by - Bert Hopp Red Deer

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THIS MUST BE THE MOST MAGICAL WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

I will try to describe to you my personal experience, about gold panning, prospecting, and recovering gold with a sluice box.

In Alberta there is only flour gold. When recovering flour gold, treat it gently, like friendship. You have to work at it gently but correctly, "It's an Art". If you work at it too hard and fast, with incorrect methods, you will lose the gold. With the right treatment, there are sparkling results for your efforts

However, there no reward greater than the fresh air and exercise. All the family can enjoy this recreation for the low cost of a gold pan. Gold panning is a tremendous way to appreciate the outdoors, especially the peacefulness and fresh air of the countryside, while sitting beside a stream of rushing water

The prospector is a combination of geologist, carpenter, woodsman, mechanic, cook, etc., and willing to work hard, often under trying conditions. This makes this hobby a healthy, invigorating recreation

The gold pan is a useful and necessary device, for testing and cleaning up the gold, but is too slow and laborious for even a small-scale operation. However, preliminary testing of a stream may be accomplished using only a pan, pick and shovel. The usual procedure is to work upstream, panning frequent pans of gravel, and record the location of each pan taken, and the amount of gold in each pan. This is how the most productive section of a gravel bar of a creek or river may be obtained

CLICK here for mining regalations in Alberta

WHERE TO FIND GOLD IN ALBERTA

The fine Alberta gold is found on the upstream end of the gravel bar, on an inside turn. The gold is just below the surface, about three to six inches

The Peace River, near the town of Peace River has had some favourable results. First you go 200 to 300 feet above the waterline of the riverbed. The gold can then be located in the upper two feet of that gravel bar

The North Saskatchewan River ( near Edmonton, also South of Stony Plain, and about 15 miles down stream from Fort Saskatchewan)

The Red Deer River, upstream near Red Deer. In the upper faces of the gravel bars, between the high and low water level

The Mcleod River. (Along the river from below Hargwen to a point near Marlboro, from Rosevear to 6 miles below Peers Ferry. Up river from Whitecourt about five miles).

The Athabasca River, starting from Fort Assiniboine, and around the vicinity of the town of Athabasca. Also by the bridge crossing the Little Smoky River, north of Valleyview, on the road to High Prairie. By the bridge west of Dunvegan, one student found a FLAKE of gold, "Not Just Color". Has been reported that gold was recovered from the Athabasca River, near Blueridege by the ferry

ONE - TWO - THREE

Before putting that gold pan into the car and starting for that secluded spot by the river, you must be aware of three equal important factors..

ONE

You must know where to look for gold on a gravel bar, by a stream or river..

TWO

You must recover the gold by panning with a gold pan .

THREE

You must be able to separate the gold from the black sand, and other concentrate which has accumulated in your pan. These three factors are closely interrelated. Being an expert on locating placer deposits is useless if you are unable to pan it. Being an excellent gold panner won't get you much gold if you can't separate it from the black sand and the other concentrate..

When prospecting for gold ln Alberta:

Look at it as a recreation, not how much can I make mining for gold. Before you sell everything you own, take a good look at the possibility of making any money gold mining in Alberta..

I instructed gold panning for the YMCA of Edmonton 1981 to 1986.

This is an article from the Edmonton Journal August 23, 1982:

GOLD! It's there for the taking on the bed of the North Saskatchewan River. The 51 people who spent Sunday learning the art of panning struck it rich. The fine gold they had painstakingly removed from the river's gravel. The end of the day, each student had some gold in a small vial, was proudly held up to envious eyes.. "Its all good fun," said one eager student prospector with a gleam in his eye. The wish in his heart he might yet find a nugget. Those who were muttering; Omineca, Yukon and Cariboo were clearly infected with gold-fever..

The North Saskatchewan yielded paydirt to thousands of unemployed in the 1860s. Now it is being used to teach novice prospectors the art of panning. In conjunction with the Journal and the YMCA weekend programs are offered to adults and children at the river's edge in Emily Murphy Park. Here they sit on stools, oblivious to the muddy water lapping about the top of their rubber boots. After the day-long course they will know they have hit a deposit, if color shows in the black sand in their pan. All they need to fill a poke is a pan, a shovel, and work..

