# Back yard Prospecting



## Southfork (Dec 7, 2022)

My son and I have been crushing and panning quartz vein material and running the cons on a ribbed sluice. Mostly float and metal detector finds started doing a little smelting to free up a little more gold. Purchased a small chain mill and have been crushing quartz float from around the house. Finding enough free gold from the quartz to make a few buttons. And my son has been finding specimen pieces with the metal detectors a couple of photos of gold in the pan from the backyard. And one of my son's specimens' pieces I cleaned back to prospecting a bucket of rocks waiting for me to mill. I found enough to pay for the chain mill saving up for a jaw crusher another hobby gone wild. Happy Mining


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## Rreyes097 (Dec 8, 2022)

Nice! Is this south fork in California or a South fork somewhere else? Because there's the American river which has a North and south fork. But I'm sure many rivers have that. I'm just wondering


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## goldshark (Dec 9, 2022)

Those specimen pieces will bring much more money as collector pieces, than crushing just for the Au. Those are very nice pieces


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## Southfork (Dec 9, 2022)

Rreyes097 said:


> Nice! Is this south fork in California or a South fork somewhere else? Because there's the American river which has a North and south fork. But I'm sure many rivers have that. I'm just wondering


South Fork Is just my handle the American has a middle fork also. Thank you


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## Southfork (Dec 9, 2022)

The photo with the penny is hand crushed ore sample with a mortar and pestle. The second photo is same type of ore run in a chain mill it balls the gold up and wraps it around the rock matrix / host rock which I have been melting to release the gold. cupelling a couple times cleans it up. these are ore samples off of mine waste piles found with a metal detector.


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## orvi (Dec 9, 2022)

Holy cow... I also want something like this to be found near my property...

Unfortunately, our country was raided by golddiggers for more than 3000 years  so, there aren´t much of the hidden bonanzas to be found  Always jealous about the size of the gold found all over the world. Here, 3mm flake in the stream is someones find of a life

PS: do not crush the specimens as goldshark is advising, those are very beautiful pieces and you can easily multiply their "just gold" value, if you sell them as collector specimens.


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## Alondro (Dec 9, 2022)

Lol, within walking distance of my house is... sand. Nothing but sand. For miles. Quartz sand that's been washed by rains and sea level changes for ages untold. Anything really dense that was in it is likely a hundred of feet underground now.

I've panned some of the bottom of a sand pit just to check. A fair amount of hematite and tiny black tourmaline crystal fragments, but nothing else.


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## Southfork (Dec 9, 2022)

We have a placer gold deposit also just waiting on winter rains for water. Same problem here during the gold rush they left us a pay pile we think. My son has been digging along the base of the pile where it rests on bedrock a lot of work, but he found a few pickers. Just enough to get us dreaming


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## BlackLabel (Dec 10, 2022)

Southfork said:


> The photo with the penny is hand crushed ore sample with a mortar and pestle. The second photo is same type of ore run in a chain mill it balls the gold up and wraps it around the rock matrix / host rock which I have been melting to release the gold. cupelling a couple times cleans it up. these are ore samples off of mine waste piles found with a metal detector.


I'd love to find such "mine waste piles".


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## Alondro (Dec 10, 2022)

BlackLabel said:


> I'd love to find such "mine waste piles".


It's not quite 'backyard', but I've found a very promising spot in the old glacial moraine in central New Jersey. Found a nice gold flake and even some small native copper crystals in mt first sample of incredibly iron-rich strata full of large stones and boulders, so loaded with iron that it forms concretions around dead roots. It's about 20 minutes from me. I think this particular hill is the core of the moraine material, and composed of a massive amount of crushed pyrite-bearing ore. The streams and springs coming out of it all become covered with iron-sulfur bacteria in spring, and the muddy bottom sediments are all heavily stained with rust and other oxides and smell sulfurous.


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## Southfork (Dec 11, 2022)

While burning brush I picked up a few rocks to run through the mill. Just pieces that had that chili powder look in the cracks these random rocks were loaded. Over 4 grams from a few pounds of rocks. After this storm passes, I'll be back out there maybe I'll try the metal detectors my son has great success using them. This is our wash plant lol and we have a small propane furnace to smelt / melt the concentrates / dirty gold. Looking at small jaw crushers to help with crushing material to size for the chain mill.


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## AlaskaLes (Dec 11, 2022)

Now that's the kind of "Yard Work" I enjoy!


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## Alondro (Dec 11, 2022)

Southfork said:


> While burning brush I picked up a few rocks to run through the mill. Just pieces that had that chili powder look in the cracks these random rocks were loaded. Over 4 grams from a few pounds of rocks. After this storm passes, I'll be back out there maybe I'll try the metal detectors my son has great success using them. This is our wash plant lol and we have a small propane furnace to smelt / melt the concentrates / dirty gold. Looking at small jaw crushers to help with crushing material to size for the chain mill.


Imagines this problem: "Arg! All this gold contaminating my precious rocks!" XD


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## Southfork (Dec 13, 2022)

Before and after using the muriatic acid bath rinse then the Whink solution off the self-product *Whink* Rust Stain Remover Ingredients. Whink Rust Stain Remover contains: Deionized Water q.s. 100% Hydrofluoric Acid 1-3% Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid (EDTA) 0-1%, Trisodium Salt 100-200 ppm, Calcium Chloride 100-700 ppm, sodium Fluosilicate Pentahydrate 100-500 ppm Iron (II) Sulfate Heptahydrate 80-160 ppm. The Hydrofluoric Acid is what attacks the quartz I think we use it on specimen pieces of gold ore. Depends on the sample as to how long of a soak in both products I check every morning. They get a gentle scrub with a toothbrush and a little dish soap rinse then I decide if they need to go back into the bath. This was a metal detector find covered with mud.


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## goldshark (Dec 13, 2022)

How big are those specimens, and where exactly, did you find them? Just kidding on the where exactly did you find them. When I show my nuggets to people, that is the first question I get asked. Just thought I would throw it in. You can tell me if you like, I won't tell anyone, promise. What state is it from? Very nice looking pieces. Any knowledge of the geology?


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## Southfork (Dec 13, 2022)

N. California mine waste pile quartz vein


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## stoneware (Dec 13, 2022)

Southfork said:


> My son and I have been crushing and panning quartz vein material and running the cons on a ribbed sluice. Mostly float and metal detector finds started doing a little smelting to free up a little more gold. Purchased a small chain mill and have been crushing quartz float from around the house. Finding enough free gold from the quartz to make a few buttons. And my son has been finding specimen pieces with the metal detectors a couple of photos of gold in the pan from the backyard. And one of my son's specimens' pieces I cleaned back to prospecting a bucket of rocks waiting for me to mill. I found enough to pay for the chain mill saving up for a jaw crusher another hobby gone wild. Happy Mining


Welcome to GRF, have you read Hokes Refining Precious Metals Wastes.

There's a link to download the book in my signature line.


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## Southfork (Dec 14, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Welcome to GRF, have you read Hokes Refining Precious Metals Wastes.
> 
> There's a link to download the book in my signature line.


Thanks, I haven't I'm trying to fine tune my gravity separation of free gold but have been saving the tailings.


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Thanks, I haven't I'm trying to fine tune my gravity separation of free gold but have been saving the tailings.


In order to clearly communicate with other members when it comes time to deal with your tails I suggest you read Hoke's book to understand the terminology involved with refining precious metals.

Also an assay of your material would be representative of the gold coming from your geological area, for instance gold mined in certain areas in British Columbia contain arsenic, gold coming from the north has a certain amount of silver.

You really should educate yourself, does that dust coming off the chain mill contain arsenic a common element found in drinking water in California.

An estimated 300,000 people in _California_ are exposed to _arsenic_ concentrations higher than 10 ppb in their drinking water,” said research team

Nice gold by the way.

I noticed that your hands look very rough from another forum, this is the reason I'm bringing up arsenic.


