RookmanGold in Switzerland

[KevinInColorado]

Sorry to hear you got tricked by ole Mother Nature, she does that sometimes to make sure there's wild gold for the next generation to find

 

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[RookmanGold]

Chunky Rock Gully

Couldn't resist going out one last time before summer vacation. Perfect weather and tried somewhere new.

Found a place with massive boulders all pretty flat. One of which was initially buried but acted as a false bedrock only 1 or 2 feet under the surface... some nice flakes on it... really was a gift.

 

[RookmanGold]

Back from holiday travels... Havn't found a piece of gold for over 6 weeks....man when I go again Im gonna empty the stream [emoji6]

 

[RookmanGold]

Dam Falls

Haven't posted for a while...been on a few trips, and each one has been satisfying in some way or other. The stream I normally go to normally has only flakes, 2 trips ago I found me my first picker; a rare find.

Just got back from todays adventure. Dark and Ground frost on the way down.... a totally unexpected reward though... the largest flake I have ever found. I think people heard the yells of joy at least 3 miles away [emoji4]
Not sure if I'll get out again this year... we'll see.

 

[RookmanGold]

Didnt get to go out again... had a lot of fun cleaning up after 2016 though...

A Very Happy and Peaceful Christmas to all on Treasurenet...

Heavy Pans in 2017.

 

[Hunt4gold]

Rookman - like the posts and photos. Am new to prospecting, but try to get out once a week. Luckily I only have to drive about 10-20 minutes to get to various creeks that have gold in them. Heavy pans in 2017!

 

[deserdog]

Here is how I do my classifier:

 

[RookmanGold]

First day out after a loooong winter. It was a very eventful day..but not for the normal reasons...

Question (1) - What is the worst thing that can happen to a gold panner in the middle of nowhere? (ok, there's lots of things but here's one)

That's it.... A broken shovel.... I was determined to pull two rocks apart as they were wedged in the river... snap...

Question (2) - What's the second?

That's it... the special new sluice purchased as a Christmas present turns out to be useless!!!! (I definitely saw flakes whizzing through!!!)

I learnt so much today

Overall though: It was GREAT to be out in such beauty... and I did get some color

Only the fine gold was caught.. I know the spots I was panning well enough to know some slightly larger flakes should have been there also... mustnt grumble I suppose

 

[Aufisher]

Every miner has broken a shovel or two! Nice looking gold!

 

[RookmanGold]

Granite Post Falls

Ive been a few times since the last post with varying degrees of success. Thought I'd post today because it was one of those days where everything came together.

I prospected this one spot 18 months ago, and called it "Granite Post Falls" for hopefully obvious reasons. I decided to give it a try today as it looked promising back then.

Every sluice was a dream and the best bit is the whole area seems untouched. I will be back there again for sure

 

[Hunt4gold]

What a beautiful area to prospect in! Good flow, plenty of places to set up a sluice, and gold... doesn't get any better than that. Hopefully it does not get too many people. Nice gold - one of these days your going to find a nice depression or series of cracks in the bedrock and hit some serious pay. Keep posting!

 

[QNCrazy]

Very nice.

 

[RookmanGold]

Did some serious maintenance on my classifier yesterday... I begin to sense its days are numbered

 

[KevinInColorado]

Nice work but I agree, the end is near for that old friend. Are they expensive where you are?

 

[RookmanGold]

Quite reasonable... my plan is to engineer a new system integrated with my sluice rather than buy a new classifier... in the meantime I keep this old boy alive... he has taken some bashing over the last few trips 🙂

 

[RookmanGold]

Granite Post Falls

Just back from my second visit to the spot I found last week. Normally when I get into a hole there is a main direction to follow - upstream, in etc etc. Today was the first time where the gravel was equally rich whichever way I dug! Long may it continue

 

[RookmanGold]

Granite Post Falls - Snow & Mercury

Headed back to the same place today even though it was below freezing and snow on the ground. First of all I found my previous dig filled in following the flood in the week. So I started upstream a bit... a great day.




Have a look at the gold before and after the journey home.. in the first picture you can see a "blob" of mercury... by the time I got home it had covered all the gold... Not sure what to do now... do I just keep this gold in "quarantine" until I get it all melted down? Any help appreciated.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Yes, keep it in quarantine! Avoid breathing vapors when heating - deadly!
I recommend using a retort to separate and re-condense the mercury.

 

[RookmanGold]

mercury is weird stuff isnt it... I am as sure as I can be it is naturally occuring but I guess you can never be sure.

 

[RookmanGold]

Alaska - Crow Creek & Fairbanks

Just spent a wonderful week exploring Gold regions of Alaska. Frustration and Confusion over the differences between Placer in Switzerland and Alaska gave way to some wonderful times and some lovely gold. Everything I did was on permitted claims and the outcome was very satisfactory. Thankyou Alaska.