Sunday's Drywasher Trip

[nuggethunting]

Hello All,

Leaverite and I decided to head out to a small wash Sunday morning where we picked up around an ounce of smaller gold nuggets. I felt this wash would have good potential for fines and smaller pieces that are not detectable due to the nature of the gold and the small prospects where the local gold is coming from.

We set up my Keene 140 Drywasher and Vac-Pac and started working the small wash down to bedrock. We worked about 8-10 feet of the wash down to bedrock and then Vac-Pac all the cracks and crevices. After about three hours of work we decided to see what we had. Looking through the drywasher box we could see real small nuggets, small flakes and fines. All the gold was very cyrstalline, some still having small pieces of quartz attached.

We ended up panning down the concentrates when we got home. The show wasn't as good as we expected, but we still ended up with over a DWT of gold, maybe a bit more.

Didn't get any pictures, but shot a small video clip that is viewable by clicking the link below -

Take care,

Rob Allison

[vini]

Hmm just a lot of big gold what a bummer

[nuggethunting]

Hey Vini,

It's amazing how many nuggets you will find in a small wash here in Arizona and then come back and find very little with a drywasher. This is the 3rd or 4th wash where we picked up a bunch of gold nuggets and found very little gold drywashing.

Go figure ...

Rob Allison

[vini]

Probably because its close to the source/vein and the source gold is pocket gold so the pieces are still large ? I have seen that before in places up here, very little fine gold just nuggets.

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

Added a short video clip of the drywashing in the original post above.

Take care,

Rob Allison

[vini]

Looks good Rob I need to get my dry washer fixed up have several areas that could be worked the same way, next time i'm up taking samples to see whats in the crevices and exposed bedrock and quartz veins.

[montana]

Rob. I've found that in several washes in Az and Nevada it's nuggets or nothing almost. I figure just not enough pounding . When the rocks and gravel are mostly a soft schist or decomposing granite, it just doesn't knock the edges of the larger gold. Hard rounded cobbles seem to make for more fine gold. What about ground moisture or clay content? maybe not getting the best results from your drywasher?---Bob

[gotgold]

Leaverite and I decided to head out to a small wash Sunday morning where we picked up around an ounce of smaller gold nuggets.

.....The show wasn't as good as we expected, but we still ended up with over a DWT of gold, maybe a bit more.

Rob Allison

Geezzzz Rob, you sound disapointed, only an "ounce" of fines

It's sure been awhile since I enjoyed a $900.00+ day!

Gary

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

The section we drywashed we already detected and then came back and raked it out and found more gold. Most of the nuggets were small, under a Dwt in size, but very rough and some rock attached.

We plan on working the lower section where the wash is several feet deep to bedrock. The detectors couldn't penitrate to bedrock unless there was a big nugget. In this section we might get lucky to not only drywash up some gold, but also find a few gold nuggets to boot.

Montana - Most of the small washes I've found that have had a lot of gold nuggets seem to have very little gold. This is one reason I sold my Keene 151 a long time ago. Just couldn't find any washes that were productive enough to try to work. However, in the last couple of years I've found a few more washes and just couldn't believe they wouldn't have more gold. One of the better washes we haven't sampled as of yet.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison