BENJAMIN JACKSON Greenhorn Posts: 
| 10 Jun 2014 11:44 AM |
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I was wondering if anyone has a preferred place to buy pay dirt to pan with where you will find good color. I ask because my 5 year old daughter has become bitten by the gold bug and I want to help "cultivate" her understanding of the trade. I my self am green at it all but have a couple trips planned with family and friends to go on a couple GPAA claims. I want the pay dirt to make sure my daughter finds something. Just looking for any suggestions. Yes I know this may be teaching her a "bad" lesson about success and failure but hey she is 5, I cant break her heart at that age! Plus if I get her to see my side of things about prospecting, maybe we can both convince my wife to make more prospecting trips. Thanks for your help in advance.
Ben J. |
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ARTHUR WAUGH Advanced Member Posts:967
| 10 Jun 2014 12:44 PM |
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I will preface this by saying that I have not purchased from anyone. Have heard good things about the quality and quanity of stuff from Randy Witham (here on the forum). Have not heard anything about the bags the GPAA had/have available. GPAA used to sell bags at the shows (or there facilitator did) and heard good things about that, but don't know availability of that line anymore. Those first two would be worth checking with off the top of my head. Randy's availability can be spotty.
The very best part of it is that you can toss it all back in and do it again and again to work on the panning skills, after working it in a tub, and whatever you find on the claims can stay in the vials, for show material. |
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Dale BlankenshipGreenhorn Posts:
| 10 Jun 2014 01:57 PM |
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Click on the store in the green bar above and you will find Tom and Perry's Dirt Bags for $39.99 but there is no description... I have never bought any pay dirt anywhere so I do not know how much gold anyone puts in bags... I do know that some places also put gemstones in as well...
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Dominic Ricci Basic Member Posts:185
| 10 Jun 2014 03:24 PM |
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If you look in the Gold Prospectors magazine, there are a few pay dirt advertisers that have been very loyal to the GPAA LDMA members. Also, if you purchase a dirt bag from GPAA, I can tell you that there is at least 8 grains of gold in each bag.
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BRIAN FRISCHOLZGreenhorn Posts:14
| 11 Jun 2014 06:45 AM |
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You can also check out Gold Pay dirt Reviews on YouTube, he has video reviews on most of the popular pay dirt sites and he breaks down what type of gold can be expected as well as an average return on investment. |
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JERE STARKGreenhorn Posts:10
| 11 Jun 2014 04:08 PM |
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Felix paydirt is good and I have also tried an add for Arizona gold in the back of the p&S.
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MARC LUXEMBURGGreenhorn Posts:
| 14 Jun 2014 05:03 PM |
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I have tried out Felix Pay Dirt one time and I can tell you. For the amount of gold in Felex's 2lb bag, it has good gold in it and I was pleased!
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RANDY WITHAMGreenhorn Posts:
| 23 Jun 2014 07:52 PM |
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Benjamin, Great question... Lots and lots and LOTs of cons sellers out there..........lots of suppose promises and supposed great gold bags to be had... BL is this , you get what you pay for... I have been prospecting since 2006 and selling my various cons blends since 2008. I have sold thousands of all sorts of cons bags on eBay, my web site and direct in person. I have made it a mission of sorts to give fellow panners & prospectors a "fair shake" on cons and gold. I now sell 3 types of "standard" cons to meet the desires and panning skills of most folks............Easy, Expert & average panners... I make up custom bags too... I build up and deliver a guaranteed amount of gold or my Easy & Expert bags & the 1+ grams Colorado bags I sell offer even more with my as panned/sluiced/Gold Cubed cons. So, no need to buy risky cons when you can buy some fun to pan Colorado cons. PLZ check out my web site Forum "Classifieds" section where there's a good amount of my cons reports and such... s http://goldadventures.cre.../classifieds-f5.html TIA, Randy Witham "C-17A" www.goldadventures.biz Randy Witham "C-17A" www.goldadventures.biz |
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Richard PluffGreenhorn Posts:18
| 26 Jun 2014 08:52 PM |
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think its great to do that it can also be used to teach her how to pan better besides finding the gold there are a few in the gold prospectors magazine you can get pay dirt from good luck
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Leo LorenzBasic Member Posts:486
| 29 Jun 2014 04:44 PM |
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Randy, I see all these ad's and it leaves me wondering......how do "you" know how much gold is going to be in the bag.....and if you do know....then why not process it? I have the general hunch that no matter how many bags I bought I still would never get a positive return. Right? Or is this just a way for the seller of the "dirt" to make great money based on calculating X amount of grains of gold to X amount of pounds of dirt? I am not trying to put the practice down...of selling dirt by the bag... Perhaps is does provide a service by giving some people who really would otherwise have a hard time getting out to pan, the fun to at least try it.!
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Ben PhetteplaceGreenhorn Posts:
| 29 Jun 2014 05:14 PM |
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I bought several bags from Ga. panned it out then remixed and ran thru my clean up sluice,,,, OUCH ! a lot of loss, repanned and retesting to find and reduce loss issues,, I ran most of the "dirt" thru, then the mixed w gold dirt into a green pan, panned out losses then panned out cleanup,,,, still have a lot of tuning to do I see !! so yes it has its winter advantages but not sure I got my moneys worth out of it,,, but for what I wanted to do it works.
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ROBERT FOLEYGreenhorn Posts:5
| 08 Jul 2014 05:47 AM |
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I have had good luck with eureka joes. There 2lb. $50.00 bag keeps them fever going.
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Joseph Loyd Buzzard Posts:553
| 09 Jul 2014 09:21 AM |
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I know that Gold Hog does sell some good bags .And you can get some with other thins along with the gold .Look up Gold Hog .com .
