Point Bar Public Mining Claim

Posted on June 20, 2010 by Miner Joe

If you are ever up the Arkansas River Valley near Salida, Co, be sure to bring your mining equipment with you. The public mining area at Point Bar, part of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, is jointly maintained by The State of Colorado, the Gold Prospectors Association of America, and the Bureau of Land Management. The gold is fine, but plentiful in this area, so it is a worthwhile stop.

If you plan on using motorized equipment (highbankers, dredges, etc), you will have to visit the the BLM office in Canon City or Salida for a permit. Additionally there are restrictions on the use of dredges during certain times of the year when fish are spawning. You can check the BLM website for more details.

If you are just using a pan and sluice, you do not have to worry about permits. Be sure and bring a bucket and shovel, because the best areas are a ways from the River channel.

You should be able to see where others have been digging. Chances are, that if others have been digging there, you will find gold there as well. The overburden is fairly light at one to two feet thick. Below that you will hit a caliche layer from the ancient river bed where the Arkansas River flowed thousands of years ago.

This caliche layer is where you will find the most gold. It can be tough digging as the old round riverbed rocks are nearly cemented together from the chemical makeup, time and pressure. Be sure and wash the bigger rocks off. I usually bring two buckets with me… One empty and the other about half full of water to wash the rocks off in.

I normally use a half-inch mesh and classify everything down to a small size before sluicing it. This makes the sluice box run much smoother and the gold recovery higher because you don’t have the bigger rocks carrying your fine gold out the end.

My bucket with the water in it, I run through the sluice or just pan out. Most of the material is pretty fine in it, so it makes it a pretty easy job to pan or sluice. I usually save the concentrates from my cleanups until I get home.

You can take a cleanup wheel or recirculating mini-sluice to do your cleanup with. This makes for an easy time, but I usually work the sluice until dark, so I can get as much gold as I can while I am there.

Here are a few pictures from my last trip to Point Bar back in March. Notice the snow on the mountains around me…

Point Bar Diggings on the Arkansas River in Colorado

Point Bar Diggings on the Arkansas River in Colorado. Notice the reddish color overburden. The off-white material below is the caliche where the majority of the gold is found

Snow on the nearby mountains

Snow on the nearby mountains

The Arkansas River is pretty low and mild before the Spring snow melt

The Arkansas River is pretty low and mild before the Spring snow melt.

Salida Colorado

A view of the nearby "Fourteeners" from downtown Salida, CO... just a few miles North of Point Bar

Tailing Piles

These rock are from the highbanking operations that have been taking place at Point Bar

A few last notes. There is a public restroom in the park, but don’t expect to use it during the Winter or early Spring as it is locked up tight… Bring a port-a-john with you! Camping is allowed here, but be sure and have a fire pan if you plan on building a fire. Rules are rules and the Park rangers do enforce them.


Related Blogs

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Prospecting Tips and Tricks

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Miner Joe

Prospecting is a fun past-time that many of us enjoy. We all know that when we find gold it makes it that much more enjoyable… And when we find lots of gold… Well… Its an all out party then! Here a few tips to make your next trip out more rewarding (don’t forget to invite me to the party ;-) )

Did you know that geologists estimate that only 5% of the gold has been removed from the Earth. That leaves a heck of a lot of gold out there for us prospectors to find. So lets get about finding that stuff.

If you are heading to a new area, do a little homework before you head out. Find topo and satellite maps of the area where you are going to identify possible hotspots before you arrive. This can save a lot of wear and tear on the old feet from having to criss-cross possibly hundreds of acres looking for that one good spot.

You can find maps online or you can order them. Having a good hard copy topo map is always a good idea when you’re heading into a new spot. Plus if you have a map you can mark it with the spots that you identified in your research, making it a heck of a lot easier to get to once you arrive at your destination.

Another thing to look for on your topo map is historic mines. If there are old mines in the area, the prospect of there being gold there is greater. After all, they didn’t dig that hole in the ground to get dirt! If a creek or river passes through that area… Bonus! There should be gold in that stream bed.

If your area includes a waterway, identify the bends in it and check them for deposits. Also large rocks boulders tend to trap gold. Anywhere the stream slows, there is the potential for gold because gold is heavy and tends to drop where the current is slowed or encumbered.

When digging look for bedrock and false bedrock. Many ancient river beds that may no longer have water in them have false bedrock that is rich in gold. These caliche layers are easily identified becuse they are usually much lighter in color (nearly white at times) than the soil above them. There will also be water washed rocks and gravels (smooth edges and round in shape) cemented together in these areas.

You will find gold on top of these caliche layers and embedded within them. Its a good idea to have a large pick and a strong shovel for these layers. Wash all of the larger rocks off before discarding them, then classify the remaining material down to a workable size. A high-banker works well with this type of material, but it can be processed with a pan, as well.

