Living the rich life now (well, on top of it at least)

[Newt]

We have put our house on the market and moved into our 38 ft caravan to live. Right now we are staying at a gold mining site. The gravel contains some gold that can be gotten by panning. The mine site owner digs gravel and sells bucket of it to folks who enjoy old style slucing and panning.

 

We haven't tried it yet but may at some point. Mostly we are enjoying a fairly inexpensive site (electricity, water, sewage so not roughing it) in a very peaceful setting. Good fishing within a very few miles but we are still working every day to get the caravan set up and won't be taking time off to fish for another few days.

 

Here is what they offer with prices.

 

Step 1 in this sort of "mining" is to run the gravel through a coarse mesh screen to get rid of the larger rocks.

 

Step 2 is slowly pouring gravel into the entrance of the sluice and letting the water wash away mud and lighter rock while the heavier gold settles into the mats in the sluice.

 

 

 

The last step is to empty the mats into a bucket of clear water and use a pan to collect the gold. Most here is small 22 ct flecks with an occasional bit of wire gold that is around 18 ct. No photos of that yet because my battery quit on me.

[Snatcher]

Good to hear that things seem to be going well for you and Jan Newt Hope you strike it rich with that panning mate,you never know your luck !!!

 

Kind regards

 

John

 

ps Can you give Jan a hug for me Think our last hug was 4 years ago at Amble,is that correct Newt ?

[Vagabond]

 

$12 for five buckets of gravel?

 

Containing how much gold in total ? $2 worth ?

Call me a cynic, but if there was a significant pay-load the owner would be panning himself, with armed guards around his claim.

 

....and that stream looks as if it once held trout.....

[Newt]

Snatcher - I will.

 

Vagabond - from what I'm told by some of the folks who are regulars here, they normally recover more than enough to pay for the materials but it is basically a hobby.

 

Theft would not be really worth while since the ore needs heavy equipment and some processing to remove large amounts of clay before being sold to the gold seekers.

 

The owner does actively process ore from part of the property and I'm guessing what we see from pay-by-the-bucket visitors is marginal stuff so the value of the tourist trade exceeds the potential direct mining return.

[chesters1]

its the clay where the gold lies ,you can probably do better panning in wales or scotland

[Newt]

Ah - but the gold is heavier than the clay dirt so if you process to let the lighter mud flow away and only keep the heavier bits, you get gravel and gold.

 

The major mining in this area was hard rock mining but that mostly played out in the early 1800s. However, higher gold prices have made some areas worth working again but here is mostly hobby stuff where folks just enjoy getting some colour to show for a day's gold hunting.

[yoxer]

as someone that started off living in a carvan and cant wait to get back to that way of life you make my heart sing

[poledark]

Yoxer, you would cry with envy if you could see Jan and Newts "caravan"

 

 

Glad you are up and running at last Newt. I often wondered when you would get that off the driveway What tow vehicle did you end up with?

 

Den

Edited July 23, 2009 by poledark

[yoxer]

lol , no ta , I'll stick to my shack were I can lie out on the rock and nettle strewn veranda and not have the worry of diesel costs etc . ( no wonder the bugger is panning for gold )

[yoxer]

has that thing got a cellar