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## Southfork (Dec 14, 2022)

We take precautions respirators and wind our chain mill is outside but thanks for the heads up. There are hundreds of old mines and mill sites all around this area and I've been drinking well water for over 50 years. This is just a hobby for us here's today's button and my hand We melted all the fines collected out of various ore samples and melted not smelted. It took two melts to clean up but turned out nice. 27.5 grams. Back to crushing rocks to decide which pile of waste rock we should be hauling home. Just reweighed 28 grams scale was cold this one is on the way to town we need supplies.


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Southfork said:


> We take precautions respirators and wind our chain mill is outside but thanks for the heads up. There are hundreds of old mines and mill sites all around this area and I've been drinking well water for over 50 years. This is just a hobby for us here's today's button and my hand We melted all the fines collected out of various ore samples and melted not smelted. It took two melts to clean up but turned out nice. 27.5 grams. Back to crushing rocks to decide which pile of waste rock we should be hauling home. Just reweighed 28 grams scale was cold this one is on the way to town we need supplies.


This image was pirated from another site, you may recognize the chain mill. Reno Chris has the same chain mill he has a cyclone dust collector on his mill, he goes to far as to refine the dust for values.

If there's any arsenic in that dust spewing from your chain mill, your contaminating the area.

In the bottom image you clearly have no idea of how to use a cupel.

Educate yourself and spend some time reading Hoke's book.

If your not here to learn, then why are you here.


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 14, 2022)

stoneware said:


> This image was pirated from another site, you may recognize the chain mill. Reno Chris has the same chain mill he has a cyclone dust collector on his mill, he goes to fat as to refine the dust for values.
> 
> If there's any arsenic in that dust spewing from your chain mill, your contaminating the area.
> 
> ...


It is true, educating ones self will always broaden ones view and maybe help increase ones effectivity and safety.

But if he is only going to gravity separate and smelt, Hoke is not strictly neccessary. 

But it is never wasted though


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> It is true, educating ones self will always broaden ones view and maybe help increase ones effectivity and safety.
> 
> But if he is only going to gravity separate and smelt, Hoke is not strictly neccessary.
> 
> But it is never wasted though


Improper use of a cupel is telling, cupels are used to soak up oxides not as a melting dish.

Native _gold_ always contains _silver_, which occurs in varying proportions, the colour becoming paler with the increase of _silver_.

Re-read the copy of a post he made Oct 5 / 2022


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## goldshark (Dec 14, 2022)

The difference between a scorification dish and cupel, is that a scorification dish is made from high refractory alumina clay, does not absorb lead, and can be used with Borax. A cupel is made of bone ash, cement, or a couple other compounds, to absorb the Lead during cupelation. Do not use Borax with the Lead button during cupelation. Maybe read a little on fire assaying, available in the library. Then we won't have to correct you in your posts. Just trying to get everybody on the same page when it comes to the terminology used on this forum. Nice Buttons!


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 14, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Improper use of a cupel is telling, cupels are used to soak up oxides not as a melting dish.
> 
> Re-read the copy of a post he made Oct 5 / 2022


No such post in this thread, and I can’t remember much cupelling in Hokes book, but then again I never had much interest in smelting and cupelling so far


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## Southfork (Dec 14, 2022)

Those photos you copied are a smelt of black sands with just borax and the gold that dropped / leaked through the cheap imported cupels that I reused several times. We use cupels as a crucible to melt small amounts of concentrates to test we are not cupelling. That's gold on the scale that tests 18kt + we just sold a 28-gram button of my failed smelt for $1400 US dollars to a gold buyer. Do you scrub and capture the toxic waste from scrap? Reno Chris is processing a lot more material than we are. A big day around here is a bucket of rocks. The way I melt is to place a cupel with the fine gold inside of a crucible, so we don't blow the micro gold were recovering all over the furnace. And if there's a failure it's captured.


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> No such post in this thread, and I can’t remember much cupelling in Hokes book, but then again I never had much interest in smelting and cupelling so far


Jason from Mount Baker Mining and Metals gives a good description of how cupeling is carried out.


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 14, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Jason from Mount Baker Mining and Metals gives a good description of how cupeling is carried out.



Yes I know how its done and why, but had no need so far.


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> No such post in this thread, and I can’t remember much cupelling in Hokes book, but then again I never had much interest in smelting and cupelling so far


Here ya go. it's a screen shot of a post made by Southfork on another forum, Oct, 5 / 2022


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 14, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Here ya go. it's a screen shot of a post made by Southfork on another forum, Oct, 5 / 2022
> 
> View attachment 53718


Things from other forums have no place here.
Have you checked if what you are doing here now is even legal?


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## Southfork (Dec 14, 2022)

goldshark said:


> Just trying to get everybody on the same page when it comes to the terminology used on this forum. Nice Buttons!


I'm not cupelling only using what I have available to melt in I'm not using lead. It's a long ride to town we make do with what's available


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## Southfork (Dec 14, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> Things from other forums have no place here.
> Have you checked if what you are doing here now is even legal?


Jealousy is the problem sorry I started this post this guy attacked me on another forum.


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Those photos you copied are a smelt of black sands with just borax and the gold that dropped / leaked through the cheap imported cupels that I reused several times. We use cupels as a crucible to melt small amounts of concentrates to test we are not cupelling. That's gold on the scale that tests 18kt + we just sold a 28-gram button of my failed smelt for $1400 US dollars to a gold buyer. Do you scrub and capture the toxic waste from scrap? Reno Chris is processing a lot more material than we are. A big day around here is a bucket of rocks. The way I melt is to place a cupel with the fine gold inside of a crucible, so we don't blow the micro gold were recovering all over the furnace. And if there's a failure it's captured.


That's very interesting a gold buyer paying more than spot on 18k gold.


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## Southfork (Dec 14, 2022)

stoneware said:


> That's very interesting a gold buyer paying more than spot on 18k gold.
> 
> View attachment 53722


Sorry I was mistaken it was 18kt plus and only $1350 I just talked to my son cell phone coverage sometimes breaks a little and I'm hard of hearing. My son said the buyer did a scratch test before the offer.


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Sorry I was mistaken it was 18kt plus and only $1350 I just talked to my son cell phone coverage sometimes breaks a little and I'm hard of hearing. My son said the buyer did a scratch test before the offer.


I don't believe anyone on this forum has ever received spot or better on karat gold

We often publicly share our buyers and refiners, in the spirit of sharing will you give your source so that others wishing to sell may reap the benefits.

Today's spot 18K gold, $43.59 gram, 28 grams at spot $1,220.97 US.

You claimed to have received $1350.00 for 28 grams 18k, that's a whopping $4.62 US dollars per gram an $83.16 dollar gain on 28 grams of 18k gold.

For today's spot I used Dendritics Precious Metals Calculator - Link.


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## Southfork (Dec 14, 2022)

stoneware said:


> I don't believe anyone on this forum has ever received spot or better on karat gold
> 
> We often publicly share our buyers and refiners, in the spirit of sharing will you give your source so that others wishing to sell may reap the benefits.
> 
> ...


For what it's worth we have a private buyer that we sell specimen pieces to at spot plus a premium. So, they take our buttons when and if we sell and there's still room for them to make a good profit at today's spot of $1850.00 even if they need to refine it a little.


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> Things from other forums have no place here.
> Have you checked if what you are doing here now is even legal?


Southforks chain mill appears in post #11, so I guess its fair game.


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## stoneware (Dec 14, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> No such post in this thread, and I can’t remember much cupelling in Hokes book, but then again I never had much interest in smelting and cupelling so far



Hokes book contains a lot of information on cupelling and for this reason suggested that Southfork read the book.

The following pages would be of interest to him.


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## Southfork (Dec 14, 2022)

stoneware I don't think your helping anyone with your copy paste routine that's what banned you from another site. The free gold in the ore we are now milling runs 70 - 90 percent purity same as our placer gold all recovered by gravity separation and melted. If and when I try to smelt low grade ore, I will download the pdf files that pertain to our ore. At least we have been successful at recovering gold for a long time Have you?


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 15, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Hokes book contains a lot of information on cupelling and for this reason suggested that Southfork read the book.
> 
> The following pages would be of interest to him.
> 
> View attachment 53724


Hmm, I stand corrected. 
Interesting how one have a tendency to have a selective memory when reading things


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## Southfork (Dec 15, 2022)

This is a pay pile left by the early gold rush miners on our property. A quad sitting on top and my son digging along the bottom on bedrock and using a Minelab Nox to metal detect. Some of the finds from this test hole waiting on a lot of rain no water yet in this drainage. The last photo is washed rock at the south end of the drainage I can only dream how much gold came out of here


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## AlaskaLes (Dec 15, 2022)

Southfork,
I'm not sure what got the ranting, antagonistic behavior started, but I've been enjoying this thread and the nice pics.


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## AlaskaLes (Dec 15, 2022)

If that pile was in my yard, I'd just start at the top and detect it in thin layers as I scraped it down. Same technique we're using. 
Given that your waste rock piles haven't experienced any concentration, I can't imagine that all of the good stuff is concentrated on the bottom. It should be all of the way through. Unless the pile is truly barren and you're digging there because it was stacked on virgin ground. 
Still, I'd probably be renting a little piece of earth moving equipment for a weekend to break it open and spread it out.


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## Southfork (Dec 15, 2022)

AlaskaLes said:


> If that pile was in my yard, I'd just start at the top and detect it in thin layers as I scraped it down. Same technique we're using.
> Given that your waste rock piles haven't experienced any concentration, I can't imagine that all of the good stuff is concentrated on the bottom. It should be all of the way through. Unless the pile is truly barren and you're digging there because it was stacked on virgin ground.
> Still, I'd probably be renting a little piece of earth moving equipment for a weekend to break it open and spread it out.


He was metal detecting along the slate bedrock next to the pile and found some pickers. Then he dug under it a little we will wash the whole pile as soon as we can develop a water source. The whole pile contains gold it was piled here waiting on water just like us. It could be on virgin ground real narrow seasonal drainage the rock piles switch sides they had to pile it somewhere all hand work. We are working a layer at a time on the hard rock waste piles.


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## Southfork (Dec 16, 2022)

These are specimen pieces I cleaned the last photo is how they looked with the mud washed off. And a short soak in Muriatic Acid then Whink solution. All of these came off the same mine waste pile. Over 2500 old gold mines in our county there must be a lot of gold out there.


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## kurtak (Dec 16, 2022)

AlaskaLes said:


> Southfork,
> I'm not sure what got the ranting, antagonistic behavior started, *but I've been enjoying this thread and the nice pics.*


per the bold print - Yep I totally agree I to have very much been enjoying your posts & pics Southfork - keep them coming  

Kurt


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## kurtak (Dec 16, 2022)

Back in the late 70s early 80s I spent 7 years living on the Salom River (Northern California)

Spent one winter snowed in (& I mean literally snowed in) living in a cabin built back in the original gold rush

Had to hike 1/2 mile from the road to the cabin - had to chase the wildlife out of the cabin fix roof/windows/door before moving in 

Anyway - it was an old hard rock mine - tunnel had caved in but there was a pile of ore next to the caved in tunnel - I packed that ore out with my horses & mules - about 10 - 12 tons & ran it through a friends milling operation (jaw crusher & ball mill) it ran about 4 - 5 ozt per ton 

The reason you can find so many old gold mines with piles of ore piled at the old mine entrances is because back during world war 2 the government *shut gold mining down* (by mandate) to focus on mining of strategic metals like copper & nickel 

After the war many of those old mines never went back into operation - so the ore piled at the mines before the government shut the mines down is still there

At least that is what I was told --- I knew of a few other mines (besides the one I lived at) in that area with ore piles next to the old diggings

Kurt


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## kurtak (Dec 16, 2022)

Some pictures to confirm my above story (first pic - bottom left pic is at the ore pile)

As well as some other pics of those seven years living on the Salom River (good old memories)


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## AlaskaLes (Dec 16, 2022)

I was on another friends claims sampling in an adit when we came across a pile of ore that was at the very back of the adit. Outside there was a waste pile with many tons of waste rock from the excavation of the adit. It was 40 ft from the stope to the exit and 40 ft from the stope to the end inside the adit. It made no sense to pile it there. We started to take a few samples for testing. I dumped a few handfulls of ore in a bag and found a nice specimen on top of the sample. We ended up detecting the whole pile and came away with about 170 pickers and nuggets. The timing of those claims suggested that he had deposited it when they shut mining down in '42.


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## Southfork (Dec 16, 2022)

stoneware said:


> I don't believe anyone on this forum has ever received spot or better on karat gold
> 
> We often publicly share our buyers and refiners, in the spirit of sharing will you give your source so that others wishing to sell may reap the benefits.
> 
> ...








18K Gold Price in USA in US Dollar


This page is about the current 18K gold price per Gram in the USA (New York). GoldPriceG.com aka GoldPriceGlobal.com provides the latest gold price informatio




goldpriceg.com




WebDec 12, 2022 · Latest *Prices* of *18* Carat *Gold* in the USA Today 18K *Gold Price* in the USA is 42.8 USD *per Gram*, while 5 *Grams* is 214.0 USD, and 40 *Grams Price* is 1,712.0 USD . I guess if you sell more, you get a better price.


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## Ohiogoldfever (Dec 16, 2022)

Glad to see you’ve found this forum Southfork. I’ve been following your posts for a while on treasurenet. Lots of work and beautiful gold.


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## goldshark (Dec 17, 2022)

Are your claims patented, or unpatented? Not planning on jumping, just wondering.


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## orvi (Dec 17, 2022)

Southfork said:


> These are specimen pieces I cleaned the last photo is how they looked with the mud washed off. And a short soak in Muriatic Acid then Whink solution. All of these came off the same mine waste pile. Over 2500 old gold mines in our county there must be a lot of gold out there.


Try to source the oxalic acid. It could be found in store which sell equipment for beekepers. Oxalic acid is by far the mildest and most effective rust remover (combination of mildness and effectivity, HCL is quicker and more effective, but also more harsh). But if you just have gold with quartz, I see that HCL is the most convenient and cheapest way how to remove the oxides.


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## orvi (Dec 17, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Improper use of a cupel is telling, cupels are used to soak up oxides not as a melting dish.
> 
> Native _gold_ always contains _silver_, which occurs in varying proportions, the colour becoming paler with the increase of _silver_.
> 
> Re-read the copy of a post he made Oct 5 / 2022


Improper use of cupel... 

Lot to be said there. Cupels are relatively cheap, and they are made from very refractory materials. If you source high MgO cupels, these are by far the cheapest and most resistent vessels for smelting and melting metals. Shaped, ready to use. In times, when I didn´t have access to better vessels, I regularly melted platinum and palladium (and their alloys) in cupels. Good cupel doesn´t crack that bad, and I do not see anything that prevent the use of cupel and melting dish  Then I sourced magnesia bricks and made my own high MgO crucibles with better structural integrity.

Yeah, cupels are used to soak up liquid oxides. But they are also bowl shaped and very refractory. Perfect arrangement for melting vessel  Magnesia by far stands the best against very basic fluxes used to flux tin oxides - just as an example. Silica dish will melt straight away, clay crucible will be one-two time thing when using high Na2O flux mixtures and running the charge on high temperatures.

I know this first hand - as pyro-cleaning PGM alloys from Bi/Pb/Sn is common practice. I do not know lot of materials which will be capable of keeping the molten charge at 1600-1650°C and retaining their structural integrity. Try to melt this in regular crucible and you will see first hand what molten PbO/Bi2O3 does to silica based materials at these temps 

Just saying. I know, not textbook example of proper use. But it is working nicely. And that is what it´s all about


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## Southfork (Dec 17, 2022)

goldshark said:


> Are your claims patented, or unpatented? Not planning on jumping, just wondering.


What claims this is private property owned by me. But our friends have multiple claims on BLM land in the area.


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## orvi (Dec 17, 2022)

Southfork said:


> These are specimen pieces I cleaned the last photo is how they looked with the mud washed off. And a short soak in Muriatic Acid then Whink solution. All of these came off the same mine waste pile. Over 2500 old gold mines in our county there must be a lot of gold out there.


