Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Discovery Channels Gold Rush Brings Prospecting to the commen man

The New Hit Series hits the ground running on friday nights these boys all want to strick it rich follow the misshaps and adventures , and watch out you might learn something in the meen time    discovery channels gold rush alaska-stakes its claim

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Gold bugs abuzz in quest for treasure



Hobby that can pay

Saturday, December 25, 2010  02:53 AM
Some folks are digging through cabinets, dresser drawers and jewelry boxes, looking for unwanted gold they can swap for cash.
Others are taking a more old-fashioned approach: They're pulling out their atlases, pulling on their waders and stepping into out-of-the-way streambeds in search of tiny flecks of gold.
It's nothing like the California Gold Rush of 1849, when hundreds of thousands of gold-seekers - or "forty-niners" - headed west, drawn by dreams of instant wealth. But a growing number of people are panning for gold - in Ohio and across the United States.
Travel companies are offering gold-panning excursions. Would-be prospectors are snatching up basic equipment. (A "starter kit" sells for about $39.) And gold-
prospecting organizations are reporting significant membership growth.
The biggest, the Gold Prospectors Association of America, has seen its membership double since 2007, when the economy started to sour. The association added about 15,000 people to its rolls last year, raising its membership to more than 45,000.
"Oh, it's boomed," said Patrick O'Masters, a 48-year-old heating-and-cooling contractor from Columbus and an active member of the association's Buckeye Chapter.
"I'm not surprised - with today's economic climate. Gold is a tangible asset. You can't print more of it."
Gold closed Thursday at $1,380 an ounce in New York futures trading, $48 below the record high of $1,428 set Dec. 6.
The metal is up about 29percent this year. The Dow Jones industrial average, in comparison, is about 11percent higher than it was on Jan.1.
"Spiking gold prices are sometimes the deciding factor to stop watching TV and actually go prospecting and experience it for yourself," said Brandon Johnson, president of the prospecting association, which is based in Temecula, Calif.
"That quarter ounce or couple pennyweight is worth a lot more now than it used to be."
Members of the association receive a patch, a bumper sticker, a window decal, instructional DVDs and a one-year subscription to Gold Prospector magazine.
More important, they gain access to privately owned prospecting locations that have yielded gold before.
"If you want to find gold, go where it's already been found," O'Masters said.
Nationwide, the association has about 1,800 claims. Three are in Ohio: the Swank Claim near Bellville, in Richland County; the Frazee Claim near Zuck, in Knox County; and the Lewis Claim near Lucasville, in Scioto County.
However, because the gold in Ohio is "placer gold" - that is, it was carried here by prehistoric glaciers - it can, in theory, show up in most any stream.
"You can find gold anywhere where the water slows down and creates a little eddy, like around a bend," O'Masters said.
He said he keeps an eye out for mineral-rich black sand, which can be an indication of a placer deposit.
"You don't always find gold with black sand, but you always find black sand where you find gold."
O'Masters thought he'd hit pay dirt on a recent outing in southwestern Franklin County.
"Aw, that's called 'Leaverite,'" he said, taking a close look at a speck that had caught his attention. "Leave 'er right where you found it."
Much of the gold in Ohio is ultrafine "flour gold." Bigger pieces - those you could pick up with your fingers - are known as "pickers."
Kevin "Golden Eye" Adkins, a 55-year-old maintenance supervisor from Hilliard, likes to talk about the picker he turned up in Ross County.
"I was kind of excited," said Adkins, who's been prospecting for seven years. "You never know what you're going to find."
Dennis Staskiewicz, 41, of Wapakoneta, knows the feeling. He found a 3-gram nugget in water behind a Circleville factory.
"The river was fairly dirty; there was garbage in it," he said. "I didn't think I'd find anything - and that was my best find in Ohio in 10years."
The Gold Prospectors Association of America says it worries that some people, especially those frustrated by extended periods of unemployment or dead-end jobs, will view prospecting as a path to riches.
"Not every full-time prospector can earn a prosperous living, especially those with little to no experience," the organization says on its website. "And, while some prospectors do earn a successful living, they are the exception - not the rule."
Hobbyists such as O'Masters, Adkins and Staskiewicz insist there's no need to worry about them.
They said that although they don't always find gold when panning, they invariably find something they value almost as much: a break from the daily grind.
"I enjoy getting out of the house, out of the city, out in nature," O'Masters said. "It's a great family activity: Big kids, water, dirt - that's a good equation."
And with gold forecast to hit $1,500 an ounce in the year ahead, it's a pastime likely to grow even more in popularity before it wanes.
jerry.revish@10tv.com