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William WhiteGreenhorn Posts:7
| 17 Aug 2014 08:59 PM |
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The Gold Prospectors Magazine is a good place to start looking for a bag. Ebay is another good source. Look for a fixed price bag and see how many they have sold, check their feedbacks.
Buying Cons bags is a way lot cheaper than flying or driving halfway across the country and then trying to find a place not overly picked over where you may or may not end up with anything. For me CA. is 2600 miles away, costs a grand to take a trip there. That's a lot of cons bags. I have been to CA. six times and paid a lot of money and have found about a hundred dollars worth of gold. Though gold is not the only reason I go, it's a beautiful state and the terrain varies so much, there is so much to see an do.
I usually sluice up what I can while I am there and take the cons home to sort thru at least a couple times when I have a bit more time. I have worked all day and ended up with very little to show for it (blisters and sunburns) so cons bags in the garage at home during a Lions Game, isn't a bad idea!
Good Luck to All... |
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Michael BiblerGreenhorn Posts:5
| 18 Aug 2014 01:33 AM |
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I have bought pay dirt from several online vendors. Every vendor I have tried to-date has always delivered a quality product in terms of quick delivery and packaging.
I classify and process the material at least twice through gold cube and/or panning. After processing, cleaning as best as possible, and weighing the gold the return on investment is logged using $1,300 gold price.
My best return on investment has been pay dirt purchased from Gold Fever Prospecting.com
http://www.goldfeverprosp...7nqbECFeSMTAodoyoAXA
Here is a sampling of the return on investment for paydirt purchased from Gold Fever Prospecting website:
8lbs of Fun ROI: 58.15%
1lb Gourmet Practice Gold ROI: 51.16%
Nome Beach Gold, Alaska ROI: 65% to 72%
20lbs of Eureka Pay dirt ROI: 63% to 71%
Heavy Black Sands ROI: 69% to 74% (Trick: Remove the magnetic black sands before processing.)
I just purchased a few bags from Gold Hog. They have a video at their website describing how they put the concentrate bags together. While the ROI for gold is not expected to be high, I am more interested in seeing what gems I may find.
While processing purchased concentrates can be fun, the experience of getting outdoors to produce your own concentrates is priceless. |
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John NunesGreenhorn Posts:
| 11 Jun 2015 07:14 PM |
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I bought a 160.00 2lb of upper river gold.ROI? 48%
I bought a Felix Bonanza 2lb er.ROI? 75%
Gold is where you find it.Good luck dirtbaggin my freind.
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Benjamin CrainBasic Member Posts:351
| 12 Jun 2015 10:52 AM |
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I like to buy "Mystery" Concentrates because you just don't know what you are going to get, and they are usually dirt cheap. I bought some Arizona dry wash concentrates a few years back for $15 dollars on ebay and it did not have a spec of gold in it until a nice nugget fell into my pan, it more than paid for itself.
But when teaching people to pan I like to work with a known quantity and type of gold, and there is a place out of California called Gold Fever Prospecting that seed their Concentrates to your exact specifications and amount. They will add fine nuggets, flour, flake, or large nuggets, but they are a bit high priced in my opinion. The advantage of this is of course you know the quantity before you start which you can use to test your equipment or techniques.
I am going to have family coming to town here in the near future and will be buying a bag of concentrates to teach them how to pan, but as Micheal said above, it's much better to get out and collect your own, but sometimes that is not always feasible, and some cheap concentrates can help set the hook, it's amazing to see peoples eyes light up when a nugget hits the pan.
I bought a bag from Gold Hog this last Winter and my wife was very pleased with the nice gems that fell out of the bag, but the amount of gold was quite low.
When it comes to "Return on Investment" people should always consider that when selling raw gold very rarely are you going to get anything close to spot price, it's usually 75% or less depending on where you are selling it and if you take the time to melt it into a dore button prior to sell. You can make more money by selling nuggets you find on ebay, or if you have a large enough quantity taking your gold to a refinery, but the small time prospector will often get hosed selling their finds not knowing where to sell, I have even been offered as low as 30% for raw gold and walked away like anybody should.
I should probably open another topic on where to sell, refineries, and refining your gold at home, because it is very involved and a whole subject to itself. My micro kiln works but is sub-optimal and I would like a better set up for making dore buttons.
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ARTHUR WAUGHAdvanced Member Posts:967
| 25 Jun 2015 12:36 PM |
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One of our chapter members got a couple of 5 lb bags off ebay from Whiskey Pete's. She kept track of colors from each tablespoon. Anywhere from 1 to 14, no "skunks". The other bag they brought to the panning demo we did at Cabella's and after the kids got done with the pyrite crystals they got a tablespoon of the cons and got to keep what they found. If it was a "dry" spoon, they got another try and all went home with real yellow. It is 1/2 minus paydirt for $18/5 lb + ship.
I just got 2 5 lb bags last night and will work one down theis w/e and edit ths for what the contents were when I get through it. |
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Benjamin CrainBasic Member Posts:351
| 25 Jun 2015 01:46 PM |
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I got 5 gallons of Colorado River Sands classified down to 1/8" that has more black sands in it than any dirt I have ever seen, but the amount of gold is a bit low. After working with it for a few days I realized it has another unique property, it makes your finger nails clean and hard as steel. I was thinking of selling it to beauty salons for women to naturally clean and strengthen their nails.
As I said before I like mystery dirt, you just don't know what you are going to find and more times than not I have gotten a nice ROI. But save that for the Winter, this is digging season, get out there and collect your own.
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ARTHUR WAUGHAdvanced Member Posts:967
| 25 Jun 2015 04:10 PM |
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I don't go much alone. With a heart that is running at about 20% I don't get up and down banks as I used to, and get way short of breath real fast. At least it will keep me in the game, and this is kind of a one time trial for now.
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