Rod Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Been prospecting the Fourty Mile district up in Alaska with Laszlo. Beautiful country with a great history of mining. The biggest difference I've seen between Alaska and the SW USA is a lack of freely available bedrock in Alaska, its deeper than AZ. Being my first trip to Alaska its a learning curve as far as locations with bedrock go. We've been able to get good gold with just hand tools. One challenge we've had is you have to allow either hours or days for the ground to thaw once youve dug out all the unfrozen ground. My best spot took some sampling to find and had a huge 3 foot thick, 15 feet long exposed ice shelf. The good gold was just under the ice shelf in frozen creek material. Its like working hard rock, just a lot colder and you make less progress overall with depth. The gold seems to be on a blue, green, gray layer of clay. Its also neat to see pieces of frozen wood in the ice. Who knows how old they are. I'm glad to have brought the SDC along. We were able to find small pickers in the frozen walls of the creek which has been fun. I've also detected a lot of tailings piles in several areas. While the SDC is great and I don't have to worry about the intermittent rain or dropping it in the water a bigger coil like a 14 would be ideal from a ground coverage aspect. Most other prospectors I've met don't do much detecting and have told me to watch out for hot rocks. So far, after days of detecting it is my experience that the SDC is just as immune to hot rocks in Alaska as it is in the lower 48, but considering the size of the state, I've barely made dent. I've heard a grand total of 2 hot rocks. I'm in the market for a dredge now, for next summer up here. The weather has been perfect and the people we've met have been fantastic and helpful. In Tok at the moment, took 2 hours to get here. Tok is the closest place to resupply groceries and gear. Had a moose that ran in the road in front of me for almost a half mile this morning, would not let me pass, too funny. Hope all of you in the lower 48 are staying cool. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeJ Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) Looks like fun !! Thanks for the pics and great report. It must be nice to be up there while it's so warm down here.... Hope you find a bunch more Luke Edited July 28, 2016 by LukeJ clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C... Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Wow Rod living the dream good for you and nice gold Mike C... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nugget108 Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 That looks like a blast. Have fun and keep the pics coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampstomper Al Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Nice report & pix -- keep 'em coming..! Wish we were there too.. Swamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyy Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Not many detectors ... well that's good for you, Rod! Sounds like you're having a lot of fun digging through that Tundra. Look at the bright side, at least your pick doesn't get so hot that it burns you when you grab the wrong end. Keep them pictures coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Thanks Rod Looks like a lot of fun! I hope you get your coil over a monster nugget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Thanks for posting your adventure Rod, nice looking vial of yeller you got there , looking forward to another report when you get the time!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomH Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Rod.........sounds like a AWESOME trip. Glad your finding gold and learning. It has got to be a lot cooler up there than down here right now. That moose is kind of like the burros and horses down here...they like to run in front and your telling them to duck out into a side wash....:) Good luck to you and enjoy your adventure! Tom H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulder dash Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 Looks like fun guys, your living the dream. If you need a dredge mine is up for sale. It's a 6 inch Keene 3 stage with 2 hookah lines and a full face mask. Pm if interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser John Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 I'd kill for that cool weather and righteous gold.....John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank c Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 Thanks for the pics an write up looks like a great adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim P. Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 Looks like fun, thanks for sharing. Why doesn't Laszlo look any older, but the rest of us do? Later...Jim P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Ron Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Spent a month up there in 1981 going from Anchorage, to Fairbanks to Circle City...Doing an assessment on Preacher Creek for some Dutch company out of Switzerland ... We discovered they had been scammed by an old prospector out of $2 million ... They had paid me and my two partners quite well for our time and experience .... When I told them, they told me to keep my mouth shut! So I did, until just now! ... ...Cheers, Unc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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