Prospectors Forum
 

Is there any support for a prospecting sub forum in the GIM crowd?
.
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...6_1894_1794348

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

It wouldn't hurt my feelings any.

Good idea, my gram of silvers-worth.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

You are in Nevada, do you mine or prospect there? I am coming that way this summer with my kids on another 3 month adventure.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I am in Winnemucca, about 160 miles north of Reno. When you firm up your travel dates let me know.

Are you going to be camping?

It would be great to introduce you to the high desert.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

The Mpeg is 26 megs, you will see it best with DSL or another high speed connection.

Gold Basin Mine

A mining operation compliments of golddrerdgevideo .com

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Curtman,
We manufacture our metals recovery equipment just outside of Winnemucca.

My minesite is about thirty miles out. Very remote, although a very good secondary road right to it. 8,500' elevation.

The material in my avatar came from that mine. One nugget in that pile is 9.77 grams. If you want to use a metal detector or pan you and your children are welcome. Camping the same thing. Again, very remote, NO passersby.

At night you feel like you can touch the stars.

You can keep any nuggetts you find unless you get one over two and a half pounds--That one we split.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Is there any support for prospecting forum? dont know, but i still have a pan or 2 sitting around.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Thanks Crazychicken, I will take you up on this some time this summer when we get through your area. I am used to remote in fact I prefer it.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I think a prospecting forum is a good idea. I like recreational "rockhounding" but don't get to do it nearly as much as I'd like to. There is something special about finding a crystal or chunk or nugget of more than just plain rock in the wild.

I'm familiar with panning for gold where there's water, but what clues does one look for in dry areas that might indicate a likely spot? Are the principles the same? I know "thar's gold in them thar (desert) hills", but I wouldn't know where to start looking, unless in dry stream beds. :dontknow:

Ragnarok

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

All kinds of gold out in the hills by me ...especially in the Gros venture area..........the forum is a great idea,imo.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

JDRock
We are starting a project in the Billings area later this year.

Lots of fine gold.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Wait until gold hits 1,000 an oz - we will have another Gold rush...

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

:thumbs up :thumbs up

right you are G-K...better get ahead of the crowd:cool2: now if only I knew the first thing about prospecting......:eek:

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

From a mining standpoint the new gold rush is in micro-fine gold. The "float gold" that washes off the top of sluice boxes and spirals. The sub-micron material.

Lots of it out there.

The increased Au prices certainly are helping. A bunch.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I watch that prospecting show on the outdoor channel once in a while

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I would encourage it. Two days ago I copied G-khan's FAQs about CS and also copied his "recommended" CS gizmo for purchase. My co-worker asked about the 9-volt scheme and GIM provided the better advice. Go for the Prospector section too!
:smile:

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Crazychicken, do you guys haul the ore to another location or do you have crusher pulverizer and do your own heap leach system there? I would realy like to take a tour of the process from the rock to the dore.

Admin, thanks for the sub forum.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

There's no gold where I live, 'cept the stuff in garbage electronics. Once we're at $1000/oz I'll have a lot of Ebay auctions for scrap computer parts.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Curtman:
My operation in Nevada is a placer operation. "Mudbreaking" and screening for +1/8" values is done mechanically at the mine.

The 100% passing 8 mesh is transported offsite for batch digestion. There are very good values in what used to be called "tailings". The metals are all put into "ionic soup" and the desired metal ions are selectively recovered by solvent extraction/liquid-liquid separation methods developed by us.

Au is directly recovered as metal and PGMs recovered as appropriate.

The privately owned metals recovery plants of my design have an instantaneous market for the recovered values.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Cousi:
Our computer demanufacturing plant in Ohio deals exclusively in computers and e-scrap. It does no ore or concentrates.

It is a quite profitable stand-alone. Doing computers and other e-scrap is sort of like being Jesse James without having to use a gun.

I had started a thread some time ago about alternative methods of accumulating PMs.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Alternative methods of accumulating PMs really is modern prospecting. And we can even do it here in Ohio.:smile:

I heard there is silver in old washing machines. If true, where?

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

The amount of silver in washing machines would be relatively minimal. Newer ones possibly circuit boards, all of them in the electrical contacts. But not any home run in our experience.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I mine my local banks for little one cent nuggets of copper. That's sort of like prospecting.

Ok, not really. :Sorry:

:cheerful:

There are no hills around here, but sometimes I borrow my wife's metal detector and head to the beach or a local park. Could metal detecting be included in a prospecting forum?

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I live in the Sierra foothills, about 30 miles from the gold discovery location that resulted in the California gold rush. I'm guessing as the price increases we will see a lot more activity along the banks of our local rivers and streams. I may have to get some exercise this summer, seeing if I can "strike it rich" or at least get a pretty good workout........

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I'd sure be interested in a gold prospecting forum....also gemstones if anyone's interested. Have been at the weekend Au "chase" for nearly 40 years. There's a lot of it out there. It's scattered but VERY easy to find. The challenge is finding colors in concentrations that make it economicaly viable to separate out.

Folks would be surprised at how widely gold is distributed. In the U.S. I believe it's been found in all but 2 states: Kentucky and Hawaii....and I may be wrong about KY....it may have some "trace" colors? I predominently dredge: no shovel! But also power and hand-suice and pan...but mostly use a pan for sampling and clean-ups.