I am quite jealous about what could be found all over the world in terms of mining, not only gold  Many times, I think how our country looked when first Celtic settlers started to mine placer deposits there aroud 3000 years ago. And how it looked like when around 8-9. century first German miners discovered rich deposits of gold in neo-vulcanic formations. 

Now, all that remained for us are the tiniest smallest streams that weren´t worth digging for them. Barely enough water to run a sluice, after heavy rainfall. We discovered like 2 of these streams near where I live. Old glacifluvial gold, which was washed on the "plain" terain, and subsequently eroded from these sediments and further concentrated by these streams. Now, both of these "pseudo-claims" are practically mined completely, producing enough gold for my engagement and wedding rings  That´s it 

If I had the opportunity and lived in the US, my dream will be to set up small claim and have a nice past-time activity which will yield some extra pocket money


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## Southfork (Dec 17, 2022)

Clearly, I must have done something right the gold melted out through the crack in the cupel. Then it passed through the crack in the furnace plate and ended up in the bottom of the furnace. The slag in the bottom of the failed cupel along with the cupel and slag off the furnace plate were reground panned and remelted. Not bad for a total failure from someone that clearly didn't know what they were doing


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## orvi (Dec 17, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Clearly, I must have done something right the gold melted out through the crack in the cupel. Then it passed through the crack in the furnace plate and ended up in the bottom of the furnace. The slag in the bottom of the failed cupel along with the cupel and slag off the furnace plate were reground panned and remelted. Not bad for a total failure from someone that clearly didn't know what they were doing


Look online for silica melting dishes, when it came to melting metals. They are cheap (I can find ones under 2 euros/piece), practically undestructable by heat, very temp shock resistent - you can put like 1200°C dish straight into the water and nothing happens (except steam explosion ofc  ). On Aliexpress, there are numerous vendors, just search for good price and cheap shipping. They are all the same in terms of quality (I purchased through the years from like 6 different shops and all were okay).

Also, as I mentioned above, magnesia brick (refractory brick made of dead burnt magnesium oxide, alongside some other constituents) is very nice source to make the melting dishes from - if you have tight budget. Due to high MgO content, these are significantly heavier than regular bricks - you can feel that weight when you compare the two.

Another nice technique is to buy dead burnt magnesia powder (it is used for re-furbishing the electrical furnances or making new refractory works, usually sold in larger quantities tho), and use it to fill the above mentioned silica dish. In case of crack, the molten metal will just stop on the bottom of the silica dish, and magnesium oxide adsorbs molten PbO or Bi2O3 as regular cupel does.


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## Southfork (Dec 17, 2022)

Gold ore I soaked in Whink for over a week all the quartz and other rock dissolved. Is that silver on the bottom?


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## Southfork (Dec 17, 2022)

This is the same mill I'm using it makes dust also. k&m krushers - Bing video but they sell an attachment to hook to a shopvac I'll look into it cold and wet time of the year I could move inside my barn.


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## AlaskaLes (Dec 17, 2022)

You might look at using one of the cyclone/5gal bucket assemblies that sit in line before the shop vac.
That would slow down the wear on the motor due to abrasive dust.


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## goldshark (Dec 17, 2022)

Most assayers, and anybody who uses a furnace regularly, fills any cracks with refractory cement, and puts a 1/4" of bone ash on the floor of the furnace. It is easier to catch a spill or boil over, if this is done. Make a rake so you will have a nice, even floor in the furnace. Keep up the good work.


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## AlaskaLes (Dec 18, 2022)

I need to get a bucket of bone ash powder. I tuned up a smelter a couple of years ago and it has clearly had some spills/boil-overs. After another season of use, I'll be re-laying the refractory. The old liner will be fed to the jaw crusher and ball mill to see how much gold escaped.


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## Southfork (Dec 18, 2022)

The inside of my furnace is ceramic fiber / wool not refractory brick / cement that's why I place the cupel / melting dish inside of a crucible just in case.


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## AlaskaLes (Dec 19, 2022)

Pardon me if I take this off course with a question. 
When I re-line the refractory, I'll mill it and use gravity separation to collect the lost cons for smelting and cupelling.
How would one recover the lost cons that had spilled on ceramic/kaowool material?


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## Southfork (Dec 19, 2022)

AlaskaLes said:


> Pardon me if I take this off course with a question.
> When I re-line the refractory, I'll mill it and use gravity separation to collect the lost cons for smelting and cupelling.
> How would one recover the lost cons that had spilled on ceramic/kaowool material?


I just waited for the furnace to cool and reached in and picked the gold up it didn't stick. My melting dish is inside of a crucible most of the time I save all the cupels and regrind. The crucibles are cleaned with flux and washed beach sand when they need it to recover any PMs. I just pour the molten charge into water and get nice clean gold.


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## kurtak (Dec 19, 2022)

AlaskaLes said:


> How would one recover the lost cons that had spilled on ceramic/kaowool material?



I have never actually used kaowool but I would think that being ceramic you could just leach it

Kurt


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## AlaskaLes (Dec 19, 2022)

That's two good answers, thank you.
I was thinking that maybe the spills could just be pulled away from the wool.
Hadn't thought about leaching, but I was pretty sure that ceramic wouldn't smelt easily.


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## Southfork (Dec 19, 2022)

It was suggested that I read CM Hoke and I've been skimming through there's a tremendous amount of information. But this passage suggests that maybe it's not for me. Happy Mining This book does not cover the refining of virgin ore or crude metal, nor any phase of mining engineering. It does not cover assaying—which is the analysis of a small weighed sample, made to learn its ingredients and their proportions. It concerns itself only with secondary refining—that is, the refining of precious metals that have already been in use and are now waiting to be returned to further employment in art, science, or industry.


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## goldshark (Dec 20, 2022)

There are a variety of persons on this forum, with more than refining only experience. If you have a question about a certain process involved in the actual mining of ores, perhaps the admin of this forum can say if they wish to expand it to accommodate the other questions, which are more mining related, than refining only.


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 20, 2022)

goldshark said:


> There are a variety of persons on this forum, with more than refining only experience. If you have a question about a certain process involved in the actual mining of ores, perhaps the admin of this forum can say if they wish to expand it to accommodate the other questions, which are more mining related, than refining only.


There are several sections for prospecting, ores and such in here, including this thread.
And quite a few knowledgeable members in the field. 
Me not included.
So if someone sees a need to reorganize, let us know and we will discuss and see if it can or should be implemented.


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## stoneware (Dec 20, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> There are several sections for prospecting, ores and such in here, including this thread.
> And quite a few knowledgeable members in the field.
> Me not included.
> So if someone sees a need to reorganize, let us know and we will discuss and see if it can or should be implemented.


Big difference between actual prospecting and metal detecting for gold.

There's already a forum for metal detecting, and we have a very good geologist that is able to identify an ore sample of an out crop from an image.

For ore identification search threads by these members.

Richard36​Rick & Carrie​Reno Chris​


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## stoneware (Dec 20, 2022)

Precious metals show up were least expected,

A ready mix concrete plant in British Colombia long ago could abtain a permit from environment and fishery's to remove gravel from the bars on the Fraser River.

The operator of the wash plant on the bar would install a carpet on the tailings being discarded to collect any fine gold.

After fisheries decided not to issue permits for gravel removal any longer the owner of the ready mix plant purchased some land in the nearby mountains.


The land purchased has a large glacial deposit of gravel, it is now the main source of material use for ready mix.

The gravel is hauled from the pit into the plant, then washed before further processing.

The wash plant consists of four pits, heavy's settle out in the first with smaller fractions into the second and sludge into the third and water into a fourth from which is recycled through the wash plant.

British Colombia is well known for her gold, every prospector in the town has dipped their pan into the wash plant pits in the hopes of seeing some color.

They all walked away saying there's no gold to be had, they were 100% correct. Not a spec of gold.

What they failed to see was the accumulation of other metals revealed by a quick and dirty xrf shot of the material being discarded in the wash plant.

Granted XRF's can give false readings, this particular Niton is owned by C-con who use it to assay catalytic comb which has been milled into powder. The machine is calibrated every two weeks for accuracy.

