Ores bearing native gold consist of grains or microscopic particles of metallic gold embedded in rock, often in association with veins of quartz or sulfide minerals like pyrite. These are called “lode” deposits. Native gold is also found in the form of free flakes, grains or larger nuggets that have been eroded from rocks and end up in alluvial deposits (called placer deposits). Such free gold is always richer at the surface of gold-bearing veins owing to the oxidation of accompanying minerals followed by weathering, and washing of the dust into streams and rivers, where it collects and can be welded by water action to form nuggets. Gold occurs mainly in pyrite- and polymetallic sulfide–quartz vein/veinlet stockworks.

Fluid inclusions in the deposit are divided into three main types, namely CO2–H2O, H2O–CO2 ± CH4 and aqueous ones. A popular misconception is that small veins of gold or silver ore in a mining district are necessarily branches of a single rich and massive mother lode deep in the ground. This idea is contrary to modern theories of ore deposits. The term is also used metaphorically to refer to the origin of something valuable or in great abundance. The clustered distribution of low displacement faults and associated mesothermal Au deposits within fault systems can be governed by static stress changes (Dsf) associated with large rupture events on high displacement components of the fault systems. The low displacement faults, which have localized gold deposition and attendant fluid flow, are interpreted as being formed and repeatedly reactivated during aftershock sequences following numerous, high displacement rupture events. The distribution of aftershock activity and associated permeability enhancement is particularly influenced by the location of rupture arrest on main shock faults. The formation of lode gold deposits requires a history of repeated fault slip and fluid flow events. Accordingly, an important factor controlling the distribution of aftershock fault arrays is the development of long-lived structures which repeatedly inhibit rupture propagation and accumulation of fault slip on high displacement faults. Using two case studies, we demonstrate that both dilatant and contractional jogs on high displacement faults can be effective barriers to rupture propagation. Modeling of Dsf associated with large slip events demonstrates that the distribution of Au deposits on low displacement faults in both the Mount Pleasant and St Ives goldfields in the Archaean Yilgarn Craton (Western Australia) is well-matched by the domains of positive Dsf and enhanced aftershock probability. In geology a lode is the metalliferous ore that fills a fissure in a rock or a vein of ore deposited between layers of rock.

Mother lode is a principal vein or zone of veins of gold ore. In the United States, Mother lode is most famously the name given to the long alignment of hard rock gold deposits stretching northwest to southeast in the Sierra Nevada of California. The zone contains hundreds of mines and prospects, including some of the best-known historic mines of the gold-rush era. Individual gold deposits within the Mother Lode are gold-bearing quartz veins up to 50 feet thick and a few thousand feet long. The California Mother Lode was one of the most productive gold-producing districts in the United States, but is now given over to tourism. The Carlin mine near Carlin, Nev., USA, is producing gold from a large low-grade deposit that was opened in 1965 after intensive scientific and technical work had been completed. Similar investigations have led to the more recent discovery of a Carlin-type gold deposit in Jerritt Canyon, Nev. Many placer districts in California have been mined on a large scale as recently as the mid-1950’s. Streams draining the rich Mother Lode region–the Feather, Mokelumne, American, Cosumnes, Calaveras, and Yuba Rivers–and the Trinity River in northern California have concentrated considerable quantities of gold in gravels. California Gold Region 6 was second only to the Mother Lode in California gold production.

