HINTS TO PROSPECTORS.

Hi all I just love reading this kind of stuff, I hope you can draw as much enjoyment from the old newspaper article as I have. cheers


HINTS TO PROSPECTORS.

Gold Is Where You Find It.

DEAR "John,"
-Allow me to give a little advise to the unexperienced prospector. He need not study geology. All that is required is plenty of luck and he must be a thorough optimist, fond of walking and must never get tired of breaking stones. If he has luck he may go blindfolded, get bushed and his horse may kick him or his foot may kick against a stone that has gold in it. Some good shows have been discovered that way. No doubt luck is a, great asset in most everything, particularly so in prospecting for gold.
There have been men who have never been outside of a town or away from a farm, have gone, to the fields not knowing one stone from another and have found a good show. Within a few months they were looked upon as being great authorities on gold ore, geological ! formations and have blossomed out into what was generally called mining experts. Coming back to town they were sought out for their opinion or advice. They were introduced everywhere as the men who found such and such a show and disposed of it at a really high figure, even speculators took them in.
Therefore, prospectors, I can tell you that you never know how far you can get by simply following the game. Many have taken it on and never left off until they struck it rich or died. Some of them are still going on the outback fields. It is a very fascinating game! you never know when and how you strike it, therefore never, be idle. If you go prospecting let it be alluvial or reefing. If the latter, go anywhere. Keep any stone be it white, black or otherwise and have a good look at it. You may see spots. All that glitters is not gold. Dolly the stones and if there are any prospects , look for more:
If you find anything to work on start on your best looking spot. Put in a costeen, that is a trench, across the country east to west as most of the reefs or lodes strike a northerly and southerly direction. Very few east to west carry gold. If you strike a reasonable or good show the experts can tell you their opinions and all . the technical terms of rocks and they will be able to tell you where gold would be most prevalent. They will look wise and will tell you that you will have to do more work. They will put the compass on it and tell you how the lode or reef is bearing and when they see your prospects they will tell you to get an assay taken to make sure. I can tell you that : these experts are really clever once you find the gold. If you do not strike it rich keep on knapping more stones.
If you are looking for alluvial that is free gold laying about in the soil or otherwise look first at every little water course in a dip or little basin or on a bend and if you locate fine gold go further up as the gold at the source is always coarser, (not as someone who issued a book on prospecting had told his readers to go down hill for the coarser gold). If the gold by the agency of water, eruption or wholesale movement, found its. way more into flat country there is more or less what is called a deep lead. The further you go out from the source the deeper you have to sink to where the deposit occurred or to the bottom of the lead. Again if you are lucky you may make good and strike it in your first shaft or hole, but if the lead strikes a bar or stronger cross course it may turn off into somebody else's ground. If the ground around you is hot taken by others you can drive or crosscut down below or sink another shaft. If you strike it first go you can tell others that it was your judgment and you can again become an expert.
I give all the foregoing information free and let me tell you there are hundreds of thousands of ounces of alluvial gold buried about Kalgoorlie alone for you or the experts to practice on. Be an optimist and have good luck but you have to Work and work hard.

GUS LUCK, Victoria Park.

P.S.-In sinking, driving or any other work on. reef or lode formation or for alluvial, whenever possible scratch up the fines on the floor and pan that off. If you do not get any gold prospects in that there is not much in the lode. etc. Alluvial scrapings should be left in air for some time.-G.I».

Western Mail
May 1941
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/

its the old KISS rule all over !!

Not wanting to let a great string lie dormant - let me mention a usefull hint I use:

20 Liter buckets that we all use often get stacked one inside another. Sometimes the specifics of the mold that the manufacturer uses allows one bucket to later release from the other - and sometimes not. To compound that problem, weather systems bring changes in air pressure and temperature which often draw the inner bucket firmly into the outer one. Add a little rain or stream water and fine sand to 'cement' the gap between them and nothing in this universe seems to be able to get them apart!

Sometimes this leads to a furious screaming activity, complete with hammers, chisels, screw drivers, pry bars and wrestling matches. In the end, after the bleeding has stopped, one (or both) of the buckets is usually headed for the tip.

A few years ago my wife, unrecognized saint that she is, became weary of my antics and studied the situation. She took a short length of woven nylon cord (about the height that the bucket is long) and tied it to the handles of our buckets. When stacking them she would flick the loose end of the cord between the buckets, one at a time, to break the air seal.

Never a stuck bucket again.

So, does anyone have another hint to share?

ahh it takes a woman!!

good post KAEOJ.

KAEOJ wrote:Not wanting to let a great string lie dormant - let me mention a usefull hint I use:

20 Liter buckets that we all use often get stacked one inside another. Sometimes the specifics of the mold that the manufacturer uses allows one bucket to later release from the other - and sometimes not. To compound that problem, weather systems bring changes in air pressure and temperature which often draw the inner bucket firmly into the outer one. Add a little rain or stream water and fine sand to 'cement' the gap between them and nothing in this universe seems to be able to get them apart!

