29prospector Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 Well Keninla decided to come out for a 3 day adventure at the claims. The tractor guy opened up his trench a little for him and moved a few big boulders so he decided it was time to see the damage. I got out late friday afternoon due to a doctor's appointment. I going to post one picture of Ken's trench and let him fill in the rest. First thing Saturday morning, I cleaned up what was left from last Sunday and I beat myself up with the big Jack Hammer. Well this time I got smart and brought my Small Jack Hammer. I wanted to make a cut North to South across our hugh pit and see if I could locate anything that might carry gold. Well I finished the cut this weekend. Made my first jack hammer run mid-morning and spent the rest of Saturday cleaning up. Got down another 4 inches and got a few pieces of gold. I figured since I got things cleaned up and vacuumed I make another run with the jack hammer. Broke up what looked like a lot of material, but called it quits for the day.Ken and I enjoyed dinner a beer and were in bed by 7pm. We were both tired. About 1am the wind started blowing and it got down right cold, I just zipped up in my cold weather bad and decided I wasn't coming out til the sun was up.Ken loaded up his gear and headed home, wanted to beat the traffic and I don't blame him one bit. I stayed out and was going to run 6 buckets and see how it went. well I stayed most of the day and cleaned the cut completely and ran 24 buckets(2 gal.). Got a few more pieces of gold. As you look at the pictices you'll see what I'm up against. Got a total of 8 inches done today.O'29er/tired 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave wiseman Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 Bob, your doing great work brother,slow but sure.Hang in there.....Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29prospector Posted November 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 Bob, your doing great work brother,slow but sure.Hang in there.....DaveDave,Thanks for the note of confedence. The gold has been consistant but small. I know I'm still a ways from bedrock but I'll get there. Each trip brings a new twist to the project.Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djui5 Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 That sure is a pretty sunrise.I'll bet it's telling you that your quite close to a large vein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest keninla Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Yeah Bob and I had a good weekend digging in the dirt. Managed to get a little gold too.the pic is the approx. one pennyweight of nice gold that I got out of the hole I have been working. I am sure that there is more there.Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29prospector Posted November 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 That sure is a pretty sunrise.I'll bet it's telling you that your quite close to a large vein Thanks Randy. Saturday morning was just one of those kinda mornings.BobYeah Bob and I had a good weekend digging in the dirt. Managed to get a little gold too.the pic is the approx. one pennyweight of nice gold that I got out of the hole I have been working. I am sure that there is more there.KenTalked to Ron today and we may have the rest of those boulders moved by this weekend and the trench opened up about another 20-30 feet for ya.Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave wiseman Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Randy and Bob,speaking of veins,there must be some very rich veins in or under the caliche in The California and Az desert areas that are still in place.However I've never read or heard tale of them which makes it more likely to occur in my way of thinking.Ajfter all how many people would spend so much time and effort busting out that tough stuff.....Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djui5 Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Randy and Bob,speaking of veins,there must be some very rich veins in or under the caliche in The California and Az desert areas that are still in place.However I've never read or heard tale of them which makes it more likely to occur in my way of thinking.Ajfter all how many people would spend so much time and effort busting out that tough stuff.....DaveWell not many, which means that's probably where the good gold is...ssshhhh...don't tell anyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whats4supper Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 one just has to realize that caliche is false bedrock, and in between layers are more sand and gravels that may contain gold, maybe more valuable than those above. Calcium Carbonate solidifies into caliche when the weather is dry, and after it has been concentrated in the soil after several rains. Its not there because it was the orginal bed, but forms out of opportunity.If you take the grand wash, or the Pope wash, or any other desert wash for that matter, much of the detritus (gravels, sand, rocks) are a thousand feet to several thousand feet thick, and with each susequent layer, caliche formed and sealed off all below it and became the new false bedrock on the scene. many of these semms will trap water, that when a well is sunk into the sublayer, the water will flow out or shoot out, the basis of artesian wells and springs. You can usually bet that if the upper layers have gold, then it is reasonable to expect gold below, as the rocks and erosional process are likely the same or moreso. If chlorine gas get trapped below such a layer, you could almost bet to find better and more valuable concentrations of gold there.Going back to 29's situation, if you notice, they haven't even punched through the caliche yet, but the gold they are getting is coming out of the hole, meaning that the gold is part of the caliche. As caliche is a variable thickness mineral precipitate (inches to several feet in thickness, much like natural concrete), and not of volcanic origin or hot vapors which transported the original gold, one could reasonbly expect to get gold in deeper ground. The only way of course to figure this out would be to sink a shaft and sample the goods.There may be ancient river channels under the desert floor that support lucrative paystreaks. In the Sierras, when one of the old channels were located, it usually meant big and plentiful gold; especially if the ancient channel was capped by lava. Digging down via a shaft, then digging along gravel layers, is better known as drift mining, and anyone knowledgeable about arizona, prescott, octave, la paz, rich hill, and others, knows what the fruits of labor brought by searching for and exploiting gravels below the false bedrock layers above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 One thing for sure is Bob has been keeping everyone up to date on his progress. We all get to see it unfold and learn from his experience. I've seen the area and the hole and I believe there is some great gold to come. Time will tell...mick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COLORADO BOB Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 29 you better slow down a little. That hole is going to make an old man out of you.Bob T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29prospector Posted November 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Whats4supper,Very well put. Simple yet learning. Before we expanded the hole to the size it is now, I worked thru 3 different layers of caliche and each layer yielded larger gold. In between the caliche and rocks are small seams of granite and iron nuggets. These seams carry very heavyily. I did punch thru in one area and I know its downward I go. I'm trying to keep things more open as I work. I've dug enough shafts, drifts and stopes for this life time.Mick,I hope that my post don't get to boring. I want everyone to get a feel for what we are doing, but its not all fun and gold as you well know. Miss all you guys, come visit before summer.Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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