Bedrock and Gold: The mysteries . . .

[Lanny in AB]

Do you love to chase the gold? Please join me--lots of gold hunting tips, stories of finds (successful and not), and prospecting poetry.

Nugget in the bedrock tip:

I had a visit with a mining buddy this past weekend, and he told me of an epic battle to get a nugget out of the bedrock, and of what he learned from the experience. I thought some of you might like to learn from his mistake.

While out detecting one day, he came across a large sheet of bare bedrock. The bedrock was exposed because the area had been blasted off with a water cannon (a monitor), by the old-timers! It was not fractured bedrock, in fact it was totally smooth.

He was not optimistic at all of the prospects of a nugget. But, for some reason (we've all been there) he decided to swing his detector over that bedrock. After a long time, just as he was about to give up on his crazy hunch, he got a signal, right out of that smooth bedrock.

There was no crevice, no sign of a crevice, nada! So, he had to go all the way back to camp to get a small sledge and a chisel. The signal in the rock intrigued him, but he still wasn't overly optimistic. For those of you that have chased signals in a similar situation, sometimes there's a patch of hot mineralization in the bedrock that sounds off, but this spot, according to him, was sharp and clear right in the middle of the signal, not just a general increase of the threshold like you get when you pass over a hot spot in the bedrock.

Anyway, he made it back to the spot and started to chisel his way into the bedrock. If any of you have tried this, it's an awful job, and you usually wind up with cut knuckles--at the least! Regardless, he kept fighting his way down, busting out chunks of bedrock. He kept checking the hole, and the signal remained very strong.

This only puzzled him all the more as he could clearly see that it was solid bedrock with no sign of any crevice. He finally quit at the end of the day, at a depth of about a foot, but still, nothing in the hole.

An experienced nugget shooting friend dropped by the next morning to see him, and asked him how the hunt was going. My buddy related his tale of the mysterious hole in the bedrock, and told the friend to go over and check it out, and see if he could solve the riddle.

Later in the day, the other nugget hunter returned. In his hand was a fine, fat, sassy nugget. It weighed in at about an ounce and a quarter! After my friend returned his eyeballs to their sockets and zapped his heart to start it again, he asked where the nugget had come from.

Imagine his surprise when he heard it came from the mystery hole!! He asked how deep the other guy had gone into the bedrock to get it. "Well, no deeper" was his reply.

So, here's the rest of the story as to what happened. When the successful nugget hunter got to the bedrock, he scanned the surface got the same strong signal as my buddy. He widened out the hole and scanned again. Still a solid tone. He widened the hole some more so he could get his coil in, and here's the key and the lesson in this story, he got a strong signal off the side of the hole, about six inches down, but set back another inch into the side of the bedrock!!

My unlucky friend, the true discoverer of the gorgeous nugget's resting place had gone deep past the signal while digging his hole!!

Now, of course, a good pinpointer would easily solve this problem. The problem was, my buddy didn't have one, so why would he widen the hole, right? Well, the other guy was the one with more experience, and that's why he did. It was a lot more work, but what a payoff!

So, my buddy's butt is still black and blue from where he kicked himself for the next week or so for having lost such an incredible prize.

Some nugget hunting lessons are harder than others to learn. . . .

All the best,

Lanny


P.S. When in gold country--check the bedrock, regardless of whether it looks likely or not! Mother Nature likes to play games sometimes.

 

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[nuggy]

Hi Eagle, thanks for the link, it shows most of what I was talking about. Thank you for your kind words too.

The flooding is not near to life threatening yet, nor are we likely to need aid anytime soon. I was just saying that our weather is ***ing ***py at the moment - trying to get out fossicking with these fuel prices and this sort of weather, forget it.
Also I regret selling my boat 2 years back, as I'm likely to have a lot of use for one if this rain continues.

Adding to all this, is that I am 5 days into giving up smoking, after indulging in tobacco for 42 years, it's apparently making me grumpy (so I'm told) and I must admit I'm not feeling my usual tolerant and cheerful self.

Anyway good luck and HH to all from Nuggy

 

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[Lanny in AB]

Hi Lanny, I have run at different times, 2 wash plants of my own build in years gone by, (thought I mentioned this) and have worked, and still sometimes work on plants that belong to others.

I just thought I would build some nice mining gear in my spare time, using good 2nd hand parts. Set things up how I like it, and either use or sell it. Will show the odd photo as I go along. Hope to finish pump by Christmas.