Sometimes this leads to a furious screaming activity, complete with hammers, chisels, screw drivers, pry bars and wrestling matches. In the end, after the bleeding has stopped, one (or both) of the buckets is usually headed for the tip.

A few years ago my wife, unrecognized saint that she is, became weary of my antics and studied the situation. She took a short length of woven nylon cord (about the height that the bucket is long) and tied it to the handles of our buckets. When stacking them she would flick the loose end of the cord between the buckets, one at a time, to break the air seal.

Never a stuck bucket again.

So, does anyone have another hint to share?

Great stuff you fellas, enjoy reading all you write and hope by offering this little tip, I can give something back.
I have found that when buckets become stuck together, by placing my foot on the handle and holding them vertical and at the same time holding the outer bucket while lifting it upwards 9 times out of 10 will separate them. This failing fill the inside bucket to about a third (give or take) with hot water and wait for a few minutes then try the above step again. Has never failed me

Gret Post James, Kaeoj & Billy, I have buckets in said condition and as most of my buckets are now pretty much weathered & gone brittle, These co-joined buckets are still in very good condition, Heading for my shed now.
Cheers
Ashley

G'day Ashley!

Let me address something that you (and many others) have addressed over the years - great quantities of concentrates just laying around from former "Expeditions 'd Oro" (Golding Trips).

Everyone (I did too!) brings concentrates back home "to work down someday". Over time the pile just grows until, in frustration, you just throw it on the garden.

If you have a location to run a sluice box, consider slowly re-running all those concentrates back through your sluice box.

Why not!?

The Gold will still be retained in the box and the rest of the concentrates will slowly process and pass through the box. Any Gold that was captured before will be caught again - so you will only be "loosing" non-Gold concentrates.

The one consideration is that you must go slowly enough for the non-Gold materials to work through the box. It is very easy to flood your recovery system when working just heavy concentrates - so just be aware not to go too fast.

So, take those 20 L buckets to the stream and work them down, the easy way, to a liter or two of "Super Concentrates".

If you begin to miss those buckets - just start saving those "Super Concentrates" in new 20 L buckets. Keep these new buckets under a tarp (or some other cover) to stop the Ultra Violet Rays (from direct sunlight) making them brittle.

Best of fortune!

Billy mate great tip thanks mate any more you can think of would be welcomed indeed. Ashley wishing you luck mate. KAEOJ great advice mate thanks.
Cheers James 101

Thanks James, Great suggestion for them buckets Billy, I now have 4 usable good condition buckets rather than 2 tallish ones, One came apart with the upside down foot through the handle method & the other succumbed to the hot water trick, Again thanks Billy.
Cheers
Ashley

No worries at all fellas glad it did the trick

Here is another one for those pumps with a 'garden hose' fitting on the pump.


At a hardware store buy a plastic (or DELUX model in metal) garden hose "Y" with two ball valves built into the two discharges. Very inexpensive.

Then find an old garden hose and cut a 2 meter end out of it (best to include the factory female assembly end).

In a store with a "Boat Supplies" section find a cheap, plastic, hand operated bilge pump / air pump. Usually red and about $10 (USD). Find the kind that is a simple tube with two ports (an innie and an outie) for either water or air. Slip the cut off end of your 2 meter hose over the "Innie" port and screw the female garden hose end to one of the "Y" ports. Replace the female end on the other, cut, garden hose (also put a spray nozzle on the male end) and screw the end with the replacement female end onto the other "Y" port. Close both ball valves for now.

To prime that pump all you need to do is open just the ball valve to the short hose segment (going to the hand pump), step on the lay flat hose for a moment (to seal it off) and pump the air out of the water pump. The outgoing air is replaced by water from the pump's intake hose. When you start discharging water from the hand pump close off the ball valve going to it.

The pump is primed and ready to go!

For sluice cleanup, shut off the water valve to the highbanker, keep the engine running at idle and open the ball valve to the garden hose with the spray nozzle on it. Use that spray nozzle to wash down the highbanker and provide spray water for your classifying and panning.

Thanks KAEOJ a very good point to remember. Indeed.

Gents,

I found a picture of that hand pump (Multi-Use Transfer Pump) to prime your pump and this link should take you right there. Of course, you probably don't have a "Harbor Freight" where you are - but a similar item probably can be found with a bit of searching.

" *Quickly and easily transfers any low-viscosity fluid, such as water & fuels.
* Use with the enclosed inflation needle to transform into an air pump.
* Ideal for changing oil, siphoning gas, inflating beach balls, and more. "

http://www.harborfreight.com/multi-use-transfer-pump-66418.html

Great stuff fellas!