Back yard Prospecting

[Southfork]

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

 

[AlaskaLes]

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

 

[AlaskaLes]

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.

 

[Southfork]

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.

 

[Southfork]

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.

 

[kurtak]

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

 

[kurtak]

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

 

[kurtak]

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)

 

[AlaskaLes]

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.

 

[Southfork]

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.

https://goldpriceg.com/18k-gold-usaWebDec 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.

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

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.

 

[goldshark]

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

 

[orvi]

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.

 

[orvi]

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

 

[Southfork]

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.

 

[orvi]

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

 

[Southfork]

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

 

[orvi]

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.

 

[Southfork]

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

 

[Southfork]

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.