Back in 1991 when I retired the first time, I took a ride in the country...and was gone for 2 years. In my travels, I stopped in Lake City Colo. There, I was taken with the roads and the gold mines so me and my Bronco were riding trails when I came across a guy with a backpack about 30 miles from asphalt. I asked the guy if he needed a ride, help, anything? He said yeah, if I didn't mind taking him home which was a couple of miles down the road. After talking with the guy, he was a young retired professor at one of the major Ivy League colleges and got tired of it. He had built a house out on BLM land and it was powered by solar/batteries and had a small creek running under the house which was on stilts. When we got there, it was the first time I had even seen a Mercedes pickup truck- I didn't know they pickups. He invited me in for tea and we talked some more and he told me he was picking up gold and that's where I found him. He then showed me his water powered tumbler to take the ore and turn it into powder. Then he showed me how he used a slush board to separate the gold, silver, and a couple of other metals I don't remember. After that, I started to pick up gold ore. I ran into a preacher at the Chieftain mine and I found a "nugget" that was mostly gold that took he and I both to load it. Since he was there picking up gold for money to go into South America and preach, I gave it to him. He got $1500.00 for it. While I have never done it and made any money, I have a bunch of the ore with gold in it around the house. I picked a silver "nugget" the size of a baseball at Batchelor City and I picked up a piece of amethyst the size of both hands above Creede. I've got some peakock (sp,I know) gold I picked up around Animas Forks and I've got a bunch of geodes. I like the hunt for it but have never considered doing for a living. Besides, there isn't any gold around where I live and I'd have to move- that ain't happening.

 

Ive seen it on the outdoor channel, looks fun, but how many long hours to produce some "color" in a pan?????

 

Well, thats intresting labnerd, I'd like to head west out there and do some trails rides and prospects if I ever get the chance. I've been panning a few times. I dont do it for a living, just for fun. I havent found much. Time depends on location. A good location can find you gold in the first pan. A bad one will well, you'll never found any. The shows on TOC are old. I was watchin this morning and the guy is doing a brand new season starting in Jan. I'd like to do more.

 

I wish I could do it more often... I have found a few very small flakes - never a nugget. It's an absolute blast and is VERY relaxing as I really enjoy being around the water...

 

In the late 70's I worked in gold polacer mines in the yukon. Very interisting work. With the sluice boxs and how the gold is seperated from the other heavy metals and sands. Prospected for a summer as a hobby did get positive fire asseys, but that water shed drained from a wilderness park.




How long to find gold with a gold pan? If you have a good technique, in the right place and are lucky. You will find some. Having found it would you reconize it?

There is a simple "smear test " take the gold and drag it across the back of a ceramic tile. If it is gold it will leave a black streak, like pencil lead.

To determine if there is gold in an area go to the intersection where several creaks run into each other and then converge into a bigger creak or river. You can pan in a back eddy looking for gold flakes or take it for a fire assey.
It will come back with parts per million count, if positive. For that kind of test there needs to be no visual gold.

Arsenic is present in plant roots and arsenic disloves gold. When plant roots grow against gold it disolves it. The asorbed gold makes it 's way through out the ploant also into the pollen. Honey bees collect the gold cominitated pollen and make honey. As gold is also in dry aand old river beds the bees hive gathers from a large area. Honey can be also fire asseyed for parts per million gold content.


There are several ways to remove gold from a creek or concentrate., using water or mercury ( probably illegal with mercury ). The gold pan is good for locating but very slow fofr general recovery.


If you want to know more ask.

 

I definately have never heard of all that. That's pretty intresting. Actually, you see I'm located in NC (Site of the nation's first Gold Rush), I was looking to see if anyone had a place to go or wanted to get togather and go. I'm sure there are several places near me to go. I just wanted to go with someone who knew more then me.

 

Great read...

The Hg usage is definitely illegal (Clean Water Act stuff) but, you're right, it can be done...

Also, the scratch or smear test that you cited is called the Mohr's Hardness Test -- just for clarification.

I've done quite a bit of work on the Elkhorn Acid Leach mine in Nevada (now closed). It's a fascinating site with only low-level gold (hence the use of hydrocyanic acid). Very neat from an environmental perspective too...

I was out there during a "mormon cricket" hatch... good lord, that was crazy. The ground was moving EVERYWHERE. I honestly thought that the plauge that the bible mentions had begun all over again. I've never seen anything quite like this... I mean, the roads had two long black streaks on both sides from squashed bugs. There were reports of accidents because cars couldn't stop from sliding on bug guts...

But I digress...

Back to the gold...