The good news and the bad news.

[arizau]

The good news. I collected about a two shovelful sample from a new spot and it contained 0.01 grams of mostly plus 50 mesh gold. Not too bad for two shovelfuls.

The bad news. This is a fairly remote, hike in only, spot with no water source and the material is currently sticky wet and cannot be screened to take out more concentrated samples to play with. Not only that but when it is dry it forms hard clods that probably isn't likely to break down to good drywashable material so, to be efficient, it needs to be wet processed. Since it is too far to hike in water I guess I will have to try it later in the year and see if I can figure out a way to be productive in dry washing. Such is the life of a prospector.

 

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[G-bone]

Good problems to have!!
Any chance of setting up camp there and spending a night or two?
Gives you some time there to put in some serious effort after trekking in all the gear.

Not sure if this would help, but I have a few areas I have been scoping out that also have limited access.
And how do I get the gear back there with minimal trips, back and forth.
This might be a good tool for that:
TRAILER : MONOWALKER hikingtrailer

I would sooner try and make one, than buy though.
Good luck and please keep us posted on how you do there.

Cheers

G

 

[rivets]

Monowalker love it

 

[arizau]

Good problems to have!!
Any chance of setting up camp there and spending a night or two?
Gives you some time there to put in some serious effort after trekking in all the gear.

Not sure if this would help, but I have a few areas I have been scoping out that also have limited access.
And how do I get the gear back there with minimal trips, back and forth.
This might be a good tool for that:
TRAILER : MONOWALKER hikingtrailer

I would sooner try and make one, than buy though.
Good luck and please keep us posted on how you do there.

Cheers

G

I like the trailer idea but it would not work in this case. I have a rocker box that is designed for use in a recirculating mode but it requires about 5 gallons of water. I also was gifted a Gold Rush Nugget Bucket (yes it works well) that I could also operate in recirculating mode with about 5 gallons of water. The weight and the bulk of the water and the gear would be too much for one trip and the round trips are about an hour and a half or longer. Adding camping gear would make the trek even harder so that is not happening. I may try to enlist a friend to share the load and the gold and just do a day outing. That could turn out to be a win win situation since we could process much more material.

 

[QNCrazy]

Love it as well. This solves one of my cart problems. I had an old stroller frame sitting in the garage just asking me to make it into an equipment cart. It was missing the front tire but still had the rear tires. I put some wood on the frame to make something similar to this but with the rear wheels it just wasn't working. I think I'll take of the rear wheels and move one to the front, then place a solid peice of ABS running the length. I may cut the solid handlebar or may add extesions made from an old lawnmower. Hmmmm, brain working in overdrive now. Need to write this stuff down before i forget.

 

[arizau]

Love it as well. This solves one of my cart problems. I had an old stroller frame sitting in the garage just asking me to make it into an equipment cart. It was missing the front tire but still had the rear tires. I put some wood on the frame to make something similar to this but with the rear wheels it just wasn't working. I think I'll take of the rear wheels and move one to the front, then place a solid peice of ABS running the length. I may cut the solid handlebar or may add extesions made from an old lawnmower. Hmmmm, brain working in overdrive now. Need to write this stuff down before i forget.

Take note of the fact that there is a 20" wheel on that thing. Going too much smaller will not work near as well on uneven ground.

 

[PurpleGold]

Why not get a quad? Don't we all wish $$$ was endless so we could do our hobbies the way we want to.

 

[wildminer]

No offence, but that monowalker looks brutal. I have used a Cabelas two wheeled buck cart for up to 200# of buck deer and at some time could use it for mining gear. It is designed to put the weight centered over the wheels taking the weight off your back, hips and knees. It works surprisingly well going over obstructions such as logs and rocks by moving one wheel over at a time in a side to side motion. I think it is about two feet wide. Arizau, maybe you could take some gear in and stash it overnite if you didn't want to camp out?

 

[arizau]

No offence, but that monowalker looks brutal. I have used a Cabelas two wheeled buck cart for up to 200# of buck deer and at some time could use it for mining gear. It is designed to put the weight centered over the wheels taking the weight off your back, hips and knees. It works surprisingly well going over obstructions such as logs and rocks by moving one wheel over at a time in a side to side motion. I think it is about two feet wide. Arizau, maybe you could take some gear in and stash it overnite if you didn't want to camp out?

I've thought of that but 12 hours of packing gear in and out for what I might get in gold just doesn't equal out. I wish I had a burro.

Are you doing any beach mining? You might be able to put that buck cart to use shuttling buckets of black sand to a recirc system (gold cube, etc.) that is away from the no motor area of the beaches.

 

[bobw53]

I've thought of that but 12 hours of packing gear in and out for what I might get in gold just doesn't equal out. I wish I had a burro.

I was just going to suggest that... Guy I know (and haven't seen in a while) goes digging with his brother in law... His brother in law found a good spot, but its way out there, and apparently
its not easy terrain.. He went and got some donkey's (maybe mules), apparently they are cheap to free, I've never actually looked... They ride the donkey's in, and then walk out while the
donkey's carry the dirt.

 

[wildminer]

I've thought of that but 12 hours of packing gear in and out for what I might get in gold just doesn't equal out. I wish I had a burro.

Are you doing any beach mining? You might be able to put that buck cart to use shuttling buckets of black sand to a recirc system (gold cube, etc.) that is away from the no motor area of the beaches I hear ya. I've been looking in the mountains lately, but have been stretching it out to about the limit for a day trip from home. Too wet to tent camp with the wife and too rugged for the travel trailer. So yeah, been thinking of taking the trailer and camping near Blanco for a couple days. My cart would work ok in packed wet sand with it's hard rubber tires, but it'd probably want fat tires, low on air for the beach. Good thought, though. Can't say I know the law about using motors up in the vegetation line. About the best I can come up with right now would be a four foot sluice with ribbed mat in some running water I know about.

 

[wildminer]

Sorry. I should have replied with quote. Old timers disease.

 

[arizau]

I've thought of that but 12 hours of packing gear in and out for what I might get in gold just doesn't equal out. I wish I had a burro.

Are you doing any beach mining? You might be able to put that buck cart to use shuttling buckets of black sand to a recirc system (gold cube, etc.) that is away from the no motor area of the beaches I hear ya. I've been looking in the mountains lately, but have been stretching it out to about the limit for a day trip from home. Too wet to tent camp with the wife and too rugged for the travel trailer. So yeah, been thinking of taking the trailer and camping near Blanco for a couple days. My cart would work ok in packed wet sand with it's hard rubber tires, but it'd probably want fat tires, low on air for the beach. Good thought, though. Can't say I know the law about using motors up in the vegetation line. About the best I can come up with right now would be a four foot sluice with ribbed mat in some running water I know about.

I use a sluice too when I go up there. I hate carrying buckets though.

 

[QNCrazy]

Take note of the fact that there is a 20" wheel on that thing. Going too much smaller will not work near as well on uneven ground.

I was looking at it a couple of hours ages. If I can find the right size axle, or even make one, I can put both wheels on the front for more stability.

 

[goldenmojo]

Here ya go. I have not read it so I don't know what the particulars are. Wild Horse and Burro

 

[wildminer]

I was looking at it a couple of hours ages. If I can find the right size axle, or even make one, I can put both wheels on the front for more stability.

I always wanted to build an aluminum framed two wheeler similar to my buckcart and have it battery powered, maybe with like an electric bike motor and battery, neutral and of course brakes. Fairly easy to hold in balance with the weight over the wheels.

 

[QNCrazy]

You got a picture of your bucket cart?

 

[wildminer]

You got a picture of your bucket cart?

Sorry , no. I need to get my camera out and start taking pics again. It is actually a buck cart as in buck deer and I bought it about 10 years ago from Cabelas'. I'll try to get a pic up tomorrow.

 

[Hamfist]

This describes my regular spot rather accurately.

Is there a way to get equipment in and stash it somewhere? I have the luxury of a semi-flat single track trail for 3/4 of my hike so I've been bringing equipment and jugs of water in via wheelbarrow for a few weeks. I store water on-site in tubs with lids on them. Water is the hardest thing to move, by far! It makes me miss drywashing season.

 

[Hamfist]

And, the bad news is isn't all bad. It's why places like that are still out there. I wish my spot were more accessible, but if it were, the gold would have been pulled out 100 years ago.