Gold Dredger's Handbook - Softcover

Dave McCracken; Dave Mack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0963601571 ISBN 13: 9780963601575

Publisher: New Era Publications, 2006

Synopsis

Being able to identify natural streambeds is the primary key to locating high-grade gold deposits. This book provides the most thorough explanation of natural and original streambeds available in any publication on the market today. In easy to understand language, supported by clear photographs and graphic demonstrations, this book covers all of the important information-including the legalities; where gold comes from and where to go to find it; how gold forms into high-grade deposits; all of the different types of suction dredges that you will see in the field today and how they work; how to get the most from your own dredge's recovery system; how to operate a suction dredge; how to sample for and develop high-grade gold deposits; the fundamentals of diving and dredging safety; rigging dredges on the waterway; how to complete your final clean-up and market your gold; and much, much more.

About this title

About the Author:

About the author, Dave McCracken. By Marcie Foley After high school, in 1973, Dave joined the Navy, and graduated UDT/SEAL training class 77 in San Diego, California. He graduated as one of only seven men, from a beginning-class of 57 enrollees. Dave spent four years in the Navy, stationed in Coronado, San Diego with the UDT/SEAL teams. He made one tour to Vietnam/Westpac. At the end of his 4-year tour Dave moved to Los Angeles and started a commercial diving business, mostly performing underwater maintenance on yachts. Gold prices were going up dramatically during late 1979, and Dave began to consider that he might be able to use his diving ability and experience to recover gold from the bottom of California s rivers. He discovered (through a magazine) that people were already using suction dredges, so Dave made a trip to Keene Engineering (in Northridge, California) to discover an entire product-line of underwater mining equipment. In 1979, Dave launched his first expedition with two friends. They started in southern Oregon, and ended up in northern California 6 weeks later. After reading all of the available literature on underwater mining, they found the information was not much more than instructions on how to assemble the equipment. Dave and his partners had a very difficult time of it in the beginning, trying to figure out by themselves workable methods of locating gold deposits. It was several months of severe hardship before Dave and his partners located their first commercial-grade gold deposit (about $60 a day), which was enough to pay expenses and feed them. Dave s partners lost interest before the spring-thaw, and departed with the dredge, truck, and most of the other equipment they were using together. After his partners left, Dave found himself alone in the forest, living in a tent, with very few resources to get by on. Cold nights and an empty stomach found Dave struggling to learn all he could about how to find high-grade und

About this edition

• Publisher: New Era Publications
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0963601571
• ISBN 13: 9780963601575
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 364