Below is the report from their XTF, this is what the prospectors missed in the wash plant pits.

The sludge from the pits is removed every week, there's piles of this waiting to be processed for its platinum.


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## stoneware (Dec 20, 2022)

At the pit after years of removing gravel this outcrop reveled itself.

Since this outcrop was covered by overburden until its discovery I would not expect the surface to be weathered.

Weathered samples will have been oxidized with elements near the surface washed out.

A prospectors best friend is a rock hammer to chip through the oxide layer a loupe and a small bottle of nitric added to the kit.


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## goldshark (Dec 21, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> I know, my reply was to Goldshark if you check.


I am referencing a thread more along the lines of drilling/blasting, ground support, scaling, slushing/mucking, tramming, ore sorting, milling, etc. An actual mine, not high grading already dug dumps, is something I have never seen on this forum, hence the question about if such topics should be accepted here, or stick to refining, as the site is named.


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## kurtak (Dec 21, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Big difference between actual prospecting and metal detecting for gold.


Sorry but that's just not true - metal detectors are just ONE tool used FOR PROSPECTING 

Parker (from Gold Rush) used metal detectors when PROSPECTING in Australia 

Reno Chris (on this forum) has posted many times about using a metal detector FOR PROSPECTING

When I lived in Northern California my friends that were serious gold miners all used metal detectors FOR PROSPECTING

Here where I now live in Oregon everyone I know that has a metal detector uses then FOR PROSPECTING

PROSPECTING is ONE of the reasons metal detecting is included in THIS PART of the forum & not elsewhere in the forum

I have considered buying a metal detector so that when I go out PROSPECTING I could better my odds for where to DIG

Kurt


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## kurtak (Dec 21, 2022)

goldshark said:


> I am referencing a thread more along the lines of drilling/blasting, ground support, scaling, slushing/mucking, tramming, ore sorting, milling, etc. *An actual mine, not high grading already dug dumps, is something I have never seen on this forum, hence the question about if such topics should be accepted here*, or stick to refining, as the site is named.


What is it with you & stoneware --- I mean why do you guys seem to have a problem with &/or questioning what Southfork has been posting here

EVERYTHING that Southfork has posted here is IN FACT about recovery & at least some degree refining of gold AND he is posting about it in the proper part of the forum 

The two of you seem to be intent on questioning if he even belongs on this forum &/or intent on chasing him away

It appears to me that he has a good handle on what he is doing & is being SUCCESSFUL in what he is doing

Are the two of you jealous of his success ???? --- or what ????

I for one am VERY GLAD that he has come to this forum & his posts & pictures of his success have been ABSOLUTELY refreshing - inspiring - & AWESOME

Southfork - I for one (& I am SURE others here) am VERY MUCH enjoying what you have been posting here & hope you will continue to post --- in other words -------------

THANK YOU FOR POSTING Southfork - & I HOPE we will see more from you !!!!!!!

Kurt


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## Shark (Dec 21, 2022)

Yes, I am finding Southforks post very interesting and enjoyable as well. It is not often we see his kind of information being posted. Kudos to him for stepping up. I can only wish we had places to prospect like that where I live.


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## kurtak (Dec 21, 2022)

goldshark said:


> There are a variety of persons on this forum, with more than refining only experience. If you have a question about a certain process involved in the actual mining of ores, *perhaps the admin of this forum can say if they wish to expand it to accommodate the other questions*, which are more mining related, than refining only.


golgshark - I would like you to explain to me how & why what Southfork is doing is not considered mining (& therefore questioning if there is a need for admin to create a new subforum to give Southfork a "proper" place to post)

As far as I can tell he IS MINING --- he is PROSPECTING ORE piles he is finding around old mines (that happen to be in his back yard) - in the process of his prospecting he is DIGGING for the HIGH GRADE he finds in those ORE piles - he is then MILLING that high grade ORE & as well cleaning up specimens that are specimen worthy - what he is milling he is then doing GRAVITY SEPARATION on &/or SMELTING

Prospecting - digging - high grading - milling - gravity separation - smelting - specimen clean up - are ALL parts of MINING 

According to your logic goldshark (gold needs to be dug "direct" from vain to be considered "actual" mining & therefore the condition for discussion) would make placer mining NOT actual mining & therefore NOT considered for discussion

So please explain to me how what Southfork is doing is not actually mining & why we should need a NEW subforum to discuss what Southfork is doing

I do expect an answer

Kurt


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## Southfork (Dec 21, 2022)

Kurtak and members of this forum some of this ore that I have posted is coming right off the vein. We are using metal detectors to find pockets / mineralized zones that contain gold. Under ground and weathered /oxidized / zones on the surface that were placer mined in the early days. If you look closely at second photo from the left next to the orange plastic scoop there's a metal detector prospecting at its finest, I'm positive using a pick and shovel is also mining.


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## Shark (Dec 21, 2022)

In my small world, anytime someone is getting gold (or other value) from the ground, that is mining. Whether it comes from dirt or rocks, metal detectors or pick and shovel, I am interested in learning about it. Pictures just add to the intrigue of the whole thing.


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 21, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Kurtak and members of this forum some of this ore that I have posted is coming right off the vein. We are using metal detectors to find pockets / mineralized zones that contain gold. Under ground and weathered /oxidized / zones on the surface that were placer mined in the early days. If you look closely at second photo from the left next to the orange plastic scoop there's a metal detector prospecting at its finest, I'm positive using a pick and shovel is also mining.


I just wish they were in my back yard 
Oh well I just have to stare at the pics


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## goldshark (Dec 21, 2022)

I am NOT in any way belittling what Southfork is doing. I'm sorry if my reference to the other aspects of mining offends you. I only asked the admin if they would consider talking about the other aspects of mining. This may include talking about blast patterns for removing rock efficiently. I know talking about explosives on this forum is a touchy subject, but would not include any recipes, just a way to drill out a pattern for a round, or how to break a boulder without throwing it all over the place. As stated, there are many more aspects to the mining process, and am just wondering where the admin wants to draw the line.


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## FrugalRefiner (Dec 21, 2022)

goldshark, I think the things you're talking about would be fine. I don't know that it would need a new section within the forum, but we never know. Feel free to start new threads and we'll see if there is enough interest.

Dave


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## goldshark (Dec 21, 2022)

kurtak said:


> golgshark - I would like you to explain to me how & why what Southfork is doing is not considered mining (& therefore questioning if there is a need for admin to create a new subforum to give Southfork a "proper" place to post)
> 
> As far as I can tell he IS MINING --- he is PROSPECTING ORE piles he is finding around old mines (that happen to be in his back yard) - in the process of his prospecting he is DIGGING for the HIGH GRADE he finds in those ORE piles - he is then MILLING that high grade ORE & as well cleaning up specimens that are specimen worthy - what he is milling he is then doing GRAVITY SEPARATION on &/or SMELTING
> 
> ...


Hey Kurt, I know placer mining is still considered mining. But, if you talk to a hard rock miner, most will laugh at the reference to placer miners as being "real" miners. Most big placer mines that run heavy equipment, a hard rock miner would most likely refer to them as "equipment operators", and not miners. Hard rock mining is a completely different ball game then placer mining. Hard rock mining and placer mining, are worlds apart. Just asking the admin if they would consider a thread on under ground hard rock mining is all. If you don't mind including the other hard rock subjects in the prospecting thread, cool. If you can understand that all my past comments to Southfork have been positive and encouraging, I don't understand our miss communication. Much confusion abounds on this forum by referring to say a picture of a cupel, when it is a melt dish. I am only using this as an example of how miss communication leads to misunderstandings, and corrections.
FYI, the DNR actually considers 2 different permit types; 1 is a mining permit, 2 is a prospecting permit, and they are worlds apart in what is involved in the permitting process. This is not my definition, it is their's. Sorry, I am only the messenger, please don't shoot me. I hope my response comes across as respectful, as it is. Just trying to define what is what, as far as definitions are concerned. Some are just semantics.


