Beach Mining Rules Effective October 9 -- HPA REQUIRED!

The new beach mining rules adopted by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission on August 11 will take effect on Sunday, October 9, 2011, according to the Southwest Region Office.

Remember: WDFW still requires you to obtain a separate HPA for beach mining activities conducted under the new WAC rules as the Gold and Fish Pamphlet does not apply to the ocean beaches. From the relevant WDFW webpage:

Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has adopted rules that allow prospecting on ocean beaches. Because that agency adopted their own rules about beach prospecting, I don't need a permit from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, do I? Yes. The rules adopted by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission allowing certain beach prospecting activities are in addition to WDFW's permitting requirements. Because prospecting in marine waters is not covered by the Gold and Fish pamphlet, you must apply for, and be issued, an individual HPA to legally prospect on ocean beaches.

If you are planning on doing any beach prospecting this fall, you should apply for your HPA as soon as possible as some time is involved in WDFW issuing these permits.  The necessary application and instructions are available online at http://www.epermitting.org/.

Make Your Own Black Sand Magnet

You can make your own black sand magnet for aiding in gold recovery using a plastic 35mm film cassette can, a piece of wire, and a magnet that will fit inside the film can.

To make mine, I used a small but powerful magnet I had in my junk box. Although it has a convenient loop at one end for attaching the wire, you may need to get a bit creative if your magnet has a different design. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the film can just large enough for the wire to pass through. The parts ready for assembly are shown below:

(Note: I recommend drilling the hole in the cap instead of in the bottom of the film can as with the latter arrangement very fine particles of black sand work their way under the cap and onto the magnet itself.)

With the wire pushed through the drilled hole in the film can, form a loop in it as shown below so that the magnet can be raised and lowered inside the can:

Attach the cap to the can to complete the assembly as shown below:

To use your new magnet, spread your black-sand-containing concentrate more-or-less evenly over the bottom of a gold pan under an inch or so of water. Keep the magnet above the concentrate while moving it in a circular motion. If you get the magnet too low or into the sand, the magnetic particles will clump and can entrap pieces of gold. As you work, you will notice the concentrate becoming lighter in color in the areas where the magnetic black sand particles have been removed.

Every few moments, withdraw the magnet from the concentrate pan. You will notice an accumulation of black sand on the bottom of the film container.

Next, position the magnet in the water in a second gold pan which will serve to collect the magnetic sand removed from the concentrate pan. Release the black sand into the pan by pulling up on the wire to raise the magnet inside the film can.

Each time you drop a load of black sand into the second gold pan, you should check it to be sure no gold particles were trapped within it. When you are satisfied that you have only black sand in the pan, you can dispose of that material as you normally do with your tailings. The second pan should now be empty (except for the water) and ready to receive the next load of black sand.

When you are no longer getting black sand on the magnet assembly from your concentrate pan, you are finished with this stage of the separation process. You will probably notice a considerable reduction in the amount of concentrate remaining in your pan, depending on how much magnetic black sand it contained, and may even see some gold pieces amid the remaining material, as on the right and bottom of the image below:

As always, happy prospecting!

New Publications From WDGER

The Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources has announced the following publications:

Information Circular 112.  Inactive and abandoned mine lands--Ruby Hill Mining District, Okanogan County, Washington, by F. E. Wolff, D. T. McKay, and D. K. Norman. 2011. 35 p. (Available online only, at http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/ger_ic112_iaml_ruby_hill.pdf [59.8 MB])

Also, please be aware of corrections to the following publication:

Open File Report 2010-3 [revised 2011].  Geologic map of the Skokomish Valley and Union 7.5-minute quadrangles, Mason County, Washington, by Michael Polenz, J. L. Czajkowski, Gabriel Legorreta Paulin, T. A. Contreras, B. A. Miller, M. E. Martin, T. J. Walsh, R. L. Logan, R. J. Carson, C. N. Johnson, R. H. Skov, S. A. Mahan, and C. R. Cohan. 2010 [revised 2011]. 42 x 36 in. color sheet, scale 1:24,000, with 21 p. text. (Available online only, at http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/ger_ofr2010-3_geol_map_skokomish_valley_union_24k.zip [38.2 MB])

Errata for Open File Report 2010-3:  The name of Holocene ‘alluvium’ (units Qa(m) and Qo(am)) was changed to ‘marine deltaic alluvium’ to distinguish it from unit Qa. The unit labels and colors of units Qoa (Holocene to latest Pleistocene alluvium) and Qao (uppermost Olympic-source recessional outwash) were inadvertently switched on the map legend. This has been corrected. Kasper van Wijk has been added as fourth author to Lamb (2009). Corrections were made to the online file on August 8, 2011.