prospecting trip to the black hills

[twizzle]

well I am currently unemployed and cant find work in iowa where im at so I have decided to try my hand at prospecting this summer in the black hills of south Dakota. I was wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas of where to go. and also would it be smart to get a GPAA membership before heading out there for the summer?

 

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[B H Prospector]

To join the chapter freak is show up to a meeting , register by giving your name contact info and gpaa membership number and you are a member. Next meeting is Feb. 8th at the Deadwood Mt. Grand Hotel at 10:00 am.

Roadrunner, There is alot of conflicting and gray area in the term mechanized. Even the SDDENR can't seem to be consistant with the term definition. I have heard battery operated or electric is ok and I have heard no. According to what I was told by the PLP the 1872 mining laws and revisions mechanized means anything that uses a motor larger than 10 horsepower. I am in the proccess of reading the law to find out for sure. There is alot of confusion about it right now. According to USFS taking dirt home in any form is a no no. Concentrates only. Stpid rule but it is what it is. I guess they think people are going to take dumptruck loads home. Morons!

 

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[roadrunner]

So cons could be 5/5 gallon buckets of classified material then.
So all some one has to do is fill some buckets up and then finish at home.I mean classified buckets, which would be cons.
So if some one classifies down to 1/4 inch, they are cons right?

 

[afreakofnature]

Roadrunner - Yes I thinking classifying and taking home counts as concentrates. At least in my book because that is what I do on my claims.
All this on motorized vs mechanized, it would be motorized, anything with a motor electric or gas, anywhere in the Black Hills. And yes it is all the Black Hills that are in South Dakota because it is a state permit, not a law. You can have the law but the state gets around that by having you get a permit. Think of it as registering your car, if you do not do it you get fined. They want to know where you are going to dig up the land so they know you will go back in and perform some reclamation when you are done. That is why they want a bond in case you do not. Been like this ever since the big hard rock mines polluted up the creeks with cyanide. (which are mostly clean now)

BH - I am a summer resident and an east river resident in the winter. Do you have a webpage that shows the times for the meetings, I will have to register this summer. Looking forward to a chapter in the BH that might concentrate more on the one/two man small mining and less on dinking around. I really miss having a group dig, in the BH with limited equipment and small gold I personally think this is the way to go.

 

[roadrunner]

Thanks AF.

 

[B H Prospector]

No roadrunner conscentrates are what remains in the sluice box after you classify the dirt and run it through the sluice. 5/5gallon buckets of classified 1/4" material would amount to about 1qt of cons after sluicing.

 

[roadrunner]

What if you dont sluice? Would my buckets count as concentrates since they are concentrated down from the original dirt?
I was just thinking like what if I used a hand operated drywasher, with a hand crank, and then took those home.

 

[B H Prospector]

Roadrunner - Yes I thinking classifying and taking home counts as concentrates. At least in my book because that is what I do on my claims.
All this on motorized vs mechanized, it would be motorized, anything with a motor electric or gas, anywhere in the Black Hills. And yes it is all the Black Hills that are in South Dakota because it is a state permit, not a law. You can have the law but the state gets around that by having you get a permit. Think of it as registering your car, if you do not do it you get fined. They want to know where you are going to dig up the land so they know you will go back in and perform some reclamation when you are done. That is why they want a bond in case you do not. Been like this ever since the big hard rock mines polluted up the creeks with cyanide. (which are mostly clean now)

BH - I am a summer resident and an east river resident in the winter. Do you have a webpage that shows the times for the meetings, I will have to register this summer. Looking forward to a chapter in the BH that might concentrate more on the one/two man small mining and less on dinking around. I really miss having a group dig, in the BH with limited equipment and small gold I personally think this is the way to go.

Since we are such a new chapter we do not have a website yet.The GPAA is having a new deal for chapters that will allow us to make a website on the national website. Chapters will be learning how it will work in Feb. I will let you know when it is up. My goal is to take everyones ideas and try to incorperate into outings that everyone will enjoy. What part of east river are you? I grew up in the northeast part of the state, a little town called Big Stone City. Neat little town on the lake by the same name. Pm me for my contact info if you want to let me know when you will be coming to the Hills.

 

[B H Prospector]

What if you dont sluice? Would my buckets count as concentrates since they are concentrated down from the original dirt?
I was just thinking like what if I used a hand operated drywasher, with a hand crank, and then took those home.

If you sluice, what you clean out of the sluice at the end is your cons. If you drywash, what is left in the drywasher sluice is the cons. If you shovel dirt into a classifier and classify it down to dirt, that is not cons but a bucket of dirt. That you cannot take home. Classifying is not concentrating it is preperation of material to proccess into cons. Hope this makes this clear.

 

[twizzle]

is it possible get cons from panning? say the black gold bearing sand left over? just asking because so far I haven't purchased a portable sluice yet so wouldlike to know as much as I can.

