Blogs

I hope with this blog addition we can all have a single place to discuss mining law and regulation.

It is, in my opinion, in all miners best interest to understand their rights and duties pertaining to mining. With education and understanding the ongoing incursion on our rights by our employees (government administrators) will easily be reversed.

I am working on some posts to describe the legal framework of mining law in the United States. Single issues such as the recent dredging fiasco on the Boise National Forest will be given their own separate thread so we can more easily find answers as these threads grow in size and number.

All are welcome to post, comment and contribute.

Clay

Wow, what a great time this past weekend up in Bath! So many prospectors new and experienced came by to do some diggin! Check back soon for a photo gallery of the event. Thanks to Scott, Paul and Sandy at Twin River Campground for letting us take over the river for a few days!

If you are Dredging iN BOISE NF you must have a letter on Intent (LOI) or a Notice of intent NOI, or a Plan of Operations POO. I have the Forest service letter that states "Suction Dredgers must have a EPA NPDES permit, or no entrance to forest" Your state dredge permit is worthless at this point!...

Drove 19 hrs, $687 for fuel,1300 new dry suit.....and now NOWHERE TO DREDGE!!

 The Last week I flew too Arkansaw and loaded my Wifes Mother's house hold in to a rental truck. Heading west down I 40  2300 miles too Redding California 39 and 1/2 hours of viewing scenery I have been by before !   It all looked so different after 2 years of Prospecting !!!   It was an Eye opener what started as a hobby can change your life and the way you see it.     So many places I would have loved to spend some time as I drove .  Arizona near Needles  Just proved me to be totally Nutz looking at the geology and wanting to spend time in such a barren stretch of desert.

                                                                                     Good Gold to all of you !

HOLY !?%@# Just pulled this from a pan from the Wild AM!

I am beside myself!!!!

Most of my friends at work know I go out on trips to gold prospect in a recreational kind of way. This usually got me condescending looks, being female, like maybe I was dragged along with the spouse or perhaps I was just eccentric. They would have been more understanding if I told them " I collect ....antique teacups, doilies, etc" something like that.  Actually its cast iron cookware, antique bottles, and heritage plants.

WELL NOW....the shoe is on the other foot. All of the sudden my Plan B for retirement does not look so crazy nor do I appear quite as eccentric as before. My friends are all aware the price of gold has shot thru the roof and now its maybe she is on to something here. Now I have people ask on a weekly basis if I am going out to the creeks and dredge and possibly would I consider taking them along and showing them the ropes.  Could I possibly come to their house and bring a pan to check out the little creek in the back yard? Can I bring my metal detector out to see if there are any relics or old encampments on their place ?

I am quite used to , by now, the bizarre look on peoples faces when they saw a woman run a dredge or pan. I have had bystanders go so far as to nudge each other or run back and fetch someone in their group who would miss this odd spectacle. I smiled and ignored them and continued on my happy way. Being something of an oddity, I was happy to find other women who prospected and have made wonderful friends. I have found gold, lead, mercury, silver, old coins, I have a half ounce vial of garnets....and a few leeches. The leeches are long gone but the memory will live forever.

This summer I have the wonderful blessing of an opportunity to travel to Alaska for a couple of months and go prospect with the big boys. I am originally from Washington State near Mt. Rainier and St. Helens so the animals and the atmosphere don't scare me.  The chance to find more than the smidgens I end up with here in Virginia will be a great thing too. The leave of absence from work will be a fantastic change and not having phone or internet service will be nice too. A sabbattical in God's country. p.s. I hear there are quite a few ladies who seriously prospect in that state and am definitely interested in carving my name on the tree too. Not so wierd now , eh?

A few trips up to the river in 2011...here is what I got so far:

Has anyone had much luck at Tunnel Brook in NH? I have dug up there a few times but only got a few small specs. They say try just after the bridge, but it's mostly exposed bedrock...great for sniping I guess!

Here is the spot where the 2 brooks intersect...not sure what the small one is called, if it has a name.

Here is a map showing where the 2 meet. The yellow line is the brook that intersects Tunnel Brook. It originates up on Moosilauke I think.

It's a beautiful spot. It might be in the WMNF so only panning is allowed.

Here is some info from Steve (a.k.a. Rail Ghost)"

"It is not really clear what is allowed beyond panning in the WMNF.  I have been meaning to contact the Rangers office on this subject.  Also there may still be some private lands within the WMNF.  Do your research.  You may have to take a trip to the town hall for the town you wish to prospect in.

April 8,2011

With gold prices in the area of $1450.00 it becomes important that we recover as much gold from our concentrates as possible in the shortest amount of time with the least mount of work. As 

most of you know by now I developed the CATCH-IT II water table about two years ago. It is by far the fastest, most efficient and the easiest piece of equipment to set-up and use as the final step in recov

ering fine gold. I have owned and used those spiral wheels and gravity bowls. They require constant adjustment of the water flow and sometimes they are difficult to set-up. I no longer use these pieces of equipment. The success of this machine is known only to those who have tried or purchased my machine. The set-up of this machine takes only 5 minutes form the time it is delivered to you. You car run many buckets of concentrates with out making any other adjustments. It will recover all your gold down to -100 mesh. All you do is to spread an amount of dry concentrates ( dry works much better) on the table, the blond and black sands wash away, the gold is left sticking to the table. Just brush into a pile and suck it up. Please view my videos on this site, go to the SHOP page.  If you are interested in testing one and live near Tim, he has a table that I sent to him for trials, contact Tim .  I currently ship units all over the US and Canada and most recently have shipped units to Russia.  Gold prospecting is now allowed for the small miner in Russia.

If you live in the Las Vegas area, I will be at the Gold Show in the South Point Hotel & Casino on April 16^th and 17^th.  Also the GPAA is having their Chapter Summit there on the 15^th.

Gramps

You might be a  Pospector if your neighbors complain about the holes dug in their yards

 If You pan what you sweep out of the back of your truck.

If You pan what you sweep out of your driveway.

If You dump your Vaccum bags and pan that.

If You own more than 3 five gallon buckets.

If You have a favorit shovel.

           Ok now add Your own !