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

[Jeff95531]

I love it when a plan comes together! Good luck/gold to all and we'll be waiting

 

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[goldenIrishman]

We Came... WE Saw... We got our butts kicked!

Well the weekend was shall we say, "Interesting".

We managed to get there right at sunset which meant setting up camp pretty much in the dark. It had been a long time since I had used my big tent and I should have given myself a refresher on its setup. Would have made things a LOT easier. Anyway... got camp setup and got some sleep because we knew that it was going to be a long day on Saturday. We just didn't know how long.....

I was up and hauling gear to the dig site by 7AM and had everything in place by 8:15. Next came me doing my impersonation of "Gunga Din". After three trips to haul the water we were ready to start digging. It didn't take long to learn that I had a minor design flaw in my water system for the sluice. The pumps and spray bars kept clogging up with small pieces of grass and other crud and I was loosing pressure every time I turned around. A filter of some sort was needed to keep the crud out of the system. Robi had some knee high nylons on (don't ask) so we used them over the pumps as filters. This worked fine until the crud got soaked and was no longer floating. So we removed the nylons, skimmed out all the crud we could and stretched one of the nylons over the end of the sluice to catch the junk before it hit the water. Well it worked and we didn't loose pressure again after that. Only drawback was that we had to empty the nylon from time to time. So I'll be spending part of this week making up filter balls to go around the pumps. It should work as long as I keep the floaties out of the water supply.

We tried getting together with AzViper but due to really bad cell signal as well as a phone that was dying on me because of charge it didn't happen. Of course the one thing I forgot to load up was my car charger for my phone. I'm still kicking myself for that little ooops. Keith I'll call you sometime during the week.

So between pump problems, communications problems, weather turning bad and general lack of having my act together (it's a work in progress) we still managed to run three buckets from a test location, and nine from our old site on Saturday. Today we did a little exploring and found a couple of other places to test, ran a few buckets through the sluice and hauled some materials back to the truck to process here at the house. Of course just before we got the tent broke down it started to rain like someone was pouring a bucket over us. By the time we got everything loaded up and were ready to go we were both soaked to the bone.

All in all it was a good weekend. We found several "sluice pickers", learned what tweaks the sluice system needed, and got to spend time together without the Munchkin. Next week being Labor Day weekend we'll be out there yet again but will be even more prepared and efficient in our efforts.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sounds like you made the weekend into an adventure! And I think Robi gets bonus points sacrificing part of her wardrobe to rescue the gold getting!!

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Glad someone's out there getting some color!

 

[goldenIrishman]

If you want to come on out Dan you're more than welcome to join us! Same goes for you Kevin.

After spending the morning recovering from the weekend I got the cons we brought back panned down. Slow work with all the black sands in there! I managed to get about three grams out of it not counting the tiny tiny pieces that I"ll save up for amalgamation at a later date. I've still got 2-1/2 buckets of classified materials to run but I want to get the tweaks done on the sluice first. The pay streak seems to be getting a little richer as we got 3X the amount of gold for only 2x the materials run.

We're planning on going out and washing more rocks this weekend. Our plan for this area is to do 2 bucket samples from other parts of the gulch first thing then return to our current spot unless there's a MAJOR increase in the amount of gold in the sample buckets.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Thanks for the invite. I'd love to come out there and play with you. Maybe in the next month or two, I can afford to take a long weekend and come digging with y'all. Sounds like you've got yourself a heck of a nice area.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Ditto! Thanks for the invite. Still negotiating with my wife on where we will go in mid November ....fingers crossed!

 

[AzViper]

Jeff,

Saturday did not start out well for my buddy and I. We had just gotten on I-10 heading east to Highway 83 to Sonoita when I ran over a classifier in the middle of I-10. Then I saw more classifiers and totes. My buddy who was about a 1/2 mile in front of me lost his gear out of the truck. I had given him a Motorola radio at Quick Trip so I let him know he lost his gear. He made a U-turn at the next off ramp and headed back towards me. Its 4:30am and we are dodging Semi's picking up gear. Next we are heading south on 83 and the radio crackled that a Skunk was in the road with no time to react I hit the Skunk and my new Tundra smells like the little fella spray my entire underside of the truck.

Once we arrived up in the upper Gulch after 3 hours of metal detecting we were in stride of recovering gold much like you and Robi were. I knew where you mentioned that you would be but when I did not see your truck in the parking lot I thought you had left. I had thought of going down to the second option and most likely would have found you had I done so. But at the end of the day we both had a productive weekend. Although we were only in the area Saturday but it was a good day of digging and vacuuming the everything that fell onto the bedrock.

This is from 1 bucket that we had classified down to 1/4" before running it through the sluice.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Hope your buddies gold covers the cost of new equipment! Yikes... As a tradesman, I won't start my truck without double checking everything is secure and strapped down.

 

[goldenIrishman]

OUCH!!!!!! I know that had to be a rwal bummer as well as a pain in the tuckus!!!! I know how those truckers drive on I-10. Ya'll lucky you weren't turned into street pizza!

Next time we're both out there I'll show you the research on the area that I've gathered up so far and will have a list of the sources so you can download it as well. Supposed to be another rainy day on Saturday but the forecast is always subject to change.

