Gold at the bottom of the Rio Grande Basin? I got some!

Dustedyou

Hero Member
Dec 27, 2012
611
399
Albuquerque
Detector(s) used
Gold Bug, Treasure finder. Gold Cube, Chisel, Hammer, Eye Loop.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Ok so its been told to me by several people that there is more fine gold at the bottom of the Rio Grande Basin, (specifically Albuquerque and above) than has ever been mined.. Its a mixture of Sandstone and minerals and with 3345 earthquakes a year (very small 1 to 4 riktor) it has to be settling.. so i went a little higher (the banks 300million years ago were a little higher) and took some sandstone samples.. nada.. on my way home i saw something that caught my eye. I grabbed a few samples (50lbs or so) and headed home with the tired kiddos and the sun-burnt wife.

So here i am at 1:30 am on a Sunday cant sleep digging thru samples and went outside to grab up the pieces that have been hit with Rain for the past couple of weeks. (I know haha) we needed the rain..yay! anyhoo.. there I was grinning from ear to ear.. These photos dont quite do the sandstone Justice. but WOW!:headbang: A right ON! moment! IMG_20130812_011232_338.jpg IMG_20130812_011246_953.jpg IMG_20130812_011303_292.jpg IMG_20130812_011318_191.jpg IMG_20130812_011333_658.jpg

I'm crushing and panning it tomorrow I'll post the results.. And this makes me soo glad i mark my "Garden rocks" with the grid coords... lol Future use Pays! so does digging around thru your old Rocks!
 

UncleMatt

Bronze Member
Jul 14, 2012
2,389
2,530
Albuqerque, NM / Durango, CO
Detector(s) used
Garrett Infinium & Gold Bug II, Bazooka Super Prospector Sluice
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Now if you could just get down to the bottom of the basin under the sediments, 14,000 feet down. That is where the largest deposit most likely would have settled. Although, it would be interesting to see if any clay, or more dense layers, had created concentrated pay layers between the top and the bottom.
 

Fullpan

Bronze Member
May 6, 2012
1,928
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nevada
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Looks kinda like my partly cloudy night sky - can't wait to see results from crushing!
 

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Dustedyou

Dustedyou

Hero Member
Dec 27, 2012
611
399
Albuquerque
Detector(s) used
Gold Bug, Treasure finder. Gold Cube, Chisel, Hammer, Eye Loop.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Ground it up and made "Mud" started to wash out the tub and this fell out along with 6 or 7 more. IMG_20130815_190226_758.jpg IMG_20130815_190237_605.jpg IMG_20130815_190410_273.jpg

At first I thought ohh great more lead.. took a handful put em in the crucible, and began to heat em to melt em down to separate out the gold got it to 900 degrees.. red hot not melting.. put some Boric acid on the mash and nothing.. ok cranked it to 1350 degrees... nothing no pooling nada ok time to break out the Oxy-acetylene torch (of course its empty) so tomorrow i'm off to get the tanks filled.. 1350 is hot enough to melt silver ore.. and i didn't get squat I'm now beginning to wonder do i have Silver nuggies with a high content of gold/ plat? silver nugget.jpg ..God I hope so.. Ill post the melt tomorrow! PS let me know what you think!!
 

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Dustedyou

Dustedyou

Hero Member
Dec 27, 2012
611
399
Albuquerque
Detector(s) used
Gold Bug, Treasure finder. Gold Cube, Chisel, Hammer, Eye Loop.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
OK so here is the panout..now mind you i cant quite get it completely clean due to the Silver .. but this shure is SWEET! IMG_20130822_173701_497.jpg IMG_20130822_173731_533.jpg IMG_20130822_173752_448.jpg IMG_20130822_173759_907.jpg yay!! moments!
 

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Dustedyou

Dustedyou

Hero Member
Dec 27, 2012
611
399
Albuquerque
Detector(s) used
Gold Bug, Treasure finder. Gold Cube, Chisel, Hammer, Eye Loop.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Ohh and PS 1198.08 Grams, or 34.77 OZ, or 2.34 LBS! Gold wieght / plat/ silver breakdown not known.. Will post these when i get the Asssay back..YAY! soo stoked!
 

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Dustedyou

Dustedyou

Hero Member
Dec 27, 2012
611
399
Albuquerque
Detector(s) used
Gold Bug, Treasure finder. Gold Cube, Chisel, Hammer, Eye Loop.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
So your like 20-30,000 richer ?????

Nahhh I think there is a lot of silver in it... I do hope tho other is at least 2 oz of gold..lol
 

chriseneim

Sr. Member
May 5, 2013
342
146
Nahhh I think there is a lot of silver in it... I do hope tho other is at least 2 oz of gold..lol

I didn't do to bad this weekend either. Oozing with gold. I don't think I want to crush this. Ha the big rock has a big chunk on the end. Any good ideas brotha. Kinda bad Lighting ill get some better pics for ya.
 

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Last edited:
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Dustedyou

Dustedyou

Hero Member
Dec 27, 2012
611
399
Albuquerque
Detector(s) used
Gold Bug, Treasure finder. Gold Cube, Chisel, Hammer, Eye Loop.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I didn't do to bad this weekend either. Oozing with gold. I don't think I want to crush this. Ha the big rock has a big chunk on the end. Any good ideas brotha. Kinda bad Lighting ill get some better pics for ya.

looks good m8! ya im seeing pyrite but im also seeing GOLD! yay!
 

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