Sampling techniques

[principedeleon]

Okay i want to hear how people are locating paystreaks before bringing there production dredge to a location.

Opened up another tread because i believe this subjet belong on this side of the forum .

Sorry not trying to bring any confusion

Mark

 

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[omnicron]

You can use a shovel, classifier and gold pan to sample. You can use a backpack dredge to sample or I even heard people use a auger. Personally I just use my dredge to sample unless I'm going to sample many spots and I'm crossing shallow water then I use a shovel and gold pan.

 

[principedeleon]

You can use a shovel, classifier and gold pan to sample. You can use a backpack dredge to sample or I even heard people use a auger. Personally I just use my dredge to sample unless I'm going to sample many spots and I'm crossing shallow water then I use a shovel and gold pan.

Panning with a pick and shovel is hard on the back if you are doing it everyday . I just made my own sucker tube ill be checking today how well it works . But i plan on using my F75 when it arives to work shollow parts that haves exposed bedrock to look for gold . Could this be less tine consuming then just digging everywhere ?
& have you tried snipping before?

 

[omnicron]

The only crevicing I do is when I reach bedrock, then I busting several feet down through bedrock getting the heavies. I don't see how a sucker is going to help you find a pay streak. You have to get through the overburden to the hardpack in order to test your values. A sucker isn't going to move cobbles and maybe several feed of overburden like a shovel will. Being your original OP was about sampling before bringing in the dredge, I personally feel that a shovel and pan will be much faster then a sucker. I only use the shovel/pan method when I need to (shallow water) otherwise I will use my dredge to punch test holes.

With that being said, you not just digging any old place, your digging small test holes along the path of gold. Hitting bedrock is usually the goal with dredging but hardpack is one important piece of the puzzle your looking for. Hardpack usually contains the bread and butter of paystreaks. If your just testing the shallow bedrock on the edge, your just getting the grams of flood gold and missing out on the ounces in the deeper path of gold.

I'm sure more experienced dredgers will chime in with their knowledge and either agree with what I'm saying or say I'm full of crap!

 

[principedeleon]

The only crevicing I do is when I reach bedrock, then I busting several feet down through bedrock getting the heavies. I don't see how a sucker is going to help you find a pay streak. You have to get through the overburden to the hardpack in order to test your values. A sucker isn't going to move cobbles and maybe several feed of overburden like a shovel will. Being your original OP was about sampling before bringing in the dredge, I personally feel that a shovel and pan will be much faster then a sucker. I only use the shovel/pan method when I need to (shallow water) otherwise I will use my dredge to punch test holes. With that being said, you not just digging any old place, your digging small test holes along the path of gold. Hitting bedrock is usually the goal with dredging but hardpack is one important piece of the puzzle your looking for. Hardpack usually contains the bread and butter of paystreaks. If your just testing the shallow bedrock on the edge, your just getting the grams of flood gold and missing out on the ounces in the deeper path of gold. I'm sure more experienced dredgers will chime in with their knowledge and either agree with what I'm saying or say I'm full of crap!

Busting bedrock insidd a pool of water with a pick and shovel aint easy you might be on one same spot for the whole day. When you on top of hard pack is made of almost 70% cobbles from what i have seen . So you are most of the time loosing up rocks in a dirty pot hole where you can on feel what you're doing.
I had to pan today since the suction tube didnt work out. Found a .3 nugget but i havent found any gold bigger then a .6 . I believe its rare to find gram nuggets there i dont think it might be worth the time . But ima give it a second try more up because where i put it before was only paying for the gas.

 

[omnicron]

I'm guessing you have never dredged before based on your response. You don't use a pic and shovel to bust up bedrock. You use pry bars, small sludge hammers and wedges to bust out the bedrock, your underwater, sometimes under deep water and it takes all of 30 seconds to bust out a section of BR. I can move a area 8'x4' 36" deep in around 5 hours or less with my 4" dredge. That's also busting out the bedrock up to maybe 24" down, sometimes more if the crack is deep. As for hard pack, that stuff is like butter with a blaster nozzle and all the rocks 3.5" and smaller get sucked up the nozzle and the bigger rocks get tossed behind. Check out dredging videos on youtube for some education.

