anyone do any panning/sluicing/dredging?

[garrettwombat]

i know this isnt the right forum... but it deals with gold.

im just wondering how many fellow prospectors are also revolutionaries.

i sluice over here in Georgia... i got a good haul today

:D

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/garrettwomack/DIGI0088.jpg

[123tim]

That is cool!
I don't pan or sluice, but I would if I lived in an area that had gold.

Do you have any clearer pictures? It looks like you might not have the macro setting set on your camera.

[ryanmkeisling]

I go sometimes here in Northern Cali. panning that is. I would love to get some dredging equipment but it is pricey. I also know people who have found some pretty big nuggets but I have yet to come across any. It is very popular out here and you have to be careful where you go as some people take their "claims" very seriously. There is still plenty of gold out here for the taking...:D When the snow melts and you go to the rivers they look "golden" with all of the particulate matter suspended in them.

[Dr.3D]

I go sometimes here in Northern Cali. panning that is. I would love to get some dredging equipment but it is pricey. I also know people who have found some pretty big nuggets but I have yet to come across any. It is very popular out here and you have to be careful where you go as some people take their "claims" very seriously. There is still plenty of gold out here for the taking...:D When the snow melts and you go to the rivers they look "golden" with all of the particulate matter suspended in them.

Seems like you could use a fine filter and catch that particulate matter. Just pump the river water through a filter. Perhaps there wouldn't be enough to make a difference though. But it seems like if you can see it, then you should get a lot with a filter.

[ryanmkeisling]

Seems like you could use a fine filter and catch that particulate matter. Just pump the river water through a filter. Perhaps there wouldn't be enough to make a difference though. But it seems like if you can see it, then you should get a lot with a filter.

I think I have seen people doing this. It is not so much that you can see the gold itself, but that the water looks golden (which is usually crystal clear) with all of the sediment (sand, tiny gravel, and Gold!) caught up in it. This is a worthy idea however, perhaps it would work with some 75-25 micron silkscreen fabric?

[Allen72289]

I've got a mine claim up in pierce. My biggest nuggets were match head.

[Dr.3D]

I think I have seen people doing this. It is not so much that you can see the gold itself, but that the water looks golden (which is usually crystal clear) with all of the sediment (sand, tiny gravel, and Gold!) caught up in it. This is a worthy idea however, perhaps it would work with some 75-25 micron silkscreen fabric?

If I was going to do that on a large scale, I would probably use a swimming pool filter.

First though, before spending that kind of money, I would get a sample of the water and see what settled out of it. If enough gold were to actually settle out of the river water, then I would look at the particle size with a microscope and see what I needed for a filter. You never know what you are going to find. :)

A portable gasoline powered pump with a swimming pool filter might be just what the doctor ordered. ;)

[Tarheel]

When you say "i have a mine claim", what does that mean?

[Primbs]

I have done dry panning in the desert They still find stuff near Sutters Mill.

I can imagine all the abandoned sites are getting busy again.

[Allen72289]

When you say "i have a mine claim", what does that mean?

In states out west you can claim land as a mine claim if it has gold, silver platinum etc on it.

The fees are small.

One person can claim 20 acres.

Has to be federal land..


http://www.idahomining.com/page3.html

[garrettwombat]

yeah you pretty much have to claim anything where gold is found for it to be "legal" and want to set up a prospect. i dont worry with that horse poo though, and yes you have to do it on private property also...

im buying my dredge soon... going to try to make most of it out of homemade parts and the rest are going to be taken off an old keene 2.5 inch dredge that used a suction nozzle.


and dr. 3d... i dont think filtering the riverbed will get you much gold... only a bunch of junk.

[Dr.3D]

dr. 3d... i dont think filtering the riverbed will get you much gold... only a bunch of junk.

The poster I was talking to said he thought there was gold suspended in the river water along with some sand and other fine debris. My thought was to filter just the river water and not the bottom of the river. If the filters did become loaded with gold, sand and other things, it can still be separated by melting the entire filter assembly and removing the gold at the bottom of the mess when everything else floats to the surface.

[garrettwombat]

why would gold be suspended in water?

gold is one of the heaviest elements and i doubt it would do such a thing. it would have sunk long before suspension would occur.

and melting gold with sand is a big mistake if you get your fire too hot.

if you had a bunch of sand and debris that contained gold bearing material your best bet would be to buy a cleanup sluice, gold wheel, or a blue bowl.

and if it was very fine dust gold use mercury to leach it from your black sands once you have concentrated down to them.

[Dr.3D]

why would gold be suspended in water?

gold is one of the heaviest elements and i doubt it would do such a thing. it would have sunk long before suspension would occur.

and melting gold with sand is a big mistake if you get your fire too hot.

if you had a bunch of sand and debris that contained gold bearing material your best bet would be to buy a cleanup sluice, gold wheel, or a blue bowl.

and if it was very fine dust gold use mercury to leach it from your black sands once you have concentrated down to them.

You would have to ask that of the poster.


When the snow melts and you go to the rivers they look "golden" with all of the particulate matter suspended in them.

I was only trying to figure out how one could gather what was being suspended in the water.

[ryanmkeisling]

When the snow starts to melt high in the Sierras (also the southern cascades in the Shasta region of Northern California) the water finds its way to the rivers and carries a lot of stuff with it including gold particles(there is still a lot of gold here in these mountains, so they say). If you go to the rivers during this time you will see a lot of dredging/panning going on. The gold must be in "suspension" for some time before it gets deposited usually in the gravel beds of the rivers as they flow through the foothills, Coloma, Grass Valley, Placerville, Weaverville in the north etc., are some the popular places. There is a huge difference in the "color" of the water during this time as opposed to during the summer when it is clear and there is obviously a lot of particulate matter in suspension some of which (even if a small percentage) is certainly Gold, how else does it get from one place to another? I really do not know much about the how or why but occasionally go panning with my brother for fun and we have had success. It is mostly conjecture on my part and I think Dr. 3d was just trying to lend his 2 cents as to how it might be done. I am no expert...

[Kotin]

clearly that is glitter..

[garrettwombat]

gold is formed in placers... usually quartz... and gets erroded into the stream or river bed usually by rain hitting the side of a hill and washing it to the river.. or the river runs right into a quartz vein... gold is then broken from the quartz and carried in usually in a certain path... behind boulders, inside of bends, behind gravel bars. once the gold has found a place to settle it will sink under the sands in the creek and find its way in the cracks of bedrock...

here you will have to dig down and use prybars to bust these cracks open or stick the suction nozzle of your dredge on the cracks and suck out the gold bearing material.
this is how i do it, and im a fairly good prospector.

[Allen72289]

Yeah, I was wondering if a rock crusher would extract more gold than a trommel which just strains out the big rock which is possibly bearing gold...?

[ARealConservative]

gold is formed in placers... usually quartz... and gets erroded into the stream or river bed usually by rain hitting the side of a hill and washing it to the river.. or the river runs right into a quartz vein... gold is then broken from the quartz and carried in usually in a certain path... behind boulders, inside of bends, behind gravel bars. once the gold has found a place to settle it will sink under the sands in the creek and find its way in the cracks of bedrock...

here you will have to dig down and use prybars to bust these cracks open or stick the suction nozzle of your dredge on the cracks and suck out the gold bearing material.
this is how i do it, and im a fairly good prospector.

I find this fascinating.

How did you get into this originally, family?

[Fight-n-Mad]

Seems like you could use a fine filter and catch that particulate matter. Just pump the river water through a filter. Perhaps there wouldn't be enough to make a difference though. But it seems like if you can see it, then you should get a lot with a filter.

Here's a picture of 4 1/2 oz. of gold particles trapped in a piece of fleece. This came out of the mud though. I don't know if you would have much luck trying to filter just the water itself.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kiwigold/Cleanuptable1.jpg

http://bb.bbboy.net/alaskagoldforum-viewthread?forum=2&thread=785

[garrettwombat]

Yeah, I was wondering if a rock crusher would extract more gold than a trommel which just strains out the big rock which is possibly bearing gold...?

oh yes... if you find a good quartz vein that is your ore right there!

crush that sucker up and run it through a sluice box or pan through it.

[garrettwombat]

ere's a picture of 4 1/2 oz. of gold particles trapped in a piece of fleece. This came out of the mud though. I don't know if you would have much luck trying to filter just the water itself.

this isnt really a filter. it is a sluice box.. the fleece acts like miners moss... there are no ripples because it's fine gold. this is a homemade cleanup sluice for your fines...

i personally would have used mercury... much easier and you can lose gold if your not carful.

i have heard you can leach with bleach too... would be a lot safer than the mercury

[garrettwombat]

I find this fascinating.

How did you get into this originally, family?

nope i got into it on my own... i live in georgia in the county where the first american goldrush occured... lumpkin county, georgia.

all you need is a pan to get started. you dont have to have expensive equipment to find gold.

[Meatwasp]

I go sometimes here in Northern Cali. panning that is. I would love to get some dredging equipment but it is pricey. I also know people who have found some pretty big nuggets but I have yet to come across any. It is very popular out here and you have to be careful where you go as some people take their "claims" very seriously. There is still plenty of gold out here for the taking...:D When the snow melts and you go to the rivers they look "golden" with all of the particulate matter suspended in them.

You are seeing FOOLS GOLD. Real gold does not show on the surface. Ha Ha!

[adam1mc]

Here's a picture of 4 1/2 oz. of gold particles trapped in a piece of fleece. This came out of the mud though. I don't know if you would have much luck trying to filter just the water itself.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kiwigold/Cleanuptable1.jpg

http://bb.bbboy.net/alaskagoldforum-viewthread?forum=2&thread=785


I checked out your site.. that's a pretty cool operation you've got going.

So you say that's 4.5 oz of gold. I'm assuming the gold flakes are pure... What do you do with them?

Do you melt it down to bars or something? Sell the gold viles? What would someone do with that collection you've got going?

How long did it take to collect the 4.5 oz's? At $1000 per oz, your 4.5 oz's is more than I make in a month.

[Meatwasp]

You have to get a permit from the department of Fish and game before you do any dredging or mining on the rivers in Northern Calif.. Also it is wise not to go on anyone's mining Claim.
I know the Forest Service will do anything to discouage mining claims. We saw how they ran a lot of miners off claims even.

[Fight-n-Mad]

I checked out your site.. that's a pretty cool operation you've got going.

So you say that's 4.5 oz of gold. I'm assuming the gold flakes are pure... What do you do with them?

Do you melt it down to bars or something? Sell the gold viles? What would someone do with that collection you've got going?

How long did it take to collect the 4.5 oz's? At $1000 per oz, your 4.5 oz's is more than I make in a month.

Dunno. You'll have to ask the guy that posted it on that forum, since it was his operation. :)

I just thought it was a cool pic.

[Allen72289]

Mercury to Recover Gold
Fluxing and Firing Silver and Gold
Nitric Acid to Separate Gold
Aqua Regia to Purifyi Gold
Acidic Leeching of Gold


Google it.

Don't toss out your black sand, it has gold in it.

Use nitric acid to dissolve the black sand.

[youngbuck]

Google it.



Doing it...

[klamath]

I grew up mining gold Ran an 8" dredge for a lot of years. You can get gold out of most of the gravels of california but only in certain concentrated areas does it pay the gas and labor to mine it.
Gold still hasn't reached the equivalent price it was in 1980. Gas was $1.30 when gold hit $800 then. People had dredges everwhere.

[Allen72289]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/amc_chopperboy/HPIM0412.jpg

^My gold from Pierce.

That's 5 hours of panning by hand.

Most of the time was spent removing over burden. :mad:

[garrettwombat]

even though gold is $1000 an ounce... prospecting like this and selling your finds rarely gets me over 600 dollars doing my best to find buyers...

you have to take into account gold is a mineral and has no definate price.
just because the ticker reads 1000 doesnt mean thats what your getting.

if you ever find nuggets never melt them down... they are worth more as specimens.
if you find gold on the quartz, never crush them down... again are worth more as specimens..
and if you ever find a gold crystal... run like hell to the safest location and hold an auction because you just made a cool couple hundred grand.

[adam1mc]

even though gold is $1000 an ounce... prospecting like this and selling your finds rarely gets me over 600 dollars doing my best to find buyers...

you have to take into account gold is a mineral and has no definate price.
just because the ticker reads 1000 doesnt mean thats what your getting.

if you ever find nuggets never melt them down... they are worth more as specimens.
if you find gold on the quartz, never crush them down... again are worth more as specimens..
and if you ever find a gold crystal... run like hell to the safest location and hold an auction because you just made a cool couple hundred grand.


I went to my local coin shop today and the owner had several gold nuggets that he was selling right along side his Maples and Krugerrands. He said they were 90% pure. If I had more cash I would have loved to pick one of them up as you don't see those everyday and I think it would be fun to have.

[Allen72289]

even though gold is $1000 an ounce... prospecting like this and selling your finds rarely gets me over 600 dollars doing my best to find buyers...

you have to take into account gold is a mineral and has no definate price.
just because the ticker reads 1000 doesnt mean thats what your getting.

if you ever find nuggets never melt them down... they are worth more as specimens.
if you find gold on the quartz, never crush them down... again are worth more as specimens..
and if you ever find a gold crystal... run like hell to the safest location and hold an auction because you just made a cool couple hundred grand.

Yeah, I know specimen s are worth more.

That large nugget of mine of the left bottom corner of the jar has weird red crystals on the bottom. o_o;