Look for quartz and black sand in the area. Quartz and gold deposits require the same geologic forces to be created. When you find one, you won’t necessarily find the other, but quartz is usually a good indicator of the possibility of gold in the area.

Orange and Yellow stains are indicative of copper and iron ores. These ores are what make heavy black sands. If your area has gold and you find black sand, you are usually going to find gold in the same area. Heavy materials tend to settle into the same spots.

Look for exposed bedrock. Water and climate conditions erode deposits and the density of gold causes it to settle at the lowest levels… i.e. On top of bedrock. If you can find exposed bedrock, you can check the crevices for gold. Also if there is exposed bedrock, there should not be too much over-burden in the surrounding area so you won’t jave to move too much material to get to the potential gold deposits.

Use a metal detector or pinpointer to check the crevices and the holes you dig. This alone can be a huge time-saver. No sense in digging up a bunch of dirt and rocks of there’s no gold there.

Another good spot to look would be if there had been glaciers in the area. Some of the best placer gold deposits have been found in areas where glaciers have been.

Lastly, I want to touch on common courtesy.

  • If you pack something in, take it out when you leave. Don’t leave your trash and junk behind.
  • If you dig a hole… Fill it up before you go.
  • Do not undercut trees and bushes
  • Replant disturbed vegetaion where you found it
  • Do not berate or irritate those working near you (unless its your claim and their claim jumpers)
  • Be safe in whatever you do

Hope these tips help make your next trip out more prosperous and enjoyable. ‘Til next time…

Related Blogs

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Prospecting on a Club or Public Claim

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Miner Joe

Club and public claims are a great place to prospect for gold, especially if you don’t have the resources to locate and/or afford to buy a claim of your own. A lot of peope believe that the gold on these claims has been all found or the best areas worked. This is usually not the case as I have found some of my best finds on these type of claims. Before I head out to a club or public claim, I do several things to insure that my time there isn’t going to be wasted.

The first thing I do before heading out is to check the route for driving there. I want to know if there are single-lane county roads that stretch for miles with no pull-offs to let traffic from the opposite direction pass. I check to see where the nearest town is and what type of amenities they offer. It can also be a good idea to learn where the nearest hospital or emergeny clinic is in case of an accident or animal attack.

The next thing I want to do is to check the topo and satellite maps of the area. Many times I have identified hot spots from viewing these maps that other miners had overlooked because they didn’t take the time to check it out.

After checking the maps, I need to decide how long I might be staying there. Can I camp at the site? If not, where is the nearest camping area or motel that would be convenient to my mining plans.

OK. Now I have studied the roads so I know what to expect in getting there. I’ve looked at the maps, so I know where I want to dig. I’ve set up my accomodations. Now I need to get my equipment together.

The type of claim determines much of the equipment that I’ll be taking. Like if its a dry claim, I won’t be needing my sluice box or high-banker. I make a list of what I’ll be needing and get it all packed up in a large plastic tote with a lid. Putting all of my equipment in one location makes it much easier to be sure that I have everything that I need and much easier to find once I do get to the claim. The tote also can act as a panning tub, though I usually have a smaller one with my hand tools that I take for this purpose.

There are certain things I take no matter what claim I am going to:

  • Metal detector
  • Pin pointer
  • Gold pan
  • Shovel
  • Plastic buckets with a handle
  • Small miners pick
  • Plastic gardening trowel
  • Water (for drinking and processing in dry areas)
  • Classifying screens
  • Crevice tools
  • Small bottles (for putting your gold in)
  • Tweezers
  • Snuffer bottle

Actually, most of these items stay in my truck year round. That way if I see something that intrigues me and there are no claim markers, I can jump out and grab a few samples. ;-)

I get all of my gear together the night before I am to leave so that all I have to do when I get up is to load the truck and head out to the claim.

When I get to the claim, I look around and see where others have been digging and also look for the place(s) that I have identified by studying maps. I take my metal detector and pin pointer out and check the holes where others have been digging. If I get a good signal, I’ll usually grab a couple of gallons of the material and do a couple of test pans to check it out. If the gold is plentiful, I may just let my map identified spot rest for a bit and just get some gold.

I always check out my map identified spots before I leave a claim. I start by doing a scan with my metal detector and see if I get any signal. If the gold is there and isn’t too deep, I should get a sign. Then I dig a hole. Once I have a hole of a couple of feet deep, I’ll take my pin pointer and try to zero in on the best paydirt. Sometimes the gold is deeper and you have to keep digging deeper. Ever how deep you may have to dig to find the gold, you want to use your pin pointer to identify the best material. Usually you will have definable layers that look different from each other. The pin pointer helps to identify which of the layers contain the best gold.

