On The Gold with GPAA'S Kevin Hoagland

The other side of 300, Prospecting outside of California’s buffer zone.

March 30, 2020 Kevin Hoagland - Kevin Bell Season 2 Episode 4
On The Gold with GPAA'S Kevin Hoagland
The other side of 300, Prospecting outside of California’s buffer zone.
Show Notes Transcript

In December 2019 Kevin and I shared the prospecting that you could do within the 300-foot buffer in selected California waterways. This time we open up the rest of the land with the opportunities awaiting all prospectors at 301 feet. 
Along with offering tips on maximizing your gold recovery when and where drawing water is not the best option for recovery. 

spk_0:   0:02
go Valley of Blood. Thank you for tuning in to the on the gold podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Hoogland, with my co host and producer, Mr Kevin Bell. Good morning, Kevin. How are you?

spk_1:   0:20
Wonderful. How's it going? Captain

spk_0:   0:21
is fantastic. And today's even a little bit more than a normal fantastic day. Because guess what I've been doing over the last. I don't know, 12 14 hours

spk_1:   0:32
what she'd been doing Cab

spk_0:   0:34
working on the Facebook page. Facebook dot com Forward slash on the gold. You know, quite frankly, I don't know why it's taken so long to put together this Facebook site, but it's there, and we we absolutely please go in, like, comment share. Let's just have some fun with that Facebook site because we get so many e mails prospecting. Edie, you cite. It just makes more sense tohave folks just going there and we get a lot of our ideas from those correspondences,

spk_1:   1:04
right? And well, and we will from your comments as well.

spk_0:   1:08
Yeah, absolutely so today's topic is real simple. We talked about a couple of months ago. I think it was What the When did we do the podcast? The

spk_1:   1:18
podcast was done the first part of December 2019.

spk_0:   1:21
Okay, And it's in the podcast was about What can you do in that 300 feet in the state of California? A lot of people believe that you could not go prospecting that mining was dead. You couldn't do anything. And it's simply not true. So in the January February, G. P. A a magazine we had done this podcast. The podcast was translated and turned into a magazine article. So if you are brand new to the G p a A and you do not have a copy of that magazine, just simply log on to your account at Gold Prospectors dot or GE going to the Learning center, picked the publications and go back to the January February 2020 g p A magazine and And I think his page 40 41

spk_1:   2:07
41 yeah,

spk_0:   2:07
yeah, and you can read the article about what you can do in that 1st 300 feet in the state of California. Prospecting is still alive and well, just because you can't dredge you know what? Maybe you have to go back a little old school. You started out with gold Pan. Chances are like 99% of us out there. You went from a gold pan to sluice box, and then you started moving into bigger equipment,

spk_1:   2:33
right?

spk_0:   2:34
You can still be out there prospecting right now, right now, today with the sluice pots and buckets and things like that. You know, basically, just call it hands and pants. So now let's talk about outside that 300 foot. What can I do in California, Kevin?

spk_1:   2:53
Well, that's the nice thing. Cab. There are no equipment restrictions outside that 300 foot boundary. Now we do need to remember that there are limitations and regulations that we need to follow primarily the rules regarding significant disturbance and reclamation requirements.

spk_0:   3:16
Right? But

spk_1:   3:17
there's no restriction on the equipment.

spk_0:   3:19
Okay, When and when you say no restriction on equipment, we need to clarify exactly what that means. That means your standard prospecting equipment up to X amount of horsepower and all this other stuff. Don't think that what? Kevin, just that is that okay and show up with tobacco because that's not that falls under the rules and regulations of significant surface disturbance,

spk_1:   3:41
right.

spk_0:   3:41
And to learn more about those in which I think everybody should read the CF ours, and you can You can do a Google search and get into just a sections. But you've got the code of federal regulations C F R 43 which is for the BLM lands and then 36. It is for for four service lands. And then you've got California codes. I'm sorry. I'm gonna throw this at you really quick, and I hope you've got it written down somewhere. But within that 300 feet, what is the code? What is that? What is that? Regulation? What's that?

