I am really happy that people are writing me about liking this web site and asking questions and giving me input on their prospecting. Some of the questions they ask is how much gold does a person get while out prospecting? How much money worth of gold should they expect to get when they go out gold mining. How much gold do I have or have uncovered over the years? How long have I been a miner? Where did I go to school to learn how to mine? Where can they go to get some gold? Can they go with me? Can they go to my spots and get some gold? Well, you get the picture.
These are some of my answers. I am a prospector not a miner. I am not a rock expert. I enjoy the hunt for gold and other minerals and items and when I find what I am looking for in an area after prospecting that area I get some samples to say I found the gold or whatever I was looking for and then pick another area and go look there for what is interesting or historic in that area. Others can do the mining if they want. Quantity of anything I am looking for is not what I am about.
I did not go to a school to learn what I know about prospecting. I went out into the field with people that were and are in my opinion the best of the best prospectors and miners and learned from them and then did research and studied everything I could find or buy to learn the rest and am still learning. There is a great deal of history to study to find areas that have certain minerals like gold. It takes some time to dig up the history of the area, study the terrain, formations of the rocks in the areas, what the old timers found and how they found the minerals if in fact the old timers had been there, the science of the rock materials that would go with the gold and other minerals in that area to look for, legal access to the areas and what equipment I would need to recover the gold or other minerals that is in that particular area to cut the time of prospecting that area down. All of the above is very interesting but can be very mind intensive studying and piecing together all of the information of where to go and start an then the physical work in the field is labor intensive as well. How much gold can you get depends on all of the above information and work and YOU. How much money you can make also depends on all of the above.
How much gold and other minerals or specimens or items do I have or have found is no one's business. Where my honey holes are that I do mine is my knowledge and like the old timers I cover my trails and holes. No offense to anyone. That is just the way that it is.
If you want to find gold though as a fun trip there are places that you and your family can go to that are pay to dig places that has dirt already there waiting for someone to buy and the equipment to rent to recover the gold out of it. Or, there are places that has gold in the streams or rivers or dirt in the area that you can do the same. These places whether you buy the dirt or dig the dirt yourself in their place is a very good place to either start and learn how to recover the gold or how to use others equipment to get the feel of certain types of equipment to buy. I am not trying to put anyone down or make anyone feel that I do not want to help them but the pay to dig and the places to buy the dirt with gold in it is the place to start and a lot of people stay with those types of places to get their gold and gem fix. My family and I have been to a number of them and will stop by those type of places even yet. To give you a hint on these places that you buy a bucket of dirt to pan out in their panning trough. If you get good enough panning you can buy a bucket of dirt and pan that dirt and then pan a bunch of gold out of the trough that others let fall out of their pan while panning their dirt. I have bought $10.00 buckets and ended up panning out $30.00 worth of gold with what I got out of the bucket and the trough. Now if the sign says not to do that or they ask you not to. Obey the sign and owners. But, if they don't say anything let your conscience be your guide.
My mining companions are usually me or me and my wife. Very seldom do I have anyone else with me. We or I, as I have gone on many a prospecting trip with prospector friends and the wife did not go, have been very blessed over the years to have been able to go to Alaska, Canada, Washington state, California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and of coarse TEXAS. I have stayed down in the canyons of the Mother Load of California for a week at a time as well as other areas of California until they shut down dredging, which was stupid. Stayed many a week in the desert of New Mexico, Arizona and Texas with my wife and loved it. We still do that one to two weeks a year. I dredge, high bank, dry wash, crevice, placer mine, snipe, pan and just go out looking for visible minerals, gems and rock specimens. Some times we just go out and sit and watch nature and take pictures.
So, I guess that is me for those who asked.
Earl
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These are some of my answers. I am a prospector not a miner. I am not a rock expert. I enjoy the hunt for gold and other minerals and items and when I find what I am looking for in an area after prospecting that area I get some samples to say I found the gold or whatever I was looking for and then pick another area and go look there for what is interesting or historic in that area. Others can do the mining if they want. Quantity of anything I am looking for is not what I am about.
I did not go to a school to learn what I know about prospecting. I went out into the field with people that were and are in my opinion the best of the best prospectors and miners and learned from them and then did research and studied everything I could find or buy to learn the rest and am still learning. There is a great deal of history to study to find areas that have certain minerals like gold. It takes some time to dig up the history of the area, study the terrain, formations of the rocks in the areas, what the old timers found and how they found the minerals if in fact the old timers had been there, the science of the rock materials that would go with the gold and other minerals in that area to look for, legal access to the areas and what equipment I would need to recover the gold or other minerals that is in that particular area to cut the time of prospecting that area down. All of the above is very interesting but can be very mind intensive studying and piecing together all of the information of where to go and start an then the physical work in the field is labor intensive as well. How much gold can you get depends on all of the above information and work and YOU. How much money you can make also depends on all of the above.
How much gold and other minerals or specimens or items do I have or have found is no one's business. Where my honey holes are that I do mine is my knowledge and like the old timers I cover my trails and holes. No offense to anyone. That is just the way that it is.
If you want to find gold though as a fun trip there are places that you and your family can go to that are pay to dig places that has dirt already there waiting for someone to buy and the equipment to rent to recover the gold out of it. Or, there are places that has gold in the streams or rivers or dirt in the area that you can do the same. These places whether you buy the dirt or dig the dirt yourself in their place is a very good place to either start and learn how to recover the gold or how to use others equipment to get the feel of certain types of equipment to buy. I am not trying to put anyone down or make anyone feel that I do not want to help them but the pay to dig and the places to buy the dirt with gold in it is the place to start and a lot of people stay with those types of places to get their gold and gem fix. My family and I have been to a number of them and will stop by those type of places even yet. To give you a hint on these places that you buy a bucket of dirt to pan out in their panning trough. If you get good enough panning you can buy a bucket of dirt and pan that dirt and then pan a bunch of gold out of the trough that others let fall out of their pan while panning their dirt. I have bought $10.00 buckets and ended up panning out $30.00 worth of gold with what I got out of the bucket and the trough. Now if the sign says not to do that or they ask you not to. Obey the sign and owners. But, if they don't say anything let your conscience be your guide.
My mining companions are usually me or me and my wife. Very seldom do I have anyone else with me. We or I, as I have gone on many a prospecting trip with prospector friends and the wife did not go, have been very blessed over the years to have been able to go to Alaska, Canada, Washington state, California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and of coarse TEXAS. I have stayed down in the canyons of the Mother Load of California for a week at a time as well as other areas of California until they shut down dredging, which was stupid. Stayed many a week in the desert of New Mexico, Arizona and Texas with my wife and loved it. We still do that one to two weeks a year. I dredge, high bank, dry wash, crevice, placer mine, snipe, pan and just go out looking for visible minerals, gems and rock specimens. Some times we just go out and sit and watch nature and take pictures.
So, I guess that is me for those who asked.
Earl
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These are the majority of the rocks of Texas that contain gold and silver as well as other minerals.
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Texas Silver ore Texas GOLD
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If this was interesting to you please take time to go the bottom of the page and donate to this web site.
Thank you.
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If this was interesting to you please take time to go the bottom of the page and donate to this web site.
Thank you.
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The State of Texas has as many if not more types of minerals within the state boundaries as do many other states. Llano County alone is said to have every mineral known to man and then some within its county lines. Living in Llano County and having been blessed to go out on so many ranches and meet and know so many people in the mineral prospecting group that searches for these minerals I would say that Llano County does have its share. The specimens we find here of certain types of minerals may be small. But, they are there. I may get into other types of minerals and rare earth minerals that are in Llano and the rest of the state, but, I will concentrate on GOLD and SILVER as my main topics.
Over the years I have on a map of the State of Texas taped to a plastic display board added gold and silver pins stuck in places on the map where I know that there is gold and or silver or have had people tell me they have found gold and or silver. I also have a secret map that I have markings on of places that I have secretly been told of gold/silver locations that no one knows where it is but me and them. These are usually on private lands or on public lands that the person that told me was working, with a permit from the State, and did not want anyone to know where it was. I do show the display map at certain events like Gold shows or some meetings that I give talks to but that is about it. I have been out on ranches that have been in families for generations that never knew they had gold on their property that I found gold on. I have found many old mines and diggings that people did not know what they were other than a hole or a big ditch. I could find tailings spread out over the area where the old settlers had spread the tailings out to farm the area or find places where the old miners whether Spanish or Mexican or European had been. Once you study the differences in the types of mining techniques of each you can tell who did it for the most part. Native Americans did not want for solid minerals but we will have more on that later. I even have some pictures and some film of these places. But, none of the pictures show any sign of where the pictures or film was from to protect the spot and land owners and public land. My cameras do not have GPS tracking on them. If you are a land owner or prospector and do not want anyone to know locations that is a good thing to know about today’s phone cameras and new digital cameras. They can track you.
Before we get into the good stuff as in how do YOU get the gold/silver we need to go over a few rules and laws. Yes, even in prospecting we have those.
