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

Jeff... If you could see the bottom of this wash I think you'd be drooling over it. Right now the problem is the lack of a vacuum. We've gotten everything we could get with a trowel, but that's just not good enough to get to all the good stuff. Sure... I could bust open the cracks with a hammer and chisel, but I want to keep them intact as much as possible. That way in time they can be reloaded. Some areas we're "improving" by adding small dams to slow the water flow and give the gold places to drop out. We won't know how well or even if they're going to work until the monsoons hit latter this summer. A good enough storm hits and those same rocks could be washed three claims down the hill.

So far we've only rough cleaned about 15 feet of the wash. The entire length of it is aprox 735 feet, so that only leaves 720 feet left to do! If I can get 10 feet done a day once I have a vacuum, it would only take about three months to get it all done. Of course I can't be out there every day so it's most likely going to take a lot longer.

I know that there's going to be both good and bad areas, but I'm positive that the good areas are going to more than make up for the bad ones.
 

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Sounds like you have a plan to get a lot of gold and fun out of that claim. Thrilled for you!
 

Well Friday I ran only about 8 gallons of material. Then I got distracted by the cable guy coming over and then chatted with Jeff for a bit. To say the least there wasn't much in the cons. A fair amount of fines though. Nothing big compared to what we got on first run from the day prior. Which had a couple good sized specks. I know I don't have a pic yet, but it'll be coming probably after I finish the dirt later today or tomorrow. I need to finish this because I'm planning on heading up to Yarnell to do more material and hopefully check some other spots.
I'm still playing with my sluice though. I can't seem to get it to flow level. When I put the level to it, it's level. However, the flow mostly stays on one side. While the other, though it's flowing, seems to be calmer. Plus, the material isn't cleaning out of the matting and the expanded metal as much as I'm accustomed to. The slopes at just over an inch per foot. Probably more 1-1/2/12. Plus the gold trap gets packed with material and the black matting area, which normally catches all/most of the gold, gets backed up to. Now I'm about 99% certain I'm catching all the gold, but to not get any bigger pieces yet getting only fines, makes me wonder if the bigger stuff is somehow blowing out. So I'm wondering if I should raise the angle so it cleans out the expanded metal of the bigger material. I will be testing the tailings to verify, though I'm certain nothing is there.
So after my daughters game and a couple pools, I'll be trying to finish today or the latest tomorrow, and post some pics.
 

GarretDiggingAz said:
Well Friday I ran only about 8 gallons of material. Then I got distracted by the cable guy coming over and then chatted with Jeff for a bit. To say the least there wasn't much in the cons. A fair amount of fines though. Nothing big compared to what we got on first run from the day prior. Which had a couple good sized specks. I know I don't have a pic yet, but it'll be coming probably after I finish the dirt later today or tomorrow. I need to finish this because I'm planning on heading up to Yarnell to do more material and hopefully check some other spots.
I'm still playing with my sluice though. I can't seem to get it to flow level. When I put the level to it, it's level. However, the flow mostly stays on one side. While the other, though it's flowing, seems to be calmer. Plus, the material isn't cleaning out of the matting and the expanded metal as much as I'm accustomed to. The slopes at just over an inch per foot. Probably more 1-1/2/12. Plus the gold trap gets packed with material and the black matting area, which normally catches all/most of the gold, gets backed up to. Now I'm about 99% certain I'm catching all the gold, but to not get any bigger pieces yet getting only fines, makes me wonder if the bigger stuff is somehow blowing out. So I'm wondering if I should raise the angle so it cleans out the expanded metal of the bigger material. I will be testing the tailings to verify, though I'm certain nothing is there.
So after my daughters game and a couple pools, I'll be trying to finish today or the latest tomorrow, and post some pics.
Click to expand...

Garret, I had that very same problems with my sluice. What fixed it was more flow, more drop and then I leveled the sluice based on how the water, then water and material was running through the sluice. When it was perfectly level, it flowed off to one side. After I leveled by flow, I tried to move the levels accordingly (one on the front and back) but the holes were too close together. A little bit of change made a big difference. GL&HH
 

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It sounds like a flow problem for sure. Save some of your tailings and use them to adjust your flow. For the most part they'll already be cleaned of the silt so your water will stay cleaner longer and you'll be able to see how the heavier materials are moving through the sluice. The layer of materials should be evenly spread out across the face of the working bed and the areas between the riffles should clear out in 7-10 seconds. Any faster than that and you stand a good chance of blowing your gold out the end. You want to keep the sluice as level as possible but still have materials move through it. Also check the impellor on your pump and make sure you haven't picked up some trash that is impeding the flow.
 

