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

[cshirsch]

Here's my hole from last week. My dog Earl is a 55 pounder, shown for scale.

 

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[Sample Pan Dan]

That's awesome Chris. Hopefully i can make it out in spring to meet you and get some az gold. I wonder if Jeff will still be in the area next spring.

 

[goldenIrishman]

ARIZAU: The area is workable but not claimable. It's surrounded by many claims both private and club. We were looking into claiming an area about a mile away (as the crow flies) but changes in life made me decide not to file on it.

DAN: At this point it's looking like I should still be in this area come spring time. Granted I'd much rather be up in the Kingman area but at this time it's not looking good for that to happen. If it does happent o work out, soon as I find a good spot or two to file on, you guys are of course invited to come on out and play.

CHRIS:Yeah... it was a lot of work this trip but so far I've been getting pretty good gold out of the materials I got "to go". Gold in every bucket so far. I finished up running the 6 buckets from the main hole and have it drying now. I've run one from the new hole upstream and the gold in that one was the best out of any single bucket. I'm going to run the last five buckets today and then see how the take form them matches up with the six from the big hole weight wise. Before I post the total take for the trip I'm going to crush and bake the black sands. I'm also seeing some micron size pieces with the magnifying glass so that is going to have to be amalgamated. I'll weigh the mercury both before and after amalgamation to get an idea of how much more I get and then put it with the other used Hg that's waiting for a proper retort to separate the gold and reclaim the Hg.

I'm still feeling like death warmed over in a microwave. I'm going to have to find some kind of pad/air mattress for my smaller tent so I'm not sleeping on the ground. My body isn't liking the rocks, lumps and bumps I subjected it to on this trip. Also a bit more time prepping the tent area is going to be called for. It may take a little time away from digging, but in the long run I think it will be worth the effort as I should stay in better shape for digging. It's hard to be enthusiastic about digging when you wake up feeling like you've been beat on all night. (I'm still trying to figure out WHY Chris brought that 2x4 with him...)

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Well Jeff. Sure seems like you had a blast. I was hoping to get out but finances say otherwise. I'm hoping to go north in a couple weeks. If you want to take a trip towards kingman to check out some spots I could head up there with ya.

 

[goldenIrishman]

No sense in teasing myself just yet. Until my lazy sister gets business taken care of and gets the buyout of the San Diego property done my hands are pretty much tied.

I finished up running the buckets I brought back and just need to dry everything out so it can be weighed up. I talked to Chris via texts last night and he's thinking that his hole wasn't as rich as where I was digging. Still he's got about 35 pounds of cons to clean out so he might still be surprised. I was pulling shot out of the cons left and right but he didn't seem to be getting much if any from his hole.

 

[Jeff95531]

Good job Jeff. I know you earned all you got. After Chris' 16 hour drive, I'll bet there's some sweet stuff on the bottom of his 35 #'s. Looking forward to comparing totals with you. Be sure to photo all the ones you found that go tick when dropped in the pan.

 

[arizau]

ARIZAU: The area is workable but not claimable. It's surrounded by many claims both private and club. We were looking into claiming an area about a mile away (as the crow flies) but changes in life made me decide not to file on it.

Thanks! I know the general area then. Good luck on your cleanout.
PS I like a Therm-a-Rest sleeping pad. Get one that self inflates. Not heavy or too bulky when rolled up. Check Amazon or is available at Summit Hut here in Tucson. They probably have one/them to try out on the floor.

 

[AzViper]

Jeff & Chris,

Sorry I missed you guys. Still trying to clean up everything with my fathers passing. Amazing all the hoops one has to jump through to settle his entire estate. Every time we turn around someone else needs a certified death certificate. Then it's dealing with the CPA and making sure we don't get swallowed up by our gov. I am hoping in the next few weeks getting out with the new MD and trommel. Been a long time coming and the weather here in Tucson is great right now, next week even better...

 

[goldenIrishman]

ARIZAU: I've heard of the pads you mentioned and will give one a try sometime in the future. My main problem was not taking the time to get the tent site prepped the way I should have. Wanted to keep digging instead of spending time on that.

KEITH: I know what you're talking about on the estate thing. I went through it when my mom passed away. My sister was/is the executor so she had to deal with the majority of that stuff. It's a shame you couldn't make it out to play. I don't know if you've met Fred and Elinor but it's their month as caretakers at K.C. Really good people and Fred's got a major case of panning fever. At 80 he doesn't move much dirt but he sure has fun!

The total for the trip after the first go through was an underwhelming 1/2 gram. I'm using the tailings to teach the munchkin how to operate the sluices and how to pan. She got her first little bit of gold this morning so 'm going to have to do something to mark the occasion. i'm re-running the tailings and have been finding some really small stuff that washed through the drop riffle setup. I've only done two buckets out of the twelve and it's looking like the little bit of extra gold isn't going to amount to much. Once I've finished that I'll crush and bake the black sands then get them for amalgamation. I can't wait until I've moved and can file a couple of claims that I can bring in equipment on to really move some dirt. This hands and pans stuff isn't making me any money!!!!

