First gold panning trip/gravel bar questions.

[EngiNerd]

Hello to everyone!

I did my first gold panning trip to the Uwharrie National Forest, and we had a blast! After spending a couple hours doing a hike, we set up doing some panning at one of the creeks. I found a gravel bar down from one of the bridges and started panning on the front end of a gravel bar. After panning a while near the surface, and finding nothing (not surprised), I grabbed the shovel, and stared digging down. At this point, it was getting late afternoon, and so I ran the rock and such through a ~10 mesh (daughters sand sieve!) and put it in a small bucket to pan later at the house.

So, I ran the cons through some fiberglass screen door material (14x18 mesh), and then tried the Two Bucket method to separate out the cons some more, before finishing up with some panning (not sold on the two bucket method, but that is for another post!). Still have some material to go thorough, but so far nothing. Again, not surprised, as the spot I picked is not hard to reach, and I am sure the area has been panned before. In fact, we ran into 3 guys panning just down stream from us. They were moving around, panning here and there; not staying in one spot very long. They moved up another branch of the stream.

A couple of gravel bar questions. Can I assume that the deeper I dig in a gravel bar, the further I am going back in time? Did the deeper material get deposited further back in time? If this is true, is there an estimate of when it was deposited? For example, for every foot of depth, you are digging through material from, say, 10 years ago (making up numbers here, ok!)?? One observation I also made was that the shallow material (<6 inches) was not smooth; lots of sharp edges. Being down from a bridge, I assumed this material had washed down from the bridge, and was deposited during a flood. As I went deeper, the rock became much smoother, like you would expect from older river rock. I was still pulling some sharp edge stone, but I think this was material falling into my hole as I was digging.

Pics say a thousand words, so here are two photos showing details of where I was digging. First is looking down stream, with my sample hole next to the buckets. You can clearly see the gravel bar going around the bend, and you can also see how high the water gets during a flood (right bank is about 6 foot from water level to the top). The little dam was built by my 7 year old daughter. She had a BLAST playing in the stream and helping dad screen material.



Here is a photo looking upstream, back towards the bridge, and another gravel bar (left side, just in front of the wife). I did not pan that gravel bar, as there was clear evidence of a sluice box operation, with a pile of tailings.



The plan right now is on my next visit, to move a little down the gravel bar (say 3-4 feet, maybe where the little dam is at) and dig another hole. But being a green horn at this, I will listen to any suggestions.

Thanks for reading this far and not falling asleep!!

EngiNerd

 

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[B H Prospector]

Welcome Enginerd to the net,
First you started at the right spot at the top of the bar. You are correct in assuming that that is the older part and was deposited first. There is no way of telling how old the bar is. A gravel bar can be there one year but gone next year or larger or smaller depending on flood waters. Next you need to dig deep. Before you spend too much time there you need to sample different spots. In the spot you are at sample different levels in one hole. When you hit color or a paystreak then work that level of the bar. That is what those other fellows were doing. Sampling different spots looking for color.Once you find color you then need to decide if it is worth working more.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector

 

[EngiNerd]

Hello BH Prospector!

Thanks for the welcome and the feedback!

It sounds like I should sample shallow at different spots on the gravel bar first, find where the color is at (if any at all), and then go deeper. Seems to make sense, as the spot I was in had none, no matter how deep I went.

I brought up the age of a gravel bar, as I was not sure how the upstream bridge would have impacted the formation of the gravel bar (or the movement of the placer gold, for that matter). My guess is that it has had a small impact, as the deeper rock is round and smooth. I might get crazy, go above the bridge, and see if there are any good spots there. No trails there, so getting to it might be difficult.

Thanks again for the feedback!

EngiNerd

 

[chlsbrns]

If you enlarge your pic of the bridge (click it twice) you can see the water is calm/deeper just past the bridge and then a small rock dam. Most of the gold is going to drop out in that calm/deeper water.

The two bucket method works great if you have the bucket level or close to level! How do you decide that you are not sold on something that concentrates gold when you haven't yet found any gold? I've gotten plenty of gold with the two bucket method that was so small that you needed magnification to see it! You may have gold that you can not see!

 

[EngiNerd]

Hello Chlsbrns.

Thanks for the feedback. I will check that spot the next time I visit, as the water is not too deep there that I could not get in there with a shovel. Your comment, though, brings up a question. During normal flow, I would agree with you that any gold would drop out where water goes from fast to slow, but what about during a flood, and the water is acting anything but normal. Wouldn't the gold then be deposited on a gravel bar, and not in a pool? My guess is that gold would be deposited during both periods, but want to see if I am missing anything!

