Prospecting code of ethics Options

[fenixsmom]

Hiya folks! I was wondering about ethical recovery. I was pondering originally how many buckets of concentrate is ethical to bring home to work. That led to the pondering of ethics while prospecting in general. I believe this is a very important subject to touch on because it effects us all. The more damage we do to our rivers, lands etc., the more negatively others will see us. Although to some this may seem like common sense, there are those that don't give a flying you know what. I am a firm believer in preserving the land as close to as pristine as I found it. (Minus a little concentrate). So is there any advice you can give to those of us that are just starting out?

[swizz]

"buckets of concentrate"???
It would have to be a really really big operation to produce "buckets of concentrate" in a day.
If I work for three days at my claims... I typically return home with about 1-2 CUPS of concentrate to process later at home. I prefer to run a sluice all day and normally extract the concentrates from that sluice at the end of the day..... ONCE. One hard day for me typically yields about 1/2 cup of concentrate (using GoldHog matting).
Another example: I prospected a section of NFS last summer. In the course of 6 days worth of digging and sluicing my combined concentrates from the entire adventure consists of a 1-gal Ziploc which is not even 1/2-way full of concentrate. I have yet to process it here at the homestead. My process is typical of most miners who operate on a non-commercial scale.
The idea of sluicing (and other methods) are for the purpose of processing/reducing in the field and not bringing half of the forest home with you... which would be very inefficient as well as destructive.
Hope this helps.

[fenixsmom]

Lol, yeah it does. Perhaps I was overestimating the scale of operations a little bit. I can definitely see where you are coming from. I was viewing the term "concentrate" as what you get after running your samples through a couple of screens. My mistake of terminology. So I shall rephrase my.question to look like less of.a greenhorn.
How many buckets of dirt is ethical to bring home with you to be worked and then returned to it's home?

[fenixsmom]

Lol "without bringing half the forest with you". That cracked me up! But I get your drift. Thank you the ever wise Swizz!

[Denise]

Welcome to the forums fenixsmom! Chris gave you some great info. You can also read the "Code Of Conduct" that we wrote for everyone on the website. Hope it also helps some. Make yourself at home around the site, we have a great group here!!

Denise

[swizz]

How many buckets of dirt is ethical to bring home with you to be worked and then returned to it's home?

hmmm... the "ethics" of bringing dirt home.
Sorry, it's just an odd question and there's nothing wrong with being a greenhorn and asking.
I don't think I've ever known any fellow prospectors to go home with even one 5gal bucket of material.... rough, classified, or concentrate. Ethics aside, It's just not smart prospecting or processing and not a common practice. Not saying it doesn't happen, just far from common.
How much dirt being removed would you consider "unethical"? Home Builders, Commercial Builders, and landscapers remove incredible amounts of dirt on a daily basis but there is an economic reward. Is that unethical? Maybe. Eye of the beholder. Moving and REmoving dirt are two different things. Typically miners "move" dirt.... not "remove" large quantities of dirt from a site. In the example of my personal claims.... the dirt that I've "moved" stays on site, only minimal concentrates are removed from site to process later. On-site tailing piles are raked flat and/or used for mine improvements. My personal mine improvements often benefit and facilitate habitat improvement as a side benefit... just ask my Muskrats and Golden Ground Squirrels. Little buggers get excited when they see me pull up.

[fenixsmom]

Thank you for a link Mrs. CP! I shall definitely look at it! I highly doubt ill be taking a dump truck full of material home to work through. I suppose my main concern is since ill be mainly using public land, I don't want to greedily take a whole bunch of dirt home at the end of my stay to play with until I go back. I don't want to degrade the area either. Maybe my worries are for naught, but I figure it's best to ask rather than be shunned for taking more than my fair share.
that being said, when I am on site for the day I plan to work down my buckets and recover when I'm done. But I may want to take some home to play with later also. As long as it's acceptable.

[swizz]

Well, in my opinion it's best to process as much rough material in the field as possible and bring home only the concentrate. The concentrate cleanup (at home) should be waaaayyyy less than a bucket of material. A sluice greatly concentrates the material for you... that's the purpose. You sluice on site which reduces 40 buckets of material into about a cup of concentrate.
That cup of concentrate will take you hours to separate the Gold from at home. That process is called "cleanup" and uses different equipment. Depending on what cleanup equip a person uses can dictate recovery success and also effect how long the cleanup process takes. Smaller Gold is obviously more difficult to extract from the concentrate. Colorado Gold is typically very small. I use a series of classifiers and a Blue Bowl setup for my home cleanup process. A gallon Ziploc half full of concentrate typically takes me the better part of an afternoon to fully process. There are faster cleanup processes... and slower but this one works well for me. Many cleanup devices out there to choose from.
In a nutshell... if you are interested in being efficient I highly recommend sluicing in the field and bringing home only about a cup of concentrates per day (whatever your particular sluice holds in heavies after a day of running). Save those concentrates for a day when you are prepared to effectively remove the Gold from it. You could do it at home with a pan but it would take forever and your recovery success would be questionable. There are devices that speed up the process and can be more accurate than simply trying to pan it out.
So.... you should be taking home just a very small amount of heavies that you concentrated out in the field. The rest can stay there. Why work harder than you need to? Why "remove" large volumes of soil from public land? There's absolutely no reason to overwork yourself like that and leave a gaping scar on the land. There a better/proven/efficient ways of doing this... like a sluice. Inexpensive and very effective. You can UP the game with bigger equip like a trommel, dredge, powersluice, or highbanker (which are also designed to concentrate rough material in the field) but sluicing is an excellent cost-effective starting point.

[fenixsmom]

I completely understand your logic! I have only a basic pan kit with 2 pans and 2 classifiers. Since I am just starting I didn't want to jump in without testing the waters first. Thank you again for taking the time to explain this to me. If everyone in the club is as kind and as informative as you and Mrs. CP, I'm in great hands!

[swizz]

Thanks! We like to help and I have yet to meet a rude person here.
A sluice isn't a big investment at all and I would consider it every bit as essential as a pan for the beginner who's just testing the water to see if they like prospecting. One of my very favorite sluices for sampling only cost around $50. That would be the Angus MacKirk Mini Long Tom. So easy to use and clean out, does very well for micron Gold, and probably weighs less than a pound. Just a great value for a product that works so well. I also like my more expensive larger sluices but this is the one I reach for more than the others for that quick trip. You can feed it material classified down to 1/2" all day long.

[Caveman]

Thank you for a link Mrs. CP! I shall definitely look at it! I highly doubt ill be taking a dump truck full of material home to work through. I suppose my main concern is since ill be mainly using public land, I don't want to greedily take a whole bunch of dirt home at the end of my stay to play with until I go back. I don't want to degrade the area either. Maybe my worries are for naught, but I figure it's best to ask rather than be shunned for taking more than my fair share.
that being said, when I am on site for the day I plan to work down my buckets and recover when I'm done. But I may want to take some home to play with later also. As long as it's acceptable.

Fenixsmom, Welcome!
It is acceptable as long as you fill the hole where the dirt came from - there is usually enough loose material around to do that. Taking dirt home to "play" with is a good way
to practice panning, test new methods in a "controlled" environment (back porch, heated garage, or other type of work area) is common practice among a few people (I'm one,
and I know of several others), but it is horribly inefficient if you are doing this a the main method of finding anything. Also, after you carry just one bucket from the area you
are working, you usually will not be carrying a second, or third, so ethically, you are ok. By the way, Jeffco Clear Creek open space prohibits this, by the way - all "dirt" (not
concentrate) must remain. Check with the local parks & open space people to see what the regs are for a given area. There is also the problem of disposal - I had a garden to
do this. If it is your own claim - you can take home as much as you like, but remember, to stay within the law, you must repair the damage when you are "finished" - that
means, you must haul back/replace the dirt you took, replant trees, grass, etc., repair erosion caused by your activities, and so on. The reason finished is in quotation marks
is because that is sort of open ended, as it depends on when you are actually done with it (which could be years). Now, if you are taking pick-up loads, etc., from an open
area (or rec area) as what has happened at Cache Creek, then ethically you have a problem - a bucket or three is not significant, so I do not see a problem unless it is
specifically prohibited.

Just a note - I don't take buckets home very often - just when I have a new idea to try and don't have the time to take a day at the creek. And usually just one - those darn
things are HEAVY!

[swizz]

And usually just one - those darn
things are HEAVY!

Awesome advice all around Scott! You're right about HEAVY too. I try to set my sluice as close to my digs as possible. Even if I have to move buckets more than 10ft from my dig area to the sluice I'm putting out some good sweat. Last thing I would wanna do at the end of the day would be to carry full buckets out... along with all the equip and stuff. It's just too much work.
Confession though: I've been snowmobiling in and out of the ranch (4 miles each way). Along that trail I've been seeing southern exposed dirt showing on the ancient benches alongside the snowmobile trail. I just might put my pick, shovel, and a 5gal bucket on the Bearcat one of these days for a winter bucket of rough material. Probably a fruitless endeavor but my mind wants some dirt to process this far into winter... getting the Jones. I don't really have time for that but I always stare at it when I'm going by. Hell, I still need to sit down and do cleanup on all of the concentrates I got from the ranch last summer. Maybe I'll do that while watching the superbowl this year.

[Caveman]

Awesome advice all around Scott! You're right about HEAVY too. I try to set my sluice as close to my digs as possible. Even if I have to move buckets more than 10ft from my dig area to the sluice I'm putting out some good sweat. Last thing I would wanna do at the end of the day would be to carry full buckets out... along with all the equip and stuff. It's just too much work.
Confession though: I've been snowmobiling in and out of the ranch (4 miles each way). Along that trail I've been seeing southern exposed dirt showing on the ancient benches alongside the snowmobile trail. I just might put my pick, shovel, and a 5gal bucket on the Bearcat one of these days for a winter bucket of rough material. Probably a fruitless endeavor but my mind wants some dirt to process this far into winter... getting the Jones. I don't really have time for that but I always stare at it when I'm going by. Hell, I still need to sit down and do cleanup on all of the concentrates I got from the ranch last summer. Maybe I'll do that while watching the superbowl this year.

I would do 2 just too see if there is anything worth it - might be a great place to drywash or run a recirc rig. Do it!

[swizz]

Dammit Jim, I'm a Doctor... not an ice miner

[Caveman]

Just do it!