NvDoug Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Happy Fathers Day Dads. . .I have been able to dedicate more time in the field and went out yesterday and finally scored my first (natural) gold with a metal detector (3500)... I have always looked in areas where I thought looked pretty good, looking for that virgin patch... I had to break down and go to where old timers had been before and low-and-behold... they missed some. The smaller piece has alot of visual gold which I will leave as is. The bigger rock only has 2 specks of gold showing, but seems to be pretty heavy. Is there a way to clean up the iron stain on the small rock without buying a gal. jug of acid?Yeah!!! I have had the fortunate experience to handle more gold than most people will see in a life time. BUT... nothing put a bigger smile on my face than the gold that "I" found and can call my own.Take care and be safe,NvAuMiner - Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted June 16, 2013 Admin Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Hey Doug, Congrats on the new finds. Specimens are always nice with the white quartz and gold shot through it. Did you find them in a mine dump or just out detecting the normal landscape (washes, hillsides and such)?Wishing you many more. Rob Allison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NvDoug Posted June 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Hey Rob,Thanks, I found these in an old dump, right beside a ba-zillion bullets and bullet fragments. Sometimes I wish target shooters would set up paper target to practice on. But!!! I cant say that I never picked out a rock on a dump pile and took a crack at it. My wife and I are headed out in the morning to try and end my long weekend with a few more.Catch ya laterDoug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredm Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 nice speci's...I think they are pretty in their native state...good luckfred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulder dash Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Very nice bet there are lots left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NvDoug Posted June 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 Thanks guys. . . I hope there are lots left. I wittled on the bigger rock and was able to get it down to the size of the smaller one and it is pretty soild and heavy. I pulverized the pieces I broke off and panned it out with only lost a few specks in down sizing. A friend told me to soak them muriatic acid to clean up the gold. I picked up a quart and are soaking them now... Not sure of the timeline on soaking process .. so I will just keep checking them.Any advice is appreciated.Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NvDoug Posted June 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 Cleaned up 2 + 2 more,I cleaned up the pieces from the first post and found a couple more in the mean time with my GP3500. The bigger piece in the first photo that only has a spec er two showing is now the piece on the left in the second photo.. It ended up having some nice gold under all that rock!! There was more out there!! I picked up that little piece and received a weak signal from that big piece of quartz in the 3rd photo.. (sorry for the blury pic.) The quartz has a very fine layer on it that I think is gold. It is not shinny but there is enough there to even make my Tesoro LST zip to it.. Found some interesting old workings in another area as well..Stay cool.... It was 104 out here today and suspose to be even hotter tomorrow and the days to follow..Good Luck & Be Safe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldbug Ron Posted June 30, 2013 Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Doug, what area were you hunting at. Sounds like the mines down south of Hawthorne.Goldbug Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NvDoug Posted June 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Hey Goldbug Ron,A friend of mine lived in Mina or Luning as a kid, just south east of Hawthorne. He said his dad was a rockhounder to the tilt and he used his brother and him to pack "rocks" off the hill to the truck. Back at the shop his dad would cut and polish them and then sell them. He had no idea what they were. He mentioned that the areas they went to are east of town.When I started my mining career I was a refiners helper(which seems like a lifetime ago)... I was well schooled as not to talk about shipping dates and oz's poured for the month. When I was asked and I was asked a lot, I just said, ask my boss. I have tried along time to find natural gold with a detector and I, as many. . . appreciate all the tips and helpful information schooled prospectors have shared on this and other forums. Ron, I mean no disrespect. . . But I am going to revert back to my schooled ways and not talk to the area of where I have been lucky.I mentioned in a previous post using muratic acid to clean gold, as someone had mentioned to me. Yeah.. that is nasty stuff and it reminds me of the nitric acid that I used to clean the silver scale off of heat exchanger plates. DO NOT USE MURATIC ACID!! I dont want anyone to get hurt by it. I have since used a much simpler and safer way.NvAuMiner,Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Border Boy Posted June 30, 2013 Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Doug,Great job, I love to scan ol dumps or ore stockpiles. A lot of the old mines have stock where the ol'timers would put the lower grade stuff when they could only afford to ship the higher grade ore to the mill and some of the old low grade is high grade to us. Keep at it and hope you find much much more.Justin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NvDoug Posted July 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2013 Hey Justin,Thanks for the tip... I will be sure to check for low-grade stock piles away from all the rest.... matter of fact I have a few piles that need checkin in mind already.I took my center punch to the rock in the 3rd pic in post #7. That cramp wasn't gold on the outside of it. The gold that was making the noise was on the inside.... Very shinny and small chunck of gold stuck in the rock and through a loop you can see gold in the seams/cracks of the quartz, very prudy.....Take it easyDoug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkirkll Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 Cool Post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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