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## stoneware (Dec 21, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Kurtak and members of this forum some of this ore that I have posted is coming right off the vein. We are using metal detectors to find pockets / mineralized zones that contain gold. Under ground and weathered /oxidized / zones on the surface that were placer mined in the early days. If you look closely at second photo from the left next to the orange plastic scoop there's a metal detector prospecting at its finest, I'm positive using a pick and shovel is also mining.


About six months ago I purchased the Equinox 800 metal detector, specifically for use in British Colombia.

But after seeing your success thought maybe California is the place I should visit this summer.

I would love to find the gold your finding, but I think my planned vacation is off the books.

It appears that the BLM has listed old mining sites off limits.

Funny how over time the laws are changed.

_Agency: Bureau of Land Management 
Website: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/collecting_on_publiclands.pdf 
Law: Cultural materials on public lands may not be removed, damaged, disturbed, excavated or transferred without BLM permit. Cultural resources include prehistoric and historic artifacts and sites, broken objects and debris more than 100 years old that were used or produced by humans. 

Protected materials include arrowheads and other stone tools, grinding stones, beads, baskets, pottery, old bottles, horse shoes, metal tools, graves and trash scatters. Historic sites such as cabins, sawmills, graves, trail traces, mining areas, townsites, ranches and railroads are not open to collecting. _

_Metal detector use is allowed on public lands. Modern money may be collected, but coins and artifacts more than 100 years old may not be collected. _


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## stoneware (Dec 21, 2022)

Some California county's require a detecting permit while others prohibit metal detecting..

Source - Link


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## stoneware (Dec 21, 2022)

Perhaps I over reacted cautioning southfork that burning off the mercury from his amalgam in the furnace was in my opinion the wrong thing to do.

Hopefully he has ceased the practice.


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## Southfork (Dec 21, 2022)

stoneware funny how you keep posting misinformation Gold is not artifact or cultural material. I also collect native American artifacts off private and personal property Sorry you don't have access to BLM claims like we do and have placer and hard rock mines like we do we do but Dumpster diving is legal in 50 states so have at it. It must kill you not being able to produce a single gram of gold out of recycles there's plenty of natural gold maybe take up beach mining.


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## Southfork (Dec 21, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Perhaps I over reacted cautioning southfork that burning off the mercury from his amalgam in the furnace was in my opinion the wrong thing to do.
> 
> Hopefully he has ceased the practice.
> 
> View attachment 53826


Another made up out of context lie no mercury was in the charge amalgam is retorted all mercury we have was recovered from placer mining loses. Why do you keep attacking me like a little baby I'm not the one that got you banned from the other forum. And yes, I have burned micro amounts of mercury in a furnace at high temperatures to destroy the mercury.


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## stoneware (Dec 21, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Another made up out of context lie no mercury was in the charge amalgam is retorted all mercury we have was recovered from placer mining loses. Why do you keep attacking me like a little baby I'm not the one that got you banned from the other forum. And yes, I have burned micro amounts of mercury in a furnace at high temperatures to destroy the mercury.


I'm not attacking you, I'm sure members of this forum would have given you the same advice not to burn off mercury in the furnace.

High temperatures will not destroy mercury, just turn it into harmful vapors. 

Hey, I'm thousands of miles away from your harmful mercury emissions, your family, neighbors and pets may pay the price of your negligence. 

Carry on Dude, you may one day learn the meaning of _Mad as a hatter_. by then it will be to late to reverse the effects.


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## goldshark (Dec 22, 2022)

Almost every mineral specimen assayed, will have a measurable background Mercury presence. This is why you not only need a vapor scrubber for acids, but a condenser for the Mercury, and other condensates as well.


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## kurtak (Dec 22, 2022)

goldshark said:


> I am NOT in any way belittling what Southfork is doing. I'm sorry if my reference to the other aspects of mining offends you.


OK - clearly a misunderstanding (on my part)


goldshark said:


> An actual mine, not high grading already dug dumps, is something I have never seen on this forum, *hence the question about if such topics should be accepted here*, or stick to refining, as the site is named.


Per the bold print - when I read that - it sounded very much like you felt that what Southfork has been posting has no relevance to the things discussed on this forum & therefore asking the admin to question if Southfork should even be allowed to post here on the forum --- it sounded like you were asking the admin to ban him

That did not make any sense to me (that you would question if Southfork should even be allowed to post here) because though the forum is called "The Gold *Refining* Forum" we discuss all aspects of *recovery & refining*

Southfork is certainly doing recovery & to some degree refining - so it is certainly in line with things we discuss here every day

For what it's worth goldshark - *I have always had a great deal of respect for* *you* & your contributions to this forum

I OFTEN hit the "like button" for things you post - hence my response when I read that (above quote bold print)

So I am sorry for this misunderstanding on my part  

Kurt


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## Southfork (Dec 22, 2022)

Apparently, my posting has started some kind of rift I won't waste anyone's time I've was warned by moderators.

Edited to remove negative comment FrugalRefiner


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 22, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Apparently, my posting has started some kind of rift I won't waste anyone's time I've was warned by moderators.
> 
> Edited to remove negative comment FrugalRefiner


Well, what was warned, was both you and Stoneware , to not bring your "baggage" from other forums here.
Besides that we have enjoyed your posting about your endeavors in your "backyard", it is certainly bigger and richer than mine


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## Southfork (Dec 22, 2022)

A lot of the gold we recover is micro fine and is a real problem to remove from concentrates. I spend hours back panning and using a snuffer bottle to pick up, so a little ball of mercury is added to a jar with the leftover cons when the amalgam ball is big enough a friend has a retort to recover the mercury. Is some lost back into the environment I'm sure it is no process is perfect. Is there mercury in the sponge most likely again no process is perfect. But this a few ounces of mercury I recovered while dredging over twenty years ago. If anything, the amount of mercury I have has increased from cleaning of placer gold that is added to the amalgam that is contaminated with mercury. Mercury contamination is all over California they have limits to what is allowed in drinking water. I doubt the little bit I melted in my furnace ever left the barn. Here's some more information on Mercury in California.https://www.usgs.gov/centers/california-water-science-center/science/mercury


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## goldshark (Dec 22, 2022)

kurtak said:


> OK - clearly a misunderstanding (on my part)
> 
> Per the bold print - when I read that - it sounded very much like you felt that what Southfork has been posting has no relevance to the things discussed on this forum & therefore asking the admin to question if Southfork should even be allowed to post here on the forum --- it sounded like you were asking the admin to ban him
> 
> ...


No worries Kurt, If I say something out of line, I do not mind that somebody calls me on it. I will respond politely ( most of the Time). I appreciate this forum, and the people on it. I have learned much, including dealing with other personalities.


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## Southfork (Dec 22, 2022)

My son and his friends went out to check a new spot today. Cold wet and foggy but nothing stops them my son brought me a sack of rocks. This one has gold for sure squeezing out of the edge looks like nice purity. I hope the rest of the samples contain gold I'll find out in a few days. there was three of them today they all scored. Found using metal detectors


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## Southfork (Dec 25, 2022)

Some ore samples after cleaning this was a metal detector find from a couple of fist sized rocks. I have buckets of rocks waiting but too much moisture it will clog the screens. Thinking about adding water injectors to the chain mill to help wash the grind though the screens. It would eliminate the dust and maybe help with the grind.


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## stoneware (Dec 25, 2022)

Your gold is likely smearing.


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## Southfork (Dec 25, 2022)

stoneware said:


> Your gold is likely smearing.


I know it rolls up into little balls going through the chain mill. What is smearing?


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## goldshark (Dec 25, 2022)

Very little water is ok, or a lot. I prefer dry, as there is a fine line between just enough to keep the dust down, and creating the cake from hell inside, which jams everything up. If you have an internal classifier, the course Gold will just keep getting beat around into round balls. I don't know if you have a batch, or continuous through put. Water will not help the ore break, or grind, the rock any better in an impact mill. Water only helps in ball/rod mills.

Sure wish every pan of mine looked like that. Have a prosperous New Year.


