tvanwho

His muscles are straining to hold that thing so it must be the real deal? Any details on it?

My Lobo and MXT scream on galena nuggets from sw Wisconsin but an ore assay only showed 2.5 ounces a ton of silver, so not very high grade, however it also had 0.13 ounces a ton of gold in it. It is solid grey in color. I tested this galena with my PulseStar 2 and got zero response.

So, does the New Treasure Depot still have a Tesoro forum too or is that also kaput? Yeah, I wish they would at least dump their old fashioned LCD green screens in favor of what Macro / Whites/ 1st Texas are using instead. I will keep my LST until it dies again. Its on its 4th life right now.3 times before died from water damage to the circuit board they told me. Granted, I was using it in swimming lakes and it did a darn good job , even got some silver and gold chains, but homemade waterproofing did NOT work, condensation always seemed to kill it sooner or later.

This is OLD Vermont news....what really galled me when I was in New England last year, was that Vermont says you cannot pan for gold with a digging tool other than your HANDS !!!! And in New Hampshire, you legally cannot use a shovel to feed your sluice, altho you can use your gold pan as a shovel of sorts. New Hampshire sells $50 permits for gold dredging but in Vermont, even if you get the sluice permit, you are required to tell the state exactly where you will be digging. In the White Mountains NF in New Hampshire, sluicing is ok without a permit. But at the spot I wanted to go to, the road had been washed out by a hurricane the year before and was impassable. Glad I checked with a local NF office before I tried to make the drive to that road. Plus, I was told that Trout Unlimited has pretty much shutdown all suction dredging in Maine. They would declare a state emergency every time they wanted to shut down yet another stream . The east branch of the Swift river is about the only place you can still dredge in Maine and then only for 3 months of the year. 15 years ago, you could dredge almost any stream. Not much gold left there anymore I was told.

I've ordered lots of gold getting stuff from Sam at Armadillo Mining. And she is in this video too I noticed. After you give up on getting stuff from Keene, call Sam at Armadillo and she will get it for you without all the hassles. Whites TDi detectors being used here too. How come nobody seems to use the original TDi anymore ,which is the one I bought?

sure wish I had his energy....

Best gold hunting video I have seen of pocket gold hunting in NW USA. Always wondered what this serpentine/greenstone really looked like plus contact zones, how to read geology maps vs Natl Forest maps, etc.. http://www.goldpannersguide.com/#!bookstore/mvjm7 Looks like I will be buying some more gold books/videos for my library from this place...not much info around on Pocket gold hunting.. One of their online videos is from ICMJ and explains how the western states got to where they are today, mining wise, and why all the hassles vs 1872 and whats being done to try to resolve it.

when will you be revving up the ol excavator?

the GPS? Global Positioning System?

I have a 2 inch suction nozzle dredge I built over the winter but have yet to float it yet.We usually try out spots in central Indiana, roughly within 100 mile radius of Indianapolis, where we can use up to 4 inch nozzles. If it were not for this years new crop of aches and pains,I'd be out digging/dredging/highbanking by now. But with 2 tennis elbows, I can't hardly lift anything yet, much less do dredging and dragging equipment around. Might have to wait til late summer, early fall much as I hate to. Getting old kinda sucks with aches and pains but as my father kept saying, it beats the alternative. Where do you go in Ohio ? Is the Swank farm worth traveling to from Chicago area? Isn't there a BIG gold show there every year? Is there any gold down by Cincinatti area in sw Ohio? -Tom

Unfortunately, where I go to prospect, there are no known gold veins or lodes ,only glacial placers in gravel deposits. Its always a detective game ,following the clues to a potential gold spot it would seem. Sometimes we get lucky, sometimes we don't ...

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/gold-can-grow-on-trees-pointing-rich-deposits-precious-metal-below-ground I was doing some research on Stunted trees as related to possible Plant indicators for gold and came across this website. Eucalyptus trees in Australia found 1 lucky geologist a big gold strike . I was told some trees I found that looked like they belonged in an evil enchanted forest could be indicating a rich mineral deposit close by? The same trees, just 150 feet upstream on this little gully are so stately by comparison, 100+ feet in height and maybe 2 foot thick trunks and thick leaf cover, whereas downstream the Evil trees have thick branches within 2-3 feet of the ground and might be 25 feet tall, short, fat, and UGLY. The gully starts out as black soft mud by the stately trees and is brush covered and dry by the stunted trees. The adjacent fields are gravel and there is a gravel quarry just north maybe 1/4 mile. And a large gravel bottom creek runs thru the area to the nearby river. I haven't been to the area in a long time cause there were hand size paw prints in the sand with 3 BIG toes and following a deer. I am assuming it was a cougar, not a coyote? I didn't feel like being cat food. I don't like guns either. -Tom

I wish they had telescoping shafts like on my camera tripod legs. You flick a lever up ,adjust to any length, then lock the lever back down, no spring loaded balls to mess with and almost infinite adjustment.

nice haul, was that an ocean beach or freshwater lake or?

Thanks for your insights guys. Hmm, what to do about the Apache Thunder god in Arizona next time I go there to gold hunt in the NF? I won't worry about it..but maybe take some Holy water just in case...and a Go Pro camera on a helmet with new battery and big memory card. My Canon SX50 camera was in my knapsack on this incident , wasn't about to try getting it out. Sounds like the rods work pretty darn good for you Jim. I've seen utility workers using them along the roads even tho the Electric company swears they don't use any such things.. Ps, I did some more research on dark blue mineral crystals. Blue Tourmaline crystals are hex shaped but flat on the ends. My crystal was hex shaped but pointed like a quartz crystal which fits the description of dark blue topaz crystals. And blue tourmaline is actually more greenish, not solid blue...

