Worth Poking Around More?

[Steuss]

I have a Gold Cube w/ Trommel that I added a small sluice to the end of to hopefully help increase the feed rate.

I was recently at a relative’s ranch property in southern Utah where they own all of the water rights, so I figured I’d take advantage of being able to not have to use a recirculating system so I could get a real idea of how fast material was clearing, etc.

Out of curiosity, I researched the area out beforehand, and couldn’t find any history of gold being found. So, I naturally was only expecting to measure success of the setup by looking at any iron/lead capture in each tray and the sluice.

Much to my surprise, I ended up with these two iddy-biddy fellers. The material was pretty tightly packed cobble from some previous floods. I would estimate that I worked about 10 buckets of material, which probably contained 2 buckets worth of dirt.

I’m hoping to get an opinion from the more experienced prospectors. Do you think the area is worth exploring further? Or, given the lack of history of gold in the area as a whole, chalk it up to an anomalous bonus that’s likely representative of the area as a whole (i.e. maybe 2-8 pieces of flour gold per cubic yard).

Thank you!

 

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[mytimetoshine]

I would run at least 1 yard of material to get a better sample. Also take small samples from different depths. Most time gold will be in a certain layer

 

[mikep691]

No mention of a creek, so I have to guess you weren't working in one. If that was an oversight, then I'd walk as much of the creek in search of bedrock. Gold normally settles to the lowest point (bedrock or clay layer). There is gold in Southern Utah, but it may be too hard, or financially restrictive to get to. Go play in the dirt to find out.

 

[et1955]

Only reason to mine that area is to gain experience, great job in finding gold in a non historical gold bearing area, practice makes prefect. Just think what you are learning and when you do get to a richer area you will do well.

 

[Steuss]

Hi mike. I was in a creek. There is a sandstone layer that I am aware of that's partially exposed -- unfortunately it is about 50 yards past the property line, which puts it inside a national monument.

Next time I make it up that way, I will see if my relative has any insights on areas where the sandstone layer isn't under god knows how much overburden.

 

[N-Lionberger]

If you got that from 10 buckets of material run through a cube no I don't think that's worth bothering with, if it doesn't have a gram + per yard I'm not interested.