Golden Legends Tales of Buried Treasure

This is a site mentioned before that is good. In this forum comment a contributor named NeoTokyo suggests how to make an underwater snuffer bottle. It isn't completely clear, but some of you with better imaginations will probably understand what he is saying. Then, scroll down to the 15th entry, again by NeoTokyo, and you will get a good description of how to make a mouth suction device. Good instructions. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/320078-snuffer-bottles.html

Commercial places have an assortment of good products for classifying - there are hundreds. But I recall my first classifier that worked ok. I was shoveling dirt from a rather high bank which had a lot of embedded rock. The stuff had been gathering from forceful flash floods down the large arroyo where I was working. It was probably my second trip out prospecting. I had a trash basket made of heavy plastic that I had found in the desert - somebody evidently forgot it. There was no way to find an owner so I took it. Being frugal and not ready to buy a lot of commercial equipment (and that is the way everybody should look at it at first) I decided to use an old barbecue grill made of pretty heavy steel that I had saved from my last old barbecue that had its bottom worn away. Thought it might be useful, and it was. I placed the grill on top of the basket and proceeded to shovel, clear, and shovel again. Even though some of the material was a bit courser than I would have liked,...

Did you know there was a gold rush in Georgia? I found a really interesting site with a video on how to pan for gold. Let's face it, it takes practice and the angle of the pan, agitation, and discard of material can be frustrating without a knowledgeable person for instruction. In addition, this website will link you to Mike's home-built wind turbine page and Mike's home-built solar panel page. A solar panel can come in handy in the desert for a little power. I have seen them used for light at night. Here's the link: http://www.mdpub.com/prospecting/index.html

Sometimes it helps to share a few things you have learned about prospecting. I recall a time when I went out in the boonies with my wife to look for placer flake. It was a hot day, but not that terrible summer heat of Arizona. I would say it was springtime, perhaps March. All I could think of was getting out and hunting for the yellow stuff. Unfortunately, on that day I wasn't thinking of safety, and I think we always need to keep that in the back of our minds. One of our claims is near Hayden, Arizona - a hilly area and very beautiful. It's so simple, but when you go down a good-sized hill, remember that you have to climb back up it! If you do not pay attention to your stamina and energy reserve, it can be quite a trek back up. My wife had been working pretty hard and having a really good time - we both forgot about the hill. My truck was at the top and there was no shortcut to get to it. I walked up with her taking frequent rest stops. We had plenty of water, and I doused her...

I had a recent experience that has prompted this post. At one of my club claims where I was fortunate enough to find PUDDLES of water that I could use to gold pan, I did something folks may not think of. That water standing still in little depressions in an arroyo may be contaminated. When the weather is warm and water stands, microbes can develop. I have seen sections of lakes in Arizona cornered off due to the growth of harmful microscopic critters that could infect a person should they bathe in it or swallow some by accident. The same thing goes for puddles. I always have rubber gloves for cleaning dishes - the kind your wife may use in the kitchen. I don't use them in the kitchen - I know the water is safe. But I do use them when panning in stagnant water. An open cut being submerged in mucky water can easily be infected with staph or strep or even more exotic germs that can cause real damage to your body. If you don't have any open nicks on your body (I nick ve...

This website probably has more do it yourself projects and links to free prospecting advice than any other site. The particular reference I am making is less how to build a superior gold pan, but rather how you can improvise if you don't have one for some reason. Maybe you forgot it when packing, or maybe it got broken. This link gives lots of suggestions about what to use and how to use a substitute pan. The bottom of the page has 30 links to gold prospecting information. http://nevada-outback-gems.com/design_plans/DIY_pan/gold_pan.htm

I took the liberty of adding this to the directory even though it does not have to do with gold. Anyway, it is interesting how much potential lithium has in our future. http://www.infobarrel.com/Why_Mining_Lithium_and_Lithium_Ion_Battery_Demand_Influences_Social_and_Economic_Issues