Unusual to find silver but no gold?

Boarteats

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Mar 25, 2018
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Near Baltimore
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Falcon MD20
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
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Rookster

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Boarteats

Full Member
Mar 25, 2018
134
137
Near Baltimore
Detector(s) used
Falcon MD20
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Don't have picture of stream but maybe can sneak out on Veterans Day when wife isn't looking ;). Below is picture of typical pan in spots with silver (after removing magnetite). Most of the white flecks in pan is silver covered in silver chloride.

Stream is small, gravel/rock stream bed. Rocky silt/sand under gravel for a foot or three. Clay layer under that of variable depth. Looks like kaolin for the most part. Iron oxides mixed in. Found one spot where clay is quite white and has a crap ton of what looks like white quartz mixed in. Stream has iron oxides, primarily hematite and magnetite. Lots of manganese dioxide in places. Various sulfides. Lot of iron stained silicate rocks.

Appears to be yellow beach sand under clay in the places where I've able to dig through it. Stream is on/near boundary between Piedmont Plateau and Atlantic Coastal Plain, so area could have been a beach in ancient history. Certainly, alluvial in past given incredibly rocky soil and geologic survey info. .

Have found a couple maleable metal (small) nuggets that I haven't been able to id yet. Specific gravity is around 12, silver streak test (streak not dissolved by aqua regia), not attracted to neodymium magnet. Can't melt it with propane torch. First assumption was lead but melting point is way too high. No record of PGMs in info that I've been able to find.

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