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]

I'm battening down the hatches for the upcoming deluge from the hurricane bearing down on us. Weather people say it will be a tropical depression by the time it hits locally, but 50-60 mph winds and possibly 4 to 6 inches of rain in four days will put a long dampening on things.

Only had 25 sandbags, but have them along and above my driveway in the hope they'll divert some water from the property. Also put anything that could blow away inside the shed and shelter. Just hoping my stuff in the back-backyard will survive.

I'm sure a lot of you in the southwest are doing the same. Good luck riding out this storm.

 

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[russau]

My prayer's and thought's go out to you all in the affected area's !

 

[desertgolddigger]

The storm has passed. Wish the weather people could predict the winds better. My mining tent cover got ripped to shreds, and everything inside got wet. Thank goodness 90 percent of what was inside is boxed in totes.

Winds were supposedly to be 25-30mph steady, but ended up over 60mph steady for about three hours. I'm guessing that the storm backside winds were what hit, as I believe tropical storms winds are stronger on the rear of the storms.

I hope all of you are OK and safe. I know the low lying areas at the foot of hills and mountains got zapped with massive floodwaters. Palm Springs area, which is below sea level looked like a lake in some areas.

 

[arizau]

The storm has passed. Wish the weather people could predict the winds better. My mining tent cover got ripped to shreds, and everything inside got wet. Thank goodness 90 percent of what was inside is boxed in totes.

Winds were supposedly to be 25-30mph steady, but ended up over 60mph steady for about three hours. I'm guessing that the storm backside winds were what hit, as I believe tropical storms winds are stronger on the rear of the storms.

I hope all of you are OK and safe. I know the low lying areas at the foot of hills and mountains got zapped with massive floodwaters. Palm Springs area, which is below sea level looked like a lake in some areas.

I'm glad it wasn't worse.
With rain, productive washes on your club claim may have re-concentrated so may need to be rechecked.
Good luck.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I'm glad it wasn't worse.
With rain, productive washes on your club claim may have re-concentrated so may need to be rechecked.
Good luck.

Won't be able to drywash until middle September when it cools a little. And then, I have to wait for the ground to dry out. It took three months after the rains last year, and still, the dirt lower down didn't dry out until exposed. Bedrock tends to hold water in place, keeping the dirt soaked.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Have any of you experienced neighbors who think you can fix all their house maintenance problems? I've a cross street neighbor who had their backyard gate flattened by the storm yesterday.

In the past I've been able to help fix things, but something like this costs money to replace, and I just can't keep dipping into my bank account to maintain someone's broken this or that.

I suggested she call her daughter who lives locally, and see if the son-in-law can purchase, build, and replace the gate..

I guess they got the idea I will just go over, spend the money, and fix everything when it breaks.

I've no family now that all have passed away, so I have to work out my own problems as best as I can, like I prepped for the storm.

As far as I can tell, the cross street neighbors just live in their house, and don't maintain, or cannot afford to maintain their property until things break, then call Caley (me). Sorry to whine, but three times in one year having her knock loudly on my door so I can go over and fix a problem is enough, especially when they have daughter that lives nearby with an able bodied husband who could take a weekend to help family.

 

[robertk]

especially when they have daughter that lives nearby with an able bodied husband who could take a weekend to help family.

I feel your pain. But you might be giving the husband too much credit. There are an awful lot of "able bodied" men these days who are clueless and helpless when it comes to fixing just about anything.

 

[Reed Lukens]

I lost my Harborfreight 10x10 canvas shed cover yesterday also and was able to order a new top thru their parts dept. $58 for the replacement top or $170 for the whole thing, and it lasted 6 years.

 

[russau]

My 10 x 10 still is looking fairly new after 15 year's BUT I haven't used it in 14 & 1/2 years ! it's getting old that kept me from using it ! It was great when I did use it that 1 time !

 

[desertgolddigger]

It's been a bad month in many ways. Concerning my endeavors at getting gold from hard rock, it's been less than what you would call paltry. It's been super strange. Seems my thoughts about getting gold at our club claim from rock might've been premature. Seems what I found is like many of my other finds. I get one or two days getting nice gold, then it shuts off entirely. The downslope hole is a bust. What I'm guessing I found was ultra fine gold that moved down from the main old timer dig, depositing about six inches of over burden. There's basically zero gold in the material below six inches. I'll scrape a few more areas down to six inches to see if I get more of this tiny gold.

