So I did not do terribly well this year as far as finding gold. I built the trommel this year and had a chance to test it a few times in the field made some changes to the trommel and got my prototype fairly well squared away. I just about doubled my small take each time I went out.

Trommel 1st / 2nd run: Clear Creek Jefferson County open space = 0.6 grain

Trommel 3rd run: Clear Creek Jefferson County open space = 0.6 grain

Trommel 4th run Clear Creek Jefferson County open space = 1.6 grain

Gold cube run on leftover concentrates from previous runs = 2.3 grain

Trommel 5th run Clear Creek behind Tymkovich Meats = 0.2 grain

Trommel 6th and final run for 2012 Clear Creek Jefferson County open space = 2.0 grain

Final clean up of concentrates = 1.4 grain

Total for 2012 = 8.1 grains

I think I would have done much better had I taken the trommel out to a more profitable area but the information I gained off of running and making modifications to the setup was well worth the time spent in the field. I am proud of my modest take and like I said before I am really looking forward to running the trommel out at good location and see what it is really capable of. I also had the opportunity to help Caveman build his equipment and got him into a sweet little Honda powered dredge.

yep theres a lot of personal reward in building/running your own equipment and then finding gold as the result! congratulations!

Hi Andrew,
Always good to see a Gold pic in the middle of winter!
Definitely sounds like it was a good year for you to test the equip and work the bugs out, smart.
You should be getting better Gold returns in the future with your refinements AND finding better areas to prospect will help a lot. Some of the park/rec and open space areas are probably a little played-out.
Maybe this spring you can come up to the claims and help us build some dams to increase recirc potential there. I have plenty of good dirt for that hungry trommel but water is sparse. Gonna take a lot of work though. A few strong backs could make a big difference.

Swizz if you plan on doing any of that work between April 29th and may 21st let me know and I'll lend a hand

Going to be visiting the states?
It would be a small miracle if I were to be able to access by the end of April, usually still snowed-in at that time. Might be able to access toward the end of May.

Yeah, that the period ill be in colorado. Shame never mind though

Let me know when you plan on opening up your claim come spring. I will load the dogs the saw and the mining equipment see if we can get your water situation improved.

You got it.