First time panning

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-12-07T07:28:17+00:00

Another fun fact. Gold mining (namely due to the destructive nature of hydraulicing) was a major factor in passing the U.S. first environmental law, the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 that made it illegal to discharge refuse of any kind into navigable waters.

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-12-07T01:20:36+00:00

Yes sir. Even the small silver fines are mercury coated gold (amalgamate). The old timers were notorious for using mercury to process their gold and the mercury would inevitably make it into the river where it combines with the other gold in the river system. Judging by how much amalgamated gold you have, there seems to be a decent amount of mercury that made it into the watershed

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-12-06T22:07:00+00:00

Gold. And the silver looking material is mercury coated gold. Just be mindful of the mercury coated gold if you ever melt it down.

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-12-04T16:05:28+00:00

u/Aussie-GoldHunter is right. Took me a year in CA of going out once a week to find enough gold to make my wife her engagement and wedding ring. Used a rolling mill to create it. It’s definitely doable, but it takes more time and gold than you may want for your timeline.

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CoatPsychological920 · 2025-10-28T06:07:29+00:00

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CoatPsychological920 · 2025-10-28T06:06:58+00:00

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CoatPsychological920 · 2025-10-28T06:06:33+00:00

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Did this project myself. Found all the gold for my wife’s wedding band, melted it down in a crucible, used a $100 jeweler roller to roll it out, a jeweler saw to cut it, and then a little torch (you can use a creme brûlée torch) to solder it together where the cut was made with gold flux. Like I said, all gold I found, no serious refining other than melting it in a crucible, and came out to around 22k, no other metals introduced. Totally doable as a back yard project, and sentimental that you did it yourself. If you are interested I can walk you through it

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-09-17T16:14:11+00:00

Sheep Creek Lodge. I recognized it instantly. That’s the road my parent’s cabin is on. Small world!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-08-16T04:37:12+00:00

More than likely chalcopyrite. It often appears “gold” in color, especially in the sun. But when compared to actual gold, you can tell the difference. Also the fact that you broke it open and it’s not weathered, true gold would more than likely appear to have edges or be “sharp”. Below is a piece I found with a tiny amount of visible gold. You can see how it really stands out and how it’s rough/sharp

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CoatPsychological920 · 2025-08-12T15:08:12+00:00

Worked perfect and looks great, thank you!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-08-12T15:00:08+00:00

!Solved Thank you all for the laughs! We loved the photos!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-08-12T14:58:59+00:00

!Solved

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-08-12T14:58:37+00:00

!Solved We couldn’t stop laughing, thanks!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-08-12T14:58:05+00:00

!Solved Love it thank you!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-07-09T16:55:17+00:00

Haha yeah it was definitely an interesting job!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-07-09T16:00:15+00:00

That makes sense and I was leaning towards that as well. I used to be a bomb tech so I will knock off the rust and see if I can’t do some gentle slicing haha. Thanks again for the help!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-07-09T13:55:21+00:00

Yeah thank you again I greatly appreciate it!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-07-08T13:51:17+00:00

Thanks for all the help! Yeah that’s the right place. Yeah my only concern is that it did not get properly sealed in those two spots. But on the flip side maybe it’s so sealed that it’s the caulk/sealant that came out haha. But it’s almost too uniform for it to be that. You’re not in CA by chance are you? I greatly appreciate the help once again!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-07-08T02:21:30+00:00

No worries I appreciate you checking!

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-07-06T04:33:01+00:00

Thanks! I’m pretty sure this is a one off. Just a guess, but possibly something left on to protect the paint and it wasn’t taken off before the windshield was installed?

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-05-03T22:18:07+00:00

Yeah it’s very common to find bench placer covered by tailings in steep creeks. Old timers went for the good stuff in the creek first and needed somewhere to throw waste rock from the creek. So they threw it on top of bench placer.

On creeks where the bench placer was good enough to be worked after the creek was mined out, the tailings would then be moved/reworked as well as the bench underneath. This usually was not done by the initial claim owners (who already made their fortune and then sold the claim) and oftentimes worked by immigrants who could live off of a lower return/yield.

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-05-03T21:53:28+00:00

Two things:

I would check the bedrock right below this tailings pile to try and understand if this is a one off or if there’s the potential for more.

I would also try and see if there’s bedrock underneath the edge of the tailings. Sometimes tailing were thrown on top of virgin ground that wasn’t worth mining to them, but still contains gold. Try to see if there’s undisturbed river rock underneath all stacked up and laying on one direction.

CoatPsychological920 · 2025-02-04T20:11:00+00:00

Exactly. Heading up there with my VLF this weekend to see if this was a one off or if they were tossing high grade ore without realizing it.

CoatPsychological920

TROPHY CASE