August has been very bad when it comes to processing material. More often than not, I end up with a little grouping (1/4 inch scattering) along the corner of the pan. This morning I got more gold from 1/3rd the normal amount of material I usually run, than in the past five sessions of sluicing. August netted me less than 3/10th of a gram to give you some idea of how bad it's been. Probably 15-20 full buckets of material (Maybe 1000 pounds).

So I'm going to break into my bag containing about one ton of large rock I gleaned from the "PIT". Hopefully this stuff will give me a bit better results, and I can finally achieve my goal of 10 grams of mercury/gold amalgam, so I can run my first round on the retort to actually see how much gold I have. I really want to do this several times before I finally try to melt this gold in the furnace to create my first gold button.

I sure will be happy when the heat starts to abate, and I can traipse through the hills to sample areas that look promising. I finally have found that just one pan will not tell me if a particular spot is a good or bad one. I need at least a full bucket in order to actually see this ultra fine gold, as my eyes, even with a loupe, sometimes miss the few specks usually found in just one test pan. So I probably can only test two or three spots, especially if the test area is walk in only.

 

[southfork]

Lately I just gather small samples to test walnut sized easy to crush. If I find a few fly specks I go back and fill a bucket and hope for good color.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Lately I just gather small samples to test walnut sized easy to crush. If I find a few fly specks I go back and fill a bucket and hope for good color.

Unfortunately, for the club claim, all of anything larger than pea gravel has pretty much been found.

As for prospecting, I was referring to material glean from the wash or hillsides, in quest for a hard rock source. Have to find the source before you can work the rock.

 

[desertgolddigger]

It's been a while since my last post.

Shelter Logic never sent me my replacement cover, even though they processed my payment. I'm cancelling my order, and giving them a verbal thumbs down. That is if they will even answer their telephone. They won't answer my emails. I ended up purchasing heavy corrugated plastic sheeting, and screwing it to my shelter framework. Hopefully it'll last longer than the six months or whatever Shelter Logic's cover did.

I've slowly been processing my dirt/gravel from the old timer's waste pile at the club claim. I think I'm getting almost nothing, then reprocess my concentrates that went through both the big and cleanup sluice, only to find gold so fine it fits through a 500 mesh screen.

It actually sticks to my gold pan, in the scratches that I put in it when I seasoned it. This gold is so fine that I can't see it unless it's grouped together. I'm actually getting more of this gold on the reprocessing than the first go around. Kind of tells me that both sluices are dialed in. It's just difficult panning such fine material. Takes me three round of panning before I extract all the gold from the concentrates when panning it.

I haven't been out to get more material. I'm waiting until I clear out all the little mounds I have first. I just don't have the room to store a lot of material.

Still working to get my first 10 grams of amalgam before I get to see how much gold I do have. Almost have a half inch glob of the stuff.

 

[southfork]

It's been a while since my last post.

Shelter Logic never sent me my replacement cover, even though they processed my payment. I'm cancelling my order, and giving them a verbal thumbs down. That is if they will even answer their telephone. They won't answer my emails. I ended up purchasing heavy corrugated plastic sheeting, and screwing it to my shelter framework. Hopefully it'll last longer than the six months or whatever Shelter Logic's cover did.

I've slowly been processing my dirt/gravel from the old timer's waste pile at the club claim. I think I'm getting almost nothing, then reprocess my concentrates that went through both the big and cleanup sluice, only to find gold so fine it fits through a 500 mesh screen.

It actually sticks to my gold pan, in the scratches that I put in it when I seasoned it. This gold is so fine that I can't see it unless it's grouped together. I'm actually getting more of this gold on the reprocessing than the first go around. Kind of tells me that both sluices are dialed in. It's just difficult panning such fine material. Takes me three round of panning before I extract all the gold from the concentrates when panning it.

I haven't been out to get more material. I'm waiting until I clear out all the little mounds I have first. I just don't have the room to store a lot of material.

Still working to get my first 10 grams of amalgam before I get to see how much gold I do have. Almost have a half inch glob of the stuff.

Funny I'm screwing plastic onto an RV shelter frame for a greenhouse. I'm dealing with the micro gold also I know what you mean about sticking to the pan even plastic I brush it down with a soft toothbrush then mercury is my friend. Just think how much of that ultra micro gold rode the tailings out of those dry washers along with some big gold. Have fun be safe.

 

[desertgolddigger]

It has been a few frustrating days out at the club claim, until this morning.

I thought I'd dig where I'd been getting some gold, but two days of drywashing netted me about 10 specks in some 12 buckets.