In the State of Texas where most of the land is private if you lease a property for agriculture, hunting etc you may not have the right to look for minerals. But, if you have permission to prospect on the land from the land owner who owns the mineral rights to the land, you do not have to contact any authority to prospect. Mining though, private or public, still comes under federal laws and state laws. If you are prospecting on State lands, which is managed by the Texas General Land Office you are required to be on land that has a proper permit from the State GLO on it and you are called a PROSPECTOR. Now, if you are on Federal lands on a deeded claim. You are a “SMALL MINER” and covered under the Federal Mining Act of 1872. Do not get those mixed up if ask by a Federal Authority!! On State of Texas lands to find them you would have to go to the Texas General Land Office web site. You can find which areas that are already permitted and which areas can have a permit would come from that site or you can go down there and look on maps. If you are on a permitted site with permission and or get your own permitted site know that if it is in a river or stream know what the “Gradient Boundary” is. And, just because you have a permit to prospect the permit does not allow you to cross private land to get to the permitted area or go up a creek or gully off of the stream or river fenced or not from the permitted area. You could be in trouble. The State of Texas allows dredges up to 5 inch nozzle size for prospecting in public waters. No prospecting within 100 ft of a bridge and no under mining trees or banks of water ways. The Texas Parks and Wildlife officers are the enforcers of the rules. Sometimes the officers do not know what you are doing and may ask or otherwise question you on your prospecting. Treat them with respect and even if they ask you to leave you can go to the office they work out of and talk to someone to get the problem straight. Do not argue with an official or land owner.
Follow the rules of conduct, yes even in this day and age, always cover your holes out of the water when through prospecting, do not dig holes in a public area that someone might get hurt, do not run loud equipment in a residential area or camping area during quiet time hours, do not litter take out what you take in and pick up as much trash as you can that others have left and that includes cigarette butts.
Ok, we have gone over most all of the formalities, so, let’s get with the prospecting or small mining.
Gold prospecting is somewhat of a science and definitely a skill. A person is going to get dirty and probably wet. It is a labor intensive pass time and you probably will not get rich but can have a good time. And, when you see that very first speck of gold in your pan you will be excited and know that it was worth it because YOU found it. Most gold is the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Did you look? Gold is 19 times heavier than anything else in the ground or water. It will go to the bottom of all water ways and into cracks and you will wander just how it got there when you see it and cannot get it out readily. The types of mining to get Gold is hard rock mining and placer mining. Hard rock mining can be underground tunnels or shafts or open pit mining. Do not go into an old mine as there are so many dangers it is not worth the risk. If you want to see what underground mines and mining is or was go to one of the tourist types of mines and take the tours. It is well worth it to see how it is done. The type of mining or prospecting most of us does is Placer Mining. Placer mining is where you find an area that historically has had gold found or a place that you have done your home work on and found that it would be an area that should have the possibility of having minerals that gold would be associated with. Placer gold is gold that has become free of the oxides and rocks that it came to the surface with when some volcanic activity happened a long time ago. Then it collects in low areas or lower areas around where it came from in areas called an alluvial plane or in old river and stream beds that are now covered up and only bits of them are open in banks that you can get to. Being heavier than anything else around it gold will find its way to the lowest point and lay on some type of hard surface material whether it is a bed rock or a clay layer of whatever is too hard with no cracks for the gold to go any lower. That is where the prospector is going to find the most of what is there. You want to find an area that has little material above these low hard spots to clean off and then use whatever method you have to get the gold into your pan. If on dry ground we use a vacuum devise that sucks up the bottom material or you can even take a brush and shovel to pick up the material to put in your bucket. If you are in the water a dredge or one of the hand suckers works well for picking up the gold. If you are working on a bank of a running water area you can use a high banker or just a plain sluice to separate the “lights” from the heavies like the gold. After whatever method you use to get your “material” into a bucket you will want to screen the material down to get the material to the size the gold in that area typically would be. Then you can use a “recovery” device to get the material down even lower and come out with only the “heavy materials” like gold, silver, magnetite’s ( which are iron oxides) and then you “pan” out the lighter materials of the left over’s and come out with the gold you have worked for. Then you suck up the gold with a sucker bottle and put it in or add to a vial for safe keeping. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Really it is not bad if you like the outdoors, getting dirty, wet and working. I have been in some the most beautiful places that I have ever seen in my life prospecting. In the desert, mountains and in out in the middle of nowhere and enjoyed every minute of it. Well, pretty much all of it.
