Snakes, mercury, fine gold. In that order.

[Bell]

I got out yesterday with the intention of sniping some bedrock on the upper portion of a gold bearing creek. I was able to get permission but found it very overgrown with brush growing out and over the creek. I struck out looking for likely cracks and had made it about ten steps down the stream when I heard something rustling above my ahead. I looked up just in time to see a copperhead who must have also been startled fall and land almost on my feet. By the time he hit the ground I was pretty much back in my car. I decided to go ahead and head down stream to a cleared out and safer area where I could sluice overburden. Its a small stream maybe 8 foot across and a foot deep at its deepest of fast moving cold water. Low snake danger right? After sever test pans I lucked into a large area of blue clay false bedrock in the middle of the stream which was producing a good amount of flakes. So I set up my sluice and proceeded to work it. I was getting a lot of chunky flakes but nothing picker wise but that is good for this area so I was content. I went along scraping the top of the clay off and running it for about four hours until it came time to move a flat rock about the size of my large gren gold pan that had been setting in six inch deep water right next to my ankles all day. I stuck my shovel under it and upon the slightest wiggle out shot a two foot snake with the color and pattern of a copperhead although I forgot to ask him if that's what he was. I did my cleanup and wet home where I panned out about ten bucks worth of flakes which is good for me. It was then that I noticed a little silvery rough shaped that was acting heavy like gold. Unsure I pressed my finger into it and it flattened into two flat pieces which then reunited when I moved the pan. Ugh my assumption was then that it was flakes caught up in mercury which I had only heard of but never seen. I got some tweezers and put it in its own vial and proceeded with my clean up. Unfortunately this morning when I looked at my clean gold vial there was apparently other smaller bits of mercury which I hadn't seen that are now infecting some of the gold in there. As for the snakes I'm now thinking of getting a dry suit and moving my prospecting to winter. But for the mercury I dunno, should I expect to wake up tomorrow disease ridden and insane for having touched it last night?

 

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[RON (PA)]

You have more guts/determination than I do. I would have went home after the first snake. As far as the mercury, making you crazy by the morning, I doubt you will be crazy, but you might turn into the Incredible Hulk when you get mad.

 

[Oakstrails]

I think you'll be ok. The snakes may have taken more years off your life than the mercury. I somehow have made it to my mid 50's after playing around with mercury in my teens. Had no clue what I was messing with. Of course at that age snakes didn't bother me either. Glad you found a little color on Your adventure.
Good Luck & Stay Safe

 

[63bkpkr]

Bell,

From your mention of copperheads I can only guess that you are somewhere in the south or southern midwest. I've hiked a short section of the Apalachan trail and noticed a large snake coiled up on the beams of the bridge I was standing on. I've seen a few rattlesnakes here in California, even eaten a few, but they are small timber rattlers and nothing like the things you are running into. I would also opt for the dry suit and colder weather.

I also played with mercury as a young boy and I don't seem to have any problems from it other than being bald and crazy going out to look for gold in bear, mountain lion, rattlesnake country with environmentalist all around me. Do not heat the mercury and have it in a closed environment as inhailing the vapors is what will get it into ones brain. "Mad as a hatter" is a phrase that comes from hat refurbishers going crazy as they used mercury to rework the fine felt hats.

Sounds like you have some good spots save for the snakes. Do be careful...........63bkpkr

 

[NeoTokyo]

Thats a heck of a story that you have, a lot more work then I would want to do but I have been spoiled by underwater sniping.

Could you post a pic of the mercury you found please?

 

[blynch35]

that was an adventure for sure..

 

[Bell]

Thanks guys. Im in North Carolina. Not far at all from the Appalachian trail actually. It would be a better story with more gold though. That seems to be the one thing i never encounter in satisfactory amounts on my outings. Ill try to photo the merc tonight but its pretty small and all i have is my camera phone so we shall see what comes out.

 

[Hoser John]

I have friends all over the US and all have reported a banner years for snakes in almost all the states...so err on the side a caution,never stopped me just slowed me down a bit though-John

 

[Bell]

I have a fair phobia of the nasty things but i usually dont let it slow me down. Unfortunately i did let all my encounters thursday get to me. Friday was my last day of vacation this year and it started off with a call from a landowner granting me permission on a stretch of creek ive been trying to get on all summer. I loaded up the car and drove the thirty minutes to get there. When I arrived I walked out on the old wooden bridge and stared down at the water and the dense overgrowth thinking about all the snakes that must be in there for about twenty minutes. Then I got back in the car and went home lol. Ill get over it in a few days Im sure.

 

[freddy williams]

I didn't know rattlers would stay under water that long I always knew moccasans would stay under for short period. Congrats on your finds I am more interested in seeing the gold instead of the mercury. HH may all your ventures be Golden.

 

[austin]

I'd worry about the mercury more than the snakes. 63bkpkr is right. On no account should you heat it. In fact, don't touch it. It is absorbed by the skin and stored in the liver. Breathing the fumes when heated is just as bad. But it should take more than that. What you can do is get a little sponge, soak it up, put it in a plastic bag and then call hazmat(?). That's by federal law. I taught school(science) for 30 years, went from me and the kids playing with it when a thermometer broke to having alcohol thermometers, a kit to pick it up (if we still had the old type) in the manner I described and I'm still here. Bad news is that your creek is polluted, any fish that have ingested it(ever hear about the kid in the midwest whose mom gave him tuna with high mercury levels and he died?) are passing it up the food chain too. So be careful, but you should be ok.

 

[Lanny in AB]

As for the snakes I'm now thinking of getting a dry suit and moving my prospecting to winter. But for the mercury I dunno, should I expect to wake up tomorrow disease ridden and insane for having touched it last night?

No--you're not going to be disease ridden and die. Just always use caution when around mercury, as others have cautioned you. That's one of the beefs I have about dredging bans--we removed mercury from the river where it was contaminating the environment!

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Fullpan]

Touching a couple drops of Hg won't do you any harm, but utube has many videos on gold mining in third world countries where hundreds of lbs of Hg
are used daily to help recover gold. videos of workers mixing mercury by hand methods are quite disturbing to watch.