Well my son and I just finished packing the trailer for our family prospecting/rock hounding/waterfall seeking trip, 4 days at BearfootGold in central North Carolina for the "2009 Gold Fest" this the 2nd annual Gold Fest, there will be 15 prospectors and their guests, along with the "staff", and a few just stopping by for first time meetings with people up until now they have only "met" on some of the gold forums, I know that there will be a minimum of about 40+ attending + the few that will be stopping by to meet people, it going to be a GREAT TIME and we will find GOLD as well, last year was a BLAST!!!After the Gold Fest, my family and I will be touring North Carolina for another 4 days, prospecting and rock hounding and swimming at the base of some gorgeous waterfalls in western North Carolina!!We will be leaving about 4 or 5 am Friday morning, and then the 4-5 hour drive to BFG.I will post pictures and all the story and ALL THE GOLD when we return!!!I wish you all could be there so we could all meet each other, but we will be thinking about ya'll throughout the trip!!!!Skip
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THIS SITE HAS A GREAT CHAT ROOM ITS A GREAT PLACE TO MEET AND TALK TO FELLOW PROSPECTORS MOST EVERYONE IS VERY FRIENDLY HOPE TO SEE MORE OF YOU PEOPLE TAKE ADAVANTAGE OF IT AND GET TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER SHARE INFO AND DISCUSS ANY AND EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THERE IS A WELTH OF KNOLAGE HERE SO JUSST ASK ANYONE THAT HAPPENS TO BE IN THE ROOM THANK YOU
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I was inspected by a BLM Ranger last week..No fine but I had to make changes to my 5"..From what he told me, on BLM land in Ca you have to have no more than a 4" nozzle or you have to file a plan of operation!!!! More rulls we do not know??? He had his Off. send the regs and it is there!!!They say small scale is 4" or less
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I know this isn't really mining related. But i thought it would be nice to here from some other like minded brewers. Technique and receipes whould be nice since i just made my first batch a few weeks ago. I know receipes might be topseceret so any imput would be nice on what ever advise anyone could give me. I made a no boil batch of Newcastle Brown . And will do a taste test tomarrow. Midwest Prospector got me started on this endever so i'm in good hands but he might have left something out.Lol
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I cant believe this bill even passed the senate, what is going on , they are taking away my livlihood when this happens, I was a fisherman/part time prospector, well, cant fish for Salmon no more so I'm a full time miner, hmmmm... no mining... what will I do, maybe become a professional Indian, they seem to be able to have enough political power to take away my livlihood, oh wait I am part Indian, just not enough to get a check every month, darn, maybe I will make a sculpture out of my $4000 dredge and sell it on Ebay, man this is depressing, I thought this was America, sorry bout the rant everyone, just at aloss here, if I could afford it I would move as far from California as possible.
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I live in eastern Idaho near the Snake River. There are lots of places to find gold, how ever it is very fine flour gold. My question is the spiroll seperator a good option to recover the fine gold?
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Well the time has come , my dream come true going back to Ph. AZ. this week [ I hope this week] . Look forward getting out and do some prospecting and meating other fokes. Thank God & bout time
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The politicians are trying to change the 1872 Mining Law, Please sign this petition to help stop what they're trying to do!!We as prospectors and miners are small in numbers so every signature counts!!http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/miningpolitics/?eSorry you will have to "copy and paste" the link, I can't get a live link to post.Skip
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hello every one,i had a ?.my parents live up in a place called lake pillsbury which is in lake county ive looked for gold many times up there with no luck,has any one ever heard of any gold in that area?
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Going to the claim for a couple of days. Going to do some sampleing on the creek to find a hopeful hot spot for next week when dredging season opens for my area. Hopefully I'll do well . I'll upload pics upon my return. Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day. A big shout out to all veterans and serviceman for their service and sacrafice. If it was'nt for you, I would'nt be free to enjoy my many hobbies and lifestyle.
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I just added a few pictures of our trip out to the clam two weeks ago. We are going to the claim for a week the end of the month. Will be at the claim, camping well in our 35ft motor home if you call that camping. My oldest son and his family will be there for about three days before leaving for Los Angeles to sing back up for the drummer of Gun's and Roses.I will have many more pictures when we return on June 7th.
