Ancient Riverbed Gold

[NuggetN8]

Ok. So.. Today I went to a place where they were hydraulic mining during the gold rush and you can clearly see the old river rocks on the hillside where they blasted with the water cannons. I climbed all the way up to where the river rocks were which was quite a climb.. I had to dig some footholds with my rockhammer to get up there then dig a spot to actually stand.. Anyways.. I swept my detector across the side and got quite a few hits but I wasn't very prepared to get whatever I was picking up on my detector (No safety glasses or chisel..) I wasn't expecting that stuff to be as hard as concrete xD. I tried my best with a scoop and a rockhammer but it wasn't quite good enough so next time I'm planning on bringing my big mining pick and maybe a chisel. So the reason why I'm posting this is, have any of you out there worked an area similar to this? I'm not sure if there can be nuggets anywhere in that stuff or would I have a better chance if there's bedrock somewhere lower down under the dirt below where the river rocks are visible? I guess if it were an ancient riverbed than there'd be more gold on the bedrock just like any modern day river? It looks like over the years material has fallen to the base of the hill so that might require a lot more digging... I know that there's a lot of gold here because they found 100,000+ ounces at this location but they had to stop because hydraulics were banned. Any advice?

 

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[spillercanyon]

I have to agree, stay out of the tunnels but look at both sides of the tunnel and the ditch for any mistakes made when cleaning the sluices, there are often spills that pay very well. Also look for anywhere water runs down the hill nowadays, nature has done some sluicing for you there.

 

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[NuggetN8]

I have to agree, stay out of the tunnels but look at both sides of the tunnel and the ditch for any mistakes made when cleaning the sluices, there are often spills that pay very well. Also look for anywhere water runs down the hill nowadays, nature has done some sluicing for you there.

Good advice thanks =]. I see a lot of wet areas where there's water seeping through the hillside is that something to look at? When I was there before it kind of made me nervous pounding on the rocks trying to get them out of the hill because there was a lot of little rocks falling from above me every time I hit something..

 

[TerryC]

I see on this map there's intervolcanic and just normal tertiary channels. Would it be a good spot for gold if you had an area where the two crossed each other? The spot where I'm going has some type of volcanic channel crossing a tertiary. I read a geological survey on the spot and it said something like that..

Sorry partner, someone with more knowledge of the word must pipe in. I suspect intervolcanic may mean lava flows and heavy accumulations of ash.... both things are nothing I wish to mess with. TTC

 

[Lanny in AB]

Good advice thanks =]. I see a lot of wet areas where there's water seeping through the hillside is that something to look at? When I was there before it kind of made me nervous pounding on the rocks trying to get them out of the hill because there was a lot of little rocks falling from above me every time I hit something..

Look for where the running water is cutting a track--that's where any gold that got knocked loose or disturbed will re-concentrate. Seeps won't usually do that. It can be a dry cut if it was carrying enough water--it will have concentrated heavies for you.

All the best,

Lanny