Any time you come in contact with caliche in a gold bearing area, it will usually contain good gold. What’s caliche? Its a layer of soil that is tightly packed with rocks, gravel, clay and dirt. It is usually lighter in color than the other layers around it. The lighter color comes from the high levels of calcium carbonate in the mix. Its sometimes so hard that its almost like cement. Having a good large pick is essential for getting at this material. It takes some work, but is usually worth the effort. Adding water to the material in your bucket will make it much easier to break up and classify. Don’t add water to your hole to loosen it up, you coud be washing gold down into the bottom of your pit.

After taking some test pans of several holes, I pick out the one that is giving me the most and spend my energy on working that hole. If the recovery starts to dwindle, I will usually do a test pan from another part of the same hole and see if its any better. If its  just petering out, I move on to my next best producing hole, based on my test panning.

Processing the gold will be determined on a number of factors like is there water nearby? Is it a moving stream that I can place a sluice box in? Are mechanized machines like high-bankers allowed? What type of gold is coming out of the hole? Is it coarse, or very fine? Hopefully you’ve covered most of this before you left and have the equipment you need to recover your gold.

Most of the time I will work my material down by classifying it and washing off the larger rocks. If I am in an area where I can use my high-banker, then the classifying and washing is all taken care of in one process. I process the material through the high-banker or sluice box and clean up periodicly. I check for pickers and nuggets and remove those to a small container and then put the remaining contents of the clean up in a bucket. I usually don’t process these all of the way down because that takes away from my digging time and I want to move as much material as possible while I’m at the claim. I can always do my final clean up back at the house when I have more time on my hands. I will take a small amount from each cleanup and pan it down to make sure that I am still getting good gold, but reserve the biggest amount for a later time.

Back at the house after my trip, I do the final cleanup. Classifying the material down to the smallest psossible size and running it through my spiral wheel. Don’t just throw those bigger gravels away, just yet. Be sure and take a look at them for nuggets and gemstones! Once the clean-up is done, I weigh my gold from the trip and determine my daily wage. If I did good, I’ll head back there again. If it was a sub-par performance, then I probably won’t go back… But, then again… I just might… After taking another look at the maps. ;-)

Happy trails and may your next trip to the claim be a prosperous one.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Separating Your Fine Gold from the Black Sands

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Miner Joe

When prospecting for gold in Colorado, especially along the Arkansas River, you rarely see nuggets and pickers are pretty rare, too. But, there is loads of fine gold when you do find a hot spot. The challenge then becomes on separating that fine and flour gold from the black sands without losing too much.

There are a multitude of items out there that say they will seperate your gold from the black sands and give you a 90+% recovery rate. I’ve tried the mini-sluices, spiral wheels and shaker tables and all have been effective… It sure beats the heck out of trying to pan it down… but, you can do it that way, also.

The first thing you need is a good black sand magnet. They are relatively inexpensive and worth every penny, because you will remove a ton of material that you normally would have to pan down. On the Arkansas River you will have some black sand that will not pick up with a magnet. Save it separately from your magnetic black sands. It is silver(usually)… Now it isn’t over $1000 an ounce, but $16 an ounce isn’t exactly pocket change, either, when its as abundant as what I’ve gotten in certain areas.

If you are going to try to separate your gold and black sand with a pan, it is best to do it in a tub. Add a drop of dish-washing soap to the water to keep the surface tension down and make sure to get the bigger gravels out of the way so they are not pulling your gold out with them. Once you have your material panned down to a manageable amount, take it easy and let the water do its work. When most of the black sand is gone, tap the side of the pan with the heel of your hand to concentrate the gold in one place.

This takes a little practice, but once you have it down your gold will line up in the edge of the pan and the black sand will separate away from it. Then all you need to do is suck it up with your snuffer bottle and start the whole process over again.

A quicker way is with a water hose fed mini-sluice or recirculating mini-sluice. Classify your material down as far as possible and then slowly add the material to the sluice. You will probably still have a bit of black sand after you run it through the first time, but there’s nothing wrong with hitting it a second time to get it cleaner.

Mini-sluices are inexpensive and you could even make your own if you had some ribbed matting and an old piece of roof guttering lying around. I’ve done it in the past and it worked out just as well as the $50 sluice I’ve used.

The spiral wheels are a bit more expensive but, in my opinion, are well worth the extra bucks if you are dealing with lots of fine gold. While its true that you are only feeding a small amount at a time into the wheel, its still quicker and more efficient than trying to pan it down… Plus, its a lot easier on your back.

The last item is a shaker table. This piece of equipment takes up some room and the cost is probably a bit more than the recreational prospector would want to spend. With a good table, you can move much more material than with anything else that I have seen for processing fine gold and it does an excellent job of getting rid of the bothersome black sand.

Separating your fine gold from your black sands is not all that hard. It can be time consuming, but hopefully I’ve helped you out there. Remember the quicker you can get it processed, the more you can go back and find.

Related Blogs

    Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments