Gold and the Economic Crisis.....

I found this article very interesting and wanted to relay it to you who may interested in reading it. This is courtesy of http://www.goldprice.org/gold/2008/11/gold.html and if you want to read more I recommend this site highly.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Gold is one of the chemical elements. Gold's chemical symbol is Au and its atomic number is 79. Its chief characteristics are that it is inert and malleable. Inert means gold does not interact with other chemicals or compounds. Gold doesn't tarnish and even the strongest acids have no effect. Thus, gold lasts forever - and stays shiny the whole time! Gold has many industrial uses, but its main historical uses have been for jewellery and money - both are a store of value. Gold has been used as a store of value for at least 5000 years. Gold is measured and prices are quoted in Troy Ounces and Grams. As an example of gold's ability to store value, 2000 years ago one ounce of gold would buy a fine man's outfit. Today one ounce of gold will still buy a good quality man's wool suit with enough left over to buy a few shirts, a tie, some underwear, socks, a pair of shoes and a belt!Gold has been called a "barometer of fear." When people are anxious about the economy - they turn to gold and bid the price up. The two main things that make people anxious are deflation and inflation. Most think that deflation is "falling prices" and inflation is "rising prices." Actually, rising and falling prices are symptoms. The root causes are decreases (deflating) or increasing (inflating) of the money supply. Gold has the remarkable ability to store value in both deflationary and inflationary times.The correct way to think about owning gold is as insurance. Gold is a store of value virtually independent of economic conditions. Unlike shares of a company or government bonds - gold will always retain value. Gold's most important use is insurance against the paper (fiat) currency of the country you live in. Almost every country has had at least one major "currency crisis" over the last one hundred years. Those that had some of their wealth in gold survived. Unfortunately many people saw their saving become worthless - sometimes in a matter of days. So, think of gold as insurance. Do not think of gold as a way to "make money." Do not try and "time the market." It is better to buy gold in small amounts regularly, every month for example, over a period of time. The percentage of your total wealth devoted to gold is a personal decision and depends on your particular situation. A conservative goal would be ten percent. In times of uncertainty the percentage should be much higher. Do not worry about selling gold when that time comes. Gold is recognized and valued everywhere in the world. It is easier to sell gold than to buy gold! Of course gold can be used in barter or trade as it has for thousands of years. To summarize, gold is an insurance policy against economic uncertainty. Gold can protect against both deflation and inflation. Everyone should store some of their wealth in gold if at all possible.

My Brother and I......

Last August I ran out of work so I called a guy in Salt Lake City to see if he had extra work for me to join him for a week. After I got work all squared away I then called my little brother to see if he wouldn't mind putting me up for a week while I came to work. He of course didn't care and was delighted to have me come to visit, and while I did we shot the breeze and went out and had some fun. On one occasion I wanted to go panning for gold since I brought my gold pans and wanted to try my luck panning for gold while I was here, and successfully talked my little brother into coming with me. We took his little Honda because gas was $4.00 or more a gallon during this time and it was very spendy to fill my truck up. I previouly had in mind going to the Spanish Fork Canyon to pan for gold and this was roughly a 40 minute drive from where my brother lives. We loaded up what we thought we would need and I grabbed my gold pans and my metal detector just in case and we went to the service station to fill up with gas and started out around 5 pm. 40 minutes later we were at the entrance of the canyon and we didn't realize that we had to pay an entrance fee, and when we got to the fee house we told the lady what we wanted to do and the lady looked at us and smiled and let us on through with-out paying and told us where we could go pan for gold.
We drove up the canyon about 3/4 of a mile from the fee house and found a spot that looked pretty good, so we grabbed our stuff and headed to the creek to pan for gold. I grabbed my pan and filled it with gravel and dirt from the creek and started to swirl it around to feed off the unwanted rocks and dirt to get to the gold. My brother didn't know how to do this so he watched for a minute and grabbed my other pan and tried to copy what I was doing and before long he had it down pretty good. We didn't find any gold but the black sand concentrate was very rich and I figured that we may have been to far down stream to get anything. By this time the daylight was dimming and it was getting hard to see what we were doing, even though it was plenty light outside the area we were at the Sun was going down on the other side of the mountain. So we packed up our things and headed back to Salt Lake to grab a bite to eat and I told him that I had alot of fun metal detecting when I had the chance. After dinner my bother said lets go metal detecting since we had alittle more daylight in the valley we headed to a spot that was a historical site. It wasn't far from home and we got there in no time and we parked and grabbed my Garrett 150 and started to look for treasure. Right off the back it beeped and we found a quarter 2 inches below the grass and I showed him how to put everything back just the way we found it. We did this for probably 2 hours and we found all kinds of stuff, we found an old key, several coins that added up to 30 some odd cents and hair clips, and other stuff I can't remember. My brother was just bouncing off the walls because of all the things we were finding and it was pushing 10 pm and we were still detecting under the light post that were around. We finally called it a night and headed back home. I had a great time hanging out with my little brother and I wish we had more time to hang out and find more treasure. Hopefully next time I get work in the area I can invite my brother to go treasure hunting with me again.

