School is back in... Time to work!!!!!

Clay Diggins said:
Glad to hear you got out Jeff. I hope you get good sign there. How were the temperatures?

If you need to know current claim status on the area just email me privately and I'll do the research.

The GPS in your vehicle isn't going to get you anywhere near accurate location data. You need to be moving at a fairly good clip (25+ mph) to get any sampling going. Going that fast on those roads will present more problems than it will solve. Vehicle GPS units are not designed to give static locations. Different tools for different purposes. Time to get a commercial grade handheld GPS if you want to have any accuracy on the ground. I strongly recommend Garmin as the only reliable choice in the under $1200 range. You can pick a new that will serve you well for years for under $200 if you spend some time searching.

Heavy Pans
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Temps were nice in the sun but once it went behind the hills it dropped like a rock! Where the sun didn't hit because of the time of year there was still a light dusting of snow and the ground was frozen.

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We walked all over the area and it looks to have a lot of good possibilities, but until I can do some heavy duty testing on it we won't know for sure. We did find one area on the north side that you cold tel someone had been mining the quartz lattice. Good size pile of tailings but no shaft/portal etc. Just a 20 ft wide by 6 ft deep hole. There was another hole right below it as well. About the same size but nowhere near the same amount of quartz in the tailing pile. There was lots of quartz in the upper hole and much of it was dusted with what looked to be magnetite.

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Soon as Robi gets home I'll send you an e-mail with what we were able to gather from the signs in the area.
 

And see... I do post pictures. Just ones without enough details to let you guys know where this area is at!

Yes... I know that the date on the pictures say 2008 but it's not my camera but I will change it for her if she wants me to.
 

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goldenIrishman said:
And see... I do post pictures. Just ones without enough details to let you guys know where this area is at! Yes... I know that the date on the pictures say 2008 but it's not my camera but I will change it for her if she wants me to.
Click to expand...
LoL
 

Now I'm bummed!

Well the hunt is back on! I'm a little bummed and I know Robi is going to be as well. The area we were looking at IS claimed and it IS valid. So now I've got to go back to square one and start searching for an area that is open and is worth working. In the meantime, we'll just keep on going out to that area in the no mineral entry zone since we know we can work that and not be jumping someones claim. At least we know there is gold there and being so close to Kentucky Camp we have access to water as well as a bathroom when needed.

We are NOT going to let this stop us form finding a claim of our own though. Far from it. This is going to lead us to an even better area.
 

Well that wasn't bad at all!

I'm either getting real good at using Clays software (Footprints) or I'm one lucky dog! After Clay filled me in on where the problem was I was able to adjust my view and sure enough the area we were looking at is taken and it is shown on the software. Though that area was nice and had a lot going for it, it's a blessing in disguise that it turned out to already be claimed. We found another area very close to it that from a standpoint of the geology looks to be even better! We'll still have road access right to the door so to say and there looks to be some good camping areas on it as well.

Clay mentioned that there may even be water on the land that has the water rights for mining grandfathered in. Now if that turns out to be true it's going to make things a lot easier. No having to haul water in will keep me moving materials instead of H2O.

So far it looks open, but Clay is doing a double check on it to be sure. If it comes back as open, Robi and I will be going out there next weekend to explore and test. I'll bring the re-circ and some water for testing. It will be a great way to spend my B-day weekend. Camping, digging and getting gold!
 

fingers crossed for you
 

Good luck!
 

Well so far it's looking good to get out there this weekend and do some B-day testing. I have all the GPS cords for the corners, camping area and test sites. Robi is going to print out the PDF from FootPrints tomorrow at work as a back up to my back up. I have the test sites as well as the locations of the gold bearing lattice all marked out and she's going to laminate it so it doesn't get all ratty out in the field. I'm also bringing my topo map(s) for the area and my compass to back up the GPS. (sometimes "Old School" works best for me) I want to be SURE that we don't cross over into the "Big Nugget" claim area since if we do file on this piece of dirt they're going to be our neighbors. As it stand right now only the weather could mess this up. I already checked the forecast and they're saying clear this weekend and even a little warmer than it has been.
 

Heading out to do "The Deed"

Everything is ready to load up and head on out to start planting posts to mark the claim area. Got the "All Clear" form Clay on the piece of ground in question, I have corner markers and all the maps done up and am ready to rock.