spk_1:   4:15
The water code is 13 1 72.5 and the fish and game code, which is talking about the enforcement, is 56 53.

spk_0:   4:27
Okay, so CFR 43 36 then whatever. You know, all the numbers that Kevin just rattled off. Go back. Listen to what he said. Write those down and just do a Google search on that. Really? All you need. So I want to go prospecting outside of 300 feet,

spk_1:   4:44
right?

spk_0:   4:45
Let's go.

spk_1:   4:47
Yeah, And you know the nice thing. Weaken! D'oh! We can use things like high banking dry watching you can use things like vacuums, metal detecting. There's a wide array of, you know, really good equipment that we can use. But in the case of high banking, there is obviously the need to get water. And so you know, you're a desert guy, so you're used to recirculating.

spk_0:   5:17
Oh yeah,

spk_1:   5:19
so that's that's still limitation is the water

spk_0:   5:22
right? And the limitation on the water is that you cannot use anything that is mechanical, mechanized or compound ID to get the water to where you're working, right? That's that's It's just that simple. So mechanized motorized compound can't use it, which means I'm gonna be home in a few buckets of water. And for me, as a desert recirculating guy, it's not that big of a deal and give me 25 30 gallons of water. One of those big Rubbermaid like, I guess they actually call him like a water trough. It's one of the lightweight, but they hold about gallons of water. Give me one of those a recirculating sluice box that I can run with a 12 volt battery. I'm in 30 gallons of water, which is what five trip with some five gallon buckets. Give me some five gallon buckets. What is evaporative cooler media that you know, that stuff that you put in a knee vamp in a in a swamp cooler? Give me some of that. A couple of 12 volt batteries, and then I will run all weekend,

spk_1:   6:26
right?

spk_0:   6:27
As long.

spk_1:   6:27
Right

spk_0:   6:28
doing. And you know it. This is where it becomes the difference between running precision. And I love the, You know, I'm going to give you credit on this one and give you all the kudos, precision mining versus just running material,

spk_1:   6:43
right,

spk_0:   6:43
Which makes it all about prospecting.

spk_1:   6:47
Yes. And it always goes back to that, you know, to be ableto prospect to find the right material. Not just all the material.

spk_0:   6:58
Yeah, And I don't like when you're re circulating in the desert. I don't want to run material. I want to run gold bearing material.

spk_1:   7:10
And I think you called it before run the trend.

spk_0:   7:12
Yeah, run the trend, you and that's and that's all about prospecting, you prospect prospect Prospect. I'm goingto I find an area that I want to work. And you know, I see this so often, especially in dry washing areas. I'm sorry I'm gonna bounce back and forth, especially in dry washing areas in here in Arizona where people will get out and they'll just start digging. They'll just start digging dirt, running it through the dry washer on. And I've talked to a few pills, a few of these people, and they have done okay, They've gotten gold, but, you know, they would always want to get Maur. I've worked with some of these folks, and just so you know what, quit running all of this material. Do your

spk_1:   7:51
eye

spk_0:   7:51
inspecting prospect, prospect prospect. So I you know, I would rather run less material and have more recovery. They're trying to run a football field's worth of material, and I don't care if you dry washing. If you're it doesn't matter. That's prospecting to mining, no matter what. That's prospecting the mining, and it doesn't matter if you're working a spot with a gold pan or you're working a spot with a 500 yard and our wash plant. You're going to find that best layer of material, and you're going to do that through your prospecting. So that's right. The idea of showing up in California outside that 300 foot hauling a few five gallon buckets up to with water. And it doesn't bother me at all because I'm gonna take the time to prospect and get on that trend. Follow that gold. Not not just run material for the steak sake of running material,

spk_1:   8:46
right. And you also have to realize that with that water that you're hauling, that system degrades over time. So it now becomes more important that you run. Like I said before the right material. Not just all the material,

spk_0:   9:03
huh? Because

spk_1:   9:05
you're, you know, you're working with a degrading system.