 

[B H Prospector]

The material that is left over from panning is what I call super cons. I pan the cons from my sluice after clean up into a safety pan. When I get down to what you discribed I check for the majority of the gold with my snuffer bottle and put it into a vial. I then put the safety pan materials and the remaining pan material into a bucket and take it home for further processing at the end of the year. No matter how good a panner you are you will always lose some , that is the reason for the safety pan. The only time I don't use on is when I am sampling.

 

[chrspe]

The mining guide says a notice level maybe needed for a sluice. is that required on any of the claims in the guide?

Can you use a hand powered suction tube?

I am in Buffalo, Wy, can I join the Deadwood Chapter?

 

[B H Prospector]

Hi chrspe and welcome to the web. I guess I'm not sure what you mean by a notice level in order to sluice. Nothing special is needed to sluice on any claim that I am aware of. Yes you can use the suction tube. You most certainly can join the Deadwood Chapter.We will be closer to you than the Gillette Chapter is. Our next meeting will be March 8 at 9:00 am at the Deadwood Mountain Grand Hotel and Casino. We are still in our infancy as a chapter and we would love to have you join us. Hope to see you there. Any questions you can get my contact infor off the GPAA site under state chapters or you can pm me here.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector

 

[chrspe]

BH - It will be too far to join the Deadwood chapter. I am Buffalo WY not SD. Hope to run into you though.

When does the weather get good enough to go into the husker #1 claim? looking for somewhere to go 1st of April.

I have a bucket self contained recirculating sluice, is this considered mechanized or is it allowed in SD?

thank you

 

[roadrunner]

I think he means this from the BLM.

NOTICE
-
AND PLAN
-
LEVEL APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
A complete
Mining Notice must be submitted 15 calendar days before commencement of

exploration causing surface disturbance of 5 acres or less of public lands on which reclamation

has not been completed (§3809
.21(a))Exploration means creating a surface disturbance greater

than casual use that includes sampling, drilling, or developing surface or underground workings
to evaluate the type, extent, quantity, or quality of mineral values present
.
Exploration does not

include activities where material is extracted for commercial use or sale (§3809.5).

 

[afreakofnature]

BH - It will be too far to join the Deadwood chapter. I am Buffalo WY not SD. Hope to run into you though.

When does the weather get good enough to go into the husker #1 claim? looking for somewhere to go 1st of April.

I have a bucket self contained recirculating sluice, is this considered mechanized or is it allowed in SD?

thank you

Unfortunately yes it is considered mechanized and not allowed without a permit, SD really sucks when it comes to this. WY is pretty liberal about using mechanized equipment though.

 

[B H Prospector]

This is what the state told my partner when he asked about recirculating sluices. Any pump that pumps no more than 1200 gph is allowed. The water should be running April 1 at the Husker if the thaw is started. Right now the gound is still pretty frozen. Buffalo is a pretty good jaunt. If you are still in the area on April 5th we have a meeting at 9 am at the Deadwood Mountain Grand Hotel Event Center & Casino in the prospector room. Come on in and say hi. We will be talking about reading topo maps and filing a claim.

 

[afreakofnature]

This is what the state told my partner when he asked about recirculating sluices. Any pump that pumps no more than 1200 gph is allowed. The water should be running April 1 at the Husker if the thaw is started. Right now the gound is still pretty frozen. Buffalo is a pretty good jaunt. If you are still in the area on April 5th we have a meeting at 9 am at the Deadwood Mountain Grand Hotel Event Center & Casino in the prospector room. Come on in and say hi. We will be talking about reading topo maps and filing a claim.

That's funny because the state told me that any pump is not allowed, even recirculating. They told me that anything that was mechanized needs to be approved on an individual basis and the only thing that is pre-approved with out having to look at is the Gold Magic Pan.

 

[B H Prospector]

I'm not going to argue with you buddy. My partner talked to the head person there and that is what she told him. Don't know who you talked to. I guess it depends on who is telling what. I have pretty much come to the conclusion I am going to do what I want on my claims with in reason, run a recirculating system or drywasher or what ever. Forest service has said that if you have in your POO that you intend to use certain motorized equipment and they dont' send you an objection letter then it is allowed. I have both of them in my POO's. No one gives a straight answer and no one is one the same page. On my claims I'm just not going to worry about it.

 

[chrspe]

Thank you for all the info!

 

[afreakofnature]

No I am not trying to argue, just figure it all out is all. I am with you though, on our Claim Report (blue sheet) that we get back from the BLM it says "You are not allowed to use any mechanized equipment on your mining claim without an approved plan or notice of operations by the surface management agency" Perhaps after you finish your POO and they see something that might require a bond, then they might contact the state? IDK I don't really like giving the USFS anything because once you tell them where you are they like to come out and take a look. I have seen it happen on my buddies claim in the southern hills. They do not get to go out in the field much so they used it as an excuse to see what was going on for his NOI, now they show up every year and take pictures and what not. As far as I am concerned, it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.