Frozen Toes Entertainment's video: Gold Hunting Finland

My recent gold hunting trip to Lapland, Finland, above the arctic circle. Music: "Easy Jam" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Finally it was time to pack the home made sluice box into the car and head toward the Northern goldplains above the Arctic Circle. A friendly claim owner gave us a permission to try the new sluice on his land and so we eagerly prepared for a week-long camping in the enchanting Lapland wilderness. I had designed the sluice’s water intake based on the information found from the Internet, but the experienced claim owner told me immediately that the size of the intake would not be enough to ensure the proper water flow. So the first thing I had to do was to modify the sluice in order to fit a two inch fire hose connector as the main water supply line. In the beginning there were also some other difficulties, for example to get the water pump started, but I had learned from the gold hunting videos and TV series that one can kind of expect hardships to be a part of the prospecting, especially when working far away in the middle of nowhere. Well, we didn’t have a seasonal goal or an ongoing competition with a neighboring team, but we were on vacation and our intention was just to get in touch with the hobby and learn by doing. However, there was one challenge that really hit my nerves: Camera's memory card got jammed, which caused me to lose a large portion of the video footage. I noticed that too late, and that’s also why this video didn’t come up exactly as I had planned. Anyway, before long, the machines were up and running and the water began to flow in the sluice. Digging and carrying sand in heat of 30 degrees Celsius didn’t feel too bad, since I had been waiting for this moment for so many months! The prospecting area was next to a small swamp. Since the summer 2018 was exceptionally dry and hot, the swamp was drying up and getting enough water was challenging. On the other hand, drought allowed hand digging deeper than usual, since the water started to build up in the bottom of the pit only in the depth of one and a half meter. I was told that in the previous summer diggers hit the water in just under a meter. Under the thin layer of topsoil and roots, the ground was mainly sand and moraine, made up of different layers. The first one meter layer was quite dense and hard, so it was easier to first break it up with a shovel or pickaxe. There were only few rocks in the ground, and the biggest of them were only few kilos in weight. Because of the dryness and heat, the water circulating in the sluice became really cloudy and muddy. I felt it might clog the grooves, so just to be sure I removed and cleaned the mats every day. At the end of each day, I also did a small trial panning to see if there were any signs of gold on the ground layer that was dug out during the day. Gold was found, although mainly in tiny dust-like particles, which in Finland are called ”breathless nuggets”. Still, it must be said that seeing the first gold nugget in the bottom of the pan was really a memorable experience. In total, I was able to dig in parts of four days; The scorching heat during the days and even the unusually hot nights took their toll and quickly drained the energy. I could dig only in short intervals, after which it was necessary to go and dip into the near by river to cool off. Still, at least in my own opinion, I managed to dig a pretty large hole into the ground and also to get some gold in return. To see the actual panning and the gold and gemstones I was able to find, please stay tuned in and watch the second part of the trip, which is coming soon in this channel. Thanks for watching! (c) 2019 Frozen Toes Entertainment panning