Bert Hopp is one of the founders of the Alberta Gold Prospectors Association (1977). He is assisted by five volunteer instructors in showing eager students how to go about finding a fortune. Mr. Hopp says the spot under the Groat Bridge is richer in gold now than it was earlier this year. The high water we had on the river, has washed away gravel, leaving more gold exposed. Though enthusiasts may not always hit deposits of gold-bearing gravel, there is a chance they will find garnets, petrified wood or silver..

Mr. Hopp even has a vial of platinum which he panned from the river bed. He also has a gold chain he made from Alberta gold, that has a one and a half ounce pure gold pendant he fashioned. With gold prices climbing rapidly, people are hoping to strike a bonanza..

This year 500 people have taken the course. So can you: If you phone the YMCA at 452-9204

GOLD PANS:

Steel Pan: - There is oil on the surface of a new pan. 1st You must burn off the oil, on an open fire pit. Heat the pan until it's an even blue all over, then dunk in cold water. Then lay the pan face down, to dry. This will leave the pan with a blue color, so the Alberta flour gold can be easily seen. You must burn the pan every time there are rust spots, or not blue..

Black Plastic Pan: - This pan does not need to be burned: The black plastic pan is good for cleaning up after sluicing, it has a sand blasted surface. Also it's a good prospecting pan, rather then the steel pan, it doesn't rust, and the gold can easily be seen..

Green Plastic Pan: - The Kelly-green color, shows the gold to the best advantage. You can see the garnets, black sand, and platinum better. The shape of the pan enables, faster time to pan for the experienced prospectors, and safer and surer results for the beginner. Also, the light weight is an advantage for transporting and to use..

PANNING METHOD INSTRUCTED AT THE YMCA GOLD PANNING COURSE:

PROSPECTING:

Choose a likely spot, and shovel a few scoops of gravel, into the steel pan, then go to the river and pan off the gravel. You should pan several pans at various locations until you are satisfied.There is enough gold in each pan spend some time panning..The good spots to test could be where water slows down, when the river had high water (near a curve or obstruction) in grass roots, etc. Gold panning is an art, and as in any art form, no two people do it exactly the same. Before you tackle gold panning, select a location where the water is at least 10 inches deep. There must be enough current to wash away the lighter silts that will pour out of your pan as waste material. Also, be sure to have a rock or stool to sit on, as it's no fun trying to pan gold standing and bent over. It is very difficult to describe in words, the motion of panning. By practising and watching others you can develop your own technique. I will attempt to describe in words the action of gold panning, and hope you can visualize the action. It is not difficult to pan, there is only one critical point to remember. It is to be careful with the tilt, of your pan. Not enough tilt will make it difficult for you to wash out, the unwanted gravel and sand. When you have too much tilt the gold will slide out over the edge of the pan. The 'rule of thumb' is to have the lip of the down-tilt side no higher than the opposite bottom seam line (about a 45 degree angle)..

PANNING:

Place the pan under the water, and vigorously shake it side to side, about 5 seconds. Swirl the gravel in the pan, in a gentle circular motion to the right, about 2 seconds, and then to the left for 2 seconds. This causes the material in the pan to break up, and the heavy material (gold) to drop. If there is clay, or grass roots, set the pan in 6 inches of water, and physically work you fingers through it. This action will cause every bit of material to become exposed to the water. When you work the material by hand throw out the larger rocks. If there is clay on the rocks, be sure to remove all of it, as this is where much of the gold will come from. The next step is the process of working the small rocks to the surface. Pick up your pan, submerge it under water and, repeat the circular motion to the right, then to the left. Then agitate it side to side, with the proper tilt, dozens of small rocks are free and topple over the side. You also can use the side of your hand to 'rake off the top', and don't worry about raking out any gold. By using this same agitation that caused the lighter rocks to surface also causes the gold to sink down into the pan..

REMEMBER

gold is eight times heavier than ordinary sand and gravel. It may be necessary to perform the "shake and rake" operation two or three times to get all the small rocks out of the pan. This will make the next step of panning much easier; to wash the remaining light worthless material out of your pan, and get to the gold underneath. Hold the pan just barely in the water with the proper tilt. Then with a slight thrust forward, some of the brown sand will wash out of the pan. When you have washed away some of the light gravel stop and shake your pan side to side, under the water, with out any tilt to the pan. This will cause any 'wandering' gold to settle back down to the bottom of the pan. Then repeat the circular motion, bringing the pan almost out of the water, with the correct tilt. Then thrust forward again, to wash out more waste material. Again stop to reshake your pan, without the tilt. Repeat this washing process until, you have worked down to the heavy black sand. This will be the last remaining substance in your pan. The panning process is completed. This is what we call 'concentrate'. Dump this concentrate into an ice cream bucket, which has water in it. Use your hand to splash water into the pan to wash the concentrate out of the pan and into the ice cream bucket..

