Sniping

[oneguy]

I've only done the creek crack scratch thing maybe 5-6 times.  My sucker is like the bottom Quick Sniper you posted above and in my opinion works well? I also like it where the nozzle does NOT extend up into main tube a few inches to hold the gravel so that you have to remove cap/nozzle to free up the gravels.  I like the nozzle to be flush with bottom of main tube so in two fast strokes you can fill and empty into pan or bucket without taking it apart to release the gravels?  Suck, raise sucker up in air FAST, swing over bucket, push plunger down, gravels in bucket..... jmo

[blackjack]

15 hours ago, Northeast said:

Hey RR.  Definitely would be helpful but unfortunately (or fortunately) we are not allowed to use vacs or any sort of dredge in Australia.  

Unfortunately because it would be cool to give it a go and a tiny dredge would not do a great deal of damage.  
 

Fortunately because I am a bit of a greenie and the mess left behind by big suction dredging and whole scale working of rivers is both damaging to flora and fauna and very ugly to look at - often in what should be pristine and protected environments.  

Just my personal opinion, please don’t hang me for it  😉

 

 

 

Tasmania is the same, no power of any sort, even a battery powered mini dredge that moves tiny amounts of gravel. You can however use a stream sluice provided it can be easily carried by one person, a pretty piss poor criteria, is that person my 100 year old grannie or a 17 stone gym junkie. Unfortunately N/E rules have to take into consideration the' dickhead' factor, they are not made for sensible people. I for one won't hang you for being a greenie, I would hope every one on this forum wants to maintain the natural environment.

[Northeast]

23 minutes ago, blackjack said:

You can however use a stream sluice

Yep, can use a small sluice and can use a high banker.  Can use mechanical stuff to shift water (for the highbanker) but not to extract gravels.   Any extraction is hand tools only.

We also have excluded streams - about 70 of them - where no form of prospecting is apparently allowed.  That is a bit of a grey area though as it is a very old rule and actually speaks to ‘occupation’ for the purpose of prospecting or something to that effect.

28 minutes ago, blackjack said:

rules have to take into consideration the' dickhead' factor

Unfortunately, yes.  Bit like our miners right stating the need to re-fill your holes when detecting and that still doesn’t get done  🙄

[blackjack]

9 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

Northeast  

 It’s more than one way to skin a cat 🐱.

 You can make one yourself are maybe buy one and this a suction pump that’s made out of pvc . Just do a search on what I’m talking about. 
 I’ve never had the need for one but it works fair pulling material out of cracks when a vac is not available.

 We have one of the major gold states you can’t use a dredge anymore. So we can relate to your problem. 
If can find a picture of what I’m talking about I’ll post it for you.

 Chuck 

Hey Chuck, thanks for your interest, I can't speak for others, but in past years I have worked the river we are now in without much success. I've tried panning, sluicing, cleaning out crevices with suction pumps, breaking my back putting as much gravel as I could through a river sluice, with disappointing results, I had moved on. Two years ago I came across a youtuber called Levi Tassie Boys Prospecting, he was sniping, with what appeared to be great success. Levi keeps his locations secret, but I recognized the river he was in, the same one I had worked without success. I was lucky enough to meet two guys that had never done any prospecting but were following Levi. They gave me the chance to snipe in remote locations in company and I fast tracked them onto gold, we were all new to sniping, but in our first season last summer we did better by far than I had ever done using traditional methods. The key to sniping's success is in the name, you can see the gold. It's really surprising how small a piece you can see, for instance last weekend we got 0.15 grams which consisted of 20 pieces of gold, so pretty small. And yes we don't get onto it every time. 

[blackjack]

16 hours ago, Northeast said:

I wonder if at some time in the past, if on a valley floor, the water may have actually run 90 degrees to where it now runs and therefore the parallel crevices were at one time cross crevices?  Not sure if that’s possible on the location of which you speak?  
 

I know the river I intend to work the most has quite a wide valley floor and at some time in the past the river would have flowed right across the floor and at all different angles. 

I think it may be more a case of the amount of time it takes for a crevice to get gold in it. Also I think gold only moves during a flood event, so you need to think about the whirlpools eddies and cross currents that are in a river during a major flood.

[blackjack]

As Jim points out Sniping is a cheap low impact way to find gold, as well as the right wettie this is all you need. Good eye sight is needed so reading glasses lenses taped to my mask was my solution. my partners are half my age so their eyesight is still good. Rivers are dangerous so the only other thing you need is someone to go with.

[blackjack]

2 hours ago, oneguy said:

I've only done the creek crack scratch thing maybe 5-6 times.  My sucker is like the bottom Quick Sniper you posted above and in my opinion works well? I also like it where the nozzle does NOT extend up into main tube a few inches to hold the gravel so that you have to remove cap/nozzle to free up the gravels.  I like the nozzle to be flush with bottom of main tube so in two fast strokes you can fill and empty into pan or bucket without taking it apart to release the gravels?  Suck, raise sucker up in air FAST, swing over bucket, push plunger down, gravels in bucket..... jmo

When working next to a stream sluice yabbie pumps are easy on your back to feed the sluice, not sure what they are called in the states, bait pump ??

[blackjack]

On 12/12/2022 at 2:05 PM, Tom T said:

Sniping is all I do anymore.

I “DO” run either a NOX or a Monster across crevices and shallow bedrock but even if I don’t get a signal, crevices that have oversized gravels that been “hammered” into the cracks by larger rocks get thoroughly cleaned. You can keep it simple or go all out. I’ve been known to use a vacuum along with a hammer drill with feathers and wedges to open up the deeper cracks. 😎

Wedges are a great idea. I use to carry a small crowbar, but even an extra couple of pounds can be a killer on some of our hikes. I've got an aluminum wedge, there's no shortage of rocks to hit it with.

[Ridge Runner]

Blackjack  

 Many years ago I wrote a article for GPAA on prospecting. I was in finer than fine gold and the only finer than what I was in would have to be Nome Alaska.

 The statement I made was How could a nugget hide behind a speck of black sand.

 When working with such fine gold it’s a lot of work getting a ounce of that metal.

 Chuck 

[blackjack]

4 minutes ago, Ridge Runner said:

Blackjack  

 Many years ago I wrote a article for GPAA on prospecting. I was in finer than fine gold and the only finer than what I was in would have to be Nome Alaska.

 The statement I made was How could a nugget hide behind a speck of black sand.

 When working with such fine gold it’s a lot of work getting a ounce of that metal.

 Chuck 

  That's funny, I'm new to this forum but I hope Reg doesn't read this, Hey Reg our nuggets float during the clean up !