MA/VT/NH Panning

[dvdtharaldson]

Hi ,

This is the first time I have posted on this website. I live in Western MA and am planning a trip during the last few days of September to Vermont to try my luck panning. I was going to try Buffalo Brook and Five Corners in the Bridgewater area. Does anybody know how far down you ordinarily have to dig to hit black sands in those areas? Any comments on whether you have to dig deep or just stay on the surface? I was thinking Irene probably deposited alot of flood gold on the surface. Does anybody know if some of the small brooks high up in the mts. north of Bridgewater contain gold? All I ever hear is Buffalo Brook and Five Corners. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As you probably could tell I am new to panning for gold.

Thanks,

David

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[dvdtharaldson]

I just got back from a vacation in Vermont. I was really looking forward to spending some time in my favorite stream, where last year I found the biggest flake that I've ever found. All year I've been anticipating finding more colors buried in copious amounts of black sand. I get there and start panning and to my surprise, little black sands and no colors! The whole stream was silted out. There were literally feet of blond sands smothering the stream bed.

I decided to try a known gold producing stream. Greenstone, quartz, and schist all over. Tons of black sands but no colors. As an aside while I was walking back to my car, I happened upon a very small stream with a cascade over bedrock. I used a garden trowel and my hand to collect some gravel. I put three "trowel-fulls" of gravel into my pan. I now have a new largest flake and several more smaller ones in my vile. Unfortunately I didn't figure all this out until I was hundreds of miles away from the stream. Go figure! All in all a very interesting vacation. Don't ever give up.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[KevinInColorado]

I just got back from a vacation in Vermont. I was really looking forward to spending some time in my favorite stream, where last year I found the biggest flake that I've ever found. All year I've been anticipating finding more colors buried in copious amounts of black sand. I get there and start panning and to my surprise, little black sands and no colors! The whole stream was silted out. There were literally feet of blond sands smothering the stream bed. I decided to try a known gold producing stream. Greenstone, quartz, and schist all over. Tons of black sands but no colors. As an aside while I was walking back to my car, I happened upon a very small stream with a cascade over bedrock. I used a garden trowel and my hand to collect some gravel. I put three "trowel-fulls" of gravel into my pan. I now have a new largest flake and several more smaller ones in my vile. Unfortunately I didn't figure all this out until I was hundreds of miles away from the stream. Go figure! All in all a very interesting vacation. Don't ever give up.

great story David! Planning to go back to that little creek maybe? I would also check at the confluence of that little creek and the one it joins downstream...git dat gold!

 

[triple d]

Thanks kevin. The stream is close to home. So when I get a few minutes I will dig a few holes. There"s a mountain feeder stream I believe the gold is coming from. Need to check that one out better. The gold Ive found is super fine. Both streams are loaded with tons of garnet sands. Each shovel full turns the slick plate on the BGT pink. Only find small amounts of Black sands. And there"s several Lead mines in the area. Its more about the prospecting then the gold. Also the main river has two dams upstream. From the area I have been working.

 

[triple d]

DVD Ive read most of Grizzly posts. I believe most of the larger gold he found sniping. Ive really only found bed rock in the White Mountains In N.H or in Maine. And the water"s been two high. To try sniping. V.T sounds good to me but too many rules.There a stream in Maine that is real sandy. Like the one you talk about in V.T. Very easy digging. But the sand will catch the gold. And there"s a pay layer at about two feet down. Haven"t been there yet. But going there in Aug. Might be worth checking out the V.T stream again.Might be the same as the one in Maine. The floods must have piled up all that sand and hopefully the gold too..

 

[dvdtharaldson]

triple d,
I couldn't agree with you more in regards to the very astringent mining laws aimed at the recreational prospectors, by the powers that be, in Vermont. But yet, they let large mining companies wreak havoc on whole ecosystems. As far as high water goes, my rule of thumb is July 4th signals the onset of low waters in northern New England.

 

[triple d]

DVD hope the 4th of July the flows will be down. With all the rain it might be labor day. Going to maine next week so it needs to stop raining. Best of luck for the yellow metal.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Kevin,
Going back to the little creek is all I can think about. It really demonstrated the importance of finding some surficial bedrock. I think I will spend a lot more of my scant available time finding out-croppings, and less time trying in vain to remove never-ending over burden. For someone like me who has serious physical limitations, sniping might be the way to go. You have to love those surficial maps.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Kevin, Going back to the little creek is all I can think about. It really demonstrated the importance of finding some surficial bedrock. I think I will spend a lot more of my scant available time finding out-croppings, and less time trying in vain to remove never-ending over burden. For someone like me who has serious physical limitations, sniping might be the way to go. You have to love those surficial maps.

cool, good luck and share pics!

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

I have a thread in the dredging forum now too!

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Grizz,
I read through your thread in the dredging forum. Really interesting stuff. I am glad to hear your meeting with some success. Thanks for chronicling the growing pains of starting a dredging operation, and for sharing with us, pictorially, your hard fought gains.

