Detecting seam diggins, vein deposits, and free gold ores

[Hemisteve]

You could try an MD-20.

 

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[Oakview2]

I would use my detector to get any hints of au, and then pack a small testing kit, mortar and pestal,sp, and start scratching. Crush samples and bag for panning, take a small tablet to mark from where each sample came from. I am by no means a hard rocker, but this is a technique a friend and I are using to try and trace the source of a load or pocket high up on a hill that we think that is feeding a small seasonal stream. You might want to PM Takoda on this site, as he seems to be able to develop some pretty good hard rock diggnings... Good health and good hunting

 

[UncleMatt]

Thats good advice Oakview2.

 

[Oakview2]

My fee is some good pictures when you find those seams viens or pockets

 

[Randyd]

Hemisteve mentioned the Falcon. It doesn't go very deep, but it picks some small stuff up and you can tell the difference between pyrite and gold.

 

[UncleMatt]

My fee is some good pictures when you find those seams viens or pockets

If I was to ever be lucky enough to locate a good gold bearing seam or vein, I would do all kinds of testing on it before I disturbed it too much. That way I would be able to help others know what to look for, and also educate myself in the process.

 

[dave wiseman]

Perhaps you'll read my quickly wriiten old paper...http://www.goldplacer.com/hardrockgold.htm...and find out the history of your search area via old mining reports and get a copy of Handbookbook for Prospectors by Richard Pearl or older copies by Von Bernewitz..then ask lot's of ...but never quit.Persist.

 

[UncleMatt]

My middle name is research! I even have members of the Laplata Historical society helping me locate old mining records and geology reports. I already have hundreds of such documents from USGS, USG, ICMJ, plus all the documents from visits to county clerks in Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, Durango, Cortez, and Mancos. But you have to remember this are of SW COlorado hasn't gotten the attention that areas in CA have gotten, so there isn't as much material as you might find elsewhere.

I am also hearing from several sources that the geological layers most likely to yield gold have already gone away due to erosion in the San Juans, and that is why gold strikes are not what they are in areas where those layers are still in place.

 

[Goodyguy]

If it was easy we'd all be rich
No disrespect here just say'n......

It was a honeymoon trip to Colorado back in 1975 that first gave me the fever. Going to all the typical tourist attractions, Estes Park, Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Central City, etc.

Yep Central City pretty much did me in, we stopped at a pay to pan mine near there where they salted the creek with gold and I haven't been the same since.

GG~

 

[Oakview2]

I would pay heed to what Dave said as he is a dedicated and successful hardrocker. I get on them publications ASAP.... Jmho

My middle name is research! I even have members of the Laplata Historical society helping me locate old mining records and geology reports. I already have hundreds of such documents from USGS, USG, ICMJ, plus all the documents from visits to county clerks in Telluride, Ouray, Silverton, Durango, Cortez, and Mancos. But you have to remember this are of SW COlorado hasn't gotten the attention that areas in CA have gotten, so there isn't as much material as you might find elsewhere.

I am also hearing from several sources that the geological layers most likely to yield gold have already gone away due to erosion in the San Juans, and that is why gold strikes are not what they are in areas where those layers are still in place.

 

[Fullpan]

GG - "The face on the barroom floor" and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" got me infected, too

 

[Oakview2]

Dave

I couldn't find the link, but looked under the hardrock section and found this on sampling. Was this the article that you originally linked to...

Lode Gold Prospecting

 

[dave wiseman]

Oakview2,yes that's it.....The old miner's saying that one never knows what's beyond the point of a pick would also apply to a metal detector.Is it a gold bearing vein or not?No signal from your beeper,so what.Perhaps those species/and or pockets of yellow are 2-3 ft. or deeper inside the vein.Perhaps the vein only contains fine gold with occasional small species.Sample bags and hand tools are inexpensive and easily carried.Expanding and combining your modes of operation may bring you some stunning yellow species.If your lucky enough to find some gold bearing species that's rough,don't leave the smaller stuff and fine gold behind.In most cases it's the real fine gold that made a succcesful mine and more importantly kept it going.The enrichments are rare and do make the stories and legends continue,but the fine gold is the bread and butter of any diggings in most cases....and there may be plenty of that/or not.