I will be adding pictures and videos, how to, and more info into it this site as I go along so that one could come to this site and learn how to prospect. The only thing I cannot do on this site is get you out to the areas to prospect. Only you can do that.
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Over the years I have on a map of the State of Texas taped to a plastic display board added gold and silver pins stuck in places on the map where I know that there is gold and or silver or have had people tell me they have found gold and or silver. I also have a secret map that I have markings on of places that I have secretly been told of gold/silver locations that no one knows where it is but me and them. These are usually on private lands or on public lands that the person that told me was working, with a permit from the State, and did not want anyone to know where it was. I do show the display map at certain events like Gold shows or some meetings that I give talks to but that is about it. I have been out on ranches that have been in families for generations that never knew they had gold on their property that I found gold on. I have found many old mines and diggings that people did not know what they were other than a hole or a big ditch. I could find tailings spread out over the area where the old settlers had spread the tailings out to farm the area or find places where the old miners whether Spanish or Mexican or European had been. Once you study the differences in the types of mining techniques of each you can tell who did it for the most part. Native Americans did not want for solid minerals but we will have more on that later. I even have some pictures and some film of these places. But, none of the pictures show any sign of where the pictures or film was from to protect the spot and land owners and public land. My cameras do not have GPS tracking on them. If you are a land owner or prospector and do not want anyone to know locations that is a good thing to know about today’s phone cameras and new digital cameras. They can track you.
Before we get into the good stuff as in how do YOU get the gold/silver we need to go over a few rules and laws. Yes, even in prospecting we have those.
In the State of Texas where most of the land is private if you lease a property for agriculture, hunting etc you may not have the right to look for minerals. But, if you have permission to prospect on the land from the land owner who owns the mineral rights to the land, you do not have to contact any authority to prospect. Mining though, private or public, still comes under federal laws and state laws. If you are prospecting on State lands, which is managed by the Texas General Land Office you are required to be on land that has a proper permit from the State GLO on it and you are called a PROSPECTOR. Now, if you are on Federal lands on a deeded claim. You are a “SMALL MINER” and covered under the Federal Mining Act of 1872. Do not get those mixed up if ask by a Federal Authority!! On State of Texas lands to find them you would have to go to the Texas General Land Office web site. You can find which areas that are already permitted and which areas can have a permit would come from that site or you can go down there and look on maps. If you are on a permitted site with permission and or get your own permitted site know that if it is in a river or stream know what the “Gradient Boundary” is. And, just because you have a permit to prospect the permit does not allow you to cross private land to get to the permitted area or go up a creek or gully off of the stream or river fenced or not from the permitted area. You could be in trouble. The State of Texas allows dredges up to 5 inch nozzle size for prospecting in public waters. No prospecting within 100 ft of a bridge and no under mining trees or banks of water ways. The Texas Parks and Wildlife officers are the enforcers of the rules. Sometimes the officers do not know what you are doing and may ask or otherwise question you on your prospecting. Treat them with respect and even if they ask you to leave you can go to the office they work out of and talk to someone to get the problem straight. Do not argue with an official or land owner.
Follow the rules of conduct, yes even in this day and age, always cover your holes out of the water when through prospecting, do not dig holes in a public area that someone might get hurt, do not run loud equipment in a residential area or camping area during quiet time hours, do not litter take out what you take in and pick up as much trash as you can that others have left and that includes cigarette butts.
Ok, we have gone over most all of the formalities, so, let’s get with the prospecting or small mining.