Searchlight NV. Trip....

I haven't been home to post anything new and when I'm at work there is no internet so hopefully I can make this interesting. I have been working down in Searchlight Nevada helping a guy do some metal exploration. He does ore sampling and re-test old tailing piles and even does research on how to re-process these old tailing piles to see if he can squeeze out more metals from them. Apparently, this process has never been proven or nobody hasn't been able to get all the 100% of metals out of these old tailing piles yet and people have been working on this for years. Mostly this guy will test ore samples by Assaying them with chemicals and if the ore looks promising then he will do a Fire Assay to get the metal out to test it again then he will report what is in the ore and roughly what you can get out of this ore by the ton. Very interesting work especially if you never seen it done before. I really had a great time learning this, and hopefully I can be-able to do that one day. Here in Utah, you can't find an Assayer unless you go to SLC, or possibly some Jewelery shops may have some qualified person to do that for ya. I want to try and learn this, because I would love to Assay ore samples for people and tell them what they may have. I am headed back down tomorrow to help this guy out for another week so be patient with me and when I get back I will post more.

All About Gold.....

This website tells all about gold and it's properties and how it's been the "Metal" of all metals for centuries. http://www.answers.com/topic/gold . I hope you take time and read about it because it is very facinating how it retains it value and how it's properties makes this metal very unique.

Visit Family........

I get to go visit family tomorrow (Saturday), we always get together for a family christmas party around this time of year. I'm hoping that we get to our destination early because I have an uncle that is my grandfathers brother who came from a family of prospectors. Since my grandfather passed on I want to go and talk to his brother and quiz him on some prospecting stories. My great grandfather was a prospector and from what I heard he found some pretty good stuff in Arizona, which is why I want to ask more questions. I don't think my grandfathers brother did much prospecting, and if he did I hope that I can learn something of the past and how prospecting was really done back in the day. I have no idea if the area that my uncle lives has any sort of rich minerals, but I do know about an hour north has several mineral rich areas. This area is in Central Utah where the Tushar Mountain Range lies, two mines come to mind are the Kimberly Mine and the Bullion Canyon Mine which at one time produce quite a bit of gold, silver, Uranium, and some other stuff. I recently drove through there last summer and was told that the Kimberly Mine was reopening because of the high gold prices at the time. I haven't followed up if it is still in operation, but I will find out this weekend.

Prospector's "Code of Ethics"

I have picked this up off of the Forest Service Website and found it useful.

Prospector's "Code of Ethics"

*Observe all State, U.S. Forest Service, B.L.M., US Corps of Engineers, and private regulations and all property rules concerning fires, tree cutting, littering, and mining.

*All members and guests must abide by Federal, State, and Local laws, rules, and regulations where applicable.

*Private property owners that allow access to prospect on their property may also have additional rules to follow, and these will be all respected. We are the representatives of thousands of other recreational prospectors and want to leave a good impression!

*Public drunkenness, profanity, excessive noise, and other obnoxious behavior is prohibited while prospecting. Don't drink and drive and respect all local ordinances. Mountain towns may be small but they are serious about safety!

*The principle of "PACK IT IN - PACK IT OUT" shall be observed in all areas. This includes cigarette butts and pull tabs as well. If you find cans or other debris left by others, leave it cleaner than you found it - please carry the trash out with you. Rocky Mountain Travel's objective is to keep all prospecting areas neat and clean.

*Always refill any holes you dig. Try to leave the area neater than you found it.

*When prospecting away from available toilet facilities, use your shovel as your toilet tool away from camping areas, waterways, or trails. Scrape out a hole no deeper than 4-6 inches. (That's because the first several inches - the so-called biological layer - contain a system of "disposers" that will break down the waste. If you go deeper you spoil this effect. Keep any sod intact and replace it after filling the hole. (Sprinkle some pine needles and twigs on top and nature will do the rest.)

*While prospecting, always be thoughtful of other prospectors. Never dig gravel from an area closer than 2 shovel lengths from another unless invited to do so. Do your panning or sluicing in an area, which does not seriously muddy the water of another prospector.

*Never mine within 10 feet of any road or established trail.

*Always display appropriate identification items when prospecting. (Bumper stickers, Name tags, Membership cards. etc.)

*Never refuel power equipment where oil or gas might enter any waterway. (If your motorized equipment might possibly leak any oil while you are prospecting, use a drip pan under the motor to catch any drops.)

