What did I find in the pan

[bblamo]

In the early 70s my dad and I would pan and sluice in various streams all over Colorado. This year I picked up a pan to play with when the fish aren’t bitting.

Out of the 4 or 5 times I’ve been panning this year I have not found even a small speck of gold. I still find it fun to prospect though.

Today I took a quick drive to the hills to pan a spot on a stream that may be downstream of a known gold mining area. I think that I have copper / silver. Some research online lead me to that assumption.
If anyone out there could confirm or dispute this for me that would be cool.

Does gold live in the same areas as copper / silver. Should I keep looking for gold in this area.

Thanks for the feedback.
bblamo

 

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[Back-of-the-boat]

Gold is definitely in the same areas.

 

[smokeythecat]

Are those pieces parts to an exploded copper jacketed modern bullet? The big piece seems like it.

 

[bblamo]

Are those pieces parts to an exploded copper jacketed modern bullet? The big piece seems like it.

That’s a possibility. I hadn’t thought of that.
If I press hard enough I can scratch the metal behind the copper. It’s appears to be harder than lead but it could be an alloy of some type.

Thanks for the feedback.
bblamo

 

[arizau]

A prominent member of this forum (Kevin in Colorado) wrote a book about finding gold in Colorado. It's surely worth your while to pick up a copy to direct your outings to productive locations.��

Welcome to the forum and good luck.

 

[DizzyDigger]

BB, Smokey is dead-on..what you've got there are the
leftovers from a copper jacketed, lead round.

Now, if you can find those in your pan you can certainly
find the gold, too. Agreed: Kevin's book will teach you a
vast amount of where and how to find that gold.

 

[Duckshot]

That's a Roosevelt '89d dime, ld recognize one anywhere.

But, looking closely at the rounded back of the copper there appears to be imprints from rifling lands. Cool find all the same. Lead (11.3 grams per a cubic centimeter) is a bit more than half as dense as gold (19.3 g/cc) and silver (10.5 g/cc)near half the density of gold. Try digging deeper, you might be in the right spot if metals are collecting there.

 

[russau]

If in doubt on what you find ,take it to one of your local state colleges to their Geology lab and they could I'D it for you positively ! After all , you already paid for it through your tax's !

 

[KevinInColorado]

Hey there, I think the items in your pick are human made rather than natural.

As mentioned above, my book lists over 180 legal public access dig sites. It also educated the reader on the history and gold bearing areas of the state. At 480 pages, it’s a fairly comprehensive book. Finding Gold in Colorado will show you where exactly to dig and why!

 

[Scorpio_queen6]

Looks like bullet shell remains.