Looking for gold - Page 2

ppine · 12-27-2011, 11:01 AM

Gold Rush Alaska is a collection of losers and misfits. They have no idea what they are doing and there would be no second season if it weren't for the income from the TV show.

The first rule of mining is to process your concentrate every night so you can see if today's run did any good. Each day's success or failure needs to be recorded by location. The goofball's left their concentrate until the end of the season to process it. Then they let their lease lapse and it was sold out from under them to Dakota Fred. They left concentrates on the site when they left. Then they secured a lease in the Klondike that was under deep snow. A bunch of real amateurs who like to talk about glory holes and a million dollars. They haven't paid for the groceries and fuel yet.

Learn to differentiate between placer deposits (water ladden) and ore bodies (compexes of hard-rock minerals). Placer deposits are the easiest to mine because they are near the surface and gold has eroded away from the host rock. Gold Rush Alaska is about large scale placer deposits that are worked by gravimetric means. Hard rock mining of ore bodies requires much more equipment, blasting and ore processing to separate the gold from the host rock.

Stay out of old mines unless you have trained to be in them. The openings are normally addits (horizontal) or shafts with a windlass (vertical). Mine timbers rot over time, there is water in some of the workings, there is mine gas which can knock you out, and it is obviously dark with lots of potential for falls. Plenty of reptiles too. We lose some people every year in NV because not all of the old mines are marked, there are so many of them.

sailorman · 12-28-2011, 07:17 PM

We lose people here too, only to old coal mines not gold. I have panned for gold before, but it was more of a fun thing to do with the kids. The only thing we ever found was fools gold, but it was still fun.

Zelda · 12-28-2011, 07:30 PM

That is an interesting idea; I could take the kids panning for fool's gold. What parts of the country can you find fools gold in? I bet the kids would love that.

oldsarge · 12-29-2011, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zelda

That is an interesting idea; I could take the kids panning for fool's gold. What parts of the country can you find fools gold in? I bet the kids would love that.

If you're going to prospect...why for fools gold? Just curious.

Pyrite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MountainMan22 · 12-29-2011, 01:38 PM

You sure know your stuff ppine! I guess I just liked the idea of being a treasure hunter and finding something really valuable. It seems more like a childhood dream than a reality. I wouldn't put myself in that danger knowing the risks.

ppine · 01-03-2012, 11:18 AM

There is nothing wrong with treasure hunting, recreational mining and the like. Just be aware that it is hard work, and sometimes there can be dangers. There are some important laws regarding mining on public lands that people need to be aware of also. Rock hounding for things like jasper, chert, flint, turquiose, garnet, etc is a lot of fun and can be practiced all over the country. Metal detectors are great for getting out and finding historical artifacts and lost valuables. Just be aware of the laws and respect private property.

Looking at old mines and ghost towns is a way of life in places like Nevada. It is fun to explore the old towns and camps. Goldfield, NV is my favorite example. It has about 100 residents now but in 1904 the president came by train for the big prize fight to a town of about 35,00 people.