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Author Topic: Gold Prospecting?  (Read 67645 times)

Offline Sean Kelly

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Gold Prospecting?
« on: April 24, 2007, 04:20:40 am »
Just curious to see how many Gold Prospectors we have on here!

I usally stick to the sluice and pan, but help run my grandfather's 3" suction dredge.  I just joined the GPAA last december and can't wait to try out some of their claims this summer.

Sean Kelly
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Offline beeginner

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2007, 05:16:25 pm »
OOOOO MAN thats no fair lol. Ive all was wated to ask you about gold prospecting ever time gold fever comes on ill watch it lol. I think its cool how thay can get the gold like thay do.  Have fun and get the big momma lol

Offline Bigeddie

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2008, 10:47:47 am »
It took me a year to find this thread but I did. Ya ,I prospect every winter in Az.  This year I didn't get to go as my brother had a lot of medical problems. I only metal detect out there and have done well. I have used other methods but always go back to the dectector. I belong to LDMA,GPAA and others. The gold shows may be fun to watch but don't believe half of what you see.Tom Massie plants gold on those shows,it just ain't that easy. They want you to join the club and get YOUR GOLD!!

Eddie
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Offline KONASDAD

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2008, 05:18:53 pm »
whats the most any of you have ever found?
"The more complex the Mind, the Greater the need for the simplicity of Play".

Offline Shawn

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2008, 06:33:47 pm »
Did you see gold is now up to an all time high of $1,000.00 an ounce. My kids want to go to CA. and go panning for gold. I was watching the 10 top treasures and gold prospecting was in the top 5, I think. I have three metal detectors, one for me and one for each kid. We go out to some old homesteads here in Colorado and look for coins, gold. The saying is the people use to dig a hole by a tree by the bedroom or the SE corner of the inside of the house, dirt floors. Still have not found any.  :(

Offline annette

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2008, 07:14:01 pm »
Gold was discovered just up the road from me in Coloma California. Gold prospecting  is very popular around here.

Bank of America has this enormous chunk of gold that was taken from a mine somewhere around here.

I have never done it, but it sounds like fun.

Annette

Offline Sean Kelly

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2008, 08:42:42 pm »
I've only found very small amounts of gold.  The whole west coast is known for it's gold deposits from all the volcanic activity.  Just like California, Oregon, and Alaska, Washington has had a few gold booms although not as popular or widely known.
You'll never strike it rich prospecting, but you'll have a blast and a experience you'll never forget.  There's no cooler feeling than seeing a little color in your pan after digging in the dirt all day.  I always keep a extra gold pan in my car, just in case I see a "promising" creek in my travels.  :-)

Yeah, gold prices are through the roof which is really neat if you've invested in gold or have a surplus of gold coins.  But natural placer gold isn't very pure.  After you've classified it down to 99.9%, that big nugget you've had is now really tiny.  Most of the time those nuggets are worth more in their natural form instead of melted down.

But who knows?!  They say the old timers from the gold rushes only discovered 2% of all gold out there.  That's still a bunch of gold just waiting for us to dig up and run through our sluice boxes or metal detectors!!!

Good luck to ya'll and may the bottom of your pan be yeller!!!

Sean Kelly
"My son,  eat  thou honey,  because it is good;  and the honeycomb,  which is sweet  to thy taste"          - Proverbs 24:13

Offline Moonshae

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2008, 10:03:11 pm »
As a side note, the thing I like about precious metals is that they were formed before the earth. Gold, silver, platinum, etc...all formed in supernovae...huge stars that formed and exploded long before our solar system even began to exist. Their "deaths" added complexity to our lives...and pretty much enabled them.
"The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with beer." - Egyptian Proverb, 2200 BC

Offline Bigeddie

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2008, 10:03:42 pm »
whats the most any of you have ever found?

I found about 200 + nuggets from 1 1/2 oz. down to match head size. Also found lots of coins, old bullet casings and other interesting things plus huge amounts of trash. Purity of gold varies from area to area,the most pure on the east coast. Az. gold I have is probobly about 93%. I found some near Randsberg Cal. that I know is not even close to that.

Gold is down to $910.00 today.
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Offline wayne

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #9 on: April 05, 2008, 11:35:27 pm »
  Now that the price is up, the Great State of Indiana has decided you need a Commercial Sand and Gravel Permit to work a stream they call navigable. That means any stream that has ever had any kind of traffic.
  The permit is $50 and comes with a stack of paper work.
I was born about 100 years too early, or to late.