How to Remove Gold from its Impurities

Gold that is found in placer deposits in the form of fine grains or flakes is extracted by a process called goldpanning.  It is a simple and ancient way of removing gold and is cheap too.  The pan used is a shallow one and is measured in inches by its diameter.  Pans range from 10″ to 14″ in size and come in both metal and plastic.  They have a means for trapping the heavy elements when they are agitated. In goldpanning, the material is filled along with water and is shaken in a steady way to make the gold and other heavy elements at the bottom and the lighter elements which are unwanted are thrown away.  Native gold also appears in the form of nuggets which can also be separated easily as they are easily visible to the eye.
Gold ore is found as amalgam which is a combination of gold and mercury or as electrum which is its combination with silver.  In either case, a chemical process is used for removing the gold from such ores.  Some gold is also found embedded in hard rocks in the form of fine particles.  For extraction, gold panning can be done and also froth flotation is used for concentrating the gold.
Some of the gold ores contain sulfide minerals in larger quantities and here a chemical process of froth flotation has to be done.  Ore smelting is performed for removing the pure gold from its ore and here the process that takes place is called reduction of the metal, whereby electrons are removed.  This process is just the reverse of oxidation, but it is more than just melting of the ores.
A non metal oxide waste called slag is formed.  The gold ore smelting first involves crushing and milling the gold into dust and then it is classified by sizes.  If the gold is present in the form of very fine particles and is not well liberated from the parent rock, then the concentrates are treated with a chemical process of cyanide salts which is also called cyanidation leaching and then recovered.   
The gold dust is then melted in a furnace along with a chemical flux.  A slag which contains all the other metals in it such as copper, zinc and iron is formed and this can be removed.  What is left behind is pure gold and this is formed into bars.  Direct smelting is also possible.




Sunday, December 19, 2010

Gold not just sunlight and water

How to Take Out Gold from Its Host
 By: Ed Brown
In the past gold was believed to be a combination of sunlight and water as it shone brilliantly and was commonly found near water. From the ancient civilizations like Egypt and the cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, gold has been used as a symbol for prosperity. Gold mining is the process of extracting gold from the ground. There are many different techniques and methods for mining gold.
Some of the techniques are gold panning, dredging, sluicing etc. One method that was used in the past was the cradle method developed by Isaac Humphrey. In this method a wooden box with a handle on the side and a ridged bottom is used. The bottom is lined with Hessian cloth. The deposit is put inside the cradle where it is rocked violently with water from a creek. The finer particles go through the screen and any useless residue was discarded. This method allowed a lot of gravel to be examined and so was considered to be a better method than the gold panning method. These methods were however not suitable for commercial purposes.
Open cut gold mining and underground gold mining are used to extract gold for commercial purposes. In open cut mining, the mine will be excavated as a series of layers. These layers are called benches. This way trucks and other vehicles can enter the benches and provide assistance for mining like drilling and ore sampling. The machines are used to remove the rocks after which comes the sifting process. This method utilizes explosives like ammonium nitrate to break the rock. Doing so gets the job done with very less damage to nearby areas. In underground mining everything is done under the ground. A shaft is sunk about 1000 meters deep into the ground after which horizontal tunnels are dug. These tunnels allow the miners to access the gold deposits. The danger of the mine collapsing increases as the mines go deeper and deeper. Even though strict safety guidelines are adhered to by underground mining corporations by providing sufficient support for the walls and ceiling and supplying ample ventilation and lighting, there will always be the imminent risk of complete collapse. The underground mining method may produce results but it is expensive and highly dangerous. Today a wide variety of high tech machinery and techniques are used to successfully extract gold which is then used in its various forms.

