Back yard Prospecting

[Southfork]

Your gold is likely smearing.

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

 

[goldshark]

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.

 

[Southfork]

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

 

[Southfork]

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.

 

[BlackLabel]

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.

 

[Southfork]

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.

 

[orvi]

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

 

[Southfork]

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.

 

[Southfork]

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?

 

[smcg924]

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

 

[Southfork]

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

 

[stoneware]

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

Bug splatter on a windshield.

 

[Heavy Diver]

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

 

[Heavy Diver]

Sorry

Floor cut

 

[kurtak]

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

 

[ClydeP]

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.

 

[Southfork]

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.

 

[Heavy Diver]

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

 

[Yggdrasil]

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.

 

[kurtak]

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