California Gold Region 6 includes Susanville, Greenville, Westwood, Shasta, Weed, Red Bluff, Redding, Enterprise, Yreka, Weaverville, French Gulch, Alturas, Happy Camp, Orleans and Crescent City. Both lode and placer mining have been done in this region, which is adjacent to and south of the Oregon/California state line. California Gold Region 6 has gold deposit sites ranging eastward from Crescent City on the Pacific Ocean to Modoc National Forest northeast of Alturas. The gold sites range southward from the Oregon state line to latitude 40 degrees, north, which is five miles north of Quincy. The Klamath Mountains region in northwestern California is the second-most gold-productive province in California. The principal gold districts are in Shasta, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties. Although there are several important lode-gold districts, the placer deposits have been the largest sources of gold. In Australia, the Mosquito Creek belt has been the largest source of metasediment-hosted lode Au in the southeast Archean Pilbara Craton. The city of Johannesburg located in South Africa was founded as a result of the Witwatersrand Gold Rush which resulted in the discovery of some of the largest gold deposits the world has ever seen. Gold fields located within the basin in the Free State and Gauteng provinces are extensive in strike and dip requiring some of the world’s deepest mines, with the Savuka and TauTona mines being currently the world’s deepest gold mine at 3,777 m. Other major producers are United States, Australia, China, Russia and Peru. Mines in South Dakota and Nevada supply two-thirds of gold used in the United States. In South America, the controversial project Pascua Lama aims at exploitation of rich fields in the high mountains of Atacama Desert, at the border between Chile and Argentina. Today about one-quarter of the world gold output is estimated to originate from artisanal or small scale mining. The Rushan gold deposit in the Jiaodong Peninsula is currently the largest lode gold in China.

The topic of black sand comes up in prospecting sometimes more than gold does! And it is very misunderstood. You often read or hear that the presence of black sand in an area means there is gold in the area also. This is not true. The presence of black sand means there is heavy mineralization in the area.

I know of several places that are loaded with black sand but have no gold. I also know of several places that have a good amount of gold but very, very little black sand.

You have to learn to use black sand to your advantage. When you walk down a wash and see streaks or deposits of black sand on top of the ground you can be certain the flow of water from the last storm deposited these streaks there. This means that the heavier minerals (maybe gold) most likely followed the same path. Sometimes when I locate an area with a heavy top showing of black sand I move just to the sides of the black streak, dig down about a foot or two and look for layering of black sand along the sides of the hole I just dug. This shows me that the black sand has been accumulating in the wash for a period of time. Which MAY mean gold has also. It may also mean it rained heavy, stopped, rain heavy again and so on.

Of course if I hit bedrock quickly I look for cracks and potholes to clean out. I usually dig a test hole every 20 feet for 200 feet. If I get nothing personally I move on. If I get some color in several holes I make an imaginary line from one good hole to another and work the imaginary line. This has been a very successful method for me.

In the photos at left I show how you can make a low cost black sand separator. This separator (mini sluice) is for small amounts of black sand. I run large drywasher and at the end of the day I have a lot of pure black sand concentrates and gold and use a spiral panner to separate that kind of a large amount. But for small amounts this mini sluice will do the job excellently. 

You’ll need a gold pan, about 2 feet of ribbed rubber mating from ACE Hardware, two clothes pins, a spoon, a sniffer bottle, and a garden hose. Easy stuff.

Make a U shaped channel out of the rubber mating. Secure it at both ends with the clothes pins. Put the garden hose at one end of the mini sluice and the pan (notice where the pan’s riffles are) at the other end.

Take the teaspoon and begin feeding the mini sluice.

You can either use the sniffer bottle to grab the gold as you see it or wait till you have processed all the material.

Just remember experiment on the angle of the sluice vs. amount of water flow to get it right so you do not wash any gold into the pan. Even if you do you’ll have the ridges in the right spot so you will not lose it.

I often run my finger over the ridges after I am done with the water flowing and move along any stubborn pieces of black sand that made be hiding small flakes of gold.

 Best of luck…Rod

WARNING: This project is to make a total of three covers with the material size that was available.This project is to costly to make just one cover.

Start out with craft paper or paper bag or something similar. I used the paper to roughly trace out and design my stencil. A rough start seemed to be ok then sort of fine tune the final stencil until complete. Generally you will wind up with something like this:

Now that you have your completed stencil, you are ready to proceed to the layout and cutting of the material of your choice. I chose Neoprene. I ordered it from here http://www.rockywoods.com/ their service is top rate, and shipping is hella fast. I recieved a piece 1′ X 4′ for about $ 15.00

You will need a few items, such as several new razor blades, a pen that will write on your material, and a heavy steel ruler if possible.