Well today I ran the rest of my material. After playing with the level. Got the slope at roughly 1-1-1/4/ft. Going to get a bigger pump for one. That way I can have less angle. On my test prior to running pay dirt , I ran clean material. Did a vid for it but can't put here. Lol. Anyways, I got it going good. For giggles I tested the material. Found a couple specs. Nothing major, but I was surprised to see it.
So after running my dirt (about 8 gals). So after checking that out there was some color there as well. Then I ran dirt from another hole that was uphill from where we were testing. So ran another 2-1/2 gals. So here's a couple pics of totals. First pic is from what we got in the field. Roughly from 30 gals. The 2nd pic was from home sluicing about another 20 gals total.
The last pic is the enlarged from home run. Showing some of the bigger pieces. Mostly a bunch of small fines.
Just remembered I got a bucket of clay balls to break up. Ughhhh. Lol. I'll pan out the dirt tomorrow. C'mon nuggets. Lol
 

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Garret-glad to hear your sluice is working better. I use the 1&1/4" drop per foot myself. Where did you find the gold in it?

Seeing your first pic made me a little nostalgic. Right now, I have a pan that looks just like it from my last trip and it's the first pan from the concentrates. I have been prospecting just under a year now and my take last year was .25 grams. Last year was mostly gold-less mud. Now I can find gold in places I thought were barren, thanks to Lanny (I don't think he knows that he's my mentor yet :notworthy:) You are fortunate to have such a great mentor in person with Jeff. I wish I had somebody to show me the ropes...and I am not a patient person...just ask him :laughing7:

I guess the point I'm trying to make is with all the help we get and the results from the field proving (and sometimes disproving) it sure does feel good to see color in the pan, no matter what the size, most of the time. You realize you're starting to know what you're doing and you're on to it. Good luck and keep at it!
The other Jeff
 

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You? Patient? You're not THAT bad Jeff. I've known much worse. As to being a mentor... Well I wouldn't call it that. Just a helpful person that just wants to see others find some of our favorite metal.

I've been trying to get things setup for the outing next month and figure out a way to get more water storage ability etc. I pulled everything out of my old Ren-Faire gear storage chest and am pressing it into service for mining. It's going to be the "Camp Kitchen" area with the stove set up on top of it. The great thing about this chest is that when I made it, I did it so it has a drop front on it. You can have half the gear in camp sitting on top of it and still be able to get things out of it if needed. Having it will allow us to keep all the smaller items like pans, classifiers etc in the other chest and lessen the chance of things blowing out of the back of the truck or sprouting legs and walking off from camp.
 

Jeff95531
TNet has been great to me and I try to do it justice by helping others as well.
Getting to know others from here and joining the local club for me has been the way I've found color. Plus I think like a fish, which is how the gold flows. They like to be in calm spots.
After I first started a year ago I met a guy here that said he'd show me where to get some color. I jumped on that opportunity. Both he and his brother are great friends now and I talk to them and let them know of what and where I got it.
Jeff is another friend I got to meet here. I'm more than willing to help prospect his claim. It's beautiful country and Jeff and his wife are great to talk to. I'm even hoping to be his neighbor. Lol.
I get so much more out of prospecting by meeting people who are of like mind. The gold found is just an added bonus. The help we get from each other is priceless. I'm looking forward to next outing there in March. In meantime I'm keeping my fever under control by hitting my other grounds. Lol. So if anybody wants to go with me Thursday/Friday towards Rich hill. Let me know.
 

Well according to the forecast this weekend is going to be shot as far as getting out to the claim goes. Storm supposed to hit on Saturday. It wil be interesting to see if our little "gold trap" can handle some real water flow or not. Then again this doesn't look to have the strength of the monsoon storms. Those things can really dump some water in a hurry!

I'm down to a couple of rocks left to crush and pan out to see if they have any gold in them and then I'm going to start going through withdrawals for lack of materials to play with. To keep my sanity (what little I had to start with) I'm going to start working on the new drop riffle design tomorrow. It's going to take a lot of saw and router work to get it how I want it. I'm going to be using Hemlock instead of pine for this one and will be giving it at least a half dozen coats of poly to seal it up good. First coats will be thinned 50% so it will really soak into the wood, then the full strength stuff to give it a good thick finish. I'll also be dying the wood black before I do the finish on it so gold will really show up on it.