Sarah Palin Goes Panning for Gold in Alaska

Sarah Palin panning for Gold

Monday, December 6, 2010

Gold Rush: Alaska

Premieres Friday, December 3 at 10PM ET/PT
GOLD RUSH: ALASKA, follows six men who, in the face of an economic meltdown, risk everything - their families, their dignity, and in some cases, their lives - to strike it rich mining for gold in the wilds of Alaska.  Inspired by his father Jack, Todd Hoffman of Sandy, Oregon, leads a group of greenhorn miners to forge a new frontier and save their families from dire straits.  While leasing a gold claim in Alaska, Todd and his company of newbies face the grandeur of Alaska as well as its hardships, including an impending winter that will halt operations and the opportunity to strike gold
GOLD RUSH: ALASKA The United States is the world's second largest gold mining country — behind South Africa.
1 Australia, Canada and, increasingly, developing countries also are major gold producers.
1 Southeast Alaska, the location of the claim at Porcupine Creek, is said to have an estimated $250 billion worth of gold yet to be unearthed.
2 The rate of gold discoveries in Alaska over the past two decades has increased exponentially. Almost 200 million ounces of gold have been identified in quantifiable resources since 1990.
2 The largest gold resources identified in Alaska have been at lode deposits in locations such as Pebble, Donlin Creek, Money Knob (Livengood), Pogo, and Fort Knox. About six million ounces of these discoveries have been mined to date.
2 Most U.S. gold mining occurs on federally owned lands in 12 western states, with Nevada being the source of most U.S. gold production. Other top U.S. gold producing states are Alaska, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
1 Most gold in the United States is produced at above ground surface (open pit) mines, though mining and production methods vary from location to location.
1 Gold is nature's most versatile metal. For thousands of years, it has played an essential role in savings, commerce, art, adornment, commemorations and religions. Contemporary society has added new roles for gold in modern technology and medical diagnosis. 1
 


  • BACKGROUNDER
    THE NEW GOLD RUSH / MINING

      Clay and Gravel

      Gravel and clay... what to look for!
      Snowbound is what we are… not enough to cause travel problems but enough to keep us from trekking through the woods.  It’s a good time to discuss where and how to look for gold…

      The Black Hills gold rush was mostly composed of would-be prospectors (we call them Greenhorns) looking for gold nuggets to be plucked out of the creek!  A small minority of those rushers knew their stuff… and generally were the ones who ended up striking it rich!

      We project that 25% of the population wants to be gold prospectors… of that 25%, maybe 1% know what to look for!  Most of the claim jumping on our claims is harmless; they don’t know where or what to look for so they just dig in the creek and probably find enough gold to figure out it is hard work for a few flecks of gold!

      Gravel bars are a good prospect.  This is rounded rock that has migrated down the creek through multiple flood events.  The gravel is deposited in layers with each successive season.  Gold is heavy, so it quickly settles through the layers to either bedrock or false bedrock. Gold found while digging a bit in the creek was probably deposited recently and it is doubtful you will find paying quantities.

      Here’s where it gets tricky!  You’ve found a gravel deposit… where is the gold?

      Clay can be false bedrock and will be either your friend or foe.  Clay bands are easily recognizable in an exposed bank.  They can be false bedrock that keeps the gold from settling to bedrock, but they are also what we like to call “a sluice robber.”  Clay in your sluice box will collect gold and carry it back into the stream. 

      We’ve encountered a variety of clays, everything from gritty red clay to slimy yellow smectite. 

      There are instances in the Black Hills of yellow clay being high-grade clay containing gold.   Historically documented near the modern day Gilt Edge Mine, is a gold rush era article stating, “recent strike at depth of 32 feet proven to be an immense flat body of rich ore resembling yellow mud.”

      All clay should be tested before sluicing to determine gold content.  Why??  We have trouble convincing “greenhorns” that the ore can’t be put in the sluice box and end up having visible gold in the box “disappear” with clay-bound ore. 

      So before you sluice suspicious ore, break clay balls and rinse ore extensively while panning.  This helps determine the gold content and whether or not the clay becomes water soluble.  There is a product called Clay Gone that will help break down the clay, or a few drops of environmentally-friendly dish detergent might accomplish the same purpose.  We also “clean” the sluice box before attempting to sluice gold-rich clay-bound material.  That way you haven’t lost acquired gold, but might recover gold from the clay.

      The Bear Gulch area is said to have a clay band within inches or feet of bedrock.  Between the clay and bedrock the gravel is said to be extremely rich in placer gold.  It would be assumed that the gold was laid down in gravel, some sedimentary event covered it, and eventually decomposed into a clay.  Through the eons other gravel was deposited upon the clay, creating false bedrock.

      We’ve also found, at another location nearby, a gold-rich iron-stained band above a grayish-silver clay, the clay band from 6 inches to 3 feet deep.  The clay looks like a decomposed bedrock.  We’ve never found what is below the clay band because penetration of the clay brings in water.

      In another region quite geographically distant, gold tends to be concentrated closer to the surface.  Some bands are completely barren of gold and others are low-grade.  We’ve found gray clay, more than likely decomposed porphrey, which seems to carry a lot of nice flour and small nuggets.  If  bedrock can be reached, very nice pockets of nuggets exist in a red clay zone which is blackish-red sand carrying small, rounded hematite nodules in abundance.

      Clay, therefore, is your friend because it may help collect gold to a specific layer.  It is your foe because it absorbs and carries the gold you are trying to recover!

      We can’t emphasize strongly enough… look for clay bands to test, but don’t run clays through your sluice box if it already carries gold!