just finished an amateur assay on half bucket of crushed pea gravel ore. I didn't even have to weigh it, as the gold barely shoed on the pan. I'm not going to waste my time with this pea gravel. I'll just head down slope and start digging a few more buckets in the hole I started. If another of my amateur assays shows the same, then I'm back to no new sources of hard rock gold, and will have to go looking again.

On another note, my chain mill bearings may've started to give out. I've ordered another two sets from K&M Krushers. I also need to find a decent grease designed for these bearings, with some kind of applicator. What I have now is a liquid grease in a squeeze bottle. I'm guessing it isn't thick enough for the kind of use it is being put to.

 

[arizau]

I just finished an amateur assay on half bucket of crushed pea gravel ore. I didn't even have to weigh it, as the gold barely shoed on the pan. I'm not going to waste my time with this pea gravel. I'll just head down slope and start digging a few more buckets in the hole I started. If another of my amateur assays shows the same, then I'm back to no new sources of hard rock gold, and will have to go looking again.

On another note, my chain mill bearings may've started to give out. I've ordered another two sets from K&M Krushers. I also need to find a decent grease designed for these bearings, with some kind of applicator. What I have now is a liquid grease in a squeeze bottle. I'm guessing it isn't thick enough for the kind of use it is being put to.

If the chain mill has zerks then pick up a small grease gun and a can of grease at a hdwe or car parts store.
Good luck.

 

[desertgolddigger]

If the chain mill has zerks then pick up a small grease gun and a can of grease at a hdwe or car parts store.
Good luck.

It has two places you unscrew tiny plugs. You have to inject the grease in the hole once the caps are removed while rotating the shaft to get complete coverage. Then replace the caps to keep the dirt out.

 

[southfork]

It has two places you unscrew tiny plugs. You have to inject the grease in the hole once the caps are removed while rotating the shaft to get complete coverage. Then replace the caps to keep the dirt out.

I have a K M Krusher also it has zerks I don't understand the plugs? You should be able to install zerk fitting to make things easy.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I have a K M Krusher also it has zerks I don't understand the plugs? You should be able to install zerk fitting to make things easy.

Went out and looked at those two plugs more closely. They seem to have a pin hole in them, but I can't imagine how you could squeeze thick grease through such a small hole.

 

[arizau]

Went out and looked at those two plugs more closely. They seem to have a pin hole in them, but I can't imagine how you could squeeze thick grease through such a small hole.

Sounds like you do have zerk fittings. The holes are pressure fittings and a grease gun squeezes grease past them to lubricate the bearings....ask at the store how to use one.

 

[southfork]

Sounds like you do have zerk fittings. The holes are pressure fittings and a grease gun squeezes grease past them to lubricate the bearings....ask at the store how to use one.

I just recently bought a little cartridge pump grease gun easy to use and cleaner.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I just recently bought a little cartridge pump grease gun easy to use and cleaner.

I already ordered something, not understanding what a Zerks fitting was. So I'll have to remove the Zerks, stick the pointed nozzle in the hole, and squeeze while rotating the shaft of the mill.

I just hope I can figure out how to take all that stuff apart, and put it all back together, and still have it work. I'm not mechanically inclined at all.