*Dredge size is limited to 4 inches on most claims. (Special rules may apply in different areas - so always check ahead of your trip.)

*Water from highbankers must be discharged into a settlement pool or other area away from the stream so that this water does not directly re-enter the stream. Silt can affect the fish spawn in streams at certain times of the year.

*Always obtain permits in advance of prospecting on Public Lands where they may be required.

*The use of mercury or any strong acids in the testing or processing of gold is VERY DANGEROUS and should be restricted to qualified persons working in an appropriately equipped workshop, and naturally, away from all waterways.

*In all cases use common sense and be thoughtful of others.

Metal Detecting.....

In the past two years, metal detecting has been part of my on going search for treasure. I read about metal detecting in the "Gold Prospector" magazine that comes out bi-monthly and just reading the stories and seeing the things people find has been really exciting. So one day I went to our local pawn shops to see if I could find me a metal detector. I probably went to 3 shops before someone finally had one for sale, and so I asked about it and the clerk told me that it was just a beginners model. I was thinking at the time I wanted something that would find me lots of treasure, so I told the clerk that I would come back later. I drove all over town looking for a decent metal detector and every shop I went to they didn't have one, so I went back to the shop I visited earlier and picked up the one they had. I didn't know a whole lot about metal detecting other than you just swing this thing back and forth and you find things in the ground. The only detector I could find at the time was a "Garrett ACE 150" which came with a set of ear phones, a bag to carry it in and a shovel. With all the excitement I headed to the nearest park to see what I could find. I probably spent a good hour just going over the playground looking for coins and rings, but most of the time I spent was just learning how to use this thing. I did find some coins which didn't amount to much, but the time spent was really relaxing and fun. We had an opportunity to spend a week in northern utah two years back and of course with all the things we packed I had to bring my new metal detector. After we arrived and got settled in we drove around checking out the little town, and scoping out areas where the stores were in case we needed anything while we were there. We did come across some parks and we did make a note of them so we could come back and metal detect them. We spent the whole week metal detecting several parks in the area, and we did find alot coins which weren't old but it added up to around $8.00 dollars worth. Some of the other things we found were keys, hair clips, buttons, a little toy car, lots of pull tabs and other worthless junk. It was alot of fun, we sure enjoyed being outdoors and being active as far as walking and hiking. I don't go out as much as I used to but I have been searching for a more advanced detector that would disciminate more which means you can tune out more of the highly mineralized soils to narrow down your search. I am looking for a "Garrett Gold Scorpion" which is more for gold hunting, so I can go out and detect the placer grounds in gold bearing country. If anyone has a "Garrett Gold Scorpion" let me know if you are pleased with it, and if it lives up to it guarantee and if you would recommend it.

I Remember.........

I remember one time as a kid, I came across a little piece of rock with gold in it. I was spending the summer with my maternal grandparents, and one evening my grandmother told me to run to my great grandparents' to get some fresh eggs. My great grandparents only lived 4 blocks away and so I usually walked the streets to their house. When I arrived there my great grandmother was already expecting me and told me to go out to the chicken coupe and grab me some eggs. When I returned she gave me one of those styrofoam egg cartons and had me put the eggs in it so that they would not break on my way back to grandmas. Anyways, she had something else she wanted me to take back and told me to hang out for a minute while she went to the kitchen and grab the items. As I waited, I remember looking around in the piano room and they had this little closet stuffed with readers digest and some knitting things and my eyes caught on a little tiny shiny object sitting on one of the shelfs. Being curious I picked up the object and noticed it was a blue-ish looking rock with yellow in it and noticed it was quite heavy for it's size. I immediately thought that it was gold and by this time great-grandma was calling my name so I just without thinking put the rock in my pocket and left the room. Years later, I was going through some of my things and I came across the very same rock I "borrowed" from my great-grandmother years ago. I inspected it closely and sure enough it was gold and it was imbedded in this rock that had a cobalt blue look to it. I never did find out where it came from because that side of the family since passed on. As I thought about it I knew gold came in quartz veins, or you can sometimes find it in igneous rocks. I couldn't determine if it was actually gold laden ore or if it was something that may have been an after product when they processed the gold ore. It has been 15 years now and I think about this little rock from time to time and everytime I look for it I can't seem to remember where I put it. I thought about interviewing some of the related family members that are still alive and see if I can narrow down who might have been prospectors in the family. Then I can move to those who may have more stories on their lives, and hopefully trace down the possibility of which mines they worked and where. If they have no mining history then excitement really goes and hopefully I can find out where they might have done some prospecting and where and if they have anymore info on that related topic. I have a hunch that this little rock might have been slag lefted over from one of those melting operations, and back in those days processing ore to get the precious metals out were definatley not a 100%. Anyway, if anyone has any similar stories of thoughts about this particular post please feel free and let me know.