So I resorted to a guess, and that guess was to use Google Earth to view the claim from above, looking at the wash I've worked in for the past two years. Up stream about 50 yards I viewed a point where two smaller washes feed into the main wash. On either side there are two cuts going uphill, one from a small prospect. I figured all the water converging has to have created a huge mixing force.

This morning I walked the wash until I found this area, and backed up until I got to a big bend that has about a 10 foot wide raised area on the inside of that bend.

I only dug out 3 full buckets, bur managed 10 pieces ranging in size from 30 to 70 mesh, with a couple of specks of smaller size.

I need to dig down to bedrock, and run another 20-30 buckets to determine if the location has consistent gold.

It looks like no one has worked this area in several years, probably more like five years or more, based on the deposited dirt and rock. It is a natural mix, versus what I had been working in, which were sorted piles.

Anyway, I'm back to placer mining, and this will be my primary way of getting gold. My hard rock ore I have on hand will just be something for fun. Hopefully this fall and winter I can find my own hard rock ore deposit. Hopefully in an area not visible from roads. I don't want to file a claim on something that might not pay for the claim fees.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Second day of testing the new location at the club claim. Still looks good so far. Took me three hours to chip away at this raised area in the wash, and only managed 9 buckets of material classified with a 1/4 mesh screen.

I got what I call my first baby picker which is somewhere between 16 and 30 mesh. Got four mini pickers which are somewhere between 30 and 50 mesh. And another 30 pieces between 50 and 100 mesh. All picked up with tweezers. I used the mercury ball to get all the smaller stuff.

I did something different processing my concentrates. I still panned everything bigger than 50 mesh, but used my mini cleanup sluice for everything smaller. Definitely saved me some time.

To me, this was a good day, and will try again with another 9 or so buckets to make sure the gold wasn't just a fluke.

Also back doing road paving work, trying to firm up our access road, and areas where recent rains have made some areas in the washes kind of squishy. Trying to get the worst parts done before the club campout in November.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Was out at the club claim again this morning, duplicating my previous digging endeavour. I got abut the same amount of gold as my previous outing, though no baby pickers; just five mini pickers with 35 smaller pieces from smaller than 70 mesh.

I guess this answers my question as to whether my first outing was a fluke. It wasn't. Although not a lot of gold, it seems to be fairly consistent. My last digging location was totally unpredictable, and was towards the end, giving me almost nothing, I'll stick with this location. At twice a week, it should give me about six months of digging, then I'll have to find another location.

A few year back I could dig 20 full buckets for drywashing. Now, this old body of mine barely handles nine buckets. Getting older is getting to be a literal pain, as well as getting tired more easily. Guess that's just like everyone else in my age group.

 

[russau]

Well DGD at least your still out there digging ! As long as you can keep it up the better you will feel in the long run.....Believe me I know what happens to these ole body's when you slow down and stop doing what we love to do ! GOOD LUCK in your endeavor's !

 

[desertgolddigger]

I've a question for those who own the K&M Krusher 11 inch electric chain mill.

I ordered chains from a security company who has these types of chains. But 3/4 of my order they substituted the German version of this sized chain. All dimensions are the same, with the exception of the length of each link, which is 1/4 inch shorter. This means the milling link is about 1/4 inch higher, and is causing my mill to fill up, and shut it down.

Is there any safe way to extend the end links? Or is there a way to use the chain, and have it work?

I lost $150 because of this company's decision to substitute, and I cannot send them back, as they were custom cut for me.

 

[southfork]

I've a question for those who own the K&M Krusher 11 inch electric chain mill.

I ordered chains from a security company who has these types of chains. But 3/4 of my order they substituted the German version of this sized chain. All dimensions are the same, with the exception of the length of each link, which is 1/4 inch shorter. This means the milling link is about 1/4 inch higher, and is causing my mill to fill up, and shut it down.

Is there any safe way to extend the end links? Or is there a way to use the chain, and have it work?

I lost $150 because of this company's decision to substitute, and I cannot send them back, as they were custom cut for me.

I tried to find a cheaper way to replace chains and only ran into problems with length. The chains I'm using now are just a hair to long and hit the bolt heads until they wear down a little. Not sure where KN buys chain and I doubt they will tell we need to just pay the price until we find out where they get there's. The chain I'm using now was cheaper but too long by just a little and is real loud until things wear down a little it was the security type off amazon. I have some truck snow chain cross links I need to cut and try. You could hard face weld across the end link to make it longer but most likely not worth the effort or cost.