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Well you had a good time out digging with friends and that's gold in itself

 

[AlaskaGold]

Sometimes it's not what you find, it's the time you spent finding it, that's worth more than money. Sounded like you had a great time!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Yeah... I have to admit that you guys are right. After being cooped up pretty much all of this monsoon season, I needed to get out of the house to clear my head a bit. Still... It would be nice to get to an area that I could bring in some heavy equipment on so I could move enough dirt to make it worth my while from a money standpoint.

I did notice a lot of changes to the area thanks to the monsoons. Trees down, etc. It was strange though that there wasn't much change in the actual bed of the wash. Looked like there had been hardly any water flow through it. The ground was too damp to consider drywashing but there hadn't been enough water through it to clear out any of the vegetation.

I've re-run the six buckets from the new hole and gotten about another grains worth of gold out of it. I have six more buckets to redo and then crush and shake n bake the black sands before I have the final total for the trip.

 

[425jesse]

Keep it up, you are doing awesome!

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Jeff did I tell ya about these guys I bumped into on my wash near Stanton?
They purchased a claim towards king tut claim. These guys were from Utah and had brought down a backhoe to dig and spent three months digging and didn't even find a spec. I couldn't believe that they bought the claim without even testing it. The area may be part of the gold belt, but that sure didn't mean there was any. The other thing is that I don't know of there knowledge. They could be like the Hoffman's. Hey I got ground. I got an excavator. Therefore I'll get 1000 oz. right?
They found out about our area, hopefully because of joining the club. They stopped off to chat and looked at my to mat. There first words after hi, was that's the most gold I've seen in three months. I had to laugh. Because there were maybe 10 specs in that mat. They were dry washing. So my buddy James and I grabbed there tailings and got more gold from that aside from what I got. Still waiting to do a pic of combined total for me and James. Just haven't seen each other lately. Plus I'm sitting on dirt that I think I'll finish tomorrow. Still got some from your claim. Don't think there's anything in it though. Since nothing came from dirt from bottom of the hole. But you never know it could've been in the top two feet.
Sure would like to hook up again at some point. Was fun for sure. Looking to find a spot north of here though. Definitely closer. Though I do love that area as well. So might be interested in your old spot.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Sounds like some "Greenhorns" for sure! First rule of buying a claim is to test, re-test and then to be sure... TEST IT AGAIN! If the current claim owner has a problem with allowing you to test that's a good sign that you should not only walk away, but you should run as fast as your feet can carry you!

That you found gold in their tailings makes it sound like they don't know how to setup their equipment correctly! Dry washing is no different than sluicing in that it's all about angles and feed rates. Water flow is just replaced with air flow and of course the entire operation is a LOT dustier. Of course even if you set your dry washer up so the wind is SUPPOSED to keep the dust out of your face, as soon as you start running materials it will change direction... Something to do with Mr. Murphy and his laws.

Well until I get moved up to the Kingman area, if I go out at all it will be to the Kentucky Camp area. Robi and I talked about going over to the old area to see how the monsoons had affected it but by the time we got loaded up after my week at K.C. I just didn't have the energy to head over there. You know how that road from K.C. to the other area is and after the monsoons... YIKES!!!! I still would like to see how a couple of things held up to the storms. The catch basins I made as well as the tent pad. Was also wondering how much water made it into the pond. Maybe next time I go out we'll swing by BEFORE we head to K.C. and check it out.

If you're serious about filing on that area let me know and I'll give you the proper description of it for the paperwork. You'll have to go to the recorders office in Tucson and make sure that no one else has grabbed it up. If it's open you can file on it then and there to save yourself another trip. We did have some people stop by that seemed very interested in it and were asking a bunch of questions. They had found one of the corner markers near the pond. They may have been GPAA folks returning from the Quad C claim but I don't know. If you do decide to grab it, I've got a hard copy map with the claim marked out as well as all the other claims that are covered on the Helvetica Map. When you get time to talk, send me a text and I'll give you a call.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Class(ified) Kitty

Well the other day while teaching the Munchkin the ropes of panning, we happened to look over and what did we see but our cat Panner poking around some of the equipment. This is nothing unusual for her as she is always exploring when I'm sluicing or panning materials. What was different about this time was when she decided it was nap time, she curled up on a pair of classifiers and was soon sound asleep!!!



This was also the day that the Munchkin found her first piece of gold in her pan. To mark the event, Robi and I have decided to take that gold along with some more out of our pokes and make her a necklace using a small vial that I'll seal so she can't loose the gold out of it. Needless to say, she's also not going to be allowed to wear it to school for a couple more years. At 7 going on 8 she's still got a bit to learn about responsibility. I'll post a pic of the finished necklace once I get it done.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

That's awesome! I'm sure the munchkin week love it. And cute cat too

 

[KevinInColorado]

Very cool, raisin' 'em right!

 

[Jeff95531]

Your cats name is Panner? And people here think I have a AU problem. LOL When Kevin said raising them right, it could mean both!
JK, call me when you can break away.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Your cats name is Panner? And people here think I have a AU problem. LOL When Kevin said raising them right, it could mean both! JK, call me when you can break away.

good catch...in fact I meant both!