You can trace the stencil with a pen on to your material or just cut on the sides of the stencil. Either way seems to work fine. I traced the small rectangles for the legs on the control box then cut them out afterwards.

After some time you should have a product resembling this:

Now for the velcro to hold this thing on to your control box. I purchased my velcro from a upholstery shop. It was $2.00 for 1-1/2 feet of 2″ velcro.
Some people have suggested some killer adhesives that they have used to attach the velcro to thier material. I chose to take my velcro,and neoprene covers to a (mom & pop) sewing business to have them sew on the velcro squares. This cost me 6.00 per cover. (twice as much as last time I had this done).
I managed to get three covers out of my material, heres the final product with velcro attached:

If you take your time, they turn out real professional looking.

For three covers this probably cost me around $ 40.00 total, or about $13.30 per cover.
Is it worth the time, effort, and money? Well, thats for you to decide. It was for me, because I like doing my own things, within reason.
This can be done way cheaper using different materials, and application methods, but this was how I chose to do mine.

Good luck !

Adam

This is a rendition of how I built my portable gas vacuum: There are a few ways to do this project, and modifications to your project can and may be necessary depending on several items, including but not limmited to; motor shape,plumbing fixtures,and overal expectations,and goals of the project.
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Start out with a few items, most are pictured below.
I had acccess to a free echo PB1000 hand held leaf blower (only needed a carburator rebuild kit).
Deciding which bucket to use is very important. A chlorine bucket with a screw on lid is best for the project ,hands down! You can probably obtain one for free from most any pool cleaning business.

Obtain a gasket from an old paint bucket lid (another free-bee). Install the gasket on the inside of the chlorine lid.

Measure the diameter, trace out, and cut your opening for the motor intake. This is fairly self explanitory.

Uh Oh , something does not seem quite right when I attach the motor to my newly cut hole. In this case I must make a spacer for the motor assembly to fit nice, and tight to the chlorine lid.
For this spacer I chose marine polymer (basically a cutting board, that can be obtained for 10 bucks or so). See below how I had to design, and install this spacer using the Jigsaw.


Spacer installed on motor:

Once the spacer is installed you can attach the motor to the chlorine lid. I used machine screws alligned to the old intake guard on the motor.

So now your done with the hardest part!
Time to move on to the intake hose attachment:
Here are the items I used pictured below.


A male 2″ threaded on one side , glue joint on the other side.
A female 2″ threaded glue joint onother side.
3″ piece of 2″ PVC.
45 degree angle 2″ elbow.
Layout and cut your hole:

I had to make another spacer for the hose adapter. this one goes between the male threads, and the bucket wall.

The spacer, and pipe installed:

Now you may install (screw on) the female fitting from the inside of the bucket:

Then install the 3″ piece of PVC we talked about earlier:

And finally attach the 2″ 45 degree elbow.


I did mine at an angle so that the intake air would cause a swirling action in the bucket. I just thought it would be better than aiming the elbow straight down.

This project is finished!

Screw the lid (with motor) onto the bucket. I purchased some 2″ hose from Home Depot for like 16.00 dollars. This hose is made for the Husky brand shop vacs, and fits perfectly into my 2″ intake on the portable gas vacuum.

Tools

3 lb Hammer (Single Jack)                                       $3-10.

Prospecting Pick / Eastwing with bluegrip                 $35.

Two Metal gold pans, used or new (Rusty is o.k.)    $2-9 each.

Plastic Scrub brush                                                   $2 each.

Panning Tub – plastic or zinc wash tubs

1- Chisel Head hand steel     12″ – 18″

1- Gad pointed steeel            12″- 18″

1- 2 1/2 foot chisel head or pointed steel about 7/8″ – 1 1/8″ thickness for drifting in.

