29prospector

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About 29prospector

  • Birthday 12/11/1946

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    RobertD193
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    rvdunkin@msn.com
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  • Location
    29 Palms, Ca
  • Interests
    Prospecting, Mining, Metal Detecting and Fishing

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  1. Rob, Sorry that I have not more active in the last year. A broken leg, smash knee, and a broken back in 3 places has sidelined me. I find this thread very interesting for several reasons. I have had to sell all my detectors to help with bills. A very good friend has loaned me his eureka until I can get another detector. The claims made by those in the thread sound to good to be true, therefore they are probably not true. I believe that any legal up front dealer/builder would be excited to have a group of seasoned detectionist to field test their product. I'm in the process of reinventing the wheel in the form of a drywasher. Because of my weight restrictions it must be light and portable. When I have finished with my me personal testing I would be glad to sent you one to test the H*ll out of. 29prospector
  2. AzNuggetBob, I'm with you on footwear. I'm in Cali and there is no way I'm hunting in tennis shoes. Bates have been the best for me. With my back fused from L1-S1, they give me no trouble but a lot comfort. OL'29er
  3. Forrest, I've been drywashing for 30 plus years and I have found that it varies from spot to spot. My basic routine is as follows; I use 2gal. buckets, due to my fused back, and dig enough material to fill 8 buckets. Next I run the material usually twice and pan out the cons. This works best for me. I dig, run and rest while panning. If the color is good then I take the area that I have opened up and section it off in 2 foot sections running each section separately to determine where the pay streak is at. Hope this helps Ol'29er
  4. Thanks everyone. Chris, I too am looking forward to chatting with you at Primn. Slim Farris, I must say that the short-timers calendar seems longer than normal. I truly am looking forward to spending a few days in the peace and quit of the Dale Valley. Dakota Slim, It was a true pleasure meeting you and gabbing while we were teaching. A newbie's delite, he found that small little chunk. Ridge Runner, I'll start saving pennies so we can meet up and do some prospecting. Ol'29er
  5. I want to thank everyone here on Rob's site for their prayers and good thoughts. I'm healing fast according to the doctor, but for me its to slow. I'm going out for 5-7 days in April and hope to find a nice run of gold with the drywasher. I'll keep you all posted. Ol'29er
  6. Well Grub you hand in there. Cooler weather is coming for both of us. I got the good news Thurs. that I'm bbeing released early from this prison. 8 weeks in this nursing home sucking up IV's has ended. I'm going home today, the 12th. Doctor said 2 -3 more months of R&R and I should be at 80%. If I give it til the end of Sept. I will be in good shape. Weather starts to get nice just about than. So hang in there my friend. OL'29er
  7. I'm speachless. Thanks for the laugh. Grub, You amaze me. OL'29er
  8. Matt, I fully understand how you feel about all of this. Upgrading sometimes is the right option, like with your wife's computer or your rifle. I had but 2 metal detectors until 3 years ago. I had my fathers Whites TR-63 and his Whites Prospector 4900-D Pro. Now I watched my father find alot of gold with both machines, but for the life of me I could not figure them out. I finally got enough money to get a used gold Bug 2 and have found alot of gold with it. I wanted a Minelab, money wasn't there. Like I said earier, a very kind person on this forum made his GP Extreme affordable to me. I love it and I'm still getting use to yet. Do I want a 4000 or 4500, hell yes but I'll settle in with the Extreme. I believe your blessed to have such a fine machine and I bet by the end of this year you will have paid for it twice over and have enough to get a new 4500 or wait and get the 5000. Your in a very good area and I hope maybe next spring I can come up that way and visit. JP, Thanks for all your input. I know I'm behind the times with the Extreme, but its way better than the White's VLF's. Ol'29er(Bob)
  9. Steve & Chris, I wish you both the very best and pray that all goes well. Don't spend your checks till they clear the bank I wish I was 30 years younger. I would be standing in line to help anyway I could. Now at 61 with to many years of primative hard rock mining, telephone pole climbing and ladder climbing, I'm looking at major back surgery but Lord willing, I'll be detecting and doing a small amount of dredging and drywashing this fall. Steve & Chris, I know what it is like to be where you are right now, thats why I'm so excited for both of you, your ships may be coming into port soon and barring some type of Goverment intervention your shall see your dream. Thank you both for allowing all of use to share in that dream with you. Ol'29er