I am glad you commented on the two bucket method; not sure anyone was using it. And I should clarify: I am not having issues with the method; I am not sure I am doing it right. Yes, the buckets are level (using it in the garage, on a level concrete floor). I think one problem I had was the material was not screen down small enough. I went back to the video, and he commented that he had screened down to a 20 mesh. As I wrote above, I found some screen door material lying around and used that, which I think is helping. After adding much less material then shown on the video and giving it a good swirl, most of the material has settled on top of the cap, in the shape of a cone. Is this typical? If so, while it may settle the heavier material at the bottom of the cap, the rest of the material is piled on top of it. When I empty the material from the cap into the pan, I still have to pan almost the same amount of material, which does not buy me much. One thing I did try, was that once the water has slowed down, I used a wide puddy knife and carefully slide the top material off the cap. I then pulled the cap and panned that material. I think it is working, as I am finding mostly black sand in the pan, but no gold. The fact that I am seeing black sand in the bottom of the cap tells me the method is working (heavy material on the bottom; lighter on the top), but having all the material piled on top of it does not buy me much once I pull the cap and empty it to be panned.

Still, not disappointed about all this, as I feel this trip was more about getting a methodology down pat (sampling, screening, reducing concentrates, final panning) than finding gold.

I look forward to your comments about the two bucket method.

Thanks!

EngiNerd

PS. I also need to season my gold pan. I have washed it with hot water and soap, but water is still beading up on it, and I see material sticking on the edges. This might be an an issue also.

 

[nuggeteer]

Hi EngiNerd,
From your pictures, the sediments look deep. If you can, hike upstream to where you first begin to see bedrock protruding out from the sediments. Follow the bedrock to the bank, particularly the cut bank. The cut from this bedrock up through the gravels to the surficial hummus can give you a decent profile of how sediments were laid down through time. Even if the creek was dredged, you will still see patterns in layering, and possibly pockets that were missed. If you continue to follow the exposed bedrock into the bank, you will likely find clays of a distinct color and consistency resting atop the bedrock you have just uncovered. These clays may occur in likeness along the entire length of the waterway. Sample them. If the bedrock is fractured, collect all of the pieces to wash in your pan. If you determine a particular strata to be gold-bearing and productive, chase it wherever it leads.

 

[chlsbrns]

Search for... "Purple of Cassius" It's a simple test that will tell you if any gold is present. I do it in the field to sample. The darker the purple the higher concentration of gold! Everything you need can be purchased at a local hardware store. With a piece of pipe you can sample deep without digging a huge hole. For example if you have a piece of 1" pipe 4 foot long bang 3 feet of the pipe into the sand/whatever and wiggle it out. Do purple tests about ever 6 inches from what comes out of the pipe. It will tell you if there is gold and how deep.

When using the two bucket method you only want what is inside the cap. Scrape off the cone of sands on top of the cap. What you did with the putty knife is perfect! It works best with a full pan of classified material. Screened thru a window screen would be ok.

 

[EngiNerd]

Hi EngiNerd,
From your pictures, the sediments look deep. If you can, hike upstream to where you first begin to see bedrock protruding out from the sediments. Follow the bedrock to the bank, particularly the cut bank. The cut from this bedrock up through the gravels to the surficial hummus can give you a decent profile of how sediments were laid down through time. Even if the creek was dredged, you will still see patterns in layering, and possibly pockets that were missed. If you continue to follow the exposed bedrock into the bank, you will likely find clays of a distinct color and consistency resting atop the bedrock you have just uncovered. These clays may occur in likeness along the entire length of the waterway. Sample them. If the bedrock is fractured, collect all of the pieces to wash in your pan. If you determine a particular strata to be gold-bearing and productive, chase it wherever it leads.

Hello nuggeteer!

Thanks for the help! I will see about getting up stream on my next visit. It will definitely involve some effort, as there are no trails, and there is lots of undergrowth.

Could I also look for the same type of formation downstream, or does the photos I posted suggest I won't find it?

EngiNerd

 

[EngiNerd]

Search for... "Purple of Cassius" It's a simple test that will tell you if any gold is present. I do it in the field to sample. The darker the purple the higher concentration of gold! Everything you need can be purchased at a local hardware store. With a piece of pipe you can sample deep without digging a huge hole. For example if you have a piece of 1" pipe 4 foot long bang 3 feet of the pipe into the sand/whatever and wiggle it out. Do purple tests about ever 6 inches from what comes out of the pipe. It will tell you if there is gold and how deep.

Now, that is an interesting way to do your sampling! I will do some more reading on this, and see if I can pull that off.

When using the two bucket method you only want what is inside the cap. Scrape off the cone of sands on top of the cap. What you did with the putty knife is perfect! It works best with a full pan of classified material. Screened thru a window screen would be ok.

Thanks for verifying that I was doing this right! One modification I have done with this setup is to make the second bucket with the test plug in the bottom also. So, when I pull the first plug, the water and left over material drops into the second bucket, and I can repeat the process without having to pouring the water and material back into the first.

Thanks!

EngiNerd

 

[B H Prospector]

To seasona pan soap and water won't work. Use wet sand and rub it around the whole pan until water won't bead on it.

 

[EngiNerd]

To season a pan soap and water won't work. Use wet sand and rub it around the whole pan until water won't bead on it.

Thanks, BH. I had read that soap and water needed to be done first( to remove any oils), then the water and sand rub. If not, you could grