#Trading/Gold Mining
2 messages in this thread
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
Frank!
Glad to hear there are other "yellow fever" souls out there besides myself. I
have been out several times this summer in the back hills of Trinity Co and
have had some good success with my trusty mask, screw driver, and turkey
baster. Sniping is the only way to find good chunky gold without a dredge. As
far as references go I have never come across any for sluicing. I would be
happy to convey my techniques for sniping however. Look for bedrock control
stream reaches. I tend to do quite well where an old alder or maple has given
way to age and fallen into the stream. The tree roots have a tendency to open
up cracks, fissures, crevices, etc and readily allow for Au accumulation.
Please don't attack live trees!!! There are generally plenty of dead ones that
will pay off. Also look behind large rocks resting on top or near bedrock. A
general consistant correlation exists between the amount of rocks one moves and
the amount of gold retrieved. Analgesic balm for the back is a must!
Good luck and if you're ever in Nor Cal let me know and I'll point you in a
yellow direction….John V