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I hope that you all enjoy this little short story.The old man in the cornerMy partner and I had been planning for over a year to take a four-month long prospecting trip through Arizona, Nevada, parts of Oregon and Northern California. We planned to hit Northern California at the start of dredging season. As we double-checked our list of equipment we would need we loaded it into the truck in the order we felt we would be using it.The first three weeks had gone very well in Arizona. We found several small nugget patches and finished cleaning them up with our drywashers. Along the way, we met up with old friends and made some new ones. The last night there, we decided to move on into Nevada. We broke camp early on a Saturday morning figuring we would head toward Searchlight, Nevada. The weather was perfect and we made a few side stops down old dirt roads that headed toward hills or mountains. These little side trips cost us three extra days of travel time yet was well worth it. Between the two of us, we found 28 nuggets ranging in size from .2 grams to 4.4 grams. We reached Searchlight and met up with friends who owned two patented mining claims. They had asked us if we could give them a hand on figuring out what to do with their one claim. We agreed to give them a hand and in the process, they introduced us to some of the old-timers in the area.Now in its heyday Searchlight was quite a rip-roaring mining camp, but like all mining camps, it began to grow and settle down to a small community. After several years the mines started to shut down and the miners moved on to new strikes but the town survived and is still a small community with hopes and dreams of one day the mines will open back up. We went to dinner with our friends to an old Steak House off the main street and were introduced to four very old miners who had worked in the mines until they closed down. After that, they decided to stay in town. As most of the locals drifted away, one old gent by the name Marty sat down with use and started talking about old mining and new mining. We talked for about two hours and was getting ready to go when Marty told us about a very old prospector by the name of Dusty. He told us that Dusty hung out at a place called The Miners Den, which was down the street about 3 blocks. It was a sports bar but had a back room that was just for old-timers. We thanked Marty and decided to pay a visit to The Miners Den the next day.The next day we went to The Miners Den for lunch. We hoped to make contact with Dusty while we were there. The sports bar was busy and very loud. It was Sunday, all three LCD’s had football games on, and it was hard to find a place to sit. The man behind the bar looked like he had been baked in the desert for far too many years but we asked him about Dusty. He just laughed and said that Dusty was in the back room but warned us not expect too much from him. The bartender told us that Dusty lived off the side of back room and would come into the saloon and spent his days sipping beer and staring out the window at the mountains. He also told us that Dusty was somewhere around 105-110 years old and his mind tended to drift off course sometimes. We thanked him, bought a pitcher of beer, got three glasses, and went into the back room to visit with Dusty.The doors to the back room were large swinging doors that were showing their age. An attempt had been made to refinish them with some luck. Walking into the backroom was like going through a time warp back to the 19th century. It still had its original bar, had all its bottles line up and very old glasses hanging on the wall. The brass foot rail and the spittoons were tarnished in spots but were well kept up. As our eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room, we noticed sitting in the far back corner by the window was this old man in a wheelchair. We walked up to him, introduced ourselves, asked if we could sit down and have a beer with him and talk about prospecting. He looked up at us and with a twinkle in his eye and said hell yes boys have a seat. We had no idea what we were in for but was ready for whatever came our way. He told us his name was Dusty; the people around town gave it to him many years ago because of the fact that all the gold he ever found was small flakes and dust. As Dusty told us stories about his days of hard rock mining and placering, we ordered up lunch and another pitcher of beer.Dusty started telling us a story about a vein he found one time just north of town. He said the gold was visible to the eye and there was plenty of it. Well he staked a claim on it but than proceeded to lose it in a poker game; said that was the last time he ever played cards. He told us how the locals, who have inherited their mines from their parents or grandparents, were constantly fighting with each other over apex rights and access rights to the mines. Dusty then pointed out the window toward the mountains and began telling us of placer areas in them. Dusty looked up at us and said, boys, head toward those mountains over there. There is still a lot of gold in the washes that the people around here could care less about going after.Well after about four hours of stories, and who knows how many pitchers of beer, we had a note pad full of notes. As we stood up to bid our farewell, Dusty says to us, you know there are not too many old-timers left to share their ideas and stories. Mining and prospecting has become big business now and there is not much left for the little person anymore. They do not want to go out and dig for it when all they have to do is go to the city and buy it. Prospecting for gold is too hard of a job to