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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[Jim in Idaho]

I have a spin it off magnet and it has been really handy. Some guys from the club gave me a hard time when I bought it at a gold show. Curious what your setup looks like.

I'll be posting some videos on the dry sluice this summer. Fairly simple setup, but definitely outside-the-box thinking. It appears to work really well, on the Snake River flour, but I want more testing of the new riffle design. I'm confident that if it recovers gems, it should work very well on heavy metals of any size. I'm currently building a feed auger to feed it....a controlled feed rate is critical to its performance.
Jim

 

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[Jim in Idaho]

I have a gold cube/golden rule classifier set. Very well made. A spin it off seems really handy.

Thanks, Sid. I'm looking at the set with all 16 screens, but I'm curious about it and contacted Mike. The ad says it's a 4-screen cleanup set, but the description says it comes with 16 screens. Obviously, I'm missing something...LOL
Jim

 

[arizau]

Thanks, Sid. I'm looking at the set with all 16 screens, but I'm curious about it and contacted Mike. The ad says it's a 4-screen cleanup set, but the description says it comes with 16 screens. Obviously, I'm missing something...LOL
Jim

16 screens are in the "Pro Pack", ranging 4 to 400 mesh. That is what I have. Probably won't use some of the larger mesh screens...maybe good for gem sorting though?
The "Clean Up Pack" has 4 screens, 16,30,50 and 100. If you could add the 200 and 400 the combo would be the most useful fo gold cleanup in my opinion....gold bigger than 30 mesh can be picked out by hand.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

16 screens are in the "Pro Pack", ranging 4 to 400 mesh. That is what I have. Probably won't use some of the larger mesh screens...maybe good for gem sorting though?
The "Clean Up Pack" has 4 screens, 16,30,50 and 100. If you could add the 200 and 400 the combo would be the most useful fo gold cleanup in my opinion....gold bigger than 30 mesh can be picked out by hand.

The title said 4 screen cleanup pack, but the description said it included 16 screens. We'll see when he responds to my question. The price was almost $83, which is more than buying the jars with one screen, and then adding 3 more screens. That only comes to a little over $70. Doesn't make sense. I agree that most screens a gold prospector would never use. I've got lots of plastic classifiers to do that chore. The ones I want are the 100, 200, and 400.
Jim

 

[southfork]

This morning I got out and sealed one seam on my new sluicing tent wall. Then I mucked out the two water troughs, and finally changed the chains in my chain mill. Why? Weatherman said howling winds for the next three days, so I figured I'd get a few things done before the Sun stirs the atmosphere up.

Since I'm stuck indoors, I decided to sift my 300 mesh material and smaller with my 4 inch 500 mesh sieve. There was very little material, but when I panned just to see what was there, my eyes grew wide. The picture shows 500 mesh and smaller. I'm not good with macro photography, but you can see a big line of the yellow stuff.

I guess my sluicing and panning are adequate. Based on my magnifying lense I used, some of this gold is probably close to 800 mesh

For a long time, I've used the dreaded mercury to recover the micro gold. A small amount in the pan picks up most of the micro gold. It can be used safely when you use proper methods when working with small amounts of concentrates.

 

[desertgolddigger]

For a long time, I've used the dreaded mercury to recover the micro gold. A small amount in the pan picks up most of the micro gold. It can be used safely when you use proper methods when working with small amounts of concentrates.

Yes, I've been using it until recently. I'm a bit of a worrywart, always thinking I will goof up somehow, and contaminate either myself, or the environment. I sure wish I had someone locally to show me how to use my retort. I know it's supposedly simple, but I really learn, and gain confidence when I have someone do a show and tell.

I'll probably have to resume the Mercury slurping up that fine gold, but will have to wait to get the gold released until I do find someone to show me.

Confidence with dangerous things is another reason why I haven't tried to use my gas furnace. I just need someone locally to walk me through. Having videos show you is fine, but hands on, show and tell is the way I learn, and as said, gain confidence.

