My Dry Diggins!!

[Stumpdust]

Weather looks like i still have a chance next week, Trying to get a 2 day mining trip in the diggings.

[Stumpdust]

Well the weather held, and i was able to dig and dig i did, got a few pickers for the day

[Stumpdust]

I beat out this crevice, Wasnt much in it, most of the gold came from about 2 feet below the top of this crevice. There is still allot of gravel on bedrock next to my knee pad, never found any gold on this shelf for 20 feet, but i will work it next time i go back.

[russau]

aLL IS WELL THAT ENDS WELL !!!

[Stumpdust]

Heading back up,No rain or Snow in sight so the plan is processing at least 5 foot up the channel, i will try to post some pictures.

[Stumpdust]

Did 10 buckets of cemented gravel on bedrock

[Jim_Alaska]

Did 10 buckets of cemented gravel on bedrock

Curious as to how you broke up the cemented material.

[Stumpdust]

i break it up with a big ol pry bar , i sweep it up and it separates pretty easy, i wash it in a tub before i pan out a few pans to do a quick check ,if i find gold i continue to pan, then the rest goes thru my re circulating sluice, i have re paned it out of the tub, have never found any gold even after soaking 24 hours, and there is no gravel sticking together. I have also found visible gold on the bed rock and it has never been stuck to other material. this cemented material s not like what i have found before when dredging, that stuff will roll right out the end of the box, this stuff separates when you beat it.

[russau]

I wonder how you'd do if you did like Dave Franks with his Vortexrx nozzle and flood the pit and use his suction nozzle to suck out the material while adding water to the pit? Might save some shoveling / lifting !

[Jim_Alaska]

i break it up with a big ol pry bar , i sweep it up and it separates pretty easy, i wash it in a tub before i pan out a few pans to do a quick check ,if i find gold i continue to pan, then the rest goes thru my re circulating sluice, i have re paned it out of the tub, have never found any gold even after soaking 24 hours, and there is no gravel sticking together. I have also found visible gold on the bed rock and it has never been stuck to other material. this cemented material s not like what i have found before when dredging, that stuff will roll right out the end of the box, this stuff separates when you beat it.

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OK, that answers my question. I was concerned because the cemented stuff we have here on the Klamath River breaks up in chunks, so gold could be hidden in those chunks and go right through the sluice. When we could still dredge here I always had a high pressure washer with me when dredging. I found that once we got to the cemented layer I could use the washer to break up the material by pressure washing. This broke all the cemented grains apart individually and released the gold. It sounds like a slow process, but really isn't, it comes apart pretty fast and especially if I lay my suction nozzle on the bottom and sort of sweep the cemented material into it with the pressure washer it goes pretty quickly. The washer also has a second benefit; many times when you get to bedrock, the suction nozzle can't suck gold stuck to the bottom or in cracks, the pressure washer serves very well for this.

Thanks for posting what you are doing, it is very interesting and the pictures just add to the fun.