waste a weekend on and get very little to show for it. People do not understand that prospecting is a way of life. It is a dream that is buried deep in your soul, its being one with nature, the mountains, and the valleys. People think I am plain crazy, even my own son doesn’t understand. The truth is I have lived my dreams and found my fair share of the earth's bounty. The people out there in the other room are only daydreaming, they always seem to be in search of something yet not sure what. Oh how I wish I could chase after my dream still, but I’m just to old, got a bad heart, knees and my back does not want to go straight. To climb once again to the top of a hill just to see what was on the other side. It frees your mind and spirit from all the trash that the world tries to lay upon you. Remember boys that the beauty of prospecting comes from spending time in the mountains and valleys. That is when it will grab your heart and soul and will not let go until the day you die.As he released his grip on my arm, his eyes looked out toward the mountains and he was once again reliving his dream. You could see the reflection of yester-year in the shine of his old eyes. We left him with another pitcher of beer, paid the bill, and thanked the owner. The owner looked at us and said, “Not a problem gentlemen for you see that old-timer in the corner is my father and he enjoys the company.Copyrighted 2008 (revised) Written by:The 29 Prospector (aka) Robert Dunkin
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Well I thought our trip to AGC was gonna end before it began!!We went to open up our pop up after all the torrential rain and to our horror the inside was SOAKED. The rain had leaked in around the AC unit on the roof.We got in and salvaged what we could and trashed the rest.This was on Sunday the 17th and we found one camper dealer open. We found a camper within our price range and bought it so now we will be at AGC in style!!I hope some of you will be there too so we can show it off!!
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hello, to all.Last week bill and I with are new snake guards went out by the NAS near here and did some testing.Lots of black sand,but,no color..Tomorrow at 5 am,Bill is supposed to pick me around 5 ish to head out to the Kern and one more round of testing on a spot we have been looking at for a year plus.If things go well,we will attempt to file a claim.If things go south,we probally will anyway,since we have always gotten some color there.It will be a very hot day I forsee carrying buckets a 1/8 of a mile in the heat--lol---But,thats the way it goes I suppose.
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Well another day has come and we are goi dredgeing for a few hours tomorrow morning. and then when i get back i will be doing some lab runs on Lucky Joes highbanker. i will be running five 5 gallon buckets of material through it on the third bucket i will put in 5 grams of pickers and 3 grams of gold dust "flour". we will have the recovery percentage tomorrow night. this will fun for me to test.i just wanted to say thanks again to advanced mining, for letting run their great machine.thanks,jeff
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05/16/2009UPDATE -- VOTE DELAYED. Vote on Suction Dredge Ban at noon on Monday, May 1805-19-09: UPDATE -- VOTE DELAYEDWe learned from lobbyist Pete Conaty that the vote was delayed due to the absence of several Democratic Senators. Mr. Conaty said he spoke with several California Senators who confirmed they had received comments from concerned miners and prospectors, but more are needed. The vote will likely be rescheduled for Thursday, May 21, 2009.Please take a moment to contact members of the legislature and register your opinion!See contact information below.05-16-09Miners and prospectors need to get involved to prevent environmental activists from stopping suction gold dredging.Senate Bill (SB) 670 is due to come up for a vote on Monday, May 18, in the California Senate. We have up until noon to register our opinions on this bill. Even if you are not a California resident, you can still help (see below).SB 670 would outlaw suction gold dredging in California until the Department of Fish & Game completes a new environmental impact report (EIR) on suction dredge mining.The EIR is already underway, yet environmental groups are not satisfied and want to shut down suction gold dredging regardless of the fact that numerous previous studies have shown the impact of suction gold dredging on the environment is de minimus (insignificant).Public Lands for the People, the New 49'ers, along with their lobbying firm, have targeted several Senators who may be able to swing the vote in our favor. Please send them a message in addition to the Senator from your own district.You must include your name and address to have your comments considered!Senator Dean Florez916-327-5989 faxSenator Lou Correa916-323-2323 faxSenator Rod Wright916-445-3712 faxSenator Abel Maldonado916-445-8081 faxSenator Tom Harman916-445-9263 faxSenator John Benoit916-327-2187 faxTo locate the Senator for your district, use this link. Type in your zip code, then click on the name of the Senator to be directed to their website. From there you use the "Contact Us" link to register your opinion. See the talking points listed at the bottom of this page if you need further assistance.Please remember to also register your opinion with the Senator of the district where you conduct your suction gold dredging activities if it is different than your home district!For non-California residentsFind the contact information for the Senator where you conduct suction gold dredging in California via this link—if you don't know the zip code, then check the cities listed under Senators' Addresses. Include in your comments the fact that you spend your time and money in their district!Suggested Talking Points:Dear Senator,Please vote no on SB 670 (Wiggins)• SB 670, would prohibit the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment in any river, stream, or lake in California until the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has completed an environmental review (EIR) of its suction dredge regulations.