Gold in North Carolina

[nottinon]

Rockhounding for gems and minerals, panning or prospecting for gold, treasure hunting for coins, jewelry and gold nuggets, are popular hobbies in North Carolina. North Carolina’s gold region includes gem stones such as rubies, sapphires, garnets, and emeralds. A diamond is occasionally found. Take your gold pan, sluice box, metal detector or dredge and get started prospecting and gem collecting. Christmas gift.

When panning in North Carolina you will be surprised at the number of small gem stones, mainly garnets, that appear in your gold pan. If you have a metal detector for treasure hunting, be sure to detect for nuggets. Also, detect at rural churches and schools for coins and jewelry. Old rural churches had "dinner on the grounds" at which parishioners lost coins and jewelry. Franklin, North Carolina is famous for it’s rubies. You will be able to pan for rubies at several "pan for fee" locations there.

Big Ten’s North Carolina Gold Map shows 300 gold mines and prospects from official geological records of the State of North Carolina and the federal government. Gold sites are shown in these 34 North Carolina counties:

Alamance Avery Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Catawba Cherokee Clay Cleveland Davidson Davie Franklin Gaston Guilford Henderson Jackson Lincoln Macon McDowell Mecklenburg Montgomery Moore Nash Orange Person Polk Randolph Rowan Rutherford Stanley Swain Transylvania Union Watauga.
Gold sites continue on the Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina Maps

 

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[Snarkie]

Ditto on the gems. When I was panning at Cotton Patch, someone found a nice little aquamarine in their pan, and was trying to figure out what it was. I wish I knew how to identify more of them, because the gravel bars in my creek in mountains are loaded with them; I just have no idea of what I'm looking at.

 

[Astrobouncer]

I was panning up at Thermal City this past weekend and found a nice blue sliver of kyanite.

 

[tntrker]

Astro, Was it worth the drive to Thermal City with gas the way it is? I was planning on going Sat but wound up getting my sons car ready for him to take. Just curious.

 

[Astrobouncer]

Not for the gold alone it wasn't. I only went up there to meet some of the guys from Eastern US prospectors mostly anyway, and while I was there decided to show them how a fluidized bed sluice works and also did some panning. I had a good time though, even though I didnt find much. If I had got a load of dirt it would have been worth it.

Here's the bigger flakes, and I got about another fifty 40 to 100 mesh that you cant really see good in the picture. Those just went into my sluice cons to be cleanup-ed up later, since its not really worth messing with that little bit.

 

[enamel7]

Ditto on the gems. When I was panning at Cotton Patch, someone found a nice little aquamarine in their pan, and was trying to figure out what it was. I wish I knew how to identify more of them, because the gravel bars in my creek in mountains are loaded with them; I just have no idea of what I'm looking at.

Hate to break it to you,but what you found was probably lost previously at Cottonpatch by someone panning the gem bags they sell in the general store. Those aren't normally found in that area.
HH
enamel7