 

[UncleMatt]

After reading the new book from over at geotech.com. I now understand a lot more about the abilities and limitations of current metal detection technology. I am only halfway through it, but already I see I will need a MD with a frequency in the LF range, not the VLF range. The Gold Bug II has the highest "low frequency" of 71Khz. My Uncle in Cortez has one that has been sitting unused for years, so I am buying his, and will give it a try up in the high country looking for seams of ore and seams of gold bearing gangue.

I will also read that article today posted above.

 

[UncleMatt]

That article is informative, but it falls down when it boils down what we are discussing to a single sentence: "1. Find your veins in a known gold bearing area, say on a hillside, road cut, creekbed, flat ground, etc." Okay, but that isn't a one sentence situation. HOW do you find those veins? Visually? How exactly.
No mention is made of that, is is just assumed you have already done so in the article, before it proceeds to further instruction.

Its that first step of finding veins to test that is the real issue.

 

[Oakview2]

I believe some of the old timers refered to fines as, beans and bacon. It's funny that you posted this link, as I had found it just searching one day after one of your conversations with Kuger on this forum. I and a partner are going to use as much of it as our feeble minds can grasp to search out the source of gold in a stream. We have isolated where the main placer seems to be entering the streambed, our next goal is to hike up the hill and try and source it. There is a hard rock mine in this area where the pay is in some quartz with a blue tint and heavy yellow staining. The shaft flooded with water and has a heavy sulphur smell. It seems like all the indgredients of something good. Now it is up to us to try and stumble on to it.... Thanks for the info, I do appreciate your time and expertise and always enjoy your posts.....

Oakview2,yes that's it.....The old miner's saying that one never knows what's beyond the point of a pick would also apply to a metal detector.Is it a gold bearing vein or not?No signal from your beeper,so what.Perhaps those species/and or pockets of yellow are 2-3 ft. or deeper inside the vein.Perhaps the vein only contains fine gold with occasional small species.Sample bags and hand tools are inexpensive and easily carried.Expanding and combining your modes of operation may bring you some stunning yellow species.If your lucky enough to find some gold bearing species that's rough,don't leave the smaller stuff and fine gold behind.In most cases it's the real fine gold that made a succcesful mine and more importantly kept it going.The enrichments are rare and do make the stories and legends continue,but the fine gold is the bread and butter of any diggings in most cases....and there may be plenty of that/or not.

 

[Oakview2]

I can't speak for Dave, but the clue is to look for manmade or natural excavations that will expose the vein. At least that is how I am reading it.... hillside, road cut, creekbed, flat ground

That article is informative, but it falls down when it boils down what we are discussing to a single sentence: "1. Find your veins in a known gold bearing area, say on a hillside, road cut, creekbed, flat ground, etc." Okay, but that isn't a one sentence situation. HOW do you find those veins? Visually? How exactly.
No mention is made of that, is is just assumed you have already done so in the article, before it proceeds to further instruction.

Its that first step of finding veins to test that is the real issue.

 

[dave wiseman]

Uncle Matt,the article was quickly written years ago in reply to a post on another forum .The whole sampling thing is more involved than the article mentions,obviously it's just a very basic paper.This is for exposed veins,stringers.Very few people have the patience or stay with it attitude to enjoy the rewards of these methods.Now there are such things as blind veins ,that is..veins that never surface at all...Oakview2,do your basic hillside prospecting/sampling...do the triangle posthole thing.One very important factor is to check even the smallest gold you find with a loupe to see how rough it is and if it has even the smallest speck of quartz attached to it.The rougher the better.One is not trying to make/and or discover a gold mine,but to find some nice higrade gold species.as mentioned before the book Handbook for Prospectors has been a bible on this subject for nearly 100 years in many printings and should be purchased either online for $10-$50 depending on year and condition or perhaps downloaded for free if you search the internet enough.Combine your readings and field time.Nothing beats breaking your butt out in the field for good results and learning.I will answer any ?? I can with the things I've learned over 35 years of doing this.I'm no expert and just do things my way,and what I was taught,observed and practiced.I don't set timbers,blast,or use mechanized equipment.

 

[kuger]

...Dave learned from the best,did it,and Mining Engineers come to him with questions....he is humble too........

 

[dave wiseman]

This is another fabulous,must have/read book.Perhaps one could buy it or borrow from a large public or University library(they might order it for you).Prospecting for Gold by Ion Idreiss...Prospecting for gold (Open Library)