Blogs

Rob/Grant/Others:

Please see my original posting for more information as to type of equipment, etc.  Thanks.

Alan

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Dr. Charles L. Garrett died on April 3, 2015. An inventor, entrepreneur, treasure hunter, patriot, author, husband, and father, Dr. Garrett and his wife Eleanor founded Garrett Metal Detectors in 1964. Through the couple’s vision and direction during the next 50 years, their original garage business grew to become the world’s largest manufacturer of metal detection equipment.

A U.S. Navy veteran and graduate of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, Dr. Garrett left an indelible mark on the metal detection industry. His early inventions pioneered the modern metal detector and his security detectors were the first to protect the Olympic Games in 1984. The ease of use of his hobby products helped invite many thousands of newcomers to try out the sport of treasure hunting. 

We are grateful for the contributions Dr. Garrett made to our industry, and for the fine example he always put forth for others. The Garrett name will always be synonymous with high-quality metal detectors, including those used in security applications, law enforcement, military, sports, and outdoor recreational use. Although he will be dearly missed by many, his legacy will endure. 

Thank you for the input Mr. Bohling. I hope I didn't imply the case was coming to a resolution, that was not my intent. This issue concerns a great many people in a number of states and I haven't seen much written about it on the site. I am new to this site so perhaps I missed the primary discussions as to the dredging issue. 

I believe you called it "spot on" that this issue will end up in the US  Supreme Court. However, it has to be heard, or refused to be heard, by the California Supreme Court as mentioned in the article I linked. If heard in CA and the plaintiffs loose, then the case can be petitioned to go in front of US Supreme court. It's a crazy wish, but I hope the CA Supreme Court will show they have some brains and slam dunk the Dept. of Fisk and Game.

2-2015.

You can find some interesting facts concerning the current dredging court action going on in California at the following link;

http://www.goldgold.com/tag/california-dredging-moratorium

It's a short description on the status as of Feb 2015 however, there are several links to take you to more involved reading.  Enjoy

Had an awesome weekend with my wife on the anniversary of our 43rd year together. We toured the Consolidated Gold Mine in Dahlonega, ran a trommel at Crisson where I got to operate the Stamp Mill again AND I got to pan the material I had just crushed and got gold! Then dinner with three of our boys! I'm wore out but had a great time. :-)

I'm in

https://youtu.be/X2BvMdUEhrw

I ran 5 gallons of Crisson Gold Mine paydirt through my Gold Hog Stacking Highbanker at 36 GPIH. Then I cleaned out the Top mat only, replaced it with the First version of the Washer Mat (I have not yet made a Washer Mat for my GH Stacking Highbanker) and ran the concentrates. I ran the cons at 17 GPIH.
As I have stated before I do not spoon feed my mats, I jam it in there. I ran 5 gallons of paydirt in 8 minutes or less. This yielded about a teaspoon of clean gold from the mat. Took about 2 minutes to pan that out. Man, I love this Washer mat!
I will next glue up a section of UR and one piece of the New Washer Mat. That way I should have nothing but clean gold in the Washer Mat. I'll then re-run the tailings until they come out completely clean. I'll then pan the tailings of course, but I know I won't find much.
80+ degrees yesterday...I love playing on my patio after a day at work. :-)

to all new members that are joining there is a free chat room you might want to ck it out  any and all questions ask will be answered   or you can just yak with the other members

https://www.facebook.com/bundyranch/posts/798155656927911?fref=nf

Had to make a video for our commercial ops. Some nice gold in it so figured I would share. 

I have always been interested in gold, but an incident as a young man chilled my interest. I had just pointed to a floating speck in my pie pan and said "I think that's a piece of gold!" My dad, whom I loved dearly, quickly pointed out to me that "gold doesn't float!" And so, feeling pretty stupid, I gave it up. Now, course, I know better. I know that gold does float.

Anyway, fast forward fifty years and along came the Gold Fever TV show. It took a year of watching Tom Massey before I joined the GPAA and started actively seeking opportunities to go panning.

I discovered that Dahlonega Georgia was only three hours away and had a golden history. I soon made a trip to the Gold Museum there and ended up at the Crisson Gold Mine. There I was given an introductory lesson in panning by a young man and got my first color. I was hooked! I quickly moved to running trommel loads at Crisson, and then hauling 800 pounds of material from Crisson to my home in Grovetown, GA to pan out on my backyard patio.
I now own several different gold pans and I have come to enjoy panning, spending many pleasant afternoons on my patio panning for gold.

I have found that purchased gold concentrates afford me the opportunity to refine my techniques, test and develop my equipment, and learn the characteristics of gold in different types of dirt. From the flat stamp-milled lode gold of Crisson, to the fine placer gold of Georgia, California, and Alaska. I have learned the challenges of working with a lot of black sand/magnetite, and the red clay of Georgia, from nuggets to -200 mesh gold.

Gold concentrates, to me, are an important means of developing my panning skills, learning the characteristics of gold itself, and testing and improving my equipment to be more efficient.
mdv
Captain, MDVGA Gold Team

President, iPan4Gold.com

Had to run some pitch and flow tests for our new commercial op matting the Yukon Mat.  

Got back to the shop and ran the cons through our new Washer Mat clean up / stripping sluice.  Man... love this stuff.  2.5 gallons of cons stripped down to 3 tablespoons in 15 minutes. 

Some pretty color for sure. 

Thank you to all who welcomed me.  Much appreciated by this newbie.

Full disclosure...I own iPan4Gold and I sell paydirt.

I have gold fever. I admit it. I love finding gold. I love working a pan of material and having that Eureka! moment when the gold suddenly reveals itself...I love it. I marvel at how I can take seemingly just raw dirt and sand and work it down to find gold. It simply amazes me every time.

The way I got started in gold panning was buying paydirt and learning the characteristics of gold.

I have purchased paydirt from probably 15 or so different providers and now have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

I have also become proficient is panning, and mostly from panning purchased paydirt.

I have no illusions of heading off to the gold fields of California or Colorado and spending my days prospecting, or dredging, or running a highbanker for weeks at a a time. I am pretty much resigned to Saturday excursions and weekend panning on my patio...and I am very content with that.

I am grateful to live close enough to Dahlonega GA and the Crisson Gold Mine. That is where I learned to pan, run a trommel, a highbanker, and a Gold Cube. I likewise appreciate being able to purchase 800 pounds of paydirt at a time to feed my patio panning hobby. And I still purchase paydirt from a few key suppliers.

In my opinion, there is no substitute for learning to pan with real gold, the real thing. Panning lead shot is...well, panning lead shot. It can only take you so far in developing your panning skills. Why? because gold comes in every shape and size and every piece has its own characteristics and presents its own challenge from a panning perspective.

Anyone can find nuggets in just about any sluice or pan configuration, but the fine gold, 50 mesh and smaller is a bigger challenge. They say that 97% of the gold in the world is not nuggets and pickers, but fine gold. Everyone wants to find nuggets or at least pickers. So do I, but I love finding grams of fine gold, and the panning process for capturing fine gold is different and more complicated than finding nuggets and pickers.

So why buy paydirt? It's simple, really. How many of us have ready access to gold bearing ground? How many of us have all the right equipment. Answer, not that many of us. But that's the neat thing about it, you don't have to have all those things to get started. You can start with just a gold pan for maybe $10...But you still need some paydirt.

In most cases, purchasing paydirt is a very economical way to gain experience and feed the need to see some color in your pan. Compared to all the time and effort it takes to assemble all the equipment, travel, food, gas, lodging, etc. and having access to a place that actually has gold, purchased paydirt in an attractive alternative. It should be part of every small scale gold miner's experience. The guys who have all the equipment and access to the best gold fields in the country may sneer at buying paydirt. As for me, I find it thoroughly enjoyable, especially every Sunday afternoon on the patio of my own home.

As far as how to do it, salting your own dirt may be the cheapest method, but it is, to me, anti-climactic. It's just not the same as having your own Eureka moment. A key part of gold fever is the thrill of discovery. Knowing what to expect ahead of time diminishes the thrill...the exhilaration of discovering gold yourself, without any expectations, is priceless.

Think about it...if you saw your friend put a bunch of gold in a pan of dirt including a 1/4 oz nugget and a 1/2 oz nugget and handed it to you to pan, you would not be satisfied to just find the 1/4 oz nugget...you'd be especially upset if you didn't find the 1/2 oz nugget too.

Whereas if your friend just handed you a pan of material without knowing what was in it, and asked you to pan it for him, you'd have a Eureka moment when the 1/4 oz nugget showed up, not to mention the 1/2 oz nugget!

There are hundreds of paydirt sellers out there but you have to be careful. Otherwise you will pay for dirt and that will be all you get....dirt! 

I recommend the following paydirt providers: Dirt Hogg, Goldstrike Adventures, Carolina Prospectors, Crisson Gold Mine, and of course my own, iPan4Gold.com. All of these will provide you with a good value for your money and an enjoyable panning experience.  

Read the posts on this website and you'll find plenty of reviews and/or comments about various paydirt providers.

Support the sponsors on this site as they in turn support the site through paid advertising.

Just my opinions. Good luck and I hope you experience the rush of gold fever for yourself. :-)

mdv

This news was translated from a local Newspaper - Publication date 8/12/2010:

"A guy from Eastern Sudan region has found gold nuggets weighted about 60 Kilograms . He brought these nuggets (in it's natural form) to gold refiners in the capital Khartoum and sold them for a  4.800.000 SDG (Sudanese Genes) equals to $1.600.000 USD by that time exchange rates. Bakhiet Mohammed (one of the Rashaeda tribesmen) arrived at the Gold Market in the capital Monday's evening carrying these rock-like gold nuggets in a plastic bag in the back of his truck.
The assayers tested it and found it contains high grade gold (nearly 24 karat). He sold the gold immediately and went off the market happily with his fortune. The biggest nugget found in the gold fields by Artisanal Miners weighed around (21 Kilos)."
 
This news is 5 years old.

Unfortunately NO single pic of these nuggets existed as the local refiners crushed/smashed/melted the aforementioned nuggets and made the gold into Bars apparently I may suspect it is exported to Dubai which is one of the largest gold markets in the world.
 
Of course at that time they didn't know that these nuggets in their natural forms could be worth more money than the gold weight contained in them. An estimation by someone who frequently visits Dubai and know about gold trading accounts  that the actual value of the gold Bakheit's has sold is around $2.374.000  of the gold prices at that time  (12-09-2010 )

Just wanted to let all know that a newbie from Texas just won a 1 lb of paydirt........Whoop!

I will be retiring and moving to Greenville, S.C. in September 2015. I will be new to prospecting. Interested to get to know anyone there who has prospected and knows possible palces there to prospect.

Thanks, Patrick Cramblet

Don't know if this has been posted here or not.https://www.change.org/p/doug-lamborn-congressional-oversight-needed-regarding-the-blm?after_sign_exp=member_sponsored_donation