After several pans, when you have a fair amount of concentrate, you go into the extraction process. This extraction process you can do in your back yard. Set up a tub filled with water (to which non-sudsy soap is added, such as Amway Dish Drops). This prevents the gold from floating. Have additional pail of soapy water handy if necessary. Screen the larger rocks out of the concentrate. Then add it to your black plastic pan (which has been scuffed up on the surface by panning some gravel). Pan into the tub using the back wash method to get the brown sand and garnets out. When you have panned out all the garnet & sand, you can run a magnet through to pick out the magnetic black sand. The magnet is in a pill bottle. When you run the magnet through the black sand, have about two inches of water on top of it. Without the water over it the black sand acts like tweezers, pinching some of the gold with it, as it attracts to the magnet. When you swish the magnet around in the water and black sand, the gold flakes should drop out. Release the black sand, by pulling the magnet out of the pill bottle. There is no need to save this black sand, although if you wish you can drop it into a gold pan and check for gold..

When all the magnetic black sand has been picked out with the magnet, transfer the concentrate into the Garrett "gravity trap" green plastic pan. The Kelly green is particularly good, because you can see the black sand and gold. The gravity trap pan, forces the gold to the bottom of the pan. Making it possible to pan out all the nonmagnetic black sand, thus leaving you with gold only. This gold you wash into a vial, you have something money can't buy, you should be proud. Others will look at you with envious eyes. The water in the vial magnifies the gold by four times..

Introduction to Lapidary

The Art of Cutting and Polishing Precious and Semi-Precious Stones

The tecknique of Gem Cutting is best learned from experienced instructor. Phone (403) 346-5603 Del Harrison about a lapidary course. Additional information phone 346-5031 The Red Deer Rock & Gem Assc.

(a) Physical Properties of Gemstones:

- beauty

- rarity

- durability

Beauty, when combined with rarity and durability is most important.

Beauty without rarity and durability is of little value.

(b) Physical properties of stone suited for lapidary.

1. GLOSSY FRACTURE - eg. OBSIDIAN

2. HARDNESS

A suited lapidary stone should have a hardness of 5 or better. (on the moha scale).

The Moha scale:

1 - 2 May be scratched with a fingernail.

2 - 3 May be scratched with a copper.

3 - 4 May be scratched with a nail or piece of glass.

5 - 6 may be scratched with a knife blade.

7 -up Considered a precious stone.

TYPES of GEM CUTS

1. THE CABOCHON CUT

The most common, has a flat bottom and a rounded top. That may take the shape of a square, circle, oval etc.

2. THE FLAT CUT

The stone is cut flat on top and bottom or just one side.Grind, sand and polish the flat cut. This is often used in displaying specimens.

3. THE FACET CUT

This is usually cut on transparent stones diamonds, rubies, emerald. This finished stone consists of a series of flat cuts around the stone, with geometric relations to each other.

SLABBING

Term used, sawing a rough rock into usable slabs 3/16" thick for cabochons. Their are four basic steps to produce a Polished Gemstone.

1. SAWING

2. GRINDING

3. SANDING

4. POLISHING

This is merely a basic outline. The Complete OUTLINE in Producing

a CABOCHON STONE

a. SELECT A SLAB

b. MAPPING

c. SAWING

d. SIZING

e. DOPING

f. SHAPING

g. SANDING

h. POLISHING

PROCEDURE

I. SELECT A SLAB

Make certain the area of the slab, is free of any fractures and pits.

II. MAPPING

The process of drawing the outline of the stone, on the slab.

Using a TEMPLATE and STYLUS

NOTE

Place the outline in such a way that you will not waste the slab. Then using a straight edge, draw guide lines around the apped stone.

III. SAWING

Check oil level.

Keep guard down.

Check if blade is running freely.

Wear an apron.

cut along the guide lines to remove the mapped stone from the slab.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR GRINDING WHEEL

The grinding wheels are water cooled. This keeps the stone you are working on from over heating and breaking.

PROCEDURE IN STARTING GRINDING WHEEL

First turn on the grinding wheels. Then the water:

PROCEDURE IN SHUTTING DOWN:

First turn OFF the WATER. Then allow the wheels to spin dry 10 minutes.