spk_0:   9:08
Yeah, and that's the whole thing. That's why when when I build my recirculating systems, I've got these two beautiful 15 gallon blue totes, and I will tell you that with those 2 15 gallon totes full and my big ah, Rubbermaid, I don't know if it's actually classified as a feed tub or a water tub, but it's ah, it's at this. It's a 30 gallon system. It's a big 30 gallon tub, a couple of five gallon buckets with where I've built into, like, a filtration system, and I say, built into its basically I've taken chunks of of ah of this evaporative cooler media and put it in the spots to where the fine silks will filter all the way down and those will settle. The larger stuff gets caught to the top. I can just muck that out as I'm going. And seriously, man, I can run an entire weekend on 30 gallons of water and run a lot of material.

spk_1:   10:12
Yes, yes, And that's really what people need Thio really look to do when they're out there.

spk_0:   10:20
That is, that is true. And it doesn't matter what you know. We're talking about California and we're talking about that 300 feet, but it really this is something that becomes all the way across the board. I don't care if I'm prospecting in Alaska or California or Arizona or Colorado or back East and Georgia or places like that. It doesn't really matter. It's the same process. I mean, we're going to have that problems and we're going to run that good material, and this may sound like we're getting off the topic of what you can do in that outside the 300 feet. But really, it's very, very important because there are regulations about how you're going to get your water up to up to your working area and you are gonna have to carry that water. You can't. You can't load up a bunch of five gallon buckets and throw him in the back of the truck. It just doesn't fall within that

spk_1:   11:15
right?

spk_0:   11:15
So now I'm going to take the least amount of water that I need to make it work without him and, you know, big retention ponds and all this other stuff and everything else. But I'm going to get out there and I'm going to get on the gold because I'm going to do my prospecting. I'm going to prospect. I'm going to find the trend. I'm going to work the gold bearing material again over just working material and write how you succeed in going from prospecting to mining no matter what.

spk_1:   11:48
And that's how you succeed outside that 300 foot barrier.

spk_0:   11:53
It's pretty simple, So just just because I can't do this or do that as far as like the mechanical, mechanized or compound just because I can't do that, it's not going to slow me down for prospecting in California because, as you said at the very beginning, It's basically wide open as long as the equipment meets him within the regulations and the codes and someone like that, which, by the way, is anywhere that you're going to go prospecting. It doesn't matter California or whatever. The only thing about California is now I gotta move 300 feet. Okay, so I get him with 300 feet, I'm gonna go dry washing, right? And even if I'm dry washing, I'm still going to pick the very best material to run. I don't want to run. I eat on what I'm going to sound like a broken record, you prospect. Prospect prospect. You run the right material over just running material. That's that's all there is to it. And I've said that probably five or six times since we started this podcast. And that's the most important thing to remember,

spk_1:   12:57
right?

spk_0:   12:57
I really don't feel like I'm being regulated in California at this particular point in time. And then if you're working in a spot that you can easily get too well, can I bring my water with me?

spk_1:   13:10
The others? There's no problem with bringing the water with you because you're outside that 300 foot there's no restriction.

spk_0:   13:17
So if I've got a road that comes right up the, you know, really close to where I'm going to be working and I'm out of that 300 feet. And like I said earlier, I've got those 2 15 gallon totes on the top of my on the top of my side by side. I just show up and start running that one. Just start running that material.

spk_1:   13:34
Yes, absolutely.

spk_0:   13:37
So if I'm drawing it out of the river, we're out of the creek er out of the stream. Whatever. There's my restriction.

spk_1:   13:44
That's when you have to hand carry.

spk_0:   13:46
Yeah, I have to hand carry it, really? Is that simple? So it's not like you're being relegated or regulated to where you really can't do any prospecting?