Gold prospecting is somewhat of a science and definitely a skill. A person is going to get dirty and probably wet. It is a labor intensive pass time and you probably will not get rich but can have a good time. And, when you see that very first speck of gold in your pan you will be excited and know that it was worth it because YOU found it. Most gold is the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Did you look? Gold is 19 times heavier than anything else in the ground or water. It will go to the bottom of all water ways and into cracks and you will wander just how it got there when you see it and cannot get it out readily. The types of mining to get Gold is hard rock mining and placer mining. Hard rock mining can be underground tunnels or shafts or open pit mining. Do not go into an old mine as there are so many dangers it is not worth the risk. If you want to see what underground mines and mining is or was go to one of the tourist types of mines and take the tours. It is well worth it to see how it is done. The type of mining or prospecting most of us does is Placer Mining. Placer mining is where you find an area that historically has had gold found or a place that you have done your home work on and found that it would be an area that should have the possibility of having minerals that gold would be associated with. Placer gold is gold that has become free of the oxides and rocks that it came to the surface with when some volcanic activity happened a long time ago. Then it collects in low areas or lower areas around where it came from in areas called an alluvial plane or in old river and stream beds that are now covered up and only bits of them are open in banks that you can get to. Being heavier than anything else around it gold will find its way to the lowest point and lay on some type of hard surface material whether it is a bed rock or a clay layer of whatever is too hard with no cracks for the gold to go any lower. That is where the prospector is going to find the most of what is there. You want to find an area that has little material above these low hard spots to clean off and then use whatever method you have to get the gold into your pan. If on dry ground we use a vacuum devise that sucks up the bottom material or you can even take a brush and shovel to pick up the material to put in your bucket. If you are in the water a dredge or one of the hand suckers works well for picking up the gold. If you are working on a bank of a running water area you can use a high banker or just a plain sluice to separate the “lights” from the heavies like the gold. After whatever method you use to get your “material” into a bucket you will want to screen the material down to get the material to the size the gold in that area typically would be. Then you can use a “recovery” device to get the material down even lower and come out with only the “heavy materials” like gold, silver, magnetite’s ( which are iron oxides) and then you “pan” out the lighter materials of the left over’s and come out with the gold you have worked for. Then you suck up the gold with a sucker bottle and put it in or add to a vial for safe keeping. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Really it is not bad if you like the outdoors, getting dirty, wet and working. I have been in some the most beautiful places that I have ever seen in my life prospecting. In the desert, mountains and in out in the middle of nowhere and enjoyed every minute of it. Well, pretty much all of it.
I will be adding pictures and videos, how to, and more info into it this site as I go along so that one could come to this site and learn how to prospect. The only thing I cannot do on this site is get you out to the areas to prospect. Only you can do that.
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On right dredging at 42 degrees water temp.
On left dredging at 80 degrees water temp. Much nicer! |
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On right dry washing
On left - wife taking a break from sifting material to run through dry washer. |
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This is "prints" to a beach box highbanker that works very good in the areas that have fine gold. You can run up to a 2" pump on this one.
Understanding Gold Terminology
When buying gold either in Jewelry or raw from someone do you know the ins and outs of gold terms? If not here is some.
Karats is the proper spelling for gold carat is for gems.
With stamped jewelry understand that some countries do NOT have a stamp law and what you might think you are getting is not what you are getting.
24K is pure gold
18K gold contains 18 parts gold and 6 parts other metals.
14K gold contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts other
12K gold contains 12 parts gold and 12 parts other
10K gold contains 10 parts gold and 14 parts other
10K gold is the minimum karat that can be called "gold" in the United States. At 10K gold can still be called "gold".
Metals mixed with gold will change the color of gold. Palladium or nickel can be added to gold to create white gold. Adding copper produces a rose or pink tint to gold. Silver added to gold gives gold a greenish tint.
Gold PLATING is when gold is electroplated to a piece of metal and is usually 7 - 100 millionths of an inch thick.
Gold COATING is mechanically applied a coating of gold to a much less expensive metal part.
When buying gold either in Jewelry or raw from someone do you know the ins and outs of gold terms? If not here is some.
Karats is the proper spelling for gold carat is for gems.
With stamped jewelry understand that some countries do NOT have a stamp law and what you might think you are getting is not what you are getting.
24K is pure gold
18K gold contains 18 parts gold and 6 parts other metals.
14K gold contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts other
12K gold contains 12 parts gold and 12 parts other
10K gold contains 10 parts gold and 14 parts other
10K gold is the minimum karat that can be called "gold" in the United States. At 10K gold can still be called "gold".
Metals mixed with gold will change the color of gold. Palladium or nickel can be added to gold to create white gold. Adding copper produces a rose or pink tint to gold. Silver added to gold gives gold a greenish tint.
Gold PLATING is when gold is electroplated to a piece of metal and is usually 7 - 100 millionths of an inch thick.
Gold COATING is mechanically applied a coating of gold to a much less expensive metal part.
GOLD!!! When people hear the word GOLD they always think of a mineral that will make them or whom ever has it RICH. But if you are in to gold prospecting or even buying to put some money away thinking you will make some big money on it later when prices go up you need to know something about gold quality. Or really any other mineral you want to buy up. The chart above is a great show and tell to let you know that not all things that are "gold" is really all gold. When we prospectors are around places that have people selling their Raw Gold they found and they are looking for "SPOT" price, meaning what gold is going for per ounce on that day, or even a gold bar seller. One needs to know what goes into giving value to gold items is the units of Karat which gives a percent of the weight of a "gold" object in real gold. The rest of the material in the item is "other". Most of the time of less value. The chart above shows this.
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