 When you find a good spot, a form stake can be used, such as cement form stakes sold at building supplies or hardware stores. Downside: They do not hold their sharpness long but can be set again on a grinder. Real mining steels are hard to come by, but at a big flea market it’s possible to find one or more.

 Sample bags – I use 50lb feed bags made of woven plastic which can be found at feed stores or from people with farms or ranches OR canvas coin bags. Save your old shoestrings to tie at the top.

 Get a good backpack at an Army – Navy surplus store and a plastic rubberized pan to fit the pack to keep it’s shape and do field sampling.

Mortar and pestle – medium sized OR get a 3 inch pipe with a capped bottom and a steel -  part of and axle will do to crush.

Sampling:

1. Find your veins in a known gold bearing area, say on a hillside, road cut, creekbed, flat ground, etc.

2. Knock out some quartz, clay, dirt into a pan or gallon plastic milk jug with bottom cut out.

3. Take samples from a few spots on each vein.

4. Do each vein separately and mark a tag as to know where it came from. Put all into sample bag.

5. Pans – One pan must have lot’s of holes in it to act as a hopper (classifier). This can be done by drilling about 75-100 holes from inside to bottom, in ever smaller circles. Then file the bottom smooth.

6.  Having your hopper pan on top of the other metal pan, pour your samples in, (half a pan is plenty) dip in water. Take your brush and scrub all the mud and clay off the quartz and into the pan,    then  rub and rub the quartz clean for a very long time. Put the top hopper pan aside for awhile and rub and rub the finer stuff that fell through the holes into the bottom pan. Rub round and round for awhile, keeping an eye open for the yellow stuff. Pan normally, but slowly as quartz gold is very rough and has legs and will jump out of your pan. Pan all the way down, watching what you discard. If you find even a few colors take more samples from that vein. If any colors, especially rough ones check all the quartz in the hopper pan very carefully as there can and will be lots of hidden gold and tiny species under the clay. You can crush up the quartz and see if it shows (color). Some people do this before panning. I do it after finding color so as to not lose little specimens.

7.    If you’ve found color and sample the same spot again, break out one wall or the other enclosing the vein, either the footwall or hanging wall. Leave the better wall (more solid) and take more samples. If the gold keeps going in or down or up, follow it (following the lead). Of course electric Jackhammers or blasting would be a great help, but hand tools work fine, just slower. If your onto gold in a vein, think of paint thrown on a wall, ups and downs, valleys and flats and peaks (horizontal view). The gold goes in and out. Sometimes it disappears and comes back in after a few feet or maybe 20 ft or never.

 The average Joe will not keep going.

Expense, time, efficiency, etc.

If you’re finding more and more color and or rough little pieces and gold quartz species, then you can expect a pocket. Still, it doesn’t always occur even in pocket country. There are some veins that carry only fines. In some areas and some mines, pockets follow one another when certain formations occur. Don’t expect this to happen. Where the gold will make in area and formation doesn’t mean it will be the same only a few feet away. It’s a tough go and sometimes very rewarding for those who stick with it. The old timers were mostly looking to make a mine or sell it outright and low grade veins, often shallow, were left alone.

You may have to drift in or down, 5-15 feet and this takes many trips. You can pan or sample at home if you have the space.

1. Rubbing and brushing vigorously is very important. So is slow panning.

2. Persistence will eventually bring you that yellow stuff smiling back at you.

Good Luck,

Dave

The story in the beginning precedes the article, but is part of it, so it was included.