There is a new fangled invention call a hookah air compressor that allows you to...wait for it....breath under water and with this other new fangled device called goggles you can see! No more being in a dirty pot hole feeling your way around...you can see as clear as day and as a added bonus you don't drown!

 

[omnicron]

Panning with a pick and shovel is hard on the back if you are doing it everyday . I just made my own sucker tube ill be checking today how well it works . But i plan on using my F75 when it arives to work shollow parts that haves exposed bedrock to look for gold . Could this be less tine consuming then just digging everywhere ?
& have you tried snipping before?

I'm 43 years old, have had a total knee replacement, have throat cancer, was diabetic (Reversed it) Had major shoulder surgery and I bet you I can out work, out last most 18yr olds walking the planet. I was a HVAC installer for 18 years, concrete worker, diesel mechanic and have had several other jobs over the years. You might say my body has many many abusive miles on it, it's all about your work ethic, something the younger generation knows nothing about. They have the "I'm entitled" attitude.

If you wake up everyday and tell yourself negative things, your mind will make it your reality. Stuff like... this is going to hurt my back or my job sucks, my knee hurts blah blah blah...embrace every day as a positive thing and all challenges as opportunities and before you know it, you wont tell yourself that panning a bunch of sample holes will hurt your back!

 

[bill-costa rica]

the first stage is doing your book work, if gold was found in the area someone wrote about it. find your place you want to check out. then it is shovel and pan time or even a small river sluice. the sample the $hit out of it. if you find ground you like and think you can make some money you bring your dredge in. if there are other people working around where you want to work see what they are getting. they are prospecting for you. i have gone and checked out the guys with 3 and 4 inch dredges that were barly paying for gas. with my dredge i can make money. you need as much info as you can get to make the right choice. dredge or move on and keep looking. when i find a place i like i will pot hole places to find a good run or run a trench across the river to find the pay streak. there is no free lunch......... its all hard work.

bill/cr

 

[principedeleon]

I'm guessing you have never dredged before based on your response. You don't use a pic and shovel to bust up bedrock. You use pry bars, small sludge hammers and wedges to bust out the bedrock, your underwater, sometimes under deep water and it takes all of 30 seconds to bust out a section of BR. I can move a area 8'x4' 36" deep in around 5 hours or less with my 4" dredge. That's also busting out the bedrock up to maybe 24" down, sometimes more if the crack is deep. As for hard pack, that stuff is like butter with a blaster nozzle and all the rocks 3.5" and smaller get sucked up the nozzle and the bigger rocks get tossed behind. Check out dredging videos on youtube for some education. There is a new fangled invention call a hookah air compressor that allows you to...wait for it....breath under water and with this other new fangled device called goggles you can see! No more being in a dirty pot hole feeling your way around...you can see as clear as day and as a added bonus you don't drown!

Well dont want to to start a argument with you in who is better then the other , who can dredge faster. I have seen videos and i have learned how to make my own dredge from what i have seen online i never seen a professional dredge dredging in my life maybe a small 2.5" dredge a gold grabber but thats about it and that size hole doesnt amaze me i have put in 6' feet deep and about 8'x6' in about 6-7 hours of dredging in a day on my own. But that is with no restriction on the nozzle full trottle in 6 -7 feet of water . I use prybars while dredging blaster nozzle . I just thought busting bedrock was working your way down but you ment cleaning bedrock.

 

[principedeleon]

I'm 43 years old, have had a total knee replacement, have throat cancer, was diabetic (Reversed it) Had major shoulder surgery and I bet you I can out work, out last most 18yr olds walking the planet. I was a HVAC installer for 18 years, concrete worker, diesel mechanic and have had several other jobs over the years. You might say my body has many many abusive miles on it, it's all about your work ethic, something the younger generation knows nothing about. They have the "I'm entitled" attitude. If you wake up everyday and tell yourself negative things, your mind will make it your reality. Stuff like... this is going to hurt my back or my job sucks, my knee hurts blah blah blah...embrace every day as a positive thing and all challenges as opportunities and before you know it, you wont tell yourself that panning a bunch of sample holes will hurt your back!

You are right and i respect your desision.
I know i might sound kind of lazy but im just trying to see if there are easier ways of doing such a job. But i will be sticking to pick and shovel & yeah of course the prybar going to have to go buy one ; last one got burried with a flood.

 

[Jason in Enid]

How do you sample? You take your biggest dredge you can move by hand to the first likely spot and you dredge a hole straight down (as straight at flow gravel lets you). Every few feet you stop and do a cleanout and keep the cons in a labeled, seperate bucket. When you reach bedrock, you bust the cracks and suck it cleaner than your kitchen floor. Then you pan each set of cons and record the level and the amount you got.

Now move upstream to the next likely spot and repeat. Your data will tell you where the richest area is, unless you just hit a massive pocket and are picking nugs with your fingers, then you widen that hole until you stop getting gold.

 

[principedeleon]

the first stage is doing your book work, if gold was found in the area someone wrote about it. find your place you want to check out. then it is shovel and pan time or even a small river sluice. the sample the $hit out of it. if you find ground you like and think you can make some money you bring your dredge in. if there are other people working around where you want to work see what they are getting. they are prospecting for you. i have gone and checked out the guys with 3 and 4 inch dredges that were barly paying for gas. with my dredge i can make money. you need as much info as you can get to make the right choice. dredge or move on and keep looking. when i find a place i like i will pot hole places to find a good run or run a trench across the river to find the pay streak. there is no free lunch......... its all hard work. bill/cr

People out here have told me there have been gold there and where it is coming from . Me and some other dude have been finding gold all around . We have dig 2' through sand and cleaning bedrock .We have taken out more then 12 grams of gold mostly without a dredge spread through out a 200 yards piece . We havent found any nugget weighting more then .6 . I bought the dredge but i placed it in the tail of the 200 yards mark in thinking of placing it on the head where there might be more chance of finding some better gold

 

[omnicron]

I'm not trying to ague or get into a pissing match with you. On the contrary, I just discovered your from the DR and seen pics of your dredge and that told me all that I needed to know.

I am busting out bed rock, sometimes the pieces are very large, like 100 pounds or more. You just clean them off and keep busting out more until you hit the bottom or meet people that speak Chinese! Gold is heavy and will keep settling 'till it hits the bottom. I always work alone also.

I have a tip or 2 to pass on to you. I don't know your setup in detail but you said in another thread that you had a 8hp engine with a p201 pump and here you stated your running full throttle. You may be losing more gold then your are recovering if your water is to fast so try slowing down to about 2/3 or less throttle. Also if you get plug ups in your hose and jet, restrict you nozzle down by 1/2".

I also have never seen a professional dredge up close and personal. The one I have was a modified gold grabber (used) when I bought it and I have modified it myself and built my own 3 stage box.

Being from the DR, I apologize if my attempt at sarcastic humor was taken in the wrong way. I know the language barrier people face when dealing with English forums, my wife is from the Philippines so I know this well. I'm sorry!

 

[principedeleon]

Yeah i use it that way because it suck 4" of water and you overload the dredge less . I lower the trottle when i know im on the gold and i will be shutting down soon . I believe also that as long as you give the box enough material to work with the water doesnt blow out your gold . I know that but doing this the dredge box should be wider and bit longer since any 4" is never intended to work with a full 4" of opening.

 

[bill-costa rica]

you dig down thru 2 feet of sand and are finding gold on bedrock ? 2 me that says you are on the right course , but not on a paystreak, look for the drop zone that has more than just sand.

bill/cr

 

[principedeleon]

It has a little mud in the bottom nothing like digging straight hardpack . I would say is sand since is more sand that the little muddy layer on top but is usually trapped in all lil crevices . Im going to dredge a inside bend where it was full with sand but the river flood took alway most of it . I will try fix everything and take a video dredgibg from outside since no waterproof camara & show clean up .