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I came across this mural and it shows different methods used by prospectors in search for wealth in California, the Yukon and Alaska. Any gold prospectors here and do you still use these old methods?
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d.../goldmural.jpg
Corndog, You bet. My wife and I pan. We've talked about adding a hand sluice but just haven't done it. We've panned in AK and found some nice flakes. Nothing to write home about but certainly brought it home. We also pan in Indiana. A lot of folks are surprised to learn the Midwest has gold but mining has taken place here since about 1850. Mostly in the southern and western parts of the state and there are a couple of gold prospecting clubs in the state.
All the gold was brought down by the glaciers. Almost all of it in the flakes and smaller size (as opposed to nuggets). All of it placer gold. Just a nice hobby and a lot of fun. Another nice way to get out of the house. You might also be surprised that along with the gold, the glaciers brought us some diamonds and garnets. The largest diamond found (recorded) to date is 4 carats. Much more gold than diamonds but it's here.
Glaciers leave behind any iron pyrite?
I haven't found any. But as I said, most of the stuff here is flakes or smaller so you'd be hard pressed to confuse the two. Gold and magnetite are about the only thing you'll find in the bottom of the pan because once you work it down they are the heaviest.
How do you determine that you have gold?
What’s magnetite? Is it that black sand?
Never mind I googled it, now I feel stupid lol
Trax - It's kind of funny, really. When you first start out, you're asking yourself, "Is that gold,' with just about anything that turns up in your pan that is even remotely gold colored. Once you actually see gold in your pan, though, there is no mistaking it. Like a dime in a...well, you know. Most hardened panners are more than happy to give a five minute lesson to newbies. Just like here, they love to impart knowledge.
Owl Girl - Yep. The old timers tell me and I've never had it fail that you will only find gold where there is black sand or magnetite. But just finding black sand doesn't mean you'll find gold. I carry a round magnet in a 35 mm film cannister and if I have a lot of black sand I just run the cannister around the pan and pick up the magnetite. A good shake will roll the magnet up in the cannister and the magnetite will drop off.
So go ahead, impart that knowledge, how do you determine that you have gold?
It’s yellow heavy and soft.
Anything else? Anything you're going to add to that Rick?Quote:
Originally Posted by owl_girl
I guess I'm being dense. Do you want to know how to pan or just identify the gold? Gold is about 19 times heavier than water so it drops to the bottom of the pan. It's heavier than just about everything else, too. Once you work your material down the only thing left is black sand (magnetite) and gold. It's only gold. Iron pyrite, if there was any, will have washed out of the pan because it's so much lighter than gold. If you were working a nugget mine, like you see in the movies, I suppose you could get confused because both the gold and the pyrite are bound in the rock. I've seen some commercial operations in AK and out west and that gold is often bound and has to be separated (usually chemically). When you pan, the gold is free. Pure gold. You won't find it attached to other minerals very often. It's referred to as placer gold or "free metallic" gold. Does that help?
I've panned for gold . It's more gold bearing creeks around than you think.
See, I just wanted to know if there was anything I'd missed in the 16 years I spent growing up around gold and copper mines and the 18 years I spent working on exploration drills and in mining. I know what placer gold is, thank you. I wanted to know what determinant you may have used because it depends where you are and what other metals are in the area. There are other heavy metals that can be mistaken for gold, and can wind up in water, hence be panned, and there are specific acid tests you can do to make sure you have gold.
There have, historically, been a lot more false alarms discovered by prospectors than there have been gold mines, for instance, and yes, I will give you and scabby that there are plenty of gold bearing creeks still out there.
Playin' me! I didn't know that tug in my cheek was a hook. Here I was tryin' to be all nice and help out and stuff. (sniff) (sniff). Owl Girl and Nell will really feel bad for me now.
No, they won't dude, but nice try. I really wasn't playin' ya, I wanted to know...lots of people think they have gold and the most common mistake is they have copper...when it's raw and pure it looks like gold. And there's a lot of simple technology that can be brought into the field for prospecting these days. I understand that you and the wife are panning more for a hobby than anything else, but if you find places where there are veins of quartz showing through bedrock for instance...strong possibility of some gold being present.
Clay sampling too, you can take clay samples and run an acid test on it. I honest to God forget what acid, and it'll change if there's even traces of gold in the clay.
It doesn't take a really high percentage of gold to get mining companies excited. I worked in a huge copper mine where they found one vein of gold...that gold covered the costs of the entire copper operation, so everything from the copper was profit.
Of course, to me, these days (having had my turn at trashing the earth) the last thing I want to hear is someone discovered another mine. The damage that mining does to the earth is mind-boggling.
I saw a number of old worked out commercial operations in AK. I'm going by memory and I may be wrong but I think they used sulphuric acid back then to separate the gold. Nasty looking left overs whatever they used. Nitric acid may be what you're talking about. Maybe not. I think that's what jewelers use to test for gold. I still think they'll feel bad for me. If you look real close at my avatar, you can see a tear drop. (sniff) (sniff).
That's snot from running in the wind. I think you're right about the nitric acid, but I should probably check.
LMOA, Trax your so funny... snot... lol... and gold sinks in the water cause like any rock its gonna sink, and Sarge the only gold in thar hills is what was in your teeth. Lol... jk :D
The only real winners during the gold rush days were the merchants who were quick to relieve everybody they could of whatever money or gold that they had. BTW, Rick,if Owl Girl feels too sorry for you she'll send you some mushrooms and Nell will ask: "Do you want fries with that?":rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Beowulf65
Nope Sarge my line is,"Do you want to value size that with curly fries and a pepsi?"Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarge47
Or my favorite one,when some twenty something dude in drive thru asks for my my phone number when I hand him his order and ask if he needs ketchup or salt: "Sorry, but dont think the hubby would like that."
Ha Ha nell are you sure you don't need a different avatar then? something like... idk... a fox? And yes I'd like some curly fries and a pepsi thank you very much.
Nope not a fox hehe! wolf all the way!And curly fries...yuk!Quote:
Originally Posted by spiritman
Sounds to me like your pretending to be a wolf to take advantage of trax and any others who can't see your real fur so's they don't go running from the cunning fox you must be.
no curly fries?
AAAHHHH poor trax! Me a cunning fox...not hardly.Quote:
Originally Posted by spiritman
Poor Trax? Poor Trax? He played me like a common garden variety carp and you're saying poor Trax? Geeeeesh. Tough audience! Is this thing on? (tap) (tap) (tap). Gold panning is a pretty simple way to gain some gold where known deposit exist. When TSHTF, I'll parlay my meager gold dust to those greedy little miscreants for their mushrooms and fries. Then we'll see who's laughing. Muwahahahahahahahahahahaha! Now, where did Mini Me go?
if it makes you feel better I laughed aloud at that post .
But I'll stick with my french fries if i ever get any
Gold dust...I have no need for your shiny little rock (or dust)Rick,and even less for it should TSHTFQuote:
Originally Posted by Rick
I'm hungry and willing to pay and TS hasn't HTF so could i PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE buy some curly fries?
1.69 for a regular or if you wanna value size,that'll cost ya 2.11:DQuote:
Originally Posted by spiritman
VALUE SIZE! But only if the value factor is really going my way. If not then two regulars. Pleasure doing business with you!!
spiritman,you need to start eating healthier,but a large (or value size) is just shy of 2 regulars.Quote:
Originally Posted by spiritman
That's because you aren't a miscreant, Nell. I wasn't talking about you and Owl Girl but those other yahoos that are out there (Yes, you know who you are). Unless, of course, you consider yourself one. Then we have a whole bunch of other social issues we have to get squared away.
By the way, why would anyone hit on the person serving them their food? That could be REALLY dangerous. Oh, you said twenty something. Of course, young and stupid. How silly of me.
OH God I hope soQuote:
Originally Posted by spiritman
Whassa matter Ricky? Did they hurt your liddo feewings? C'mon you guys, be nice to Rick, someone feel sorry for him. Someone else laugh at his jokes....I know it's too much to ask one of you to do both so....
(Sorry Rick, couldn't resist, LMAOOOO :D :D)
Hey Nell, I want super sized and tell the hubby who cares :D Curlu fries... I got curly fires :D Oh was gonna laugh but couldn't find something funny.
curly fires beo?.........Quote:
Originally Posted by Beowulf65
We could leave Nell's curly fries alone long enough to discuss prospecting. I once wrote a business plan for two elderly native gentlemen to help them get started prospecting. Back in the day, right up to the '60's actually,the Canadian gov't wouldn't let Indians stake mining claims (because the Indians knew where all the minerals were and the govt didn't want them keeping them) there's lots of places in the PreCambrian Shield where mineralizations show right on surface, those Indians had lived out ther for generations and didn't care until the whites started wanting the stuff.
Anyhooo...I digress. These two old guys, about 10 years ago now,distant relatives, approached me because they knew about a small mineral base on their trapline. They'd gone to this huge prospector's conference that's held in Winnipeg every year, looking for some kind of assistance on how to get started. They had more f***ng "consultants land on them than a turd pile gets flies, so they looked me up. Those "consultant" types would have cleaned them out. I wrote up a business plan for them to access some start up dollars and did a bit of expediting for them back then. They're selling off their claims a little at a time because they're getting too old to be out there romping and gamboling about in the bush like Rick and Beo do,sooo....When they asked me how much to do the work for them, bear in mind these consultants were going to charge them thousands, I said 1% of 1% of whatever you make. In the last 10 years, I've made a whopping $375.00 off some claims that they sold to other mineral companies. The thing is, they sold on a percentage basis too, if a mine comes in, they'll get rich and I'll still get my 1% of 1% and that way they don't have to lay out any money for serious explorations (which is mega-expensive) So, if anyone wants to go prospecting, let me know.
By the way, why would anyone hit on the person serving them their food? That could be REALLY dangerous. Oh, you said twenty something. Of course, young and stupid. How silly of me.[/quote]
Why would a guy grab me by the arm and try to kiss me over the counter?? he got an escort out the door by 2 nice police officers on thier lunch break!and he wasnt 20 something he was 30 something!
Oh yeah... Curly Fries.. with cheese big fat mountain dew, and a double cheeseburger. And that guy was dick and dumb azz, but kudo's to you for being professional. Although he needed as azz whooping.