Note on Lake Superior Sands

[Capt Nemo]

My last trip panned out nicely! The model 5 fluid bed highbanker finally worked. Ran a yard. Bagged a little over a gram.

Got surprized by a chunky monkey on the miller table! That chunk would catch on window screen! So any preclassifying needs to be done running 1/4" first before window screen, and pan the window screen material. Did see a couple of +/-30 in the mix too.

Nice to know there's gold bigger than flypoop on the beaches up there!

 

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[Aufisher]

Nice pay day!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Great to hear the fluid bed is working and paying off so well!

I just finished my Michigan trip wasn't able to get to the black sands of Lake Superior but I proved there ISN'T gold in the sand at the Northernmost point on Lake Michigan or the west side of Mullet Lake (where my folks live). Ah well.

 

[Capt Nemo]

No black sand present? How about deeper down? I've hit BS at Bailey's Harbor in Door County. It was 12" down and mixed with black stained sand.

Did see black sand at Bailey Park on Hwy 35 north of Menominee. It's been 20+ years since it's been on the water's edge (1988). Also an interesting spot is Rapid River where it crosses Hwy 41. The bottom is limestone bedrock with cracks to clean. That black sand at the park moved over it to get where it is.

 

[KevinInColorado]

I found a layer of black sand, just wasn't lucky enough to have gold in it

I probably should have dug deeper!

 

[Capt Nemo]

Yeah, on Lake Michigan it can be kinda spotty. One bucket will give 30 flakes, and the next can have nothing. Average seems to be about 1-5 per bucket. It's better near stream outlets where you get inland material coming down. Good spots have the sand looking like tiger stripes as you dig down. In any case, you have to run a lot of material to get color.

On the Superior side, I'm starting to think the gold might be from an offshore deposit rather than from Canada. That might explain the amount of black sand and the larger gold I'm seeing up there. I also am finding magnetic pea gravel on those beaches. I know there's high grade iron deposits underwater around Munising, as I've seen a compass needle dive so hard that you can't use the compass underwater, and/or the needle can be off by 180 near the bottom. There's some real iron down there if that's happening!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Cool thing to know, thanks.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Capt Nemo]

Just found another caught in the classifier!

 

[johnedoe]

I found a layer of black sand, just wasn't lucky enough to have gold in it
View attachment 1369335
I probably should have dug deeper!

(in your best crocodile Dundee imitation)
That's not a layer of black sand........
Now this is a layer of black sand.......



And no..... I'm not gonna tell ya where that is.....

 

[russau]

I found a layer of black sand on the shore of the Mississippi River while looking for a site to have a club outing here in Misery and it was enough to get us excited about. we planed for the outing the next weekend and when we got there the black sand beach was gone! So the morel of the story is ,"If you see it ,you better get it NOW!

 

[Capt Nemo]

On the Bailey park location above, I ran a 10" pan and nailed a speck then took a 2 gal sample. I'll be running that today. Surface had a couple bands like Kevin's, and 8" below that, it looks like a mixed layer. Also stopped at Kleiniky Park a few miles north. Similar bands, but more interesting looking stuff further off the beach in the playground.

 

[et1955]

Thought you guy's would like to see what is like at Cape Disappointment , Wa. where I beach mine. Nothing but black sand and gold there. the beach box in the pic is one I built, made of pvc with Hog matts, 2 1000 gph 12v pumps, works great.

 

[arizau]

Thought you guy's would like to see what is like at Cape Disappointment , Wa. where I beach mine. Nothing but black sand and gold there. View attachment 1375683 the beach box in the pic is one I built, made of pvc with Hog matts, 2 1000 gph 12v pumps, works great.

What mat type(s) do you use? I use razorback and downdraft (Doc suggested this to me a couple of years back on the GPEX forum) in my 5' stream sluice.

 

[et1955]

I used Razorback, scrubber, UR and 1/4 inch V groove mat.

 

[KevinInColorado]

johnedoe and et1955, I am humbled before your massive displays of black sand...and someday I'll get to Cape Disappointment! Lacking a beachbox, it'll basically be a tourist visit but I'll pan out a bit to be sure.

 

[Capt Nemo]

The Bailey Park material is a bust other than the lucky flake. The upper and lower layer are brown/black garnet mixed with blond. Hardly any iron sand in the mix. Looks nice on the beach, but not in the pan.

 

[johnedoe]

johnedoe and et1955, I am humbled before your massive displays of black sand...and someday I'll get to Cape Disappointment! Lacking a beachbox, it'll basically be a tourist visit but I'll pan out a bit to be sure.

A beach box is easy to make..... and cheap to make too.
If you ever get out this way be sure to let me know. We can meet up and move some sand..... Heck I'll even let you do all the work while I supervise.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Thanks, I'll take you up on that!

 

[russau]

A beach box is easy to make..... and cheap to make too.
If you ever get out this way be sure to let me know. We can meet up and move some sand..... Heck I'll even let you do all the work while I supervise.

Id like to volunteer to be the back up supervisor!

 

[johnedoe]

Id like to volunteer to be the back up supervisor!

You got it....... supervisory positions are hard work........