29 Prospector

Bob spoke so highly of you all, he considered you family...and now i understand. I can't begin to express my gratitude for your thoughts and prayers and generous gifts. As you can imagine this time has been unbelievably difficult but you all have carried me through what would have been even more devastating. I'm sure he'll take a moment away from prospecting the universe to tap you on the shoulder and cause you to look in an unusual spot to beep or a crazy rock to overturn to bless you all for your kindness with a weird nugget or... (who knows?) the mother load! He loved being out in the desert with everybody. You all made his last years some of his happiest in spite of his disablities and pain. I can't find the words to tell you how much i miss him and always will. I feel lost without him. Our kids have been a tremendous comfort to me and each other, and our four grandkids will miss the funny stories he loved to tell them. I guess we all will miss his stories. I want to thank you all again for helping our family get through this huge loss. You're the best, sincerely dani

As most seasoned miners & prospectors know, you stay away from open shafts, caved in tunnel fronts, etc. Those of use who have worked underground and in mine rescue work, a fall of that distance will pretty much break up your bones. The decision to leave someone is a hard one to make, but you must take into consideration the danger to the rescuers as well as the material thats going to fall down on the person. Bob

This thread has been extremely interesting to follow. All points made are fully understandable from one person view or another. Having been in the recreational prospecting & mining hobby for over 50 years now, I have seen the laws change. Some for the good some for the not so good. As most here on the forum know I mine in the Dale District in So.Ca. and my father worked in the District when he was a young man. He worked in 4 of the main producers and also worked placer on his days off. When I started prospecting with him at the age of 6, I asked why we only owned one mine when he knew where the good placer deposits were. He told me that we would discuss it at lunch and that is what we did. This was the first of many firsts that I would get over the years. He told me that there are those who hang paper on anything and then try to mine the miner. There are those who prospect and find go claimable areas but do not want to work a mine. They get their pleasure out of finding the spots. Lastly, there are those who own a claim and work it on a regular basis. That son is where we fall. A man cannot work 4 or 5 claims at one time, so yes I know of good placer areas here in the Dale but you see we have a very workable mine with a very nice ore deposit. Why would we leave the gold we are getting to go somewhere else in hopes of finding gold. Over the years I have seen the paper hangers come and go and have patiently wait them out on an area they had under claim, were not working and could not find a buyer, and would let them go. I than in turn would file on said piece of land that I had been watching and work to prove it up or down. That's what we do and hopefully greed does not get into our blood stream and taint us. That's my :twocents: :twocents: worth. Of course I could be wrong in someone's eyes but my eyes are clear I think? :hahaha: Bob

Everyone who came in contact with RD, never walked away without learning something. I met RD while drywashing a small wash that had flattened out coming down a hill. RD was working the ridge line and came down to visit. We spent an hour talking about the Dale and our love for the place. After RD passed, Denny and I went out to his camp site to pay our last respects. The energy and emotions felt that day were heavy. It was as if RD was there with us. I'll never forget that day. We lost a truly wonderful prospector. Bob

Welcome to the forum Dusty. Your question is somewhat of a loading statement. That being said, Is the MXT a good all around detector? The easy answer is yes. It is a very good starter detector. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to the VLF style detectors, but most are together in opinion when it comes to PI units. My old hard rock partner use an MXT and has done very well with it. As with any type of detector, patience, practice, and more practice a long with more patience is what is needed to find gold. Just make sure your in a good area that's known for gold and join a club. In a club you will find good claims to work and a bunch of friendly people who are very willing to help you get over your first nugget. Bob

Well yesterday it almost got warm, 52 degrees. Sun went down and at 4am today it was 24 degrees on our back patio. It's now 38 degrees with a high of 48 today. Where were these temps. in July & August? Bob

Good morning prospectors! Such a nice day out, for those who like to freeze their N%ts off. It's 28 degrees out here in 29 Palms @ 7:15am. It was 24 @ 5am. Fire sure feels good. Bob

I jokingly opened with the 100 bullets so that you might understand that this hobby is fun and taxing on the brain. Like Bill, my first nugget came from my own drywasher tailings. I've dug more bullets, nails, tacks, and pieces of wire than nuggets, but that's the name of the game. If it beeps repeatedly, dig it. You never know what you might find. Bob

Well there is an old saying out here in the Dale. "A newbie must dig at least 100 bullets before his first nugget" Ol'29er

Matt, Terry, and Max are right. You want to stay away from chemicals if at all possible. In today's mining world, the small independent miner usually starts out in the hole(money wise) and it takes time to begin your recovery rate. We used a 2 table set up. One was a primary cut table and the second one was a home built design by my father which we used as a finish table. If you ore runs 1/2opt or better, and free milling(no sulfides), you should get between 90-95% recovery @-80 mesh or smaller. There are many variables to any process and it will take some testing to get the right combination of fineness and table angles to get the best recovery. We also found that after we had run over 100 tons of ore that the amount of gold left in the mill tailing pile was not worth going after. I'm sure that any of us who have spent time hard rock mining and milling have at one time have used chemicals, but we have learned that the result usually is not worth the recovery unless you are heap leaching mass amounts of crushed ore. There are several ways to test your ore to even see if it warrants mining. Any of us would be happy to share our way of testing. Bob

This question seems to be one that confounds prospectors. For me it is quite simple to answer. BOTH. For a new person starting out, unless a good deal can be found on a gold detector, I personally would start with a drywasher. A good puffer drywasher can be bought used for a good price and is a consistent all day producer. The metal detector is a very good tool for relaxing. When you take your morning stroll or you evening walk, take your detector. As for me, due to a few limitations, I have found in the last 4 days what will work for me and that is both. The metal detector is my number 2 prospecting tool. I use for for checking bedrock at the end of the clean up day, test my header and tailing piles. One can afford to do both if you research costs. You can always move up the scale in detectors. Bob

Nice finds John. With the way your luck has been running, I would hunt gold and for go the coin shooting too. Bob

SWEEEEEEET.............

Well hello there Mike. Long time no hear. Glad to hear from you and I hope all is going well in the adventure of retirement. Bob

silvervortek, It's not that no one believes you, its the fact that all of us have been there. :hahaha: :hahaha: OL'29er