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## Southfork (Dec 25, 2022)

goldshark said:


> Very little water is ok, or a lot. I prefer dry, as there is a fine line between just enough to keep the dust down, and creating the cake from hell inside, which jams everything up. If you have an internal classifier, the course Gold will just keep getting beat around into round balls. I don't know if you have a batch, or continuous through put. Water will not help the ore break, or grind, the rock any better in an impact mill. Water only helps in ball/rod mills.
> 
> Sure wish every pan of mine looked like that. Have a prosperous New Year.


Thank you, the instructions that came with the mill, said to run dry it is continuous feed that's the only way I've tried. A few times the internal screen has clogged with gold that's ok I like it. I have a couple of old shop vacs maybe I'll see what I can do for dust control. Even though all the dirt / gravel roads around here make far more dust than I ever will. We clean after each run to keep the samples separated each run leaves a pile of material in the back. It's so fine that a little moisture and it piles and stays there. Cover off photo


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## Southfork (Dec 26, 2022)

The new samples are too wet for the chain mill won't pass through the screen. We hand crushed a few samples from a big pile that looks crushed or blasted and mucked and dumped. It has micro gold and pickers mixed in the pile maybe a couple of pickup loads. It will have to wait until after the new series of storms pass more than I can crush in a month. I can back right up to this pile and hand shovel into the truck. Maybe enough to last all winter I took a few closeups of some small pieces hard to get clear photos. I need a digital microscope. The material in the tub is what the pile looks like. You will have to take my word for it the stuff I panned the photo was a blur. Just micro gold dust but it's a big pile. You could almost run this through a sluice but would lose what's in the host rock I'll wait and mill it. I scrubbed the little quartz pieces with a toothbrush and rinsed in water.


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## BlackLabel (Dec 26, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Some ore samples after cleaning this was a metal detector find from a couple of fist sized rocks. I have buckets of rocks waiting but too much moisture it will clog the screens. Thinking about adding water injectors to the chain mill to help wash the grind though the screens. It would eliminate the dust and maybe help with the grind.


You should sell these beauties as they are.
Here in Europe/Germany such specimen are very rare. I'd love to get some.


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## Southfork (Dec 27, 2022)

Still windy cold and wet so I'm prospecting in the kitchen sink with warm water. This little piece of quartz ore came off the same pile as the little nugget I posted on the metal detecting forum. The quartz ore samples will be crushed because of the micro free gold when we find specimen pieces, they go to the safe deposit box. The fine gold is melted into buttons when we have enough. most of this is covered with red mud I'm thinking the bigger pieces were just tossed aside while ground sluicing through these exposed oxidized zones. It's almost impossible to find without a metal detector and headphones to pick up the faint signals. Most days it won't buy your lunch yesterday it bought lunch and dinner for the crew.


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## orvi (Dec 27, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Some ore samples after cleaning this was a metal detector find from a couple of fist sized rocks. I have buckets of rocks waiting but too much moisture it will clog the screens. Thinking about adding water injectors to the chain mill to help wash the grind though the screens. It would eliminate the dust and maybe help with the grind.


Holy s... dude !

Do not destroy these beauties, please. As it was mentioned, species like these, espetially here in Europe has significant value, and if they show up here, people are more than willing to buy them. I would also love to have some, and I do not have access to this kind of stuff (rationally priced, over spot is expected, but not two/three fold).
Last time somebody pulled species like this out of the ground here was in 15-17th century  and folks mined it all sadly. 

My lifetime find was 95mg gold nugget found highbanking on the local river notorious for good gold (good gold here is flake bigger than 1 mm  ). And nicest specie I found on old mine dump pile has like few gold "wires" running through the cracks. Biggest maybe 3-4 mm. I was once offered 50 euros for it (promptly refused  ) despite whole rock has few miligrams of gold in it... Been prospecting for like many years, intensly maybe 4 years.

So when I see the stuff like this to be found anywhere in the world, I am just sad I cannot pack my gear and move to the said place for like a year or so  My years of finds there would be piece of cake to overthrow in your country


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## Southfork (Dec 29, 2022)

My wife and me went out to the new diggings yesterday to have a look. big, long open cuts shafts and piles of quartz and the quartz piles disappear into the brush the open cuts are massive with almost endless area to metal detect. Here's a little piece of quartz with gold found by my son today right in front of a big pile of quartz with a metal detector It's a hobby miners dream spot with easy access. A series of storms on the way this will have to wait I'm a fair-weather prospector, but I have some rocks to crush that I picked off a pile.


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## Southfork (Dec 29, 2022)

Playing with the camera lighting and a little soap water same sample. And this one caught my eye maybe copper? And some pyrite micro gold?


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## smcg924 (Dec 30, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Apparently, my posting has started some kind of rift I won't waste anyone's time I've was warned by moderators.
> 
> Edited to remove negative comment FrugalRefiner


Stoneware is obviously out for blood it’s obvious as he is now bringing up permits and ways to get the law involved. I’m sorry admin but its chickenshit amd he should’ve been removed from this thread at the very least. Everyone here is so/wait most members here are so critical about correcting folks on irrelevant details that the subject at hand takes a backseat until 3-4 people join the correction topic until the most knowledgeable person is crowned victorious. It’s irritating af to the few people like myself who aren’t scientifically educated or in character and some may be working projects for months or years without pay or very little and come here for helpful information only to get some hazing routine done by egotistical grown men who most wouldn’t even know how to use a pick and shovel correctly without checking to see if there are instructions for it in Hokes book. I’m a dumbass in regards to booksmarts and scientific processes thats why i joined to get answers, I’m also one the nicest most loving person you’ll ever ban from this forum because I am a risk taker and vocal about things that irritate me. I know the risk of me calling you moderators or admins whoever wants to claim the direction of my correction of this childish behavior I see E V E R Y Time I read a thread for relevant information that might help my process because it was obvious to me that my inquiries were NOT welcome until I become a “supporting member” So here’s my support to you and it comes in the form of wisdom. You may want to step back and evaluate the difference in value between wisdom and education because wisdom doesn’t seem to have a place here if you’re not educated you’re not shit on this forum but here’s the thing about all your little scientific facts is it an evolving science so it’ll always be changing and you always be chasing new information and trying to keep current wisdom is forever and always relevant can be passed down for centuries if the same was true about education y’all wouldn’t be shit because you wouldn’t know how to use a pick and shovel like they did from the beginning of mining until relatively recent times I’m guessing the industrial revolution. Ive had respect and always intend on being courteous and would help anyone here without question if I had answers for them and I thought that this would be a place or community of people with like minded goals sharing information for the good of the community but like I’ve seen and heard on this thread alot of jealous people puking out negativity on anyone with excitement about their project if their process or methods are a little different and it blows my fkn mind that such smart intelligent people could be so closed off to learning different techniques just because it doesn’t align with anything you know doesn’t make it wrong, what matters are the end results. Regional situations call for regional solutions and if people want to get shitty well I’ve delt with shitty people my whole life so in a sense my regional domain and I have a non liquid solution or formula for dealing with it. If you feel comfortable with what im saying or at least can relate and understand I thank you for having the conscience and aware of the things I mentioned. If it offended you then ask yourself why would your forum make someone feel this way and if there is a way to prevent it in the future and I promise you will attract more SUPPORTING MEMBERS. I Mentioned it to several of you that kept sending me Private messages did I haven’t had an income in nearly a year and also offered basically free samples of my orders and things like that to help with identification or at least Split the profits to help hook me up with some buyers and identification and you take half of the money I mean there’s nothing to lose but I couldn’t get help until I paid $15 donation that I would have to borrow from someone who most likely I’m already in debt to so no I’m not doing that 
I’ve been figuring it out on my own the long hard unorthodox way nobody has believed in me I accept that but with all respect the forum needs a full course available on communication skills that admin or anyone else who makes any income off the site Must take and will help with customer/member acquisition and retention, sincerely, Love Shano


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## Southfork (Dec 30, 2022)

Raining big series of storms coming through our area and N. California. So last night we hand crushed samples with no visible gold but set the metal detector off. Panned the material and collected what we could see with a snuffer bottle and hemostats. We melted the pickers the micro / dust went into the jar for latter processing / save until we have enough to melt. The snuffer bottle cleanup made two little buttons and the pickers made one. Nice clean looking gold a lot better than we have been finding. Switching to placer mining if we get enough rain to run a sluice on what looks like pay. Happy Mining


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## stoneware (Dec 30, 2022)

Southfork said:


> I know it rolls up into little balls going through the chain mill. What is smearing?