When grinding of any sort:

Do not press too hard against the grinding wheel. Too much pressure may cause the stone to chip and groove the grinding wheel.

ALSO.. the greater the pressure the less accurate you apt to be.

When sizing or shaping a stone, make certain you always work in the area directly in front of the axle or the outer most bulge of the wheel.

NEVER... work continuously in the centre or on one spot of the wheel, move the stone from one side to the other. OVERWORKING... one spot or the centre will groove the grinding stone. Leaving an uneven and difficult surface to work on.

BE PATIENT WITH THE EQUIPMENT AND HANDLE IT WITH CARE AND CAUTION:

IV. SIZING STONE:

Using the 100 grit grinding wheel. Grind off all excess material surrounding the mapped area of the stone. NOTE: Grind "slowly", avoid grinding flat spots. The sized stone should fit into the template without forcing.

V. DOPING:

Mount the sized stone onto a dop stick using dop wax. Heat dop wax and stone with candle or wood alcohol lamp, add a little dop wax to stone and stick. The dop stick is mounted on the side of the sized stone, which best fits the template. Make certain the dop stick is in the centre of the sized stone. Do not over heat the stone or it will break, don't use to much dop wax.

VI. SHAPING:

Using the 100 or 220 grit wheel, grind the edge of the stone at an angle of 6 degrees. NOTE... The angle is measured between the face of the grinding wheel and the side of the stone.

THING TO WATCH FOR:

Keep a close eye on the top and side of the stone. Do not grind the 6 degree angle to the bottom of the stone. Leave an even 1/16 of an inch around the bottom of the stone. Avoid over grinding the end of the stone.

THE 45 degree ANGLE:

NOTE...Use the dop stick as a guide in establishing the 45 degree angle. Using the 220 grit wheel grind the edge of the stone at an angle of 45 degree. Extending halfway between the top of the stone and the base.

Thing to watch for:

Again make certain you are not grinding too much on the ends. This type of a mistake tends to give the cab flat ends. DO NOT extend the 45 degree cut below half way.

THE 83 degree ANGLE:

NOTE: The dop stick and the face of the grinding wheel establishes the 83 degree angle. Using the 220 grit wheel grind the edge of the stone at an angle of 83 degree, extending halfway between the top of the stone and the bottom of the 45 degree cut.

VI. ROUNDING THE CAB:

Using the 220 grit wheel "very lightly" round the top of the stone by removing the sharp angles and flat spots. By going side to side and up and down, directly in front of the axle of the grinding wheel. NOTE: AVOID-Pushing the stone hard against the grinding wheel, this will cause flat spots and a very lumpy and uneven surface.

VII. SANDING

Using the sanding wheel to smooth the surface of the cab. Before you begin to use the sander wash the stone with soup and water to remove any 220 grit carryover.Then use the 400 grit sandpaper to remove all scratches left by the 220 grinding wheel.

THINGS TO WATCH FOR:

WORK on the downward side of the sanding wheel to avoid tearing the paper. Keep moving the stone to avoid sanding in one spot and creating flat spots. Avoid overheating the stone, check it often, allow it to cool before proceeding. Do not cool the stone with water. Also before going on to another stage always wash the stone with soup and water to avoid any grit carryover. NEXT: Using the 600 grit sandpaper to remove all scratches left by the 400 grit sandpaper. SAME PROCEDURE AS 400 GRIT SANDPAPER:

VIII. THE POLISHING:

Using a leather faced wheel coated with Tin Oxide Polish the cab. Spread a generous amount of Tin Oxide onto the leather surface. Work on the downward side of the wheel. "keep the stone moving to avoid overheating the cab."

When the cab is polished remove it from the dop stick by freezing it.

Select a mounting and MOUNT IT:!!!!

Be proud of your creation. ENJOY YOUR MASTERPIECE:

Bert Hopp's family book.

CLICK here for History Cariboo GOLD Country (WELCOME to Cariboo GOLD Country,

CLICK here: I find peace and strength within, the trust of friends.

CLICK here for a smile a day keeps the doctor away

CLICK here for ONE - LINE humour,

CLICK here to veiw professional photographs display.

CLICK here-> For Short one line humour..

CLICK here for WORDS of WISDOM

CLICK here for a smile a day keeps the doctor away

CLICK here for ONE short funny story.

Click on leaf "for the history of Alberta"

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IVR
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