Mr. Gimmie
Newbie
Howdy,
I've been lurking a bit and appreciate all the input so many of you have offered here! Many thanks.
A handful of years ago I took a moment during a hot summer day, betwixt morning and evening dirt biking rides while camping in SW Montana, to pan a bit of material in a creek with good mineralization. This is a hobby I always saw myself getting into as I would get older. Golfing and the "cliche" hobbies were never on my list as I'll likely still be rallying my dirt and street bikes for many years. Anywho, I kept quite a bit of the black sand I had nearly panned pure. A number of months later I went back and carefully worked the sand around a few ounces at at time. Sure as sheeit there was a micro glowing gold spec! I ended up putting a 30x microscope on it I had kept from 3rd grade and it was a beautiful mini nugget. Really cool. Nuff said I was hooked. Fast forward 4 years and I own a Keene 151 drywasher, a Keen 2.5" highbanker dredge combo, two hand sluices (one a folding backpack model for dirt bike scouting) and a bit of other hand processing tools for finishing work.
Anywho, my inquiry is any tips in processing crystalized/coarse gold. I have access to a massive tailing pile and have been noticing the coarse gold does NOT pan the same as stuff banged down a waterway. What I find is it likes to be in the bottom 1/3 of any material in a pan. This is with proper screening. Most gold is #30 mesh and smaller. Is there a way to improve speed in recovery without making/buying a shaker table?
Much appreciated,
Aaron
SW Montana
I've been lurking a bit and appreciate all the input so many of you have offered here! Many thanks.
A handful of years ago I took a moment during a hot summer day, betwixt morning and evening dirt biking rides while camping in SW Montana, to pan a bit of material in a creek with good mineralization. This is a hobby I always saw myself getting into as I would get older. Golfing and the "cliche" hobbies were never on my list as I'll likely still be rallying my dirt and street bikes for many years. Anywho, I kept quite a bit of the black sand I had nearly panned pure. A number of months later I went back and carefully worked the sand around a few ounces at at time. Sure as sheeit there was a micro glowing gold spec! I ended up putting a 30x microscope on it I had kept from 3rd grade and it was a beautiful mini nugget. Really cool. Nuff said I was hooked. Fast forward 4 years and I own a Keene 151 drywasher, a Keen 2.5" highbanker dredge combo, two hand sluices (one a folding backpack model for dirt bike scouting) and a bit of other hand processing tools for finishing work.
Anywho, my inquiry is any tips in processing crystalized/coarse gold. I have access to a massive tailing pile and have been noticing the coarse gold does NOT pan the same as stuff banged down a waterway. What I find is it likes to be in the bottom 1/3 of any material in a pan. This is with proper screening. Most gold is #30 mesh and smaller. Is there a way to improve speed in recovery without making/buying a shaker table?
Much appreciated,
Aaron
SW Montana