I keep on having strange things happen at sites I map dowsed for gold and minerals, one time for treasure. Just wondering if this ever happens to anybody else? This last time I am 95% sure I was talking to a ghost woman in the Maine woods and trying not to be attacked by her snarling white Labrador dog. She seemed to know I was searching for something? I was trying to find a gemstone deposit I had left alone in them woods 30 years previous when I had found this perfect dark blue pointed hexagonal crystal under a rock formation, long as my index finger, and flawless, sun shining thru it but could not bear to break it off...dammit...was in the right place at the right time for a change...might have been a dark blue topaz crystal I am thinking now... Somehow she knew I was looking to find it I am thinking? This woman looked just as real as anybody else that I see every day and ditto for her dog but I thought it was rather odd she was out in the deep woods wearing short shorts and the ferocious pooch NEVER once barked at me, just was snarling, growling, teeth bared, looked like it wanted to tear my face off, and unleashed, and she did nothing to calm it down...She also had a leather thing on her belt, by her hip, which she kept pointing towards me.It looked too small to be a pistol holster, am guessing it was about 3 x3 inches square. I had a heavy knapsack of rock busting tools and a 6 foot crowbar in hand but was exhausted from my hike up and down steep hills and trying not to fall down in the rocks along the creek. I was standing beside the creek, admiring the tumbling mountain waters when I turned around and the 2 of them were right behind me. She asked for my name and I gave her my first name. Then she says she was out for a walk in the woods to see who might be out there. I had got all my permissions arranged but she did not accuse me of trespassing. Just wanted to know what I was Searching for? I told her I was kinda lost and my car was parked by the ford. But she seemed to NOT know what a ford was until I explained it to her. So then she points up the hill behind her and says that trail will take you back to your car. I only took my eyes off her and the angry dog for a few seconds but when I turned back , she and the mean dog had totally vanished , no branches cracking, nothing...I took this event as a sign I should give up my search for the crystal deposit and hoofed it back to my car. When I went by the shop where I had to get the permissions, I related my tale. One of the workers lived barely 1/2 mile from where the incident happened and told me she didn't have a clue who the woman was? Dunno if I will ever get brave enough to go look for the crystals again now? Heck, how do you test if you are talking to a ghost vs a real person and that snarling dog? Heck, I couldn't move a muscle without that beast tensing his hind legs, looking to tear me to pieces... I never heard of ghosts guarding mineral deposits ,only pirate gold.... -Tom

Plus the video with the 11 x 13 coil is ALL in Spanish. Was wondering why I couldn't understand the guy?

Its tough getting old .....let the young whipper snappers do the rough and tumble stuff -Tom

SJM, I need a surgery which will hopefully get me back on track with mining if I can just find the right place to get it done? The parathyroid glands in my neck aren't working right and causing a mess of aches and pains apparently. Took 30 years just to get a diagnosis since the docs never checked my PTH numbers apparently and told me I was making all this stuff up, all was normal, its your anxiety, go see a shrink, etc, etc...one visit to the kidney doctor and BINGO...at least I know what the problem is now...I hate doctors but I guess they are a necessary evil at times...will try to get my big highbanker fixed up tomorrow...and go from there...we did go geode hunting Memorial Day weekend and got several buckets of them down in Warsaw/Hamilton, Illinois. Just need a pipe chain cutter thing to crack them open now. I also eyeballed some nice fossils in one creek bed including a 2 inch long, horn shaped coral thing with SHARP details, my 2nd horn thing. Will try to post a photo later. Another geode hunter from Oklahoma showed me a fossil starfish photo. He found this fossil by eyeballing in another creek in the area. It was resting on top of a piece of gray shale like it had just died there yesterday. Looked about silver dollar size. Fossil in bottom photo, stones I lost years ago but turned up when I lost my checkbook and tore apart the house looking for it. (Found it just as I was going to the bank to close my account )...top photo, meteorite supposedly from Canyon Diablo, note it is an Oriented stone, stone to right is white quartz, black skin, and AU sticking out of it, NOT heavy at all, dunno where I acquired it..?

SJM, you must be under 45 years old yet? Most of us pushing 60 are downsizing to 2 inch dredges and mini- hibankers as our bodies object to the heavier gear. Heck, I could barely lift my drill case today, damn elbow pain...looks like we will mostly be old timers on this forum in a few more years whether we admit to it or not...might better start writing our memoirs soon....

T shirts work for me

I like the BLUE sluice color, too bad we only get them in black or aluminum in USA or green LeTrap. Is it a no classify sluice? -Tom

Hmm, maybe my little electric dredge would work on the streets? 12 volt bilge pump,meant for underwater with 3/4 inch nozzle. Still have yet to use it.

Are they Civil War vintage or older or modern ? Not really worth much. 3 ring Civil war bullet drops are like a buck or 2 each.

I have a chance to go hunt for geodes in the Keokuk,Iowa/ Hamilton,Illinois area this weekend. Supposedly this is one of the best areas in the world to find the better geodes. Some even have oil in them I heard. How do I tell the ones with the larger hollows before breaking them open? Anybody got tips and tricks for geode hunting? How to break them open the gentle way? I hear they are in creeks and gray shale deposits in ravines. Thanks.