I didn’t want to go too far or stay out too long in this heat, so we just went to Fain park. I gave him some more tips and said, “ok, let’s work in this area and meet back here”. After about a half hour we came to a spot with some exposed bedrock, so I shut my 4K off and took my pick and loosened up the dirt at the edge of the bedrock and scraped it away from the bank. “OK, go along that dirt slowly and keep the coil lightly on top of the dirt”. He couldn’t tell what he was hearing of course, but to my ear that bank was full of small gold. I picked out a good signal and showed him how to zone in on it. Then we did the pin pointing thing and the hand-to-hand recovery. He wanted to throw the dirt in a bucket and pan it at home, but I wanted to show him that that wasn’t necessary and that we could easily locate the gold. So, we did the pinch-and-drop on the coil thing and then I said to him, “do you see it”? He said, “Yeah, sure”. Then he looked again….”I’ll be damned”. It was less than a grain, but still quite visible on top of his coil. So, he was happy and the whole episode only cost me a six-pac and a two hour lesson. Guess I’ve found another spot to screen out fine gold when I get the motivation.

The Article:

“..A 4B in a newbies hands will squack at everything if not set right…”

That’s exactly right Bob. In fact ALL vlf’s will drive you crazy in that kind of hot ground. I’m surprised that more newbies haven’t responded to this post. I just told them how to find gold in hot ground with a vlf and they didn’t even pick up on it. Everyone wants to save money by buying a VLF instead of putting out big bucks for a P.I., but after they do, all we hear is, “…I haven’t found any gold in 4 years with my detector..”. Remember the ol’ saying, “work smarter, not harder”?

Let’s review what it takes to find gold in hot ground with a vlf:
1. Learn the capabilities and limitations of your machine:
WHY: Nothing is more frustrating than trying to hunt for gold along side guys using P.I. machines in hot ground. They will be moving right along, and you will be stuck in a 4′ diameter circle because of all the “target signals” you will be hearing. But, if you know the capabilities of your vlf, you can come away with gold while they are getting skunked. A vlf will have a “practical” depth range of about 1-3″ in hot ground. That’s because the deeper the material – the more mineralization sounds you will encounter. I’m not saying you couldn’t find a nugget deeper than that with a vlf, I’m saying IN HOT GROUND it will be 1,000 times harder because of all the noise from hot rocks. And it’s 1,000 times faster to become successful working bedrock and shallow ground. The answer is simple – look for those area where gold accumulates close to the surface, in other words, hunt bedrock.
2. Hunt bedrock or material only an inch or two deep over bedrock.
WHY: You’re not going to have more than a few inches of depth with a vlf depending upon the size of the target of course. But for every gram size target there are thousands of smaller targets (think of the odds), so if you lower your expectations about that 2lb nugget you are going to find, and try to find some smaller pieces first you will be more successful. You can always look for the larger/deeper targets later or in an area not so mineralized. Another reason to hunt close to bedrock is that’s where most of the gold will be concentrated by specific gravity as it moves down the creek. It’s a win/win for vlf’s.
3. Learn to ground balance your detector…and learn to keep it that way !!!
WHY: Next to hunting bedrock, that is the most important thing that will make you successful. If you want to hunt overburden that is a number of feet thick, don’t worry about ground balance because you are just wasting your time anyway. The ground mineralization can change within a few feet in this country (even on bedrock) and if your detector is out of balance you will miss gold and also be chasing ghost signals. When you think you have a good target, the first thing to do is check the ground balance. If you’re off just a hair, it can make the difference. My neighbor learned this lesson yesterday. He told me he had a signal, I told him to ground balance, then he said, “never mind”.
4. Learn to pick out those slight zip/zip signals from all the other noises you will hear.
WHY: When you are hunting for a gold signal between bedrock and a few inches of the coil, the gold signal will be distinctive and you need to be able to recognize it. Take some 1-3grain sized pieces of lead or gold and practice (on bedrock).
5. Learn to use a scoop.
WHY: A fair size scoop will hold about 4 times the material that one hand will hold. So, after you have pinpointed where you think the target is, it only makes sense to go through the material 4 times faster to locate and I.D. the target. Now after you have found a bank with lots of small pieces, it makes sense to get the target in the scoop and throw it in a sample bag for panning later. But, don’t use that technique until you know you are in a hot spot. Here’s another tip. Remember the top of your coil is just as sensitive as the bottom. Once you have some material in your scoop, it’s easy to run it over the top of the coil. Also, if you give that material a few shakes before you check it, the gold will move to the bottom of the scoop and be closer to the coil when you pass it over the top. Lastly always check the hole with the detector again before you toss the dirt too far because you may have to recheck your dirt…these small pieces can be illusive.

Disclaimer: All said above is meant for Hot Ground vlf hunting only. There are other methods used for vlf’s and PI’s in less mineralized areas

Things looked a little intimidating at first with all the wires & such. The reality is that it is such a simple product to install, and can be of tremendous convenience to the user.

Start out by removing the screws holding the panel (fixed/tracking switch side) then gently pry the panel off of the control box.

Now that you have exposed this panel you may see that there are pre-drilled holes for other models of detectors. I could not utilize any of these holes because they would have interfered with the lettering on the face plate. I chose to drill the plug hole near the top of the detector, and on the inside (right handed) closer to me. This leaves the least amount of chance of the wire being snagged on branches & stuff.

After the hole is drilled you may now make sure that no metal particles made there way into the control box. A can of compressed air should be sufficient to blow out the box. Clean up the hole area ,and install the new plug-in.

Plug tightened and installed from the inside.

Now for the scary part. It is now time to splice the wires from the new plug to the exhisting fixed/tracking switch.
It is really no big deal. The attachment clips, and instructions are easy to follow. When you are done it should look something like this.

The kit comes with a little zip tie to hold the wires securely together (reduces movement). Once that is installed you are ready to replace the face plate onto the control box.

Thats It …You Are Done!!

Close up of the outside after installation

So far the product does exactly what it is designed to do. It was pure pleasure to not have to stop, set my pick aside, and flip the fixed/tracking switch every five minutes. I can ground balance on the fly now, and that is wonderful. All the latest minelabs have this luxury so why shouldnt my machine too? If this product continues to work the way it is intended then the $100.00 bucks was well worth it.

Adam

Section and Range and a lot more in Google Earth, you just have to know how so I made it easy with the Prospectors Power Pack. This is very, very easy to use. Just read everything below and you’ll be off and running in no time flat. Your internet connection speed, and LR2000 / Geo Communicator server response times will play a role in performance just like with the LR2000 or Geo Communicator. High speed will be high speed performance and dial up will be dial up performance.

Now I’ve made this in two flavors, KML and KMZ so it will work with the free Google Earth (KML) or the Plus version (KML or KMZ). Remember you need to save these files and not open them with your browser because if you do all you will see is code. Once you have downloaded (saved) the file(s) just double click them if you have Google Earth installed. If you need Google Earth get it here: http://earth.google.com/index.html

Get the files here

This is the first screen you will see (without the arrow etc.):

OK now that has loaded you can pick what you want to see, like active mining claims with names. You could also just select the names or claims, I chose both.

Now if you want you can see multiple sets of data at the same time. Below, active mining claims, names of active mining claims, BLM lands and Township, Section and Range have been chosen.

Below are closed mining claims, you could add the name of the closed claims to by selecting the Names Closed Mining Claims layer.

Now if I add BLM Lands and a topo the topo is covered up as you see below, however, there is an easy solution as you will see.

All you need to do is adjust the Opaque values of the topo map layer (or BLM layer) to see both as shown below and above by choosing the Properties of the layer.

Now if you ever see this big red X you are zoomed in too close, just zoom out a little.

The refresh symbol is normal an appears as you navigate to give you an up to date map as you move.

Everything will update as you navigate automatically but you can manually refresh the current layer(s) if you like, not something I normally would do.

I was bored today so I decided to make a new bucket lid classifier. I made the first one over a year ago and it held up through the prospecting season and a whole fishing season as well. I use it not only to classify dirt but to keep my bait fish from escaping while I refill my bucket with water. I like it better than the store bought ones because it fits the bucket as intended with no interference to the handle and it doubles as a bucket lid. Also it’s cheap. I used the leaktite brand of lids from ACE I don’t use the super sealing locking lids because they are too hard to put on and take off and super sealing is not my purpose. Some small machine screws, washers and nuts along with the spring locking nut plate thingy(speednuts) as well as a drop of locktite worked well. Never had a loose nut and it held up until the plastic cracked from time fatigue. The screen is 1/4″ hardware cloth. Jagdoctor1

My Sniping outfit:

Here’s a photo of my dry weather sniping outfit. I’m not saying this is the only way to do it, but this is the way I’ve found to be the most productive over the years. At the top of the pic is my full sized backpack. Everything will fit in the pack except the little puffer drywasher which I carry in one hand and the mini-12V vacuum which I usually carry in a 5 gal bucket in the other hand. The puffer is a Sam Radding puffer and I’ve taken the hopper off to make it lighter and more compact. I added a light spring and string to operate it. Going clockwise you’ll see my 4 classifiers (1/2″,1/4″,1/8″, and 20mesh) and my blue pan which all nest together very well and fit inside the pack. Next is a very nice set of quality knee pads. I don’t care how good your knees are, if you are a snipper you’ll need these. Under that is my Coleman 12V vac. It’s small and light and I only use it after I’ve swept the bedrock clean to extend the battery. Going left from there is a one gallon canvas sample bag and my sweatband. Some guys pay big bucks for sweatbands. I’ve found that if you take and old T-shirt and cut the bottom 1″ or so off before you throw it out, that will make a perfect headband. Cut it and make one long piece. Now double it and it will fit around your head. Take the ends and stick them through the loop and tuck them under. It has just the right amount of stretch to stay put..although sometimes you have to remove it and wring it out. Moving to the middle row on the left is the hose to my vac (I’ve also got a smaller nozzle for it) and then my main tool – the scoop (replaces a shovel). It’s cut from a one gallon plastic bottle. A heavy duty bottle is best. I get lemonade syrup at Costco in these bottles and they’re just right….strong and light and flexible..perfect! Last is a heavy duty canvas tool bag for the crevice tools…the rock hammer (replaces a big pick on most trips), sturdy brush, 3 prong hand rake, smaller scoop, assorted brushes-wires-tweezers. The gray box is a 12V gel-cel motorcycle battery. There ya’ have it.

Here’s the process:

Hike the dry creek bed and look for a likely spot. Unload yourself and take everything out of the pack. Stack the classifiers on top of your bucket (not the 20 mesh). Now break up some dirt off bedrock with the hammer and rake and scoop it into the top classifier. Shake it all down through the screens Take your screens apart and visually check for nuggets and toss the rocks. I like the black Keene screens because you can “dry pan” them in the air and save only the last bit to check. When you’ve got a gallon or two of 1/8″ in the bucket you’re ready to drywash the sample. I simply hold the DW down with my left foot as I feed the material with my large scoop and pull the string with my finger. It only takes about 5 minutes to run a couple gallons. Dump the material from the riffles of the DW into your pan. Next dump all material from the pan into the big Scoop. Now use the 20mesh screen and screen the material back into your pan. At this point you will have +20mesh still in the screen and -20mesh in your pan. You could dry pan that material at this point, but it’s usually such a small amount I just transfer it to the big scoop again and dump it in the canvas sample bag to carry out. Now put the +20 mesh stuff into your pan and shake it into the corner. Using a few shakes and taps, spread it out and take a look for pickers. You can use your finger to dig through this a little to help the process. The gold in the pic is from yesterday. I tested four areas with a skunk before I found the paystreak. This cleanup was from less than 2 gallons of screened material off bedrock. I think I’ll be going back with bigger equipment. That’s what sniping is all about.