Since we're going to be busy busting brush for marking corners and starting the heavy duty testing (we already KNOW there is gold there) We're not going to bring the re-circ system out on this trip. Just bringing basic pans and classifiers and a panning tub. Once it's staked and we've made the trip to Tucson to file it I'll be very relieved! This has been an educational experience to say the least!

The plan is to get the corners marked first thing. Then get 4 ea 20 gallon samples from different locations across the claim area. The locating of the sampling areas was determined by several things. Geological reports, historical placer locations, topography of the area etc etc etc. We will use the minelab detector to finalize where the samples are gathered once we've got boots on the ground.

WHAT A GREAT WAY TO SPEND ONES B-DAY WEEKEND!!!!!!
 

Don't forget you will need to record at the County Recorder's office on Church Avenue in Tucson and then file a copy with the State office of the BLM on 1 N. Central Av. in Phoenix. If you mail to Phoenix use Certified return receipt.

Here's a link to the laws for making claims in Arizona:
TITLE 27 Mining Rights in Land

Have a GREAT b-day Jeff! :laughing7:
All conditions are right to make your present to yourself a memorable one. :thumbsup:

Give our regards to Robi. :happysmiley:
 

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And now we're cooking with gas.....

Well we made it back home and I've got samples to run this week so we can start zeroing in on the gold. Lots of good looking ground there as well as some ROUGH terrain in some areas.

Getting the stake in for the N.E. corner was some rough going. Tons of rocks up ion that corner as well as some steep terrain. Somehow I don't think we're going to be doing a lot of work in that part of the claim any time soon. It's a good thing there are a lot of better looking areas to say the least.

Some of the interesting things we found out there... An OLD well with the shaft lined with rocks. Needs to have a cover made up for it to make it safe. I was kind of surprised that the forest service hadn't done that already in this age of suing the government for anything and everything. Also checked out the pond that's on the claim. You want to talk about some green water!!!! I'd be afraid to use it for the recirc system and needless to say using it as a source for drinking water is never going to happen. I think if it was boiled it would still be green! No telling what kind of nasty critters are living in it. Maybe after the monsoons this summer top the pond off it MIGHT be able to be used for the sluice, but I'm not holding my breath. Another thing we found was the foundation slab for an old cabin. It was pretty much covered with rock that had washed down the hill over the years, but a little work with the shovel and a broom and it would make a great place to set up camp on. More than enough room for the tent, the camp kitchen setup and room left over to set up the recirc system. It's almost dead center of the claim as well so hauling materials for on site testing won't be all that bad.

Right now I'm feeling like I was run over by a Mack Truck and the driver backed up to see what he had hit. I'll start working the materials from each test site tomorrow as soon as the aspirin with the morning coffee kicks in! Right now I want a shower and a good nights sleep!
 

Hey Jeff glad to hear you met the goals for the trip...how about the 20 gallons? Maybe you could route runoff water into the well? Give me a call when you get in the middle of things tomorrow...my new # is in your email.:hello:

Oh yeah, if you don't do a sweep with a metal detector around that foundation of the cabin RFN, well, don't make me come down there.
 

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Thanks for giving us an update GI.

That green in the "pond" is good news, means the water isn't poisoned by minerals or old leach ponds. Might be ucky but it's not going to kill you if things are growing in it. Bonus is the "pond" holds water. :icon_thumright:
 

Jeff95531 said:
Hey Jeff glad to hear you met the goals for the trip...how about the 20 gallons? Maybe you could route runoff water into the well? Give me a call when you get in the middle of things tomorrow...my new # is in your email.:hello: Oh yeah, if you don't do a sweep with a metal detector around that foundation of the cabin RFN, well, don't make me come down there.
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+++ good ideas on the well and the detecting :)
 

I like the runoff idea too with one exception... The overflow from the pond is on the other side of the road!!! :( I will be detecting all around that foundation as soon as I get a chance. Right now other things have to take priority if ya know what I mean.

So far I've finished up two of the samples we brought back. The first one shouldn't really be called a sample as it was only 1/2 a bucket from the floor of one of the washes that run across the claim. Still... There was gold in it. The first real sample was not all that impressive. There was some gold in it but not much. Still I did find a nice little picker in the pan so that area will need to be checked a little closer.

I've still got three other samples to run but I'm still looking for that classifier picker. Considering I'm classifying to 1/4" that would be a nice picker.

These samples were taken using the "Mossberg" method. Scattered all over the claim area. I'm already planning a logical approach to future sampling using a grid method. These samples we got last weekend were just to find a place to work while we do the "real" testing.

I can already see that different areas of the claim are going to call for different methods.
 

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