 

[triple d]

Grizz thanks for sharing nice yellow metal in the pan. Going to check out the Dredging Forum also.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Those chunky bits make me a little jealous...off to see the other thread too

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I panned out the rest of my concentrates from my last Vermont trip yesterday. I found 4 more minus 75 specks. This was from the last stream I prospected. There was more black sand than I have ever seen anywhere else. Really small gold dust. The next time I head out that way, I am going to try higher up in the mountains. I am thinking that the drastic elevation change is grinding up all the gold.

A message to any newbies like myself. If you hope to find any real small flakes, the trick for me, has been to classify down to almost the size that your panning. I was guessing at the -75, but they did pass through a 30 x30 screen. I would have passed them through my 50x50 screen, but it was no where to be found. I noticed that when all the particles are the same size the gold is always the last thing to move in your pan. I have found that if they are not the same size some of the small colors will wash out before the black sands.

I learned this the hard way. I was washing some unclassified black sands and happen to catch a fleeting glimmer in the crease of my pan. I took out my loupe to check the particle and was surprised to find that it was indeed gold. It had washed out before most the black sands even moved. I wanted to double check my findings so I placed the particle in some classified black sands. This time it was the last particle to wash out of the crease in my pan.

You learn something new every year. Its too bad it takes me that long.

 

[KevinInColorado]

While in the field, pan and classify as you're able...classifying helps a lot as you say! Also take all those heavies home and classify further (-50 or smaller) and pan again under a bright light. Learn the shake and tap method ...on YouTube thanks to Doc of Gold Hog or Mike Pung of Gold Cube...for best results with the -50 and smaller gold. Go git it!

Lots of times I saw no gold at all in the field but found fine gold once I got home and did things carefully

 

[E.MassAuMan]

I panned out the rest of my concentrates from my last Vermont trip yesterday. I found 4 more minus 75 specks. This was from the last stream I prospected. There was more black sand than I have ever seen anywhere else. Really small gold dust. The next time I head out that way, I am going to try higher up in the mountains. I am thinking that the drastic elevation change is grinding up all the gold.

A message to any newbies like myself. If you hope to find any real small flakes, the trick for me, has been to classify down to almost the size that your panning. I was guessing at the -75, but they did pass through a 30 x30 screen. I would have passed them through my 50x50 screen, but it was no where to be found. I noticed that when all the particles are the same size the gold is always the last thing to move in your pan. I have found that if they are not the same size some of the small colors will wash out before the black sands.

I learned this the hard way. I was washing some unclassified black sands and happen to catch a fleeting glimmer in the crease of my pan. I took out my loupe to check the particle and was surprised to find that it was indeed gold. It had washed out before most the black sands even moved. I wanted to double check my findings so I placed the particle in some classified black sands. This time it was the last particle to wash out of the crease in my pan.

You learn something new every year. Its too bad it takes me that long.

I finally got out today first time since DVD and I met up back in mid April at Keets Brook headed back there to crevice out a spot that I had found some color in before pict is posted

Classified this down to 1/8 and panned out the remnants in the classifier and dumped in the bucket the water flow was slow and the stream level was low for the time of year so sluicing with the Angus Recon was something I decided not to do

Then drove down stream and checked out some terraced seasonal streams feeding the main stream they were barely running
These are terraced and have many deep pools where the gold has nowhere to go so I did my best Mountain Goat imitation and brought up just a scoop, turkey Baster and a pry bar and cleaned out a few pools , putting the contents in a plastic container
So I will begin processing this material as noted the gold in Massachusetts is very fine and the material mix is not the best for total panning as it is thick. I take the panned material that I do at home and dry out on the large ovens where I work and visually process the material under a microscope . This is the only way you can truly get the gold without tossing any out
The panning leftovers I allow to dry and then classify to -30 , pan, and do it all again
It takes time but is worth it
The last part of the trip today was scouting out a few places from Google Earth/bedrock maps
Yup the name is Satans Kingdom maybe the 'devil' has some color lurking!

 

[E.MassAuMan]

Too Quick on the Send Button!

 

[chef440rt]

Hi I'm new to the thread, and had a question about clay layers. I was just curious if anyone here has prospected the Wild Am river in NH and punched through the clay layer? I tried a few days ago and made it down about 1 foot past the start of the layer and still had clay in the hole. I was just curious of how thick it is and if bedrock would be just below it. The video is a little deceiving the top of the clay was at my elbow. Thanks -Bryan[video]http://s717.photobucket.com/user/chef440rt/media/NVEExport_zps56479cd0.mp4.html[/video]

 

[MAnoob]

I have panned on the wild Am. I am a nooby panner. When I was there I met a guy who has panned the Am for years. He told me the gold doesn't make it past the clay layer there. He said it was a waste of time to try and punch through it all the gold is stuck on top of it. Don't know if that is true?

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

Im heading up tmw ill let you know haha

 

[chef440rt]

MAnoob - It is probably true. I have excellent close up eye sight and I always see very small gold just laying on top of the clay but never embedded in it.
Grizzly- Cool let me know if you make it through. I'm more or less just curious how thick it is. In the spot I was it was over 1 ft thick. I will be up there Mon the 30 through Thursday July 3 and 1 full week July 6 - 13. I got a total of 0.52 grams in the last 2 days I was there. Although not so bad, I hope you have better luck.