CompuServe Messages

John – welcome to the forum. I am a newcomer myself. The "recreational gold miner" part of your message caught my eye. I am a geologist (now into mining info publishing) and have been sluicing gold in the Fairplay, CO, area and on the Arkansas for a couple of years. Don't have much to show for it though, we don't have the large gold-bearing streams that you do in CA, at least I haven't found them There are quite a few "fee" panning, sluicing, etc. areas, particularly along the Arkansas and the Gold Prospectors of Colorado have club claims above Fairplay. I am prospecting for my own private area but no luck so far. I use a small Gold King sluice, and although I am a good panner, I sometimes think I let much gold get away because of my handling of the sluice. I tend to push a lot of rock through it with fairly fast water (enough to push a golf-ball sized rock through it. Are there any handbooks on proper sluice operation? They didn't teach that in Mining 101 at Michigan Tech. I'm considering a 1-1/2" dredge but need some good shows before I invest in that (I have enough expensive hobbies). My mineral collection is about half and half cabs and micros — I lean toward micros these days and buy a couple of good cabs at the Denver show every year. I have been trying to find all the good micro mineral locations in the South Park area of CO (generally Fairplay and to the south and east) and plan an article if I ever get it done. Regards, Frank Ludeman