I got the changes made to the sluice water system and the header box. It's working much better now and I hope it's not going to act up again this coming weekend. The header box washes and classifies the materials to 1/4 inch and has been tested with raw materials from the area. As long as I don't toss any boulders in there I should be fine. Not having to classify is going to speed things up in a big way. Now that Robi and I have developed a "system" I hope to be able to move at least 25 buckets through the sluice a day. I know it's not that much by some standards but for a homemade wooden sluice that wasn't designed for this kind of material I think that's pretty good.

One thing that I really want to do is to learn more about the geology of the area. Here by the house bedrock is Rhyolite and Conglomerate based but I've yet to see any there. We also have tons of garnets in our washes but again I haven't seen a one at K.G. It's amazing how big a difference a hundred miles can make.

 

[goldenIrishman]

More mods/improvements to the sluice system. I made up a filter box to house the pumps in. I formed the box from 1/4 hardware cloth and then covered it with window screen. Anything that make it past the screens will also pass through the jets in the header box with no problem. The box design is very simple and will hang on the lip of the water barrel. It will also keep the pumps out of the silt on the bottom of the barrel.

It's been raining here most of the afternoon but the weather forecast says it should be clearing up by the time we leave for the site tomorrow afternoon. I may have to draw on my Lakota heritage and do an ANTI-rain dance! Film at 11.....

Goals for this weekend are as follows:
1. Be setup and running by 8AM Sat morning.
2. Run 25 buckets each day and bag the cons at the end of each day.
3. Do 10 gallon tests on other parts of the gulch and bag the cons for each one with markings for where it came from.
4. Haul at least 80 gallons of classified materials back with us for processing during the week.
5. Come home and die from exhaustion!!!!!

It's also been a bit of a hard time trying to enplane to the 6 year old munchkin why she can't go out with us. Between her hardheadedness, pouting, and being a "Drama Princess" we had to promise to take her camping soon. So next weekend we're taking off from prospecting to rest up and the weekend after that we're taking her camping at Turkey Creek. That there happens to be reports of gold in that area as well just can't be helped. We'll do an overnight recon trip for the site, keep the Munchkin at bay and find out if the reports of gold are true. At least Turkey Creek has a campground with water and toilets!

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Campground with water and toilets is a big plus with the little ones, eh?! Sounds like you nailed it with the filter box for the pumps. Funny that your ready to cuss the rain, and I'm begging for some... No measurable rain in months... Just 95% humidity :-(

 

[KevinInColorado]

Campground with water and toilets is a big plus with the little ones, eh?! Sounds like you nailed it with the filter box for the pumps. Funny that your ready to cuss the rain, and I'm begging for some... No measurable rain in months... Just 95% humidity :-(

Sounds like ya both need to move to CO where the humidity is less than 25% all the time and we get sunny days then maybe a sprinkle (or a quick dump of rain) each afternoon

 

[goldenIrishman]

I'm not cursing the rain by any means! Robi on the other had isn't all that happy with it. AS long as I can keep or get my feet dry so they don't turn into prunes I'm fine.

I don't know about moving to Colorado Kevin. The humidity is too high. When it's not the monsoon season our is as low as 5% at times. Now I wouldn't mind heading up that way for a visit some time in the future. Like after I finish upgrading the field equipment.

The filterbox design was borne out of the materials at hand. I ran the pumps for a couple of hours and threw everything I had skimmed off the top of the water in the past as well as more and the jets didn't clog! I kind of surprised myself that it worked so well! RObi is starting to think of me as a major McGuyver. I have to keep telling her that I taught McGuyver everything he knows but not everything I know.

 

[Jeff95531]

Sounds like ya both need to move to CO where the humidity is less than 25% all the time and we get sunny days then maybe a sprinkle (or a quick dump of rain) each afternoon

Ummm then there's the snow

 

[Jeff95531]

Hey Jeff
Good luck to you and Robbie this weekend. We need pics ya know...or a REALLY detailed story when you get back!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Ummm then there's the snow

Well, yeah, there is that problem....

 

[AzViper]

Jeff I was in the Kentucky Camp area and left you some barrels and buckets I had in my truck. My wife wanted to go down to Sonoita and visit some of the wineries in the area. I took her down to the camp and showed her around of the old mining camp.

​

 

[goldenIrishman]

WOW!!! That place looks familiar! It's become a second home over the last few weeks. From the amount of traffic there this weekend you'd think it was just off the interstate or something.

Got the Barrels and buckets Keith! Thank you so much!!!! Being able to haul the water 15 gal at a whack saved me a lot of time. Our final score for the weekend is as follows.

Saturday:
Twelve buckets from our existing spot and four more from a test site that Robi wanted to check out, Robi has a good eye gents but remember she's MINE!!!!! Her test site turned up a nice nugget as well as some other nice pieces in the cons.

Sunday:
Four more Buckets from Robis site and four from our existing spot got ran before the batteries started to get weak on us. We spent part of the day doing some exploring and found a couple more places to test on the next trip. Next trip at least a battery a day since there's no place to recharge them out there.

Monday:
Spent the morning digging, classifying to 1/4 inch and hauling 10 buckets worth of materials to bring back. Then we broke down the camp and work sites and were on the road by 12:30. Made it back to the homestead about 3ish and got everything unloaded. I'm enjoying the first real cup of coffee since Friday and man.... Does it taste GOOOoooOOOooOOOoooddddddd!!!!!

I'll go into more detail on the trip for those that are living vicariously through Robi and my adventures tomorrow. Right now I'm about whupped and ready to relax.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Sounds like a heck of a trip. Can't wait to see some pics.