• The EIR, ordered by the courts and subsequently funded by the state is now underway and scheduled for completion soon.• Suction Dredge Mining has not caused the decline of the salmon population along the California Coast. None of the reports on the decline of the Salmon population issued blame suction dredge mining.• The 1997 EIR found that suction dredging had positive impacts, creating additional salmon spawning habitat by loosening concretized river gravels. Salmon runs are on the upswing in the Klamath River.• There is no scientific evidence to support shutting down a legal and legitimate enterprise before the EIR is completed, particularly when prior studies fail to demonstrate any link between local salmon populations and suction dredge mining.• Suction dredge mining is already limited in California to a short season that keeps the miners out of the rivers when they might harm salmon redds (where the eggs are deposited). There is no suction dredging allowed when salmon are spawning. There is no suction dredging allowed on the Sacramento River.• A moratorium on suction dredge gold mining in California will violate the private property rights of Californians who have federal mining claims along the rivers, and result in very significant “takings” liability against the State.• The average small scale dredger spends an estimated $3,000 or more per month when mining. Much of this money is spent in local, rural economies like Siskiyou where mining is popular. Tax revenues generated from expenditures such as fuel, groceries, camping, and mining supplies, means that rural counties and the State of California benefit as well.
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Just wanted to say, WHOO HOOOOOO!!. I have never won a thing and this is perfect. I will certainly put these pans to good use, Thank you Sooo very much!!
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Miner's News05/16/2009Federal government considers taking control of waterways away from states(This comes to us courtesy of the National Water & Conservation Alliance—Editor)Senate Environment & Public Works CommitteeExpected to Act Soon on Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787)Mark-Up Scheduled for Wednesday, May 20th!(A mark-up is a long comprehensive meeting designed to approve the bill. The committee will dissect the bill line by line. They can amend the bill, make changes and then vote on the bill.)Washington DC insiders are telling us that the Environment & Public Works Committee is marking up this bill Wednesday, May 20!This bill will profoundly impact every citizen & community in the country--your immediate attention and action is needed! Please do the following:1. Bombard the EPW office with phone calls and tell them to postpone action on the bill (202) 224-8832.2. Contact both of your Senators and ask that they request a hearing on the bill before any action is taken. You can call any Senator at 202-224-3121.3. Contact your legislator and local elected officials and ask them to make a similar request. Ask that the elected body that they serve on pass a resolution immediately.4. Get organizations in your area to pass a resolution and to support the attached petition in support grassroots alternatives to federal legislation.5. Help support our efforts to defeat the bill.6. Forward this message to people in your network.______________________Washington, D.C. __ Regarded as perhaps the biggest federal power grab in the nation's history, the much anticipated Oberstar-Feingold Clean Water Restoration Act, bogged down last year in controversy and election year politics, could see action soon in a key Senate Committee. S. 787, introduced by Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, with 23 co-sponsors, could see committee action as early as May 20th. One of the co-sponsors is Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, the committee with sole jurisdiction of the bill in the Senate.The chief author in the House is Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar. Oberstar chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has sole jurisdiction of the legislation in the House. This is purported to be a 'legacy' bill for Oberstar, and although there is little support for the bill in his own district, he has made it a top priority for his Committee, and is expected to introduce a bill in the House soon.As Reed Hopper, lead attorney in a 2006 landmark Supreme Court decision stated in testimony, ".....this bill pushes the limits of federal power to an extreme not matched by any other law, probably in the history of this country."Hopper wasn't exaggerating. This bill expands federal power in two ways:1) By removing the limiting term 'navigable' from the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act and replacing it with the all inclusive 'waters of the U.S.' (including wetlands, intermittent streams, playa lakes, prairie potholes, sandflats, mudflats, ponds, meadows and sloughs).2) By adding the new language 'activities affecting these waters,' which refers to land use activity as well as atmospheric deposition. As Oberstar has often stated, "water flows downhill." That is to say that the bill is about federal control of