Tag Archives: prospecting

Late Spring

I know what you are thinking.  It’s almost June?  Why aren’t we mining yet?

I don’t know where this global ‘warming’ I was promised is, but I can tell you that doesn’t seem to be the case this year.  Its COLD.  Too cold, the ground is still frozen and there is still snow.  We had to plow our way in there just to get to our stockpile of paydirt. Add to that, recovery from a minor surgery and, yes, we’re running late this year.  My apologies.

I don’t have much more to share with you right now.  I did want to give a mighty shout out too our local trade school.  Our very talented and patient welder moved away last year and as usual we had broken a few things on the trommel last season.  Out of desperation I called the welding instructor at the technical school in Seward and offered to donate to their welding class if they could help me out.  Those kids fixed the trommel right in the parking lot on the last day of classes.  The charge?  All they would take was a box of Donuts!  That’s a good deal!

If you know a young person who’s looking for a career in the trades, I highly recommend AVTEC, I spent some time walking around while I was waiting for the repairs and it’s a great campus and they really seem to have a wide range of offerings – everything from renewable energy to cooking.

If you’ve been on our site lately, you may have noticed we’ve started carrying some prospecting supplies, I’ve been slowly adding them to the site.  Most of these will ship from the manufacturers warehouse for free right to you.  We don’t make much off them, just trying to help you guys out. If you are looking for a new sluice box or metal detector to use outside this summer check it out.  If you are looking for something we don’t have  let us know what you are interested in and I’ll see if can get you a good deal.

Back in the Saddle

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Things are heating up, and I don’t just mean the weather!  After the last week or so’s dismal returns, a little deductive reasoning and a little luck have put us back on the trail of the gold.

The color is getting better everyday, and we are elated.  Never know how long it will hold out, but I guess that’s why they call it prospecting right?

For now, I’ll enjoy the wins.

 

 

 

 

Here’s a few test pans, it’s starting to look good.

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In the meantime, we’re getting this stuff bagged up for you guys so you can try some of it for yourselves.  That’s all for now, I’ll update more later.

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Cold gold

Here I am bragging about the great weather we have been having. A cold front from the arctic moved down and things got a bit chilly. Snow on the mountains.

Trommel working petty good. We sped up the motor a little and only had one jam up the last run. Got to take a break and run the backhoe to the doctor. Fluid leaking from the transmission. Not sure what it is, but more than we can fix in the field.

Starting to get through the overburden, gold starting to look better, though still not as good as last year. Hope our streak isn’t petering out after all this.

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Ready to run – almost

Back here at the claim. Now that we know our homes are relatively safe from the forest fire. Got some much needed rain, it doesn’t make it much fun to work outside, but we don’t have to worry about every little spark from grinding or welding. Campfires are still banned, so we had to huddle up by the little buddy heater in the storage tent last night.

First order of business, noticed some cracked hoses on the backhoe. Off to town to get new ones made.

Then some welding and grinding on the trommel. We are adapting the sluice that was from our old wash plant. It’s wider, deeper and longer. Should work much better. Also have to put lock nuts on the belt tension bolts to make sure they don’t rattle out.

Seems like we spend more time getting ready to run than it takes to actually process the dirt. Part of mining I guess.
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