I also found out that I'm going to be on "Munchkin wrangling duty" the entire week before the trip in March. Spring break for her school... OH JOY!!!! Depending on the weather, we may bring her out to the claim for some camping the weekend of the 15th, but she'll be going home with Robi since school starts back up on the 17th. After a week of "Wrangling" a week out at the claim will seem like a nice walk in the park.
 

...And now the work begins!

Well since we got rained out this weekend, We're going to be heading out to the claim this coming weekend instead. Between this trip and the trip form the 15th to the 23rd I'm going to be moving a LOT of materials this month. Weather permitting, we'll be taking the Munchkin :tongue3: out with us this weekend. It's going to be her first trip out to the claim so she's going to have all kinds of new areas to explore. :hello2: I'm thinking we'll be running about 4 yards worth of materials during this time period which isn't bad for a non-mechanized operation with one man doing all the hauling. :icon_farao:

I spent yesterday building up a new drop riffle sluice. I got the bed made up using the router and it came out nice and clean on the cuts. Following the directions in AstroBouncers' video as well as using Doc from Gold Hogs' mantra of giving the materials as many different zones for the gold to drop out as possible, I went to town. I ended up with a 48" X 10" bed with 3-1/2" sides. Lots of varied surfaces and it kind of looks like a modified gold hog "bedrock" mat. I'll be doing the sanding and starting the finish on it today and it should be ready for testing this weekend. The construction of the bed took the majority of the day and got me thinking that I could have gotten it done much faster if I had another router. Having to change bits so often was a p.i.t.a.!!!! :BangHead: :BangHead:

Even though we just got this claim staked, I'm still looking at other areas to prospect. During the long trip I'm going to be spending a day checking out some new territory that's to the north of us. Looks like it should be really good due to the geology, hydrology and other claims in that area. If it tests out we'll be staking and filing on these two sections as well. I'm thinking that will pretty much be enough in this area and next up will be starting the research into other areas. I'm thinking I'd like for us to get at least one claim that has some running water for a change!!! :headbang:

Stay tuned for further updates!!!! :coffee2:
 

Jeff it's too bad that they'd only be there for the 15th weekend. I'm planning in bringing my oldest boy, Thomas and youngest daughter Lacey. They like to dig but would be good to help watch the munchkin.
I got to thinking about my trommel I'd like to do. So I was wondering why people don't put in posts or small plates to hold rocks in place longer to get sprayed and cleaned thoroughly. Just a thought of course. Still got to get the hopper plumbed. I'm going to use my 2200 gph for the hopper and the 1200 gph for the sluice. I think this will get me the proper flow. So after payson trip, I'm going to get her done.
 

Well the Munchkin will be back in school. She goes to a "Charter School" so her vacation is a little different than the other schools. Still one of these days we will have to have a trip out there when we can get everyone there at the same time.

I got the new drop riffle sluice finished up today and after it's had some more time for the poly to cure well it will be time to break it in. I'll use some 1/4 inch classified materials to test it and see how well it works. If it moves materials well I'll step it up to 1/2 inch stuff and see how it handles that. The less time I have to spend classifying the better. I made this one out of Alaskan Hemlock. Really nice wood to work with.. Higher density than pine but not quite as hard as maple. Cuts and tools wonderfully. It also takes a nice finish. I really liked working with this stuff and wouldn't mind getting my hands on some more of it for future projects.
 

GarretDiggingAz said:
So I was wondering why people don't put in posts or small plates to hold rocks in place longer to get sprayed and cleaned thoroughly.
Click to expand...

Garrett you must have missed this photo. I do have what your talking about in place to slow the slurry down and give it a good washing.

T181.jpg
 

drywallman said:
Love to see some pictures, maybe even... Dare I say.... Video?
Click to expand...

Man... Talk about demanding! I've got a hard enough time getting pictures to post and now you want VIDEO!!!! My old computer has a hard enough time working with stills and there's no way I could do video on it. BUT.... Chris might be able to do some video while we're out there during the long trip this month. I'm not making any promises though....

I can take the video camera we have (but have never used) and start working on a video of the claim area and some of our efforts there. You do of course know that this will cut into my time to be moving materials and getting them processed. I'll have to charge Dan and Jeff for my lost wages, time doing the videography and post production processing of said video... ;)
 

Lol, gonna charge us for your production time! I guess I'm just gonna have to get out there and see it for myself.
 

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