Worth chasing ?
- Thread starter Goldfreak
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Moneybox
Philip & Sandra Box
That's an excellent result from a half a bucket of gravel. Now you just have to work out a way of processing a larger quantity. I wouldn't get that much from most of my dirt but if I can process several tonnes then it starts to pay well.
I think its stuff the old timers may have spilt or broke off while heaping ore from anouther location. Can't locate any nearby reef or source but have found amalgam nearby which contained gold and various old machine parts. There would be a few ton of it laying around spread over a couple of acres but all in small bits but that's fine. I have a little hammer mill that can only take gravel size anyway.
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Judging by that first good-looking panful from such a small sample amount, you could be on to a nice little earner there at today's gold price! Go for it, I reckon and the best of luck to you.
You want to borrow my AlgoForce to sniff around with?
I might go back for more. Currently processing the second half of bucket.Judging by that first good-looking panful from such a small sample amount, you could be on to a nice little earner there at today's gold price! Go for it, I reckon and the best of luck to you.
Good result if that is a representative sample.
The issue may boil down as to how easily you can scoop it all up.
If it is just surface material, I have seen people here in Vic dragging heavy wooden planks behind an ordinary car to imitate mechanical "scraping" (a long time ago now). The winrows left would at least provide some concentration of the scrapings.
The side benefit could be that it might also improve detectability of the area.
Just some thoughts.
PS brought back memories of me and my brother dragging a heavy plank over his newly rotary hoed block to level out the area he wanted for a lawn. We felt like draft horses pulling a plough (again that was a long long time ago).
The issue may boil down as to how easily you can scoop it all up.
If it is just surface material, I have seen people here in Vic dragging heavy wooden planks behind an ordinary car to imitate mechanical "scraping" (a long time ago now). The winrows left would at least provide some concentration of the scrapings.
The side benefit could be that it might also improve detectability of the area.
Just some thoughts.
PS brought back memories of me and my brother dragging a heavy plank over his newly rotary hoed block to level out the area he wanted for a lawn. We felt like draft horses pulling a plough (again that was a long long time ago).
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That's okay. Have been over it with the monster. But for this super fine stuff scattered on the surface recognising the type of stone and a little hammer mill seems to be the go.
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A rake might work well. Bit hard to access the location with a vehicle. Have finished crushing last of the sample bucket but ran out of dy light. Will pan it out tomorrow after work and post results.
Moneybox
Philip & Sandra Box
Probably best to work without the vehicle anyway. The prospecting rules in most places prohibit the use of motorised equipment.
We had a gentle slope that produced a lot of small gold from limestone, I think some call it calcrete. Most nuggets were between 0.1g and 0.6g so Mrs M worked it with the SDC while I worked another area that had bigger gold up to 19g with the GPX4500. After she'd finished getting most of the gold we hooked up a big heavy steel cart tyre to the back of the bus and dragged it over the patch breaking down the uneven limestone surface. After dragging the entire area we never got another nugget. We destroyed it
Got a bit more in the last part of the bucket than the first part. Probably less than 10 kg of stone. Must have been because I grabbed the best looking stones first hence being in the bottom before getting lazy and being less picky about what I picked up. All super fine stuff but a good amount I am happy with. I can see why mercury was so widely used. Very tedious to pan down like this.
Moneybox
Philip & Sandra Box
We must lose most of that fine stuff. The Dryblower would blow a lot away if it’s attached to larger pieces and the sluice would lose anything that floats. I have frogs in my tank so I can’t add detergent to break the surface tension.
There are a lot of devices like the gold wheel, gold cube, shaker table and more all designed for the fine gold. No process gets it all although chemical processes would go close.
There are a lot of devices like the gold wheel, gold cube, shaker table and more all designed for the fine gold. No process gets it all although chemical processes would go close.
I would look at the area as a possible Mill Site.
reasons:
If fine gold on surface!
Mercury used to recover the crushed rock and gold!
But Mainly is the amount of old machinery in area!
I would see if is open for claim before going any further!!!
If open then CLAIM IT!!!
Then do a grid survey to see what the extent of the Deposit is!
Grid on a 5m x 5m if fairly large area. If smaller then on a 1m x 1m grid.
Use the sampling technique as described in Dr. Fabans "Loaming for Gold in the 21st Century"
Save all the Small Stones as they were little stuff that got away when running the BATTERY!!!
There is a Guy from South Africa who wrote in Popular Mining Magazine in the 80's-90's about cleaning up old mill/Battery sites and where the gold was found from his experience.
reasons:
If fine gold on surface!
Mercury used to recover the crushed rock and gold!
But Mainly is the amount of old machinery in area!
I would see if is open for claim before going any further!!!
If open then CLAIM IT!!!
Then do a grid survey to see what the extent of the Deposit is!
Grid on a 5m x 5m if fairly large area. If smaller then on a 1m x 1m grid.
Use the sampling technique as described in Dr. Fabans "Loaming for Gold in the 21st Century"
Save all the Small Stones as they were little stuff that got away when running the BATTERY!!!
There is a Guy from South Africa who wrote in Popular Mining Magazine in the 80's-90's about cleaning up old mill/Battery sites and where the gold was found from his experience.