In dry country a guy can either use a good metal detector, something called a "dry washer", dry-pan, tote in water, or tote what are believed to be good materials to water. In dry country the ole'-timers used to "winnow". This is a process where two or more prospectors classify (screen out rocks and gravels) materials and put 'em on a blanked or other cloth. They then each grab a corner and on a windy day, use the blanket to toss the materials up into the wind that blows off the lighter stuff and leaves the heavies (including Au) to fall down on the blanket where the colors can more easily recovered from any far lessor amount of what "light"'s remain.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

THATS AWESOME! Im an "amature" astronomer (hate that word) and i have to deal with light polution here. I have thought about moving to nevada or arizona to deal with this, and i have always thought about mining for gold lol, a dream i guess.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I call it "the great chase". For me it's like letting the "kid" come out and play in the dirt, the mud, and the water...and hunt Easter eggs, all at the same time. Great exercise, fresh air, camaraderie, teaching and learning, and enjoying the great outdoors. Ah....the great chase!

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I got my detector today from UPS. I wll post a picture of it after supper.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I been out in the yard trying to figure it out but no gold in my yard it seems.
:character It's kind of dark in my woods this time of day, sorry for the dark pictures. I will take more tomorrow.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Hey Curtman, good luck nugget hunting, dry stream beds that show color would be where the action is. I never found a gold nugget with my old Compass metal detector(1980s vintage) but I did find a beautiful 1861 US $1 gold coin. :proud:

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I moved up here to gold country almost 3 years ago. I own 2 metal detectors, and I just purchased a few gold pans on Ebay last week. I somehow haven't found the time to do any prospecting at all. I plan to this Summer though. One of my metal detectors is a minelab, the other is a more simpler type. I need to get out and practice. I have a seasonal creek on my property, which prompted me to get the gold pans. I'll be looking forward to hearing you're stories/tips on prospecting!

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

We are all jazzed about this, we went through the Kalama river area last year on the last part of our summer vacation and seen all the dredges down there but nobody was working them. We stopped by the river and ate lunch and a watermelon before making our way back out to the I-5 then north a bit before we headed back West to take the Oregon Coast up.
My kids are ready to go but I have lots to do in the last month before school gets out. They are wanting to sell their Go-carts now to get more silver and some prospecting gear. I told them I will buy all the gear we need but they will need to buy their own silver. I am also going to have to by my 13 year old aspiring percusionist a set of Bongos or he is going to drive me nuts drumming on the van. At least he hasn't started trying to sing along with Robert Plant of Led Zepplin yet.
I let you guys know when I find my first bit of gold and where. :tongue:

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Sweet, Curt....bet you cant wait to play with your new toy.....
the pog is making it worth our time to prospect thats for sure..
planning on hitting it hard once the snow melts off the gros venture range
......btw I AM a percussionist good for yor 13 year old!!

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

He wants to go this summer but I do not want him to have to give up anything, I will find him a few good drums to take along or maybe a electric set of pads.
I think he is going to be a natural, I will let the other boy have the accoustic Ibenez for the road trips since it has been reduced to the road class warrior.
I am going to try and finish working on some things taday and go out and try and learn the language of the detector. It makes a unique sound for every metal type I guess. Now I need to figure out what a gold and silver sounds like and learn how to filter out the scrap. I got a book and a video with it so it should be helpful though last night the video was about eight minutes long :mad: and I was disapointed.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

If a person wants to detect gold nuggets, s/he needs to get a detector that is designed specifically for gold. Detectors are engineered to detect certain items: "treasure" (gold & silver), relics (brass & iron), and coins (silver).

Any detector that is designed to serve multiple functions utilizes shared circuitry that trades off sensitivity.

Hunting gold nuggets? Get a gold nugget detector, and then if you want to
hunt coins, get a coin detector.

By far the best lightweight & readily portable gold nugget detectors are made by Minelab = into the thousands of dollars.

The next is the Fisher Gold-Bug II - about $800 bucks.

All low-end detectors will produce low-end results. Your call.

It's important to know that a Minelab will not work in an area that is very highly mineralized...the're too sensitive. In my neck of the woods nobody owns one because they don't work. Gold-bug II is the choice by far.

Do your homework. Talk to folks who know detectors, and get one that will optimally work in the geographic area you plan to use it. These are dealers - but remember that all dealers have an agenda called make money selling their detectors...individuals who have used a number of detectors....and call the manufacturers.

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

I can find ALOT that looks like little flakes...trouble is its hard to gather in
..any suggestions?...I was hiking out in the Gros-venture (grow-vont)
wilderness area & came across a mountain stream. All around the banks, and in the lowest parts of the stream, little yellow "flakes' were all over the place....I bent down for a closer look & it looked metallic...seemed to sink to the lowest areas in the largest quantities.....it looks like somone took a pepper shaker and just sprinkled the whole creek.
Then (I kid you not), i looked to my left & there was an old gold pan sitting on a log! I took it as a sign from God!! LOL:rofl: . Anyway, i couldnt
gather much as im not proficient at panning....any advise? or is this some other useless mineral?
JD.:cool2:

Re: Prospectors Forum
 

Thanks for the reply Elijah!...ill let you know what they say...