Lots of rain for Turkey Day......

With all the rain we have been getting here in Southern Utah I can't help to think about going out and doing some panning. Of course here in the desert we don't get water running in the wadi's year round and when it rains why not head out to the dry wadi's panning for gold? (I know it is not smart to be out in the dry wadi's during any kind of storm just because of flash flood warning!) This past summer I have been sampling some of the gravel bars in the Bull Valley Mountain area just north of where I live trying to locate some placer deposit. It has been very unproductive as far as trying to locate where the gold lies, which up in these parts the gold is very fine. I have one prospecting buddy say that a geologist friend of his told him that a 1/2 dollar size nugget came out of this area. I have inquired a time or two about where this location may be but all he say's is that it is roughly west of the GoldStrike Mine in the BeaverDam Wash area. I plan to return to this area in the springtime where the runoffs are nice and spend some time narrowing my search down to where the gold may be. I have been studying the topographical maps where I want to begin and so far I guess the BeaverDam Wash goes all the way to Slaughter Creek which lies west of the GoldStrike Mine. As far as I know the GoldStrike Mine is inactive, and so I visited the area just to try and get an idea what kind of ores to look for. This mine is an open pit mine and from what I learned the gold is pretty much imbedded throughout the whole area not really in any vein or anything. The process was quite a story with all the steps that they had to take to reclaim all the gold. This mine closed down in the early '90s and has'nt been re-opened as of yet. Since timing hasn't been right to reactivate the mining operations, I seen a few people out picking at the mine thinking they'll find stuff. I'll post pictures next time I find them so you can see what this place looks like.

Old Spanish Trail...

I have been reviewing some maps that are online and so far I narrowed it down to where the Spanish Trail comes out of New Castle down through Enterprise down to St. George and on. From what I gather the Santa Clara River comes out of Pine Valley through Central then winds on down through Gunlock Res. and past the Paiute Indian Reservation and finally turns southeast towards St. George and dumps into the Virgin River. The Spanish Trail just keeps going straight through the Paiute Indian Reservation and keeps going south. So that means the Santa Clara River and the Spanish Trail Follows each other from outside of Central, UT and they go through Gunlock Res. and down to the Paiute Indian Reservation before they split and go different directions. I'm guessing that wherever the road leads by Central down to (hopefully before) the Paiute Indian Reservation is where I would want to do my search. I am probably going to need to do more research because one source say's that the road this prospector was taking was headed towards the west over utah hill and says that he crossed the Santa Clara River at some point. The best part is that the more I research and study the more I learn my history:) .

About me.....

I guess it would be fair to say alittle why I'm interested in starting this blog. I have recently picked up this hobby of gold prospecting since 2006. I was first introduced to Placer Gold when I was a kid. My grandfather who was a short time prospector, showed me a small vial of nuggets he and his dad found while panning gold in Arizona back in the 1930's. His dad was one of those hard core prospectors who would spend much time as he could spare searching for lost mines and placer grounds. I remember as a kid that grandfather had some claims he would work once a year, and we would spend nearly a week working and grading the claims. As I grew older and he passed on I too fell away from rock hounding and wanting to search for gold. During the past few years I have picked up the love of getting out and wanting to search for the treasured metal that has been around for centuries. I currently live in Southern Utah where history itself is very broad. That is the other reason I have the love of wanting to get out in the hills, because here you are withing a hour drive to some of the most beautiful country and some very remote spots around. We are just 5 miles to the border of Arizona and the Arizona Strip which is a vast wilderness area protected by the BLM for recreational use for the public. This area has highly rich Indian heritage and other cultures that may have lived here years before us, and not to mention other creatures such as Dinasours with their tracks being found everywhere. I know there is'nt much gold here in southern utah but being close to Arizona, Nevada, and California the stories say that gold is everywhere. I hope with this and being out in the open I can meet other people with the same interest as me. I hope to share stories and work together to solve mysteries and other riddles to maybe someday be one of those prospectors lucky enough to find something to tell about. The purpose behind this blog is to meet others out there who have the thirst to know more and to be willing to share ideas and hopefully crack those stories to finding the treasures. Don't hesitate to post and share other topics as I'm open to anything that is in interest of Prospecting and Lost Mines.

Santa Clara lead/silver

I'm speculating that this lost mine is between santa clara and gunlock res. I really don't know exactly where the Old Spanish Trail went but apparently rumor has it that you look for a cliff with rose color quartz shooting out.

When times are tough.......

With work shortage and times of despair, I can say that I do have alittle more time on my hands to read, think, and ponder those old lost mine stories and such. Has anyone done any research on the old spanish trail, and know where I can get a decent map of the route? I am trying to locate the lost Santa Clara river lead/silver mine.