Gold panning/prospecting

[RLP]

Any gold prospectors out there?

[cpaharley2008]

My ex-wife is one?

[RLP]

Ex-wife? She must have hit a good pay streak and you were left with the gravel. (Really, I am laughing with you).

[Bruce H]

I am a novice prospector. Been at it two years. I have been doing a lot of reading and research. It is very interesting. I started with a White's Goldmaster GMT metal detector loaned to me by a friend. I bought a couple of small nuggets from ebay to calibrate the detector with. I have also done some panning. I travel, camp and ATV ride all over the western US every year. I have metal detected some around Quartzsite the last two winters and will again this February if I make it out there. I actually found some gold in Colorado last summer. There is lots to learn especially about finding promising areas to go that are not already claimed. I know two things. You are not likely to make a living at it. Also there is lots of gold still out there. There is no way the old time prospectors with their donkeys found it all.

I like to tell people I have a gold mine in Nevada. Here is a picture of it.

[mary and bob]

We just met a retired couple on our recent trip south that pans for gold. One of their favorite places is Lucky Strike Mine in North Carolina, there is a campground there, and apparently you pay to dig. They were quite into it, had portable pumps, sluice equipment and other stuff. There are magazines and clubs related to the hobby. I might try it in the stream on our property. I'm sure you watch the discovery channel show "Gold Rush"

[Daniel A.]

I'll be working a friends claim in 2012.

[HerseyBA]

When I was in school I used to pan the creeks running through the old mining areas along the frontange in Colorado. Great way to get away from the books for a while. I still have what I found in a small glass bottle. On a sunny day you can actually see it.

[RLP]

I started panning four years ago and on the first outing got into a good pay streak - pay streak of pyrite that is as I later found out. "Fools gold", what a great term for that. In my first year I found some fly poop size pieces of gold and it's true what they say, once you find it you will never forget what it looks like. At that point I was hooked and had the fever.

Started buying more equipment and tools and went out more often. Staked two claims last year and one is showing good color but it's spotty. It also produced a 1/4 oz nugget this past summer.

So in 2012 I will spend much more time on the claim, hopefully week long trips which will certainly improve the production. I have reason to believe there is an old river channel on my claim and that's what I want to get into.

Prospecting is the reason I bought a 13' Boler - light to pull on those hilly back roads and it has a small footprint so it can be set up virtually anywhere.

[Daniel A.]

Prospecting and metal detecting were both on my mind when I decided on my trailer.

[RLP]

Daniel - Where in BC will you be prospecting this year? Also, do you visit the Canadian Prospectors Forum?
CANADIAN GOLD PROSPECTING FORUM - Gold Prospecting Forums - Gold Prospecting Forum

[Daniel A.]

Yes I'm on the prospector forum, my friend has two claims one near Boston Bar and the other up north.

[EddyEd]

This made me LOL for real.

[Cissy]

I love looking for gold or any gems!!!! I also own a whites metal detector 6000

[papa-t]

I prospect here in North Carolina. I pan, sluice and highbank. This is my best weekend so far.

[GMike A]

Nice pan

I have had 3 Whites and now I have two Fishers. Used to go hunting for rubies and sapphires in Franklin County NC. Did a lot of camping and tubing in the summertime. Panned for gold in Index, Wa when I lived over there but never got any. I bought 10 acres of mountain property in Georgetown, Colorado back in 08 and there are gold and silver mines everywhere. Now that I am retired and after getting my Egg fixed up I will be heading West to Co. (assuming they will still let CHLs have guns by the time I get there).

[Donna D.]

Anything that gets you out in fresh air and makes you exercise is "gold" in my world

[dbailey]

I've never tried gold panning outside a tourist sluice, but I'm definitely a fan of rockhounding, so I expect I'd get a kick of searching for gold.

[GMike A]

Back in the 70s in my younger days I would go to coin shoots and I worked for a White's distributor at the fests. I would fix the detectors brought in for repair during the event. (they were germanium transistors back then and simple circuits). So later I went to Oregon and became a White's dealer -while I lived in the Seattle area. Hence my love for Whites. After my wife passed I was transferred to Texas. In 2008 the wildfires[ a cigarette butt tossed out a window with 50mph winds] of Texas burned my house, 640 acres and 16 homes of which only two had insurance and one being me and 35 years of everything to the ground and I had to start all over. So I bought the Fishers as they were more economical.
As a side note after the fire I rummaged through the ashes of the house and 999.99% was gone. But I dug through the ashes and a coin that my mother had given me was still there. Other items including gold rings and necklaces were melted. I cant explain it but I carry it with me everyday. Its true and a not made up story. Some from Texas may remember it. This is the coin that was lying there in the midst of my ex-jewelry box.
Since then I have taken a different outlook on life.

[Daniel A.]

Mike I have one of those as well given to me in 1988.

I'll assume you know Carl at Whites.

I've been in the game a long time now and had as many as 50 machines at one time.
I'm down to around 12 machines now.
Today I run the major forum in Canada.

Canadian Metal Detecting | Informational Forum & Gallery

[GMike A]

Right now at age 65 I would be lying if I knew that I remember meeting him. When I was at Whites in Sweet Home, Oregon I was given the grand tour and I was just an interested person at the time and user of the Gold Master. There weren't too many detectors at the time and all were based upon WWII mine detection technology so they just detected all metals. If you recall as I do; I wound my own coils and made my own detector boards using perf boards and circuits from Popular Electronics magazine.