 

[southfork]

Yes, I've been using it until recently. I'm a bit of a worrywart, always thinking I will goof up somehow, and contaminate either myself, or the environment. I sure wish I had someone locally to show me how to use my retort. I know it's supposedly simple, but I really learn, and gain confidence when I have someone do a show and tell.

I'll probably have to resume the Mercury slurping up that fine gold, but will have to wait to get the gold released until I do find someone to show me.

Confidence with dangerous things is another reason why I haven't tried to use my gas furnace. I just need someone locally to walk me through. Having videos show you is fine, but hands on, show and tell is the way I learn, and as said, gain confidence.

Learning how to use the retort is easy I boiled pure water in mine just to watch the steam and check the seal. I load it now with amalgam fire up the burner and back off and get up wind. A glass jar with water makes it easy to watch. With the furnace just melt some lead to get use to it. Safety first gloves and goggles and a respirator outside with fresh air is best again up wind no telling what fumes carry.

 

[desertgolddigger]

went to the claim today to get away from the four walls. As usual, I dug in the old timers waste pile in the hope I'd get some of that ultra fine gold, and based on running one third bucket of processed material 100 mesh and smaller, I did quite well. The dirt was OK, but the 1/2 inch and smaller pebbles produced about twice the gold as the dirt. Overall, I had a nice three inch visible line of that 300 mesh and smaller gold.

I may go back tomorrow so I don't have to contend with the out-of-towners that ply the roads out there with their four wheel toys, tearing up what were nice roads. They also are creating new ones with the destruction of a lot of plants ground into the ground. I don't know the BLM OHV rules, but I would think they are supposed to stay on established roads, and not destroy plants or wildlife. I'm sure hope one of these speed demons doesn't kill our one endangered species, the Desert Tortoise.They're super rare. I've only seen then about half a dozen times in 20 years.

EDITED: Guess I won't go tomorrow. The wind is back until late tomorrow.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Wouldn't you know it, the weatherperson now says winds up to 50mph from 2 PM to Midnight. I just looked again. Now the forecast for the next two days is rain, instead of warm and dry. Nothing is ever going to dry out. This is the windiest, and most consistent rain I can remember in the 20 plus years I've lived out here.

So I just went ahead with another of my tests, and ran another half bucket of water trough slag. Got exactly what I thought I'd get, 300 minus gold, a thin line about an inch long. Again, there were hundreds of these small specks.

I moved my trough slag pile to another area so it can dry out, and get reprocessed. Figure the 30 buckets might produced 1/10th gram. I get so little gold, I need to eke out as much as I can, instead of throwing away half like I used to because I sluiced material too fast.

One other note. It seems that when I classify things 80-149 mesh and run that slowly, I get most of the gold. Then I run the 150 minus, and get most of the gold in that material. This seems to be the sweet spot, where the larger material isn't pushing the gold right off the end of the sluice. Hopefully, running material two to three times might become a thing of the past. Just need to properly classify the material, and then run it slowly. I think this is what southfork was saying, and why it took him much longer to run his batches.

For those who think 500-800 mesh gold can't be caught with a sluice, it's all a matter of what I mentioned just above. classify, and run it slowly. The microscope I have with measuring marks, says I am getting this small gold.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I got out of the house this morning, and again, visited our club claim. I picked up my usual 12 buckets of material, that should give me some fairly good gold.

After that work, I did some prospecting on the club claim. I've been curious about the little outcrops of brown, yellow and reddish rock. They aren't all that large, a couple square feet, but I used my hammer drill to fill two buckets from two different locations, both on the old timer road. I'll try to process one this afternoon.

I also went into a wash that no one has worked in recent history, Has to be over 20 years at least. I just finished running 1/6th of a bucket I sifted with a 30 mesh screen. There wasn't any larger gold, but I got a nice line of the usual, smaller than 300 mesh. I get the feeling the washes are loaded with this tiny gold. If they ever dry out, I may get quite a lot, if I sift with my 75 mesh screen. Problem is, there's been so much rain, I just don't know when things will ever dry out.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I got out of the house this morning, and again, visited our club claim. I picked up my usual 12 buckets of material, that should give me some fairly good gold.

After that work, I did some prospecting on the club claim. I've been curious about the little outcrops of brown, yellow and reddish rock. They aren't all that large, a couple square feet, but I used my hammer drill to fill two buckets from two different locations, both on the old timer road. I'll try to process one this afternoon.

I also went into a wash that no one has worked in recent history, Has to be over 20 years at least. I just finished running 1/6th of a bucket I sifted with a 30 mesh screen. There wasn't any larger gold, but I got a nice line of the usual, smaller than 300 mesh. I get the feeling the washes are loaded with this tiny gold. If they ever dry out, I may get quite a lot, if I sift with my 75 mesh screen. Problem is, there's been so much rain, I just don't know when things will ever dry out.

I don't know, Caley. If it's anything like here, we can have a brutal winter, and when it warms and the wind blows, in a week it looks like the Sahara desert...LOL.
Jim

 

[desertgolddigger]

Results of bucket #1 was pathetic. I did get gold, and quantity wise, it was several hundred. The problem is the stuff was 400 mesh minus, some barely visible with 10X. At least it wasn't a skunk.

Since these patches are on the surface, I'm wondering if they originate elsewhere. It almost looks like these patches flowed downhill, and were worn down by the vehicles driving over them.

I'm going to try finding their source, if there is one. These could be from Mother Nature giving big hot burps, when the material flowed from deep inside the earth. There are three vertical shaft mines within 200 feet of these patches.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Results of bucket #1 was pathetic. I did get gold, and quantity wise, it was several hundred. The problem is the stuff was 400 mesh minus, some barely visible with 10X. At least it wasn't a skunk.

Since these patches are on the surface, I'm wondering if they originate elsewhere. It almost looks like these patches flowed downhill, and were worn down by the vehicles driving over them.

I'm going to try finding their source, if there is one. These could be from Mother Nature giving big hot burps, when the material flowed from deep inside the earth. There are three vertical shaft mines within 200 feet of these patches.

In some of our basalt, the flour gold is present, and erodes out of the basalt as tiny pieces. That's mostly what the Snake river flour is. Maybe the particles are present in a particular rock type in your area, Caley. Finding that rock won't make you rich, though, even if you had the equipment to grind it up. The cost of recovering those tiny pieces is simply too high. Placering for them, while a lot of work, is cheaper...the crushing and grinding already done by nature.
Jim

 

[desertgolddigger]

In some of our basalt, the flour gold is present, and erodes out of the basalt as tiny pieces. That's mostly what the Snake river flour is. Maybe the particles are present in a particular rock type in your area, Caley. Finding that rock won't make you rich, though, even if you had the equipment to grind it up. The cost of recovering those tiny pieces is simply too high. Placering for them, while a lot of work, is cheaper...the crushing and grinding already done by nature.
Jim

Yes, it's one reason I'm working the local old timer tailing piles. The dirt does have lots of the small free gold knocked out of rock during their mining. Everywhere I've dug there seems to be this micro gold. Just wish I could find a rich hard rock source.

 

[Assembler]

In some of our basalt, the flour gold is present, and erodes out of the basalt as tiny pieces. That's mostly what the Snake river flour is. Maybe the particles are present in a particular rock type in your area, Caley. Finding that rock won't make you rich, though, even if you had the equipment to grind it up. The cost of recovering those tiny pieces is simply too high. Placering for them, while a lot of work, is cheaper...the crushing and grinding already done by nature.
Jim

Some flows of this type of rock will have like 'pocket zones' that are much better returns on the time / effort processing.

Yep the Snake river sure has a lot of flour values in and around it.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Yes, it's one reason I'm working the local old timer tailing piles. The dirt does have lots of the small free gold knocked out of rock during their mining. Everywhere I've dug there seems to be this micro gold. Just wish I could find a rich hard rock source.

Yup...you and everybody else...LOL...including me. I'm not saying that doesn't exist in your area....just saying there may not be one, and the gold may be tiny and dispersed. There must have been pretty decent-sized gold there at one time, or the old miners wouldn't have been in there. I'm curious if there are more indications of prospecting farther upstream? Prospect holes, broken off ledges, etc.
Jim

 

[desertgolddigger]

Yup...you and everybody else...LOL...including me. I'm not saying that doesn't exist in your area....just saying there may not be one, and the gold may be tiny and dispersed. There must have been pretty decent-sized gold there at one time, or the old miners wouldn't have been in there. I'm curious if there are more indications of prospecting farther upstream? Prospect holes, broken off ledges, etc.
Jim

Our club claim encompasses two small culdesacs (valleys). One is basically mined out, though tiny gold is still available. I'm working in the other one, where some placer gold is still available, if you can move a ton of material for about 1/20th gram. I gave that up, as my body just couldn't take it anymore.

All we have is about two main washes in each valley, with lots of feeders. There's still some fair sized gold on the hillsides, but you got to be lucky. Occasionally a club member detectorist will find something just large enough to set the detector off.

Whenever everything dries out, I may do some sifting at 50 mesh, and bring a few buckets home to classify into several mesh size groups, and sluice them. Maybe there's lots of the stuff drywashers don't catch. I can only hope. It's one reason I want to build the homemade classifier shaker to take with me. It'll make getting some buckets to take home a lot easier.

Jim, I hope you get the chance to use some of your homemade equipment at the river area. If your dry shaker works well, you should get a nice load of BS with gold.

EDITED: One thing I want to do when ever my foot gets fixed is go out into an area the has oodles of outcrops mixed in between oodles of washes. It's one of the areas that a company has a claim dead center of the section. I get the feeling this company must use some kind of sounding equipment, or whatever is used to find possible gold locations. I'll have to use the old and tried method of looking, and panning samples. These areas are fairly flat, so I don't have to climb up hills, which my body no longer likes.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I'm nearing completion of my shaker table electronics. I have to wire everything, and then will post a picture of the removable electronics box.

Buty I decided to try something I've wanted to do for quite a while, and that is to make a 4 inch diameter sieve shaking machine.

What the picture shows is a round wood base made from discards of OSB and Plywood. I added some feet to this base.

I implanted four 6mm diameter rods in the base

Next is a 7 1/2 inch diameter aluminum disk I added a vibrating motor to. This disk is 1/8 inch thick. I wanted some weight and the thickness for extra toughness.

I can add up to six sieves and one collection cup at the bottom of the stack.

Atop the stack is another 7 1/2 inch diameter aluminum disk, which has wheel collars with knurled knobs instead of set screws. I added spacers so the knobs would be just above the aluminum disk.

I added a small speed control between the shaker motor and the power supply which is under the wood base.

I just tested my contraption with material from the past two weeks, and it finished the classifying job in just a couple of minutes. Before the job was basically an hour or so.

I want to add a 1/8 inch thick butyl rubber pad to the top of the disk that is attached to the vibrator motor so the bottom of my collector cup doesn't wear out

I guess anyone can make something like this for just about any diameter sieve stack. The difference is the size shaker motor and power supply

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Gotta like that, Caley. I may use that idea myself. Nice work!
Jim

 

[desertgolddigger]

Finally got the ST power box wired.

First photo shows the two power supplies, and motor speed control (attached to lid).

Second photo shows the power outlets to the motor and water pump.

Third shows the inlet port for the 120 volt power cord.

I'm thinking of adding a fan to help cool the power supplies.

The box will be open when in use, but once I finish with the shaker table, I can remove the three power cords, close the box, and put the box in safe weatherproof storage.