chickenminer

I'd say it looks like a gneiss to me also, and have to agree on the 'slots'. Don't think a piece of gneiss would be used to "sharpen" flint/chert arrowheads anyway. Cool pattern on the rock anyway!

delnorter .... that was a very nice write-up. Thank you for posting that with the photos. Jim would have liked it.

It appears that Jim's beloved Alaska Gold Forum is also passing away. Linda has decided to let it go.

Hmmm, I wonder if one of the audio visualizer apps could be useful for such a purpose?

Wow .... neat finds! Thanks for posting photos.

Tom, Hopefully you found something worthwhile by now but if not, the book I found useful for smelting and fluxes is "How to Smelt your Gold & Silver" by Hank Chapman, Jr.

For those Alaskans unaware, DNR has been trying to revise certain sections of the Alaska mining statutes. Our Alaska legislature is no better than the DC circus! DNR said the hell with them (my words) and has switched gears toward regulation change. I just received this notice. "Dear Recipient, The Department of Natural Resources proposes to change regulations on mining. The Department of Natural Resources proposes to adopt regulation changes in Title 11 of the Alaska Administrative Code, dealing with mining, including the following: (1) 11 AAC 86.215 is proposed to be amended to address requirements for mining locations on state-owned land. (2) 11 AAC 86.216 is proposed to be added to address overlapping and conflicting mining locations on state-owned lands. (3) 11 AAC 86.220 is proposed to be amended to address annual labor, recording and amending affidavits of annual labor, essential facts required for affidavits of annual labor, and cash payments made instead of performing annual labor. (4) 11 AAC 86.224 is proposed to be added to address penalties and eligibility to cure an abandonment of a claim or location under AS 38.05.265. (5) 11 AAC 86.541 is proposed to be amended to address conditions for termination of a tide or submerged land mining lease and to address default cures in lease contracts. (6) 11 AAC 86.590 is proposed to be added to provide definitions. Attached please find copies of the proposed regulations, the public notice and the Dear Alaskan Letter which goes into more detail regarding the Department’s proposed actions. You may comment on the proposed regulation changes, including the potential costs to private persons of complying with the proposed changes, by submitting written comments to the Department of Natural Resources, 550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1070, Anchorage, AK 99501-3579 or by e-mail to dnr.mining.regulation@alaska.gov or by fax to 907-269-8904. The comments must be received by the department no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, June 4, 2018. You may submit written questions relevant to the proposed action to: Joseph Joyner, Department of Natural Resources, 550 W 7th Ave., Suite 1070, Anchorage, Alaska 99501-3579 Fax: (907) 269-8904, E-Mail: dnr.mining.regulation@alaska.gov. The questions must be received at least 10 days before the end of the public comment period. The Department of Natural Resources will aggregate its response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and responses available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Login.aspx and agency website at http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/hottopics. For more information, a copy of the proposed regulation changes, or if you have any questions regarding the proposed regulations, go to http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/hottopics, or write to the Department of Natural Resources, Attention Joseph Joyner, 550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1070, Anchorage, Alaska 99501-3579; or call 907-269-8511. After the public comment period ends, the Department of Natural Resources will either adopt these or other provisions dealing with the same subject, without further notice, or decide to take no action on them. The language of the final regulations may be different from that of the proposed regulations. You should comment during the time allowed if your interests could be affected. Sincerely Joseph Joyner, Chief, Program Support Section, DMLW, DNR"

Bob, Nothing as nice as your piece of jasper but Tolovana river has some nice smaller pieces. All buried in snow or I'd take a couple pics for you. You nailed it on the conglomerate. Man there was some massive boulders of it though!

Bob, that bottom slab of chert looks familiar ! Love the jasper slab .... from Alaska? We picked up some nice jasper from a trip up on the haul road this summer. Some of those creeks have some wild conglomerate boulders !

Wow... I'm impressed you guys! Thanks for pointing out this USB camera. Did you have to add any external lighting or is that with just the built in LED lighting?

Jim, I am really sorry to hear that.

Steve, Thanks for info. No wonder I kept getting an error message ! That is a shame.

Wow... what a find. Thanks Steve !

Should of used a Hitachi ! Leave the kitty in the litterbox

Worked great on my win 7 laptop with IE and Chrome. Even with our horrible Hughes Net satellite system! Pretty cool !

Sweet ! Good luck with the mineral prospecting in 2017.

Wow... I'm jealous! Not even any oil leaks on those hydraulic cylinders! Find of a lifetime!

Well, I am not a big metal detector user but I visit the forum because there are folks on here whose opinions I value. So any additional forum outside the area of metal detecting would be nice. I like the rocks, minerals, geology idea !

Boy I hope so Barry. I can not stress enough how important this is for the small claim owner with unpatented claims. Once this designation happens you are forever after in the "withdrawn" status. When the Feds slapped a Wild & Scenic River designation over our historic mining district, they not only included the river but many of the side streams that had historic active mining claims! Very offensive to those of us that were here. Countless meetings and always we were told " don't worry, you have valid existing rights". We were assured this would not impact our existing claims or operations because we were not "new" operations. Well, guess what, all new regs have the caveat that these only apply to "new operations , or those on withdrawn lands" !! The last 30 years have been a constant battle over validity. Once they get you into their web of "withdrawn" status it is a regulatory quagmire headache.

For all the current claim owners within that area of withdrawal holding unpatented claims, I can not stress enough you must fight this with all your resources!! Do not listen when BLM tells you "don't worry, you have valid existing rights" ! The moment your claims become entwined in a Withdrawn Area you will forever be fighting over what "valid" means. The nightmare will begin!!

On that note. After a meeting with BLM Assistant Secretary, Ms. Janice Schneider, in Chicken, AK last May we Alaskans can now file an appeal electronically !

Now that was a hoot of a letter !! Thanks for posting Scott. It may have been meant tongue-in-cheek but boy is it apropos to dealing with government agencies these days !

Me too.... would love to see what it looks like after you cut and polish.

If there was a federal law that said all mining claims had to be economically viable, the BLM would not issue a single Plan of Operations without a validity exam having been performed. This has gone to court. Nothing in law says BLM must do a validity exam before approving a Plan (exception is for Withdrawn lands). The Prudent Man test and marketability only come into play if you are applying to patent or the government contests your claims, for some reason. Or, as above, your claims are on withdrawn lands.

Brett, Here is a sample pan out of a drill hole from some drilling I am doing up on a bench. Notice how different the stringer of gold in the left side of the pan looks from your "gold".