4 days, 79 nuggets, 15 grams

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Reno Chris

Well-known member
Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
274
Recently I took my Minelab SDC 2300 to a location in Northern California which I hadn't visited in a couple years - even though its not hard to get to - because the last few times I'd been there it was a skunk. I got started and with my new detector and I hadn't been detecting even 5 minutes when I found and dug my first target - and it turned out to be a little nugget. A few minutes later, and the second target was a nugget as well. Initially, I was only able to re-work a small part of this area as I keep digging more little nuggets and I didn't want to walk away when there were still golden targets to be dug. I was shocked to see how much gold was just sitting there in a spot I know I have gone over before at least a couple times in the past.
You can see these nuggets are very rough and have not traveled far. A couple days later I brought a friend out to the place where I'd been digging these nuggets, but the patch I had been working on was starting to peter out. That first morning he was there, I got three tiny nuggets but had been doing much better. However there are loads of workings there and my friend headed up the hill and found some spots up there were he was getting some gold. After lunch we went up there and he took one area and I took another close by. Although we were only about 15 yards apart, there was no cross talk between the detectors. Turns out my area was the more productive of the two, but we didn't know that then, and he got some good gold too. Once I got started, I was just digging one little nugget after the other. I would only be searching a few minutes between finds, and there was very little trash. I think I got a couple square nails and a few bird shot - and 29 nuggets. One of them was a cool kind of arborecent shape that is unlike any nugget I have ever dug, but I have seen some photos of pieces like that. You an see it at the top in the attached photo. The second day we went at it again, and I mostly just kept pounding that same ridge I was working on the day before from one end to the other. My friend found another little slope that yielded some chunky nuggets and he worked there. The weather was fantastic, just enough clouds to keep the temperature just right, great company, beautiful California scenery, and on that last day I got another 23 nuggets and again just a small hand full of trash items.
The total weight for the four days with the SDC was 15 grams, almost a half an ounce. There is still more area to detect, but also some spots that need to be dug and dry washed. So I will be out there with my dry washer as well.

sdc_gold_15_gr_b.jpg
 
Wow, very nice. :lol:
I have never found Gold with mine, a few Silver coins. Maybe some day! :|
 
Nice haul Chris! 8)

Mind if I ask a quick question? I know nothing about gold in nugget form but someone sent me some
small nuggets (OK tiny) in two glass vials filled with a liquid that I assume is water. The separation
appears to be by size. My question is: what do you guys do with raw gold? Keep it? Sell it? Any reason
for me to keep the gold in two vials or should I just combine them?

Thanks for any tips from all you prospectors out there. :lol:

Nugget Noobie
 
what do you guys do with raw gold?

There are all the options you can think of. Some sell it, some keep it. You can sell to collectors or refiners. Or you can keep and make a collection out of it. Or you can keep it against some rainy day emergency. I have friends who have done all of these. I have one friend who takes all the small stuff he has, mixes it with sand and pebbles and sells the bags of salted dirt for people to practice panning with. He sells all his gold at the equivalent of $2000 an ounce - quite a premium on current prices.

Unless you are making some collection, I see no reason to keep the vials separated.
 
A lot depends on your end purpose for the gold glorycloud. If it's already seperated by size and there's a posability that you might sell it to a jeweler it should sell better seperated. If you are going to Refine it or sell to a Refinery then it probably doesn't matter if you combine them. Can you ask the source you got them from if they are from the same location and if it's water in the vial with the gold? Unless keeping them in liquid for it's magnifying properties, I keep mine dry and sieved to about 6 sizes. Easier to show to a potential buyer. Nice haul Chris, glad you and Steve had a grand time.
 
I think I will filter off the fluids from the vials separately into two lots and post a picture on the forum and weigh them.
I will probably keep them. Perhaps they will inspire me to head to the hills here in Georgia in search of their "relatives". :lol:

Thanks for the tips!
 
I drained off the water and dried what I had. 3.15 grams.
Pretty to look at and clink around in the vial. 8)

Thanks for letting me "share" your post Chris.
 

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You guys are getting me all excited. I am going to have to load up the detectors and hit the fields!
 
I find looking or working for gold is like fishing, you have a good time even if you do not catch any. but when you, do it puts icing on the cake.

I have worked from sun up, till dark in freezing water, for a few measly flakes of gold, But even with a back so soar I could barely move the next day, I can say I had a great time and the little gold from that day was well worth it.

Just looking at the picture of gold Reno Chris has found in that trip makes me say his trip was well worth it, I know he loves doing this, and it is not just for the gold, (well at least not the money the gold would sell for). I think he should mount that on his wall like a trophy fish, just to remind him of the great trip he has had.

I really like the piece that looks like a leaf, natures art.

I would be tempted to go back to that fishing whole with a back hoe and a big sluice box, even if I had to haul water, I say he has found a great fishing hole there, maybe he just needs a bigger fishing pole, larger hook, and some better bait to get the big one that's hiding under the log.
 
4 days for 15 grams is a lot of work
If you could do that same rate for 5 days a week all year, its nearly $40,000 a year, and there are plenty of folks working in this country working full time for a lot less.

I would be tempted to go back to that fishing whole with a back hoe and a big sluice box
You have to remember this is California where if you kill a man you get 6 months probation, but if you kill a tree you get the death penalty. Use a back hoe in the forest, you get jail time. I do have lots of fun, but I will stick to my legal pick and shovel.
 
Maybe, just perhaps maybe, shown above is all the Tax Man will hear about? We won't ask about that nugget you chartered the helicopter to lift out :shock:

Mr Reno Chris - keep these posts happening, we here enjoy your writing & photos immensely!
 
So I took my dry washer out to the spots where I was getting the gold pictured in this thread, and in a few days time got 16 more grams, plus a few more with the metal detector, so now my running total for this area in the last few weeks as I have time to get out there is 113 nuggets for 20 grams, together with the 16 grams from dry washing is 1.15 ounces.
 

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The one bigger nugget on the bottom, third from left looks to have some dendritic form and some of the smaller stuff appears somewhat jagged. Any chance of it weathering out of the bedrock?
 
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