Prospecting Dilemma

[Lanny]

I've really enjoyed reading the comments on this thread, and the pictures of dredging sure make me miss it all that much more. Nothing quite like dredging . . .

All the best,

Lanny

[Slatco]

Yep, I agree Lanny. I got into the game after dredging had been exiled to the outer reaches lol. Would love to someday suck it all up underwater.

[Jim_Alaska]

Way back in this thread someone mentioned places often overlooked by new guys. This tip is about one such place. In another thread I told on myself regarding my first experiences with dredging with my brand new two and one half inch dredge.

One of the places I tried after first learning that you didn't dredge in the easy places such as sand, was out near Fox, On the Elliot Highway. When you start out on the Elliot Highway in Fox and before you get to the Chatanika River there is place out in the flat wetland that has had old time drift mines. There are even some old left over cabins out there.

I found this place and upon seeing the old frozen in holes began to think that just perhaps I might be able to find some leftover gold near these holes. Soooo, I brought out my trusty new dredge only to find out very quickly that setting up a dredge in the little puddles near these holes and trying to dredge in the resulting muddy water was not practical.

So I took another track and set up my dredge with the intake and suction nozzle in the water and the dredge sluice on the bare ground. The idea was to use the water from the puddle and just shovel into the sluice box. It worked and I found that there was some small amount of gold that the old timers had left while actually digging these shafts.

Now no one was going to get rich doing this, especially me, but it was an interesting learning experience. It taught me to try new things, allowed me to learn how to sample and even better how to improve my clean-up methods, which were sadly lacking at that time.

So, I guess I said this to show new guys that it is sometimes beneficial to try new things. And if you are not comfortable with remote prospecting and the skills required, it may be of benefit to go where gold has been found before and perfect your skills.

[Lanny]

Jim, being inventive is part of the game for sure, and what a great idea!

All the best,

Lanny

[Jim_Alaska]

Thanks Lanny. This sort of innovation is great for those who are new to the game. It gives them a chance to learn in real time and be in a position to have to solve problems on their own. All the while being able to see real results from their efforts. They won't get rich taking these small steps, but it could lead to a successful mining career in the future. Like anything else in life, once you learn it if will serve you the rest of your life.

That idea I posted about actually went a step further. It worked so well once I learned it that I modified the crash box header on the dredge sluice so that I could insert a sort of funnel to be able to shovel right into the crash box. Otherwise you are trying to throw material up into the crash box against water coming down. I also made a plate to cover that hole in the crash box in case I wanted to use it as a dredge.

I still have that original dredge with the original engine, it has served me well.

[Geowizard]

I was a little boy;

In the 1950's, my earliest recollection was my prospector father. There was one story about going out to do come blasting. He was going down a weaving section of Highway in his brand new '53 Chevy pickup with a case of dynamite sitting in the front seat next to him and blasting caps in the glove box.

A deer jumped out in the road.

He swerved and ended up in a roll-over, up-side-down on the Highway with fuel running everywhere. The '53 Chevy had the fuel tank behind the seat...

As he was crawling out the passenger side window, a trooper appeared and said, "Sir, please hand me that case of dynamite!"

- Geowizard

[Jim_Alaska]

WOW Just WOW!!!

[ProspectingAK]

Glad you guys survived the 53 Chevy crash! Nice of the officer to ask for the dynamite. One thing that was mentioned was cleanup. I have found flakes and I did my best to clean em up. I have no real experience doing any cleanups and was curious where a good place to start would be? Magnets, blue bowls, spiral wheels ...................
need some advice on where to spend my money and get setup well the first time...!!

[Geowizard]

ProspectingAK,

Good question...

I would defer that question to the Cleanup thread.

- Geowizard

[Lanny]

Should have mentioned this earlier, but thanks for the story and the pictures Leonard, really enjoyed the post.

All the best,

Lanny