  10. Thanks to Rob, Steve and all the others who have taken a higher road in this thread. I agree with GotGold, you do your research and buy what you feel is the best for your part of the hobby. After 55 years of mining experience, buying the best, the cheapest and what can do the job for the best price, I have learned that some people will gripe no matter what. I wanted a Minelab for metal detecting but my budget could not afford one. I settled for what I felt was the next best one and got a Gold Bug 2. I learned how to use the machine and it has found me alot of gold. Thanks to a very kind person on this forum I now have a Minelab GP Extreme. Is it the latest and greatest? No it is not, but I am learning how to use it. One must learn their machine and learn it well, after that when you have the gold in you hand to prove your experience I do not believe your going to gripe about your detector. Those that I run into that gripe the most are those who just do not spend the time to learn their machine. I have a friend who could only afford a Garrett Gold Stinger. To me its way to noisey and hard to ground balance. He on the other hand has mastered the machine and has done his share of nugget finding. It all boils down to one thing: YOUR MIND SET. Ol'29er
  11. Thanks everyone for your prayers and thoughts. I will post the night before I go in for surgery and then post again when I'm sober enough to write. Eight years ago when I had my first surgery, I was so drugged for the first two weeks that I didn't even know my name. Grub, You and your wife take it easy and remember, One day at a time. Geroge, With all you have been through, I thank you for thinking of me. You have been in my prayers also. Flak, A visit would be great if you get out this way. I know you have been very busy lately. 2dach, Part of my problem is naturual breakdown from pole climbing, ladder climbing, construction and hard rock mining. In 1999 I had a pit cave in on me at work and twisted L4 & L5 along with both knees. The doctors repaired L4&L5 in 2000 and got my knees replaced in 2003. So old age and the fact that I just won't quit has caught up with me. BUT!!!!!!!!! I'll be ready in August. Bob
  12. Hi all, Well the Doctor has put a clamp on me and prospecting. He wants me to stay out rough country for awhile . I've been quite about this up til now but I'm going in for surgery in about 4 weeks . My lower back finally went south on me and its all I can do to walk, let alone prospect. I have severe nerve damage in 3 places and they are going to have to fuse my lower back from L-1 to L-5. Stupid me, I put it off just a tad to long. Our last 4 day outing in November took its toll on me and I've been sliding down hill ever since . The good news is the Doctor said I should be healed enough to go dredging in August. Micro-Nugget and I hope to meet up with El Dorado and get in a couple weeks of dredging. This will be a new experience for this old hard rocker. Dredging is the only phase of mining I have not tried so I'm looking forward to learning about it. I'll have two good teachers. Blessing to all. May your spring hunts bring you a goldern summer of relaxtion. The Ol' 29er..... Bob
  13. Shep, If all goes well Martin and I are going to try and make it, if not this spring will fine. We want to come up your way for a few days and visit with you, Matt and Grub. I'm looking forward to Rye Patch this spring also. Your right about the next adventure. I'm taking a road trip tomorrow to do a general overview of some mining property for a friend. Haven't done any geology work for awhile so I'm looking forward to this. bob
  14. Wes, I did alot of studying of the way the wash turned and how the rocks stacked. Once I determined the area we want to focus on, which was about 100 yards long, I started working the sides with a metal detector. We have two more spots above where we were working to prove out yet. 1dredger, I not one to post to many pictures of gold due to the fact that alot of people that follow these forums know where we are working. I've had to ask 8 different people this last year to leave the property, that being said I'm posting one picture of one that got through the classifer and I found it in the top riffle of my drywasher. Enjoy. Ol'29er
  15. Hello Rob and Forum Members: It's been awhile since I've post any updates and I figured it was time to bring everyone up to Dec. 2007. As you know from my other posts, I've been chasing a seam of gold on bedrock now for 3 years. Over this period of time I've had to dig the hole out 6 times due to flash floods, repair the road 2 sometimes 3 times a year. In Jan. & Feb. of 2005 we got some hard rains that destroyed the road to the point of having to bring in a tractor to repair it. 2005 was a slow year and we didn't get the road repaired til Jan.2006. In 2006, I was back at it. I had the hole cleaned out, found my seam again and was back into the gold. 2006 also brought some new friends my way and I sure was glad to meet them. Mining was starting to get boring, what with talking to myself, and these colorful gentlemen show up. Many thanks to all of you, you kept me from totally losing it. Now if I can find what I did lose, oh well, maybe another day. My partner, Doc, started to loose interest in the mine and is now working on a project in Nevada. In 2007 I met my new partner, Micro-Nugget, and between the two of us we kicked butt and chased that seam til she gave up all she had. It was a good run but like all good runs she came to an end. In November of this year we finished cleaning up the hole and the last 40 buckets yielded very little gold. Attached are pictures starting with the beginning to the end. God, you've got to love this hobby. The Ol'29er