Winter is over but the weather here has been bad, our town was nearly flooded yesterday and flood warnings again for tomorrow. If you google "Greymouth floods" you will find news video to show what I'm talking about. (If I knew how to put links in I would.)

Hope you get a little more good weather yourself, Nuggy

Nuggy--good to hear from you again. Good luck with your project! Keep the updates coming.

Sorry to hear about your weather woes--hope it calms down soon. Up here, when it floods big time, it always moves new gold down into the rivers, so it's a blessing and a curse when it floods--the severe damage being the curse, that is.

I see Eagle has posted a link, so I'll get caught up on your circumstances that way.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[nuggy]

Hi, just a quick weather update, still raining but less than was thought and more floods averted.

Forecast improving for next few days so we should be ok. HH Nuggy

 

[kiwi jw]

Hi Nuggy, Yes....but think of ALL that gold getting washed around. Got to be a bright side to it. Did you see those nuggets up for sale on trademe from the Moonlight?? These were found detecting.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=424084292

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=424086765

Lanny, Thanks for the kind words. You have put up some great information on the previous page. A credit to you & your experiance. Very well put & all spot on. Thanks for sharing.
Some great photos too from all of you & the stories to go with them. No wonder you guys carry fire arms with those bears around. Bugger that. Biggest threat we have is a possum falling on you. Aye Nuggy LOL

Happy hunting all

JW

 

[nuggy]

Hi JW, The possum falling comment made me laugh, remembering a young guy who had that unfortunate experience, very funny for me as a bystander. There are a couple of things you should be more wary of than possums though when thrashing around in the scrub over here.

Yes plenty of gold in the moonlight still. I have met the guy who sells these nuggets. He is obsessed about it, and works hard long hours in some rugged nasty places, way back in the way back where I wouldn't go, even when I was a young flake. Nuggy

 

[Hefty1]

What? No koala or kangaroo attacks. What about those wombats?

 

[EagleDown]

What? No koala or kangaroo attacks. What about those wombats?

You forgot that alien attack duck, the platypus.

The bizarre appearance of this egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it.

 

[nuggy]

Sorry Hefty - they're all Australian animals - a different country, round a thousand miles further west, over the sea. Actually our possums come from there too come to think of it. Mind you our kiwi has a sharp beak and seal's fish breath would I'm sure be fatal in large doses.

The most dangerous things I have run into over here so far were; Bad drivers - tomos - wild cattle - wild pigs - armed idiots and greasy logs. These have come the closest to doing me in over the years, fell off a small bluff once - that could have been nasty too. Later Nuggy

 

[Hefty1]

Im sorry, my bad. Is it really that far west


Guess it is

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hi Nuggy, Yes....but think of ALL that gold getting washed around. Got to be a bright side to it. Did you see those nuggets up for sale on trademe from the Moonlight?? These were found detecting.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=424084292

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=424086765

Lanny, Thanks for the kind words. You have put up some great information on the previous page. A credit to you & your experiance. Very well put & all spot on. Thanks for sharing.
Some great photos too from all of you & the stories to go with them. No wonder you guys carry fire arms with those bears around. Bugger that. Biggest threat we have is a possum falling on you. Aye Nuggy LOL

Happy hunting all

JW

JW--those are some gorgeous nuggets he found detecting! And the purity is incredible as well. Thanks for posting those links.

I wish all we had to worry about were possums (actually, we don't have any). The ones that keep you guessing up here in the mysterious north are the bears (black and grizzlies), the cougars (they'll actually stalk you), and the moose (they're just absolutely crazy!).

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sorry Hefty - they're all Australian animals - a different country, round a thousand miles further west, over the sea. Actually our possums come from there too come to think of it. Mind you our kiwi has a sharp beak and seal's fish breath would I'm sure be fatal in large doses.

The most dangerous things I have run into over here so far were; Bad drivers - tomos - wild cattle - wild pigs - armed idiots and greasy logs. These have come the closest to doing me in over the years, fell off a small bluff once - that could have been nasty too. Later Nuggy

Hey Nuggy--what's a tomo, and what's a greasy log? I realize that your country is very unique geologically, what with the volcanism, and the glaciation. I've seen detecting footage and dredge footage from your beautiful country--it looks very intriguing. A visit to your country is still on my bucket list (for the incredible beauty and the gold), as is a visit to Australia (for the diving and the gold)--but that's probably still a long way down the road.

Sorry you fell off that small bluff once.

If the rain stops, when will you be out detecting/chasing the gold again?

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Hefty1]

Hey Lanny
A tomo is a motor scooter, and i dont want to even try the greasy log thingy.

 

[nuggy]

Hey guys, a tomo is a vertical hole in limestone country - where water has eroded a shaft straight down - some of these go down ten feet, most a lot more. A three hundred foot drop is not unusual. Some have dead animals bones piled up under the drop, and limestone cave passages connected to them. You normally know when you are in an area likely to have them, and don't go rushing around through undergrowth, where you can't see the ground, this is what I was doing while chasing a wild pig with dogs, when I had a close call and almost ran onto one.

A greasy log is just a slippery log. They look like a good way over a ravine, stream or bog or whatever till you slip off and go splat, like Wiley Coyote.

When I fell off the bluff (think rock face) I was scrambling across, I luckily landed (after falling 30 feet) in the only small pool of water around . I was sure I was going to be badly hurt all the way to the ground. Seemed to take a long time to fall that small distance, and I could hardly believe I wasn't hurt at all.

When the Rain stops I would like to get out doing some gold Lanny, but it may not happen for a while yet. Lots of work to be done and bills to pay as well. Gas prices mean it's expensive to go cruising around looking for places to go fossicking. I now live some distance from my best old fossicking spots and when the choice is to spend fifty on gas, on a trip - or work and make a hundred or two I have to go with the second option usually.

Hope the bears leave you guys in peace for a while - HH Nuggy

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hey guys, a tomo is a vertical hole in limestone country - where water has eroded a shaft straight down - some of these go down ten feet, most a lot more. A three hundred foot drop is not unusual. Some have dead animals bones piled up under the drop, and limestone cave passages connected to them. You normally know when you are in an area likely to have them, and don't go rushing around through undergrowth, where you can't see the ground, this is what I was doing while chasing a wild pig with dogs, when I had a close call and almost ran onto one.

A greasy log is just a slippery log. They look like a good way over a ravine, stream or bog or whatever till you slip off and go splat, like Wiley Coyote.

When I fell off the bluff (think rock face) I was scrambling across, I luckily landed (after falling 30 feet) in the only small pool of water around . I was sure I was going to be badly hurt all the way to the ground. Seemed to take a long time to fall that small distance, and I could hardly believe I wasn't hurt at all.

When the Rain stops I would like to get out doing some gold Lanny, but it may not happen for a while yet. Lots of work to be done and bills to pay as well. Gas prices mean it's expensive to go cruising around looking for places to go fossicking. I now live some distance from my best old fossicking spots and when the choice is to spend fifty on gas, on a trip - or work and make a hundred or two I have to go with the second option usually.

Hope the bears leave you guys in peace for a while - HH Nuggy

Thanks for help with the jargon Nuggy--now I understand things a lot better. I've done a bit of spelunking, and know about pots (tomos), and sinkholes in limestone country. We had to skirt one while we were deep in a cavern (a pot) that dropped over a hundred and fifty feet! I've hiked on the surface past tomos full of water as well that were thirty to forty feet deep, and I've found dry ones on the surface too.

The price of fuel does make for careful choices--I hear you on that one.

The greasy log explanation was my best guess--I've taken my tumbles off a fair number over the years.

However, I've never dropped off a bluff as high as you did yet--and don't want to. With my luck, there'd be no water at the bottom.

All the best, and don't worry about the bears getting us right now, they're snoozing for a bit,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Here's a variety of shots for your holiday viewing:

(The hand model is of course, not me--she's way better looking!)

While detecting a little site from the 1860's where the ladies of the night used to ply their trade, I found the bottoms of many a broken bottle--all kinds of styles, hand-blown glass and bottles made in two and three piece molds. (It seems that booze and the soiled doves craft were close associates!

I went back this year to do some more detecting and the entire site is gone--logged out--with a new road built over most of it, but not all of it. I found a portion that escaped the dozers. I'll hit it again next year and see if I can't find some goodies worth keeping.

Here's a shot of a cleverly built outhouse, situated over a ditch!

Here's a shot of an old ditch gate box, the spot water was directed from to feed different ditches for sluicing and hydraulic mining.

Here's a shot of a great nugget a prospecting buddy of mine found in the same area--close to an ounce and a quarter in weight.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[kiwi jw]

Hi Guys, Dont mean to hijack this thread but the talking of tomo's leads me on to share a bit more. Nuggy has done a good job of his explaination of tomo's being a natural vertical shaft usualy in limestone country of which we have quite a bit of here in NZ. Water eroding in to it very easily forming under ground rivers & the vertical shafts.
The region I live in is called the Waikato which is home to the world famous Waitomo Caves. My wife videos weddings for a living & just two weeks ago videoed a wedding down in one of the caves called the Cathedral Cave. The accustics in the cave are supposed to be perfect & orchestras & musicians have played & recorded in it. Here is a bit of info you may like to have a look at. Make sure to watch the video segments

http://www.waitomo.com/aranui-cave-video.aspx

http://www.waitomo.com/ruakuri-cave.aspx

http://www.waitomo.com/waitomo-glowworm-caves.aspx

http://www.waitomo.com/about-waitomo.aspx

At the top of the South island is the largets & deepest Tomo in the southern hemisphere Harwoods Hole. I will let you read & see for yourself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harwood_Hole

http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=ha...AL8g6z8Cw&sqi=2&ved=0CCUQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=587

JW

 

[EagleDown]

We also have these limestone "traps for the unwary" in Florida. Most people aren't aware of them
until one caves in and swallows a big parking lot and part of the Mall.
Modern terminology is "Sink Holes".

They have been used for at least 100 years as water reservoirs.

Greedy speculators don't bother to take soundings before building on top of them. Or, if they know
about it, they go ahead and build anyway. You take one and pump the water out, then cover it with
asphalt so the water isn't replaced, eventually, you find you've built on top of a humungus dry bubble.

 

[Lanny in AB]

To the Rookies:

When you're working bedrock, if the bedrock is stacked vertical (in side by side sheets) and they're loose (you can move them back and forth with not too much effort)--that's the sign of an excellent gold trap, especially if you find bedrock that's exposed at very low water.

The rest of the year when the water is high, everything is pounding over that loose bedrock, and because those plates are moving back and forth, it allows the super-heavies to drop in. It really is quite a gold trap. I've detected nuggets this way, and panned nuggets as well.

Often there will be chunks of pyrite, magnetite, galena, black sand concentrations etc. lodged in between those sheets, and very frequently flake gold. And, often enough, there's nuggets trapped in there as well. Sometimes those sheets will go down several inches to a foot--or two or three feet--so detect the top portion, work down several inches or a foot, check the material to see if little river rocks and heavies are still being trapped (pan some of the material and you'll find out in a hurry if the heavies are still collecting), then detect it anew.

After that, work down some more, sample the material trapped between the sheets, then detect again. Work down until you run out of heavies and small river stones. Below that you'll often hit thick, putty-like clay. Sample some of it (most often it's barren, especially if there's no little stones and grit running in it), and if it's gold bearing, work it. If there's nothing there (and it's a lot of work to mess with that thick clay--believe me!), find someplace else to work.

Remember, it needs to be standing vertical sheets around a quarter of an inch to a half an inch thick. If you're lucky enough to stumble across an old channel (high and dry somewhere) with that geological feature--always, always (with detector and pan) test it!!

All the best,

Lanny

By the way, working this kind of formation (at low water, or extremely low water--say during a severe drought) can produce some of the best results a rookie can ever achieve--you really never know what you'll get--flake gold almost guaranteed and nuggets often enough to keep you at it.

I thought of something else: I once watched a guy with a big bar pulling down vertical sheets (from an inch to three inches thick) of slate bedrock that were over four feet high. He'd then scan vertically up and down the sides until he got a signal, then bar down the sheets (this was in an old, high and dry, channel--part of a hydraulic pit) and detect the piles of stuff that fell from between the sheets, and he was getting nice nuggets! It blew me away--I'd have never thought of that.

 

[63bkpkr]

Lanny,
You keep giving out tips like that and the Governor of California is going to be out in one of the streams near the Capitol working the river. Your inputs can just work a person into a frenzy about being out there "playing" in the hills! Heck, I'd leave tonight even with snow on the ground if I could recall a spot like that that I'd passed up ten or more years ago. O Geez, I just thought of that spot! It stands about 10 feet out of the summer time water but its in a narrow gorge so it would be engulfed during high water! Okay, Okay so I was talking out of place as I Am Not going into the Canyon right now due to being a sissy but maybe the Gov. will? Now what trail was I on when I found that loose Rock formation?? That would have been about 30+ years ago so I'm going to have to prod my brain cells to recall that one. Man you messed with my mind again. Oh, thanks like really!

63bkpkr

 

[delnorter]

Lanny and the rest of you folks. Thank you so much for your willingness to share your knowledge and experiences. I learn so much from this forum.

I found my first real nugget, with a GB ll, on the Salmon River of Northern California this past summer. It was the size and shape of a rat dropping and found on bedrock which had been "cleaned off" by others. No mistaking the sound.

Again, thank you.