spk_1:   13:54
No, not in the least.

spk_0:   13:56
Yeah, it's open, it's open. So get out and go prospecting, and that's that's really about it. But make sure that your prospecting you know what? I'd love to take my big two inch high banker dredge up there and be able to run that area. Well, I'm not going to be getting fresh water, so if I'm going to do that, I'm going to be re circulating. Okay, At that point I've gotta dig upon because I need to get you know, I'm gonna have to have a lot more water to be able to run that

spk_1:   14:26
right?

spk_0:   14:27
And I'm gonna be running a lot of that material. Why not? Just set up a good recirculating system, smaller recirculating system, and worked overnight material overworking material. Give me a small high banker, a small recirculating Hi, banker. And when I say small, I'm not talking about something tiny out that I One of my one of my recirculating systems is a ah full size sluice box that has the high banker head on it a little. You know, a smaller modified high banker head that I haven't even a 2000 gallon our pump.

spk_1:   15:05
Sure.

spk_0:   15:05
And as long as I followed my fluid dynamics and everything else like that and again, I can still use that unit and work all weekend with 30 gallons of with 30 gallons of water.

spk_1:   15:19
Sure.

spk_0:   15:20
So why waste a lot of time trying to take a big high banker dredge into the area when I can just go in and work good material with something smaller?

spk_1:   15:31
right when you're working those trends and you've actually taking your time to prospect. Even within those trends, find where the best gold is the best dollars per yard or dollars per dollars in material and work that first. Then if you have time and you still have good water and you can still run, then you can go back and start working some of that lesser material.

spk_0:   15:57
That and see that always becomes a debate for me. A personal debate with me. I've all right. I'm out in the middle of the desert. I've got 30 gallons of water with me. I've been working all day or the last couple of days, and I've gotten some really good gold because I did my prospecting. I'm following my trend now. I know there's gold in the rest of this material, but it's nowhere near as good as what I've got and what I've been working

spk_1:   16:25
right

spk_0:   16:26
now. Do I take the time to start working the rest of that material, or do I go prospecting and find another spot? Jim, for me, I'll go work another spot. I'll go find another spot and prospect. Prospect. Prospect. You're him. Work and and find another trend. Find another part. And what's really great about doing that? If you're if you're in point A and you've run through that material and maybe it played out because you hit a bedrock area or something like that, or you you fit this year, you already know which way that gold is running. So now you can just go up or down from that and do some more prospecting and get into another pocket or get into another, better area. That makes more sense to me than to just sit there. Henry M. Work the 20 piece at the

spk_1:   17:18
marginal material,

spk_0:   17:19
the marginal material. I'm gonna go find another spot. That's the way I do it and that's me. And I know a lot of people that'll just start working that marginal. But I'm gonna go, Prospect. I'm like I am out there to recover gold. I'm out there, too, at the end of the you know, at the end of the day, I want to see gold in the violin. Know that? Okay, I've got X amount of dollars here. I can look at it in the dollars

spk_1:   17:46
and you know there's kind of managing the effort to, you know, that equality of effort, where we say, you know, we're managing the work that we do to get the gold, And because we have to do that reclamation, we also have to deal with the impact. So if you just work that trend, get the best gold because you have to fill the hole and do all the re contouring and get it back, you know, to wear it where it looks good because you've worked less material to begin with that managing that impact is much faster. And then you can just clean that up, move to a new place to prospect, find the trend again, maybe and then start working in good gold again.

