Prospecting bench placers

[KevinInColorado]

My latest website article
(deleted by mod for rule violation)

Of course I’d love any constructive (or sarcastic) feedback so I can make it better ...or at least inspire some humor to my fellow prospectors

 

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[wildminer]

Kevin, Tried to order a Garett super sluice pan and no product shows up on the screen when I click it.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Enjoyed reading your article it was informative. I have always had an interest in prospecting as I grew up in Julian Ca. and it has a rich mining history but when I was a kid it didn't hit me, it wasn't until I moved away that the interest grew. Living in the central valley of California now below the Sierra's and now the bug has me.I found a tertiary river over west of I-5 and it is over 70 miles from the Sierra's so I have pretty much wrote it off but am still going to check it out.

 

[et1955]

Great article but is hydraulic spelled with a c or k at the end ?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Great article but is hydraulic spelled with a c or k at the end ?

Good question. Hydraulic mining is called “hydrauliking” with a K! Weird I know 🤔

 

[KevinInColorado]

Kevin, Tried to order a Garett super sluice pan and no product shows up on the screen when I click it.

Weird. It works for me. Thanks for trying. Maybe give it one more try?

 

[et1955]

Good question. Hydraulic mining is called “hydrauliking” with a K! Weird I know ��

Hydraulicking, is another way to spell it but check your second paragraph, you wrote hydraulik

 

[spillercanyon]

Here is a MUCH smaller bench than what Kevin is showing. I have been working it off and on the past couple of years. I found it from a single round cobble on the side of the hill (winter prospecting). I traced it uphill by trenching through the overburden until I hit it's source. Here there is two feet of black dirt and angular rocks that contains little gold. I pile this material up and use it for reclamation of my hole behind me. Below the black dirt is about three feet of brown river cobble mixed with angular rock and large bedrock sections that contains decent gold.

 

[blackchipjim]

Ease man it's like mime dumps.[emoji55]

 

[KevinInColorado]

Ease man it's like mime dumps.[emoji55]

Haha i think you mean mime Fumps

 

[RTD-Tech]

Nice article, quite informative.

I'm glad I read it before it got censored.

 

[mike(swWash)]

Nice article but I miss the mine fumps running amok

 

[A2coins]

My dream is to prospect!!!Good Article really liked it

 

[spillercanyon]

Here is another look at the bench I am working:

The first picture shows some large blocks on bedrock that had a few inches of cobbles between them. This was all covered with another foot or so of brown pay dirt and then two feet of black soil on top.

This second picture is a look on bedrock.

The third picture is a days worth of the spoils.

 

[spillercanyon]

Hey Kevin,

I see the post has been removed but I did read it before it was removed and I don't think you mentioned tunneling as another way bench placers are mined. There are a number of mines in the Tuolumne area that tunneled down through the cobbles to bedrock and then fan out along bedrock. Not the safest mining but it is done.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Hey Kevin,

I see the post has been removed but I did read it before it was removed and I don't think you mentioned tunneling as another way bench placers are mined. There are a number of mines in the Tuolumne area that tunneled down through the cobbles to bedrock and then fan out along bedrock. Not the safest mining but it is done.

Drift mining was very common.

 

[Audozer]

I see the post nazis got your link, where can I find it?

 

[blackchipjim]

Hey Kevinincolorado. Do you know how hard it is to intentionally misspell things.

 

[KevinInColorado]

I see the post nazis got your link, where can I find it?

PM sent, thanks for asking!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Hey Kevin,

I see the post has been removed but I did read it before it was removed and I don't think you mentioned tunneling as another way bench placers are mined. There are a number of mines in the Tuolumne area that tunneled down through the cobbles to bedrock and then fan out along bedrock. Not the safest mining but it is done.

Good point! There was quite a bit of drift mining done on a bench Placer just south of where I used to live. I left it out because I didn’t want to have to go though all the safety issues associated with burrowing into a hillside that way. I know of two people in Colorado who have did by digging coyote holes into a bench Placer as they followed a pay layer. Yikes!

Hmm, now that I’ve written this, I feel like I have to add a caution to the article. Thanks for getting me there. This is why I like to share my articles here...always a fresh thought or suggestion. Shame I’m not allowed now that I have a book for sale and such. Ah well, PM if you want a link or other ways to see notifications about my stuff. Peace and “find YOUR gold!”

Edit: Update done. Thanks again.