entire watersheds, and everything is in a watershed--all water, all land, all people, all communities.In short, this bill is not about clean water. It's about governance. Its aim is top-down, command and control of land, water, people and communities. It should be viewed as perhaps the greatest threat ever to liberty, property, jobs, energy independence, and access to and use and enjoyment of public lands and waters. In the words of Jim Burling, senior attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, "If our constitutional system of limited federal powers means anything, we have to win on this issue."The bill would overturn two U.S. Supreme Court decisions (SWANCC--2001 and Rapanos--2006) which ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had exceeded their authority under the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Cleverly and deceptively titled the Clean Water Restoration Act, the only thing the Oberstar-Feingold bill restores, and legalizes, is the abuse of the individual rights of American citizens, and the continued expansion of federal control over every aspect of American life.In case you think we're overstating the case, a 2006 report prepared by Oberstar's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee staff leaves no doubt as to what this legislation is about. The report emphasizes that control of non-point sources is the unfinished agenda of the Clean Water Act.The simple definition of a non-point source is 'anything that doesn't come out of a pipe.' This would include agriculture, forestry, mining, energy development, home-building and other property improvement, as well as recreational uses of public lands and waters. It would include activities such as mowing your lawn, planting a garden, or building, maintaining, or using a recreational trail--virtually any human activity you can imagine. As Ali Cambel, professor of Environmental Studies at George Washington University warned over 30 years ago, "Wait until they get around to controlling non-point sources of water pollution."The bill is not about pollution, it's about power. It is being supported by every national environmental organization in the country as a means of maintaining and expanding their power base in Washington. Many of these groups don't just have office space in Washington--they own buildings! There are no checks and balances, and little oversight. This is purely and simply a redistribution of power and authority, removing it from American citizens and communities and their local elected officials, and transferring it to a massive federal bureaucracy. That is why organizations such as the National Association of Counties are so strongly opposed to the legislation.Of course, there are some who will benefit. If passed, it will be a full-employment act for environmental activists and attorneys, already a major growth-industry in America. There will be endless litigation, as every acre of land and water in the country is up for dispute as to whether a human activity should be allowed.This legislation could move very quickly, so you must act now!Here's the full makeup of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee:Senate Majority Committee MembersDemocrats:Barbara Boxer (Chairman)Max BaucusThomas R. CarperFrank R. LautenbergBenjamin L. CardinBernard SandersAmy KlobucharSheldon WhitehouseTom UdallJeff MerkleyKirsten GillibrandArlen SpecterRepublicans:James M. Inhofe (Ranking Member)George V. VoinovichDavid VitterJohn BarrassoMike CrapoChristopher S. BondLamar AlexanderCall your Senators even if they are not on the EPW Committee. You can call any Senator at (202) 224-3121.This bill must be defeated, so please act now! There's a better way to achieve water quality objectives--a way that allows for every citizen to participate in solutions to environmental problems--solutions that are better, faster and cheaper! This approach has been tried successfully in many parts of the country. It works. And it can not only lead to common sense solutions to problems, it can help restore trust in government. The choice is very simple: Do you want more top-down, one-size-fits-all, command and control government from Washington, or responsible, bottoms-up, common sense government from average citizens and local communities?Please take the time to get organizations to support the petition below by resolution and have them return it to us as soon as possible.*Petition in Support of Grassroots Alternatives*The undersigned hereby supports local and regional alternatives to the proposed federal Clean Water Restoration Act, in order to achieve water quality objectives that reflect broad, popular support among people and communities most directly affected by environmental policies and regulations.Name Organization Address/Contact Information_____________ _______________ ________________________________We need your support! Please help us with a donation. We are truly a grassroots organization taking on the multi-billion dollar industry known as environmentalism. Send a contribution of $1000, $500, $250, $100, $50, $20, or whatever you can afford. You may donate on line by going to our new website at www.nationalwaterconservation.org, or you can send it via mail to:National Water & Conservation AllianceP.O. Box 65246Vancouver, WA 98665-0009Make sure to Call, Fax, and Email requesting a hearing on this bill before May 20th.We are dedicated to winning this battle, and we sincerely appreciate your support!Don Parmeter Kathy McDonaldCo-Chair Co-ChairSt. Paul, Minnesota Vancouver, Washington(651)224-6219 (360)607-8959don@nationalwaterconservation.org kathy@nationalwaterconservation.orgBack to all news -
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