Bug splatter on a windshield.


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## Heavy Diver (Dec 31, 2022)

goldshark said:


> I am NOT in any way belittling what Southfork is doing. I'm sorry if my reference to the other aspects of mining offends you. I only asked the admin if they would consider talking about the other aspects of mining. This may include talking about blast patterns for removing rock efficiently. I know talking about explosives on this forum is a touchy subject, but would not include any recipes, just a way to drill out a pattern for a round, or how to break a boulder without throwing it all over the place. As stated, there are many more aspects to the mining process, and am just wondering where the admin wants to draw the line.


Goldshark

I am new to the forum but have done about 40yr worth of work that involved using explosives an timing delays , a common drill/delay pattern for tunneling can be affective to place your drilling pattern on a spiral pattern 3/4 the depth as to the heights, so if you want a tunnel height of 6ft than a 4ft hole depth with hole spacing at 1ft, remember the flood cut needs to be a flat pattern spaced at 6in with 1/2 of the load charges as a post split to keep minimal breakage dependent on the material, delay from the center out at 35ms and enjoy the muck out,

Note:
Ensure you are using MSA grade underground explosives for fume safety, actually be best to have a licensed blasting professional to work with you to get your project rolling

Hope this is helpful 

Mike


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## Heavy Diver (Dec 31, 2022)

Sorry 

Floor cut


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## kurtak (Dec 31, 2022)

Heavy Diver said:


> I am new to the forum but have done about 40yr worth of work that involved using explosives an timing delays


So we have another member here that like to blow stuff up   

Kurt


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## ClydeP (Dec 31, 2022)

Southfork.Great posts. I envy your position to have some acreage and little piles to dig thru. I worked on Kanaka Creek in the late 80's. I found out later my great grandfather also worked on Kanaka Creek in the late 1850's. He joined the Union Army in 1861 in Allegheny and never came back.

A few pages back in this thread there was a question about land ownership. I'm a bit rusty on Mining Law of 1872 but, it could be possible that law could give some outside person the right to stake claims on your property. A title search - you should have one from when you bought the property - would reveal if your property rights cover minerals. Just a cautionary note.


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## Southfork (Dec 31, 2022)

Thanks, no drilling or blasting necessary already in piles just needs sorting and crushing. But were going placer mining tomorrow over five inches of rain, the creeks are roaring already have a pile of pay we think left from the gold rush.


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## Heavy Diver (Dec 31, 2022)

Yep r, using 2 x 18 power primer in 20ft of water to remove basalt from ferry route in the pacific north west back in 86, drill out 6 x 6 pattern Monday-Friday shoot Saturday, repeat on Monday for 3 months


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## Yggdrasil (Dec 31, 2022)

Heavy Diver said:


> View attachment 53940
> 
> Yep r, using 2 x 18 power primer in 20ft of water to remove basalt from ferry route in the pacific north west back in 86, drill out 6 x 6 pattern Monday-Friday shoot Saturday, repeat on Monday for 3 months View attachment 53942


Please try to use proper language, some of our members rely on translators and lingo do not fare well with them.


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## kurtak (Dec 31, 2022)

Heavy Diver said:


> Yep r, using 2 x 18 power primer in 20ft of water to remove basalt from ferry route in the pacific north west back in 86,


 

All my fun blowing stuff up was blowing 6 - 7 - 8 foot stumps & drill blast bed rock on logging road building jobs &/or blowing Volkswagen (& bigger) rocks placer mining  

Kurt


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## Southfork (Dec 31, 2022)

The gold from the other day is from a mine dump pile all shattered small rock mucked and dumped. Thank you, old timers, for leaving us a pile of ore we can drive to.


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## goldshark (Dec 31, 2022)

Heavy Diver said:


> Goldshark
> 
> I am new to the forum but have done about 40yr worth of work that involved using explosives an timing delays , a common drill/delay pattern for tunneling can be affective to place your drilling pattern on a spiral pattern 3/4 the depth as to the heights, so if you want a tunnel height of 6ft than a 4ft hole depth with hole spacing at 1ft, remember the flood cut needs to be a flat pattern spaced at 6in with 1/2 of the load charges as a post split to keep minimal breakage dependent on the material, delay from the center out at 35ms and enjoy the muck out,
> 
> ...


Hey Heavy, sounds like you have had an interesting career, very cool. I have run a jack leg, and just about every other type of pneumatic and hydraulic drilling for the last 50 years. I am a blasting contractor, and have done some interesting jobs. One that sticks out, is an 8' diameter boulder that rolled off the mountain about 600 vertical feet, rolled through a nice house, eventually coming to rest in his hot tub. I had to blast it into 1' and smaller chunks, so it could be hauled off with a hand truck. I have also blasted 10' diameter granite boulders out of finished houses, where the owner wants additional room where a crawl space used to be. Still love blowing stuff up after all these years. If anybody needs advice on how to blow anything up (legally) Mike or myself, would be happy to answer any and all questions.


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## Shark (Dec 31, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Thanks, no drilling or blasting necessary already in piles just needs sorting and crushing. But were going placer mining tomorrow over five inches of rain, the creeks are roaring already have a pile of pay we think left from the gold rush.


Can’t wait to see some pictures and results from that outing.


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## Southfork (Dec 31, 2022)

Shark said:


> Can’t wait to see some pictures and results from that outing.


My son is down the hill shoveling in the rain he just called he's finding gold. I'll wait until tomorrow when the sun's out the gold not going anywhere soon. He came up looking like a drowned rat but there's gold waiting


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## stoneware (Dec 31, 2022)

As a teenager knew nothing about dynamite when I came across half a dozen sticks left behind in a railway tunnel.

Took off my short, wrapped the sticks inside then tossed the lot over my shoulder.

Soon after walking along the railway tracks, I started seeing spots, the sticks discarded I began to feel better.

If your playing with old fuse and decide to light an end, make sure it's not cordite. Scary stuff and I'm very fortunate to still have my left hand fully intact.


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## Heavy Diver (Dec 31, 2022)

Yggdrasil said:


> Please try to use proper language, some of our members rely on translators and lingo do not fare well with them.


Yes sir


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## Southfork (Dec 31, 2022)

stoneware said:


> As a teenager knew nothing about dynamite when I came across half a dozen sticks left behind in a railway tunnel.
> 
> Took off my short, wrapped the sticks inside then tossed the lot over my shoulder.
> 
> ...


Never put dynamite in your shorts


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## stoneware (Dec 31, 2022)

Southfork said:


> Never put dynamite in your shorts


At my age I can use all the help I can get.


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## Southfork (Saturday at 12:15 PM)

We have this seasonal drainage on our property that has some tailing piles left from the gold rush. After the big New Year's storm, I set a sluice box up and started shoveling hard digging into a pile of rocks and dirt and trying to classify. But I did find a little gold my son came down and helped to speed things up. We did a clean up after about five full buckets 'worth of classified material a few pickers and black sands with micro gold. We need a better way of working these piles but a good day in the sun.


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## Southfork (Sunday at 4:38 PM)

Awhile back I made a post about burning brush and picking up some float. I crushed the float and used gravity recovery to concentrate ended up with 4 grams of concentrated material. I took the 4 grams and melted twice to clean it up ended up with 2 grams of gold. This was from a few yards behind the house now if I can just find the source.


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## Southfork (Yesterday at 7:54 PM)

None stop rains our chain mill is outside because of dust we have it covered until better weather. A little hand crushing with a mortar and pestle on small samples from the new claim. We melted the panned gold in a graphite crucible without any flux in our propane furnace it resulted in a nice clean button 26 grams. So far most of the samples are metal detector finds quartz with free gold little to no pyrites. Break in the weather tomorrow four of us are going out and hit it hard raking a few piles to see what the Oldtimers left us. I'm waiting on a small jaw crusher to be delivered it should help the processing breaking the ore down for the chain mill .


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