Detecting seam diggins, vein deposits, and free gold ores

[Goodyguy]

The prospectors Handbook: The prospector's handbook; a guide for the propsector and traveller in search of metal-bearing or other valuable minerals

GG~

 

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[TerryC]

Tnx much, GG. A copy is now in MY library! TTC

 

[Goodyguy]

Tnx much, GG. A copy is now in MY library! TTC

Plenty more where that came from: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/266213-motherlode.html

 

[UncleMatt]

Again, I wish there was as much material on SW Colorado as there is on the gold fields in CA. I read everything I can, but at some point ya gotta get specific to the area in question. I have just about everything ever published on that area, and would love to find more.

 

[Goodyguy]

Again, I wish there was as much material on SW Colorado as there is on the gold fields in CA. I read everything I can, but at some point ya gotta get specific to the area in question. I have just about everything ever published on that area, and would love to find more.

These may not be in your area, but they are all in Colorado.

Geology of Colorado many territories Plenty here to keep busy with, hope you find something useful.

Minerals of Colorado

Rambles in the Rocky Mountains: With a Visit to the Gold Fields of Colorado

Prospectus, geological survey and report of the Gregory Gold Mining Company, Gregory District, Colorado Territory

Report of progress in the geological resurvey of the Cripple Creek district, Colorado

Early records of Gilpin county, Colorado, 1859-1861

The mines of Colorado;

The travels and adventures of Henry Kingman in search of Colorado and California gold, 1859-1865; with a few later incidents, including some politics and the celebration of his seventy-fifth birthday ..


I like research too, especially the FREE kind. It is surprising how many forgotten gold strikes you can find in these old journals.

GG~

 

[UncleMatt]

welp, I got a lot more reading to do. I just finished the Prospectors handbook, and loved the writing style and information. Thanks for posting all the links, though I already have a couple of them. Much appreciated.

 

[Fullpan]

Oakview2, I remember the pics of blue quartz with gold you showed on another thread. Hope you have good luck tracing the float to its source.

 

[Oakview2]

From your written word to God's ears. I can use all the help I can get...

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

GG thanks for the link

 

[Goodyguy]

GG thanks for the link

 

[UncleMatt]

While we are posting good reading material, check this article out on gold formation.

"Towards a Multidisciplinary Integrated Exploration Process for Gold Recovery"

Great article with great illustrations on epithermal and mesothermal gold deposits.

 

[lastleg]

UncleMatt,

Good luck in your pursuit. I've only found gold in one place in CO and that was in the Rio Grande west of Creede. If you want
to look someday give me a shout.

 

[UncleMatt]

WIth regard to SW Colorado San Juans, I am beginning to learn how instrumental glacial activity in that area has rendered some areas less likely to yield course gold or nuggets. Check out the map HERE . It shows the full extent of glaciers in Colorado during the last ice age. Any canyon or valley that was taken over by glacial activity had their gold deposits ground down and re-mixed with talus and sediments. There are even two glacial morraines right at the north end of Durango, CO in the Animas Valley. One is on the south side of 32nd street as you drive east from Main St. I have an old black and white photo I will post later of that.

I have been looking at the Vallecito Creek watershed as a place to prospect, but glacial activity was quite heavy there. If you walk the canyon, you can see the scoured and shaped granite from the ice flowing past it. But it had not occurred to me before that the glacial activity in the canyon probably removed any substantial gold deposits from the canyon. The thing is the last ice age in the US was thousands of years ago,and I can't help but wonder if gold deposits might have accumulated since that time. There are areas in the canyon where large talus mounds have built up at the base of granite cliffs and walls, so a lot of erosional activity has taken place since the last glacier was there. I guess that would depend on if there was any gold left to weather out of the country rock or not. A lot of erosion has taken place, and some geologists have suggested to me that the gold bearing strata have simply eroded away in many areas of the San Juans.

BUT, if I look over at Laplata Canyon, I see that it remained undisturbed by any glacial activity. I may end up using glacial maps to point me to areas more likely to have gold deposits in the area that have not been "glacierized". Anyone else thought of ruling out areas that have had glacial activity?

 

[UncleMatt]

UncleMatt,

Good luck in your pursuit. I've only found gold in one place in CO and that was in the Rio Grande west of Creede. If you want
to look someday give me a shout.

Is that near the location of the Lost Mine of the Window? (La Ventana Mine)

 

[Goodyguy]

Anyone else thought of ruling out areas that have had glacial activity?

You may be surprised how much gold can be concentrated by glacial runoff, even good sized nuggets find their way into pockets and potholes in the bedrock. I've heard of many ounces being trapped in a single hole.

GG~

 

[UncleMatt]

You may be surprised how much gold can be concentrated by glacial runoff, even good sized nuggets find their way into pockets and potholes in the bedrock. I've heard of many ounces being trapped in a single hole.

GG~

I assume you are referring to glacial runoff cutting through a gold laden moraine and redepositing the gold from the moraine in a new placer/hole? I have heard that is possible. But how would one go about determining the location of such placers thousands of years after the ice has left, and later erosion has changed the landscape? I can see the moraines left behind even today near Durango, but no signs of runoff from that ancient ice are observable, other than the Animas River running through the bottom of the valley. Gold has been found in placers, such as at Bakers Bridge farther up the Animas Valley. But it was not finely ground flour gold that is often the result of gold being ground up under glaciers, so I am betting it was deposited from a later erosional process, and was unrelated to glacial activity.

 

[Goodyguy]

Glacial gold is not all finely ground. Even in Indiana the occasional nuggets are found, some as large as 1/4oz.

 

[UncleMatt]

Glacial gold is not all finely ground. Even in Indiana the occasional nuggets are found, some as large as 1/4oz.

That is interesting GG, as I have not read that anywhere, they always claim it destroys the placers and grinds the gold to flour. Good to know!

Still can't figure out how to spot placers left by the ice drainage though, since often they may be under current water flows.

 

[Goodyguy]

That is interesting GG, as I have not read that anywhere, they always claim it destroys the placers and grinds the gold to flour. Good to know!

Still can't figure out how to spot placers left by the ice drainage though, since often they may be under current water flows.

Yes most glacial drift gold is flour gold just not all of it, and searching for the hidden drainage placers may not be time or cost efficient.

 

[beniseb123]

I too am interested in magnetometers

well.. miniaturized magnetometers are used as compass in phones...those ghost busting popular shows use magnetometer too...it is also used in UXO(unexploded ordnance) detection and UAV(unmanned arial vehicles)..u may wanna visit DIY drones,longrangelocaters and geotech forums too..magnetometers can be home-made too...for more high quality data though u may have to go for advanced magnetometers...

True enough, I missed that one. There are also magnetometers.

My goal was to detect seams of ore just below the surface that had been missed by the old prospectors. Soil and silt moves around a lot up in that high country, and one year an outcropping can be exposed, and the next nowhere in sight. And if there was no consistent outcropping, and no placers substantial enough to detect through panning or sluicing, that seam would have been overlooked. Those were my targets.

I may still get lucky and find enough detectable gold to signal the seams I am after. Time will tell.