spk_0:   18:29
And what you just said is so very, very important. And it whenever I go into an area, I pretty much know when when I've done my prospecting and I and and I know you're the same way, because when you and Sean go out and you've got your mining Thursday, you're not there for a long period of time. But you're still bringing home a good amount of gold. You've never done less than a gram and given the time that you really work, you're getting all you're getting all you're going to get in the short of the abbreviated time that you have,

spk_1:   19:09
right

spk_0:   19:10
and right. Not like your reclamation takes you hours upon hours upon hours to do. We cannot doesn't I mean, you got you are reclaiming as you move forward. I reclaim as I move forward. So when and I always take that in consideration if I look at the spot, I've done my prospecting and I know exactly how I'm going to follow that trend. I'm going to in my head, calculate as I move forward, I'm going to bring this material back in as I'm going through here and I'm gonna reclaim this. So when I muck my my tub, each time I'm up my tub, I'm adding that material back into my recommitted area. And then I only have to do after that is just doing some contour work, and I'm done

spk_1:   19:57
right

spk_0:   19:58
and it's over and it's done, and it doesn't take me. I'm on an eight hour mining day. I'm going to spend five hours or four or five hours just digging the material in getting it ready, getting it classified, getting it ready,

spk_1:   20:14
weeping

spk_0:   20:15
and that four or five hours equates to about an hour, hour and 1/2 of running. And as I'm doing that as I'm running and I'm mucking out on bringing material back in and I'm dropping it back into the hole. So an eight hour day I'm prepping my material. I'm running my material and I'm reclaiming my material. But the majority of that time was done in the prepping of the material. The recommendation is really simple, right? Simple. And it has to be done because there are regulations that absolutely say, if you're on federal land, you have to recommend. And if you're on your claim and you want to do something and let's say you just say you want to go something bigger than what you normally what would just be within the standard the standard guidelines Now you have to have a an ally, a notice of intent and a plan of operation, and Ryan's is, Are you gonna have to put up a bond? That bond? That bond is a reclamation bond. It's not. It's not Bobby's bond, because we want you to you know, we just want you to give us money. That bond is a reclamation bond that bond is based upon. If you walk away and you don't do any of this, what's it going to cost? What's it going to cost to be on them to get a contractor out there to do that reclamation. Just do it as you go s so you You know, you've got a lot of bonding issues. I don't care if you're not on your claim. If you've always got to reckon, mate, you've got some rules and regulations within the 300. You've got some always been their rules and regulations outside of the 300. Why aren't you out prospecting?

spk_1:   22:01
Right? And when you go out and do those things, you know, the nice thing is you can decide. Am I going to go inside inside that 300 mark? Where am I going to go outside and you? You may find reasons to do both. And when I'll tell you is if you can maintain outside the 300 even as you were saying before it driving in and things like that, it gives you a great opportunity to run into to carry the water in the equipment. You need to work that material. But the nice thing is you can choose which one you want to do.

spk_0:   22:35
Sure. And I think anybody that's a prospector in the long run, you're going to end up outside that 300 feet because that stream channel where you're pulling that material, that you're working right now, you've told me that some of that material looks pretty chunky. So that means the chances are really, really good that that gold didn't move very far.

spk_1:   23:00
No.

spk_0:   23:01
And somewhere between zero and 301 feet, you'll probably be able to find that goal. Or if it's outside that 300 foot, you're still going to do your prospecting because you frighten that final resting place of the gold. Now I want to find out where it came from,

spk_1:   23:18
right, and and that's that's a great point cab view you find inside the 300 feet, you found a good amount of gold and you begin to follow the trend back out. And then, of course, you cross over that 300 foot that line. Now you're continuing to find that trend, and now you have some additional tools to be able to work or different tools.

spk_0:   23:43
And what you've just done is you've gotten on the gold prospecting to mining. Please make sure to subscribe to the on the gold podcast at our bus sprout site. Also, make sure to stop by our Facebook site and, like comment and share at facebook dot com. Forward slash on the gold. You can get out and go Prospect. You can get out and you can go mining. Do it the way there that you should be doing it everywhere. Prospect Prospect Mind the right material over. Just material. Everybody have a great day. Enjoy everything that we have out there in this wonderful world that gets us on the gold and takes us from prospecting to mining. Kevin will talk to you very soon. Have a wonderful afternoon.

spk_1:   24:36
You two kept