How many colors in a Pan ?

[easy goer]

3 weeks to go, heading back to Alaska. Prospecting question, no wrong answers. How many colors in a pan get your heart beating faster? Size is a consideration as well. Flyspeck. Mosquito poop, Arkansas River in Colorado. How many are necessary for you to haul in some equipment to work in earnest?

Thanks

Easygoer

[Joe S (AK)]

It happens in stages.
First, poke around until something gets your attention.
When that happens figure out just what you stumbled upon. Is it just a random fizzle or something more solid. Then, it completely falls on your shoulders as to "Is it enough, or not?" ""Enough"" in weight, size or richness of the ground or, even, depending on specifics, how hard it'll be to get your stuff into and out of the location. As it is with all of mining "... it just depends on ...".
The good news is that when that "Yahoo Moment" does happen you'll recognize it instantly.
Realize that we all learn about this stuff one stinkin' mistake at a time.

[Geowizard]

Easy,

We can only generalize, but a few things I always try to consider;

Gold is irregular in shape. In general, we can use spheres for the shape ...

One 40 mesh sphere of gold weighs 0.75 milligrams.

I look for five colors.

Five 0.75 milligram spheres weigh 3.75 milligrams.

Depending on the "pan"...

The pan contains the "sample". let's call the sample one shovel.

Depending on the shovel(s)...

I did a search...

"Determining the precise volume of a "heaping #2 shovel" is difficult because the term "heaping" is subjective and depends on how much material is piled on top. However, we can provide some estimates and consider different types of shovels and materials:

Average Hand Shovel: The volume of one hand shovel of sand (regardless of whether it's heaping or not) averages about 0.1 to 0.2 cubic feet.

Square Shovel (for cement/reclaim): One source suggests a square shovel used for mixing cement might hold about 4.5 shovelfuls per cubic foot, meaning each shovelful is roughly 0.22 cubic feet, according to Fine Homebuilding.

General "Standard" Shovel: Another estimate for a "standard" shovel, without specifying "heaping," suggests about 0.01 cubic meters (roughly 0.35 cubic feet), according to Reddit. "

let's consider using a standard shovel = 0.35 cubic feet.

One cubic yard = 3x3x3 cubic feet = 27 cubic feet.

One cubic yard = 27/0.35 = 77 standard shovels.

Commercial placer mining:

Let's say we mine 50 yards of material per hour.

77 standard shovels of 3.75 milligram per shovel GOLD = 288.75 milligrams per yard.

50 cubic yards x 288.75 milligrams = 14.438 grams of GOLD per hour.

In ounces, 14.438 grams = 14.438/31.1 = 0.46 ounces of GOLD per 50 cubic yards.

At $3,500 (USD) = $1,564 per hour at the rate of 50 yards per hour.

Recreational placer mining:

Most recreational ops run around one cubic yard per hour or in some cases, per DAY.

The return is $31.28 less the cost of fuel, repairs, etc.

That's why I used a 1 cubic yard shovel!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Correction: At $3,400 (USD) = $1,564 per hour at the rate of 50 yards per hour.

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Now, a month later...

GOLD is at $3690.

- Geowizard