Offline Bigeddie

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2008, 01:44:13 am »
Would that permit allow you to dredge?
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Offline Sean Kelly

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2008, 08:17:14 am »
Depends on your state.  Here in Washington it's nearly impossible to run a suction dredge.  They say it messes up the fish breeding and we can only do it during a short period during the summer.   It's possible but you need to go through lots of red tape.  Heck, even using a pan and sluice you still need to have a copy of the "Gold & Fish Pamplet" on hand while you prospect (they'll send you one for free from our state gov office in Olympia).

Sean Kelly
"My son,  eat  thou honey,  because it is good;  and the honeycomb,  which is sweet  to thy taste"          - Proverbs 24:13

Offline Shawn

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2008, 12:17:59 pm »
Wayne,

Im from Indiana, NE corner, but didnt know there was any gold there. Most of the streams I have visited are nothing but mud. I guess if you go far south things might be different.

Offline indypartridge

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #13 on: April 08, 2008, 12:30:14 pm »
Wayne,

Im from Indiana, NE corner, but didnt know there was any gold there. Most of the streams I have visited are nothing but mud. I guess if you go far south things might be different.
I'm about an hour south of Indy, not too far from Brown County State Park. I've seen a number of people panning for gold in the creeks and had a few prospectors come to the door and ask if they could check out the creek that runs thru my property. One old guy didn't want to mention "gold" and said he likes to walk the creeks at night with a flashlight looking for "shiny rocks".

Offline Shawn

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #14 on: April 08, 2008, 11:10:35 pm »
Now thats funny! We use to go to brown County for vacation camping, cant remember the lake. That is a different country down there compared to NE Indiana.

Offline taipantoo

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #15 on: April 09, 2008, 09:45:33 am »
It took me a year to find this thread but I did. Ya ,I prospect every winter in Az.  This year I didn't get to go as my brother had a lot of medical problems. I only metal detect out there and have done well. I have used other methods but always go back to the dectector. I belong to LDMA,GPAA and others. The gold shows may be fun to watch but don't believe half of what you see.Tom Massie plants gold on those shows,it just ain't that easy. They want you to join the club and get YOUR GOLD!!

Eddie

I prospect and mine for gold.
I'm also a member of the GPAA.
I've spent many weeks with Tom & Cindy and Perry, Sandy, & Georgia.
In fact, Georgia is well acquainted with my grand daughter Tabitha.
I've been with Tom when he got skunked and it is on film and in his show.
There is no need for him to lie, exaggerate or "salt" his claims.
Prospecting isn't that easy and Tom would be the first one to tell you so.

I take great exception to your deformation of Tom's character in a public forum especially since he isn't here to defend himself.
This type of behavior is clearly against the rules and I think an apology is in order.

This is a picture of a pan from the beach half way from Cripple River Camp to the Sennic(SP?) River.
The gold you can see is probably about 15% of the gold that was in the pan.
Pretty big pieces for off the beach, but if you do your prospecting, it can pay off.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_0219.jpg

This is a picture of my wife, Tom, & Tom's daughter Kea(SP?) up at the trommel operation.
My wife and I stayed late after everyone else left because we were doing so well.
Tom was there with his daughter prospecting to make sure the diggings were still good and they didn't have to move the high bankers.
We assured him the diggings were great.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_0217.jpg

This is a picture of my grand daughter Tabitha and Perry's daughter Georgia on our way to the trommel operation during a blueberry picking rest stop.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_1398.jpg

Offline Bigeddie

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2008, 08:24:57 pm »
It took me a year to find this thread but I did. Ya ,I prospect every winter in Az.  This year I didn't get to go as my brother had a lot of medical problems. I only metal detect out there and have done well. I have used other methods but always go back to the dectector. I belong to LDMA,GPAA and others. The gold shows may be fun to watch but don't believe half of what you see.Tom Massie plants gold on those shows,it just ain't that easy. They want you to join the club and get YOUR GOLD!!

Eddie

I prospect and mine for gold.
I'm also a member of the GPAA.
I've spent many weeks with Tom & Cindy and Perry, Sandy, & Georgia.
In fact, Georgia is well acquainted with my grand daughter Tabitha.
I've been with Tom when he got skunked and it is on film and in his show.
There is no need for him to lie, exaggerate or "salt" his claims.
Prospecting isn't that easy and Tom would be the first one to tell you so.

I take great exception to your deformation of Tom's character in a public forum especially since he isn't here to defend himself.
This type of behavior is clearly against the rules and I think an apology is in order.

