Black Sheep Mining

A few pictures from a couple of our charter panning and sluicing trips

We have just learned today that a miner, on his mining claim was well, cited kinda. by a DFG LEO (Dept of Fish and Game, Law Enforcement Officer) for running ...a small water pump to feed his perfectly legal highbanker. A highbanker is a small box which one shovels dirt into, introduces a little water from the little water pump and washes that material over a small sluice box. His foot valve was confiscated and he was told he committed a felony misdemeanor. Hmmm, we’ve been around the court systems for over 30 years and haven’t heard that one before. He was written a receipt for the foot valve and told because of the remoteness, the LEO might need to call in a helicopter to confiscate the rest of the equipment. Is this how DFG is spending our tax dollars? Flying helicopters in to confiscate equipment without giving a law one is violating? He was not given a citation, but told he could face 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Now, we don’t know about you, but just coming up, interrupting a mining operation and not telling someone what law they have violated, not writing a ticket/citation and then just taking personal property is a little bit..outside the scope of our Constitution. We have the name and number of the LEO and will be having a chat in the morning, then escalate this up the ladder to sources we will not name here yet. We have much more information and will give a more detailed update as soon as we are able. We are aware of the recent activity by the DFG on Bear River and are addressing ALL of this starting tomorrow. SB637 (the new law passed by Democrats) which requires a permit from the CA Water Board specifically states it applies to suction dredging. CA Water Board is still not issuing permits and after two years, it is a defacto ban on dredging once again. Ochoa’s case is decided this Wednesday and we will give an update as soon as we know the details. If a simple water pump is now a dredge, DFG is going to be very, very busy citing all the jet boats in California, all the personal water craft and every flotation device which pumps water. We are pretty sure we know what is going on here folks, and trust us, we have moved this to the top of our stack of priorities,

Used white's goldmaster v/sat in amazing condition $350 still have original owners manual and box

We will be closed Monday 7/3 and Tuesday 7/4 have a great 4th of July we will be open Wednesday regular time 10am

Introducing our new 10" hand crank trommel $650 by itself or $900 with 2200 gph pump and drop riffle sluice box It stands just under 36" tall overall length is 58" and the barrel is 26" long x 10" diameter

We are closing early today 6/21 and tomorrow 6/22 due to heat hopefully back to normal hours friday sorry for any inconvenience

Had a chance to get out for a few hours yesterday found some gold with our drop riffle sluice

We now have Minelab Metal Detectors available on our website blacksheepmining.com

The winner from our panning contest last month is Clinton with a time of 36 seconds in the men's beginner category CONGRATULATIONS CLINTON

Our phone is down again but we ARE still open hopefully the problem will be resolved in a day or two if you need to get in contact with us please send us a message here or email. Thanks and sorry for any inconvenience

Our first competitor in beginner mens Chris 1m:44s 2 pieces

Panning tub is set up and ready for you to come try your luck. See how fast you can pan and possibly win a nugget. You get about 3 cups of dirt with 3 flakes of gold. FREE to enter.

This is a page dedicated to local panning competitions. For the month of April we will have a panning tub set up in the store from April 7 -28 for you to come in and try your luck. It is free to enter and you have a chance at winning a gold nugget if you have the fastest time. You can use your own regular pan(no flat pans) or borrow one of ours. There are seven categories : Junior juniors 10 and under, Juniors 11-16, Beginner mens and women, Skilled mens and women, and Seniors 65 and over. You get one chance per competition or location. Your attempt will be timed and video taped.