Jeff,

In my opinion as I read the story, you did nothing wrong.
If splits, or lack there of were discussed up front, no hold backs or behind the back stuff, all should be good.
Each of you had your own sluice, each had equal opportunities, sorry pal.

Gold and $$$ do strange things to people.
If you really want to see strange, watch the movie 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre'.
Yes its old and corny but shows what gold or $$$ can do to normal people.
When mining with others, it is very important to set the rules before wetting a shovel.
He will probably hold that against you for some time.

When I go with partners, if all are working in one box, equal split
If each uses their sluice, no split

Dredging is a whole different subject.
Many players, usually the dredge gets some sort of split for maintenance or fuel.
Get it on the table before wetting a shovel and all agree or move on, not worth the hassle.

You have just become a more wiser miner, a hard lesson sometimes.
Hopefully not a ruined friendship.


Bill

I agree wit Hall .If you were using your own sluice and it was you turn its what you get.

wow, better to learn the character of someone before you go into a real partnership, LLC, LLP, etc...

Jeff, you dodged a bullet.

You had an agreement, and told him to get in the hole when you found the quartz.  Were sharing shovel for shovel.  Sounds like he just got miffed.  I don't see where you went wrong.  Would like to have a prospecting bud like you anytime based on that.  Good luck in gettting someone else the bug.

I have seen lifetime friends turn into freakish monsters the first time they get a good collection on a dig. Always set the rules ahead of time for what is fair for everybody.

Let's say you got a guy with a bum shoulder that has a nice 4" sluice and a great claim to go to. Problem is he cannot run it with his shoulder out of whack, but you also have 2 other guys willing to work that thing 24/7 over the weekend. The owner of the equipment needs his cut and the guys doing the labor do as well, those terms need to be decided before anything starts.

One other thing, get yourself a Partner. In most of the world these days when somebody mentions their "Partner" people automatically think they are talking about their gay lover, but that is not the tradition when it comes to prospecting as many as you know. Your partner is the person you work with, dig with, trust with your life, and split everything with, when you find the right partner these types of problems never arise, everything is split 50/50 to include bills, income, food, drinks, and even fights when need be.

One thing I have used many times that works well to determine if a person is a user and taker, or a giver and sharer, is just buy them dinner, say "This one is on me!" Give it time but just wait and see if they ever offer to return the favor. If they deny just tell them it all works out in the end, next time you buy? You can really get to know people quickly by being generous.

I had one guy that went down to the river and forgot his snuffer bottle and needed one. I offered him a extra I had and he said he would give it back at our next meeting the following week, the week came and he acted like he didn't know me and no snuffer bottle. It's a $2.50 snuffer bottle that the cost means nothing, it's the fact that he didn't return it or didn't even want to make eye contact that means everything.

Excellent personality tests Benjarmin,



AMEN to "it aint the bottle", it the principal

Be very careful when showing a 'partner' a great spot, the potential for someone to jump that spot without you is elevated significantly. 

  

Jeff, what part of the world are you in ?





Bill

Oh, and my wife told me to add this;

If she or your dog have a bag feeling about a stranger make sure you get the Iron's ready, along with the Coach Gun. It may sound funny to people in most of the US to hear that kind of language but many of our claims are hours from cell service and there are plenty of snakes, four legged beasts that eat people, and the Indigenous Two Legged Crack Head Species running around.

In the Western Colorado Mountains we don't have 5 cops every fifty feet, we might have 1 every 500 miles. Out here you have to take care of yourself.

Benjamin Crain is right about a good partner. I live in Tennessee and my prospecting partner lives in Washington. Every year we meet in California in July and spend a week (this year it was two weeks) prospecting together. When using our own equipment, each his own gold to keep. This year we shared equipment and alternated clean outs between two buckets. At the end of the week we drew for a bucket each. Luck of the draw. Any pickers or flakes found in our test pans was that individual's to keep. The second week we each had a family member join us. We used four buckets and drew for those. I had the best bucket the first week and the worst bucket the second week. Once again, luck of the draw. No hard feelings and we'll be prospecting together for two weeks next year.

Jeff, what part of the world are you in ?

In the PNW, Bill.

I envy you, always plenty of water
As we get later into the summer, my good spots dry up
But I'll manage to find something

Jeff, if your ever planning a trip to the SF bay area (not sure why you would come here) or the San Joaquin valley or sierras and have some spare time, shoot me an email and maybe run some gravel

Bill

Never forget; over the past few thousand years, several million people have been murdered for gold...

Mary,

Gold is the only metal I know of that feels warm to the touch(Plutonium too but most people will never have the chance to even get close nor want to), but something more, it has a quality that cannot be described in words that even a blind person can recognize. I have handed a 1oz dore button in somebodies hand and watch them light up, they don't know what it is but they know it is something special. I have heard others call it "God's Money"

To this day our Governments trade commodities but they are all still based on GOLD.

Everything else on earth can be destroyed or made into paper, gold is the one constant which everything else is based upon, and for millenniums at that. I wish we would go back on the gold and silver standard before our fiat paper currency collapses, but I seriously doubt that will happen in my life time.

Hi Benjamin!
I agree on going back to precious metal standards for money.
At least it's real...
My first experience re-learning to pan was using commercial paydirt. I high recommend it. Once I knew how gold looked and acted in my pan, I had no doubts when I found it for the first time in the "wild". Only a speck but it makes me smile. <img src='http://www.goldprospectors.org/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_gpaa/emoticons/wink.gif' align="absmiddle" border="0" class="afEmoticon" /> There is gold in that river canyon nearby and based on internet research (and observing zero traces of workings there) nobody else is looking for it!
There truly is nothing else like it and even in tiny amounts, it brings true joy to my soul...<img src='http://www.goldprospectors.org/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_gpaa/emoticons/hehe.gif' align="absmiddle" border="0" class="afEmoticon" />
Cheers!
Mary

  #1 No, you didn't break any rules of prospecting etiquette. You need a good friend with his own Sluice/Detector/etc. Why? Because some guys start off with the detector (looking for high mineral values) Then Sluicing and sampling. I'm different, I just jump in the hole and go for it, if I don't see any Gold after a bucket or two...I dig in another spot, another hole, sometimes the middle of the stream, sometimes the sides of the river, or walk up on an upper bench and haul paydirt, etc.

  #2 If you're near the Julian Ca. claim or the banner grade Gold area, try the Julian pie & the Julian Mine Co. It's for kids getting Gems, but for the paying Gold panners you get a 'concentrate' pan..3 or so pieces, about $10. But the challenge is to find more Gold in the Sluice box/paydirt pile/etc.

  #3 I can't believe you guys fought over the pyrite.