This is a picture of a pan from the beach half way from Cripple River Camp to the Sennic(SP?) River.
The gold you can see is probably about 15% of the gold that was in the pan.
Pretty big pieces for off the beach, but if you do your prospecting, it can pay off.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_0219.jpg

This is a picture of my wife, Tom, & Tom's daughter Kea(SP?) up at the trommel operation.
My wife and I stayed late after everyone else left because we were doing so well.
Tom was there with his daughter prospecting to make sure the diggings were still good and they didn't have to move the high bankers.
We assured him the diggings were great.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_0217.jpg

This is a picture of my grand daughter Tabitha and Perry's daughter Georgia on our way to the trommel operation during a blueberry picking rest stop.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_1398.jpg

It took me a year to find this thread but I did. Ya ,I prospect every winter in Az.  This year I didn't get to go as my brother had a lot of medical problems. I only metal detect out there and have done well. I have used other methods but always go back to the dectector. I belong to LDMA,GPAA and others. The gold shows may be fun to watch but don't believe half of what you see.Tom Massie plants gold on those shows,it just ain't that easy. They want you to join the club and get YOUR GOLD!!

Eddie

I prospect and mine for gold.
I'm also a member of the GPAA.
I've spent many weeks with Tom & Cindy and Perry, Sandy, & Georgia.
In fact, Georgia is well acquainted with my grand daughter Tabitha.
I've been with Tom when he got skunked and it is on film and in his show.
There is no need for him to lie, exaggerate or "salt" his claims.
Prospecting isn't that easy and Tom would be the first one to tell you so.

I take great exception to your deformation of Tom's character in a public forum especially since he isn't here to defend himself.
This type of behavior is clearly against the rules and I think an apology is in order.

This is a picture of a pan from the beach half way from Cripple River Camp to the Sennic(SP?) River.
The gold you can see is probably about 15% of the gold that was in the pan.
Pretty big pieces for off the beach, but if you do your prospecting, it can pay off.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_0219.jpg

This is a picture of my wife, Tom, & Tom's daughter Kea(SP?) up at the trommel operation.
My wife and I stayed late after everyone else left because we were doing so well.
Tom was there with his daughter prospecting to make sure the diggings were still good and they didn't have to move the high bankers.
We assured him the diggings were great.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_0217.jpg

This is a picture of my grand daughter Tabitha and Perry's daughter Georgia on our way to the trommel operation during a blueberry picking rest stop.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/taipantoo/100_1398.jpg



Go to Stanton Az. LDMA camp, ask around. Ask Mr. Massie him self. No one goes out with a Tosoro Lobo in a afternoon and gets a hand full of specimens with no dirt on them. It's T.V., they can't film for days and just dig trash, now could they. The fact that they plant gold don't make Tom a bad person, it just makes interesting shows. The Massie family did a lot for prospecting and don't forget the prospectors have done a lot for the Massies. I'm not saying he plants gold all the time,but metal detecting is a lot different than panning.

In conclusion I will not apologize for what I and a lot of other people know to be true. Also I don't believe Perry has ever planted gold.

Well, good luck to you with your prospecting even tho we see things differently.
God bless Us all!!

Offline Sean Kelly

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #17 on: April 10, 2008, 05:44:24 am »
...It's T.V., they can't film for days and just dig trash, now could they.

Yes it is TV, but you're wrong.  They do dig trash and film for days.  If they showed all of the film they make for just one episode, the tv show would go on for days.  They take the good parts, cut those up, and make a great hour long show.  I'm not a metal detector guy, so I don't know the work involved, but with the knowledge that Tom Massey has, the equipment he has access to, and all the great property the GPAA & LDMA that he has, there should be no problem finding a little flash in the pan each episode.  Some episodes he's found nothing!  And the ones where the pan is completely covered is usually a major group effort over several weeks and what you see is just the end result.

Sean Kelly
"My son,  eat  thou honey,  because it is good;  and the honeycomb,  which is sweet  to thy taste"          - Proverbs 24:13

Offline Bigeddie

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #18 on: April 10, 2008, 09:12:40 am »
Believe what you want. I was at Stanton twice while they were filming. They also bring gold to the outings and add it to the take or all the people wouldn't get a cut. I've been there and seen lots of things go on in the last 7 years. One young man from Fla. watched the films and it looked so easy that he was going to make a living with a metal detector. Well ,2 months later and thousands of $ worth of equip., NOT 1 (ONE) nugget. He had to just about give his equip away for gas to get back to Fla. I know lots of people who have $4000.00 in equip. with no gold. Why do you think people would spend that kind of money unless they thought finding nuggets was easy, and what made them think it was easy. I could tell lots of stories, good and bad, but folks believe what they want about their heros and politicians,so enough said by me. By the way when I watched them film, it was a couple of hrs. not days.
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Offline Shawn

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Re: Gold Prospecting?
« Reply #19 on: April 10, 2008, 03:04:28 pm »
I really liked the topic when people were talking about gold and finding gold instead of arguing about TV.