Prospecting Adventures of Gbonus Uralias (G-bone)

[G-bone]

Hello and a Happy 2019 to all my fellow prospectors.
Last year was very slow for me in regards to prospecting.
I devoted much of my spare time to other things, but prospecting was always there in the back of my mind.

So I am starting my new year's resolution by returning here to T-net to rejuvenate my activity in this community.
I missed a lot last year so I have lots of catching up to do here on this forum.
But my main plan is to get out at least twice a month to explore and prospect and return here to share my adventures.

Cheers all and best of luck to all of you.
May all your pans overflow with Gold this year.

My Adventures (big and small) to follow...

G-bone

 

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[Asmbandits]

Looking forward to your adventures!

 

[G-bone]

And that said, I am making my first log....

At the end of January, I had a few days out in the Randsburg Mining district.
Since I am a member of the PCSC, I had planned for a stop at the infamous "Red Chispa Mine".
I have read much about this place, traveled right past it SO many times, and have flown over the area hundreds of times in Google earth.
And now it was time to go!

I tossed in 4 buckets, a pick-axe, 1/2" classifier, a shovel and a sandwich into the truck and headed out.

Neat little drive up and had to stop by the memorial site on the left and take it all in for a bit.
I have been dirt biking in these parts since a kid, so I know the areas well. BUt now I was seeing everything in a whole new light.

Time was limited (as always) so picked an area that was well worked - with the thought that the particular area wouldn't look like it did (land mines on mars), if there was nothing there.
Got my buckets and classifier and went to work.
Great looking dirt with good clusters of big rock (pockets of larger rock - fist size and up) and worked those the most.
Classified it all down to the said 1/2" and loaded them up in the truck.

Side note:
As I was digging, a gentlemen drove by and stopped to ask that I was OK or if I needed anything.
I said hello and let him know all was good and thanks for asking and he just said "cool" and moved on.
And that was indeed COOL! Not sure if he was a prospector or not but just good to know that there are good people out there still.

I took the buckets home and have had them soaking now for a week or so to let the dirt clods break down.
Tomorrow I will classify everything to 1/4" and on the weekend, run it all through my re-circulation sluice setup.


I will follow-up soon.....

 

[A2coins]

Thanks for the great post excired to see how my dream turns out

 

[G-bone]

I was able to get my material classified yesterday.
Of the 4 buckets I brought home (and they were not full by any means), I ended up with 2 - 3gal. buckets to the brim after classifying down to 1/4",




After the classifying, I took the larger gravel and went ahead and spread it out to look for any nuggets I may have missed.....but nada



Going to set up the Sluice and get her ready to run my pay dirt.......

 

[G-bone]

Oh and this Red Chispa mud is just BRUTAL!!
The rocks all got spread in out in the flower beds.
I'm not sure what to do with the nasty red silt tailings I will end up with.

I will also try and rotate my pictures before posting more. sorry.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

I toss most of my waste over the fence in the neighbors yard. Same with dog poop. Hes an old miner and has alzheimers and dementia and thinks he has a dog. It's funny to watch him mow his grass with all those rocks. He sees the piles of tailings in his yard and thinks hes found the motherlode. Then he'll dig up his yard and blame the dog he doesnt have.
I'll have to start a YouTube channel someday but until then.......

Any gold to show?

 

[G-bone]

Sluice is set up and ready to run water.
I'm thinking about a filtration system and what I can use to reduce the Silt getting pumped back up and threw....
But with just the two small buckets of material, I should be fine.





might run it this evening if I have enough daylight....

 

[G-bone]

well I tried rotating the pictures and they end up sideways again....I tried.

 

[OreCart]

I am new, but glad you are getting back into things this year, and getting out and getting some rock. That is the main thing, to stay busy.

 

[G-bone]

I toss most of my waste over the fence in the neighbors yard. Same with dog poop. Hes an old miner and has alzheimers and dementia and thinks he has a dog. It's funny to watch him mow his grass with all those rocks. He sees the piles of tailings in his yard and thinks hes found the motherlode. Then he'll dig up his yard and blame the dog he doesnt have.
I'll have to start a YouTube channel someday but until then.......

Any gold to show?

Funny stuff Johnny. Careful though, cuz we'll all get like that old timer some day and Karma has a way of finding us

This stuff is nasty and I'll probably have to off-load it back where I got it when I finally make it out there.
The Rocks are no problem and the Wife actually likes the way it looks in planters etc.
But the sludge is wicked. Like the Hawaiian red dirt they used to die the T-shirts....everything is red!

I hope to run it all soon and if I'm lucky, have a little color to show for it.

 

[G-bone]

I am new, but glad you are getting back into things this year, and getting out and getting some rock. That is the main thing, to stay busy.

Hey OreCart!
I agree 100% - You just need to get out and stay busy.

 

[G-bone]

UPDATE:

Well this last weekend had a spell of dryness the morning of Saturday.
I was done looking at my Sluice setup and testing flow rates etc. - I needed to run this dirt.

I must say first that this Red Chispa Clay is amazingly NASTY!
Everything it touches now has that Red Chispa "glow".
All my equipment, my clothes...everything.


So I got my Coffee and proper clothes on and started scooping dirt.
After about 5 to 6 scoops, the water was no longer clear and each additional scoop made the water thicker and soupier yet.
Kept the feed rate slow as help stratify my scoops. The red clay slurry was a thick and needed help breaking up.
It was good that I let this material soak a while first though, as this clay is tough and almost rock-like when dry.




I ran one Bucket and then did a clean-up.
Emptied the mats and removed the bucket of tailings.
Replaced mats and ran the second bucket.
Again cleaned the mats and took all my cons and consolidated.
Classified my cons down and did a rough panning of all sized cons.
Initial panning showed most gold was small. out of the two - 3 gal buckets: 9 pieces of color worth counting.



So all-in-all I learned that the spot I pulled from was not holding as much as I would have liked.
Those 9 pieces I got, should have been in one pan full, not two buckets....
Also, if I am going to visit the Red Chispa again, I will do everything I can to process there, on the spot.
I would much rather make and leave the mess there at the claim. My wife is not happy with everything in the back yard being "red".

But I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the privacy of my back yard, running my gear and enjoying nature.
As a bonus, I got a little color in my pan and my inner self was cleansed a little bit and ready for another week of He...work.

G

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Give her the cons and tell her it's an expensive face scrub. She will love ya.

 

[goldog]

GBone I got an assignment if you wanna get some cleaner dirt. Can’t join ya at the moment. I’m in Montana.

The water is flowing. So you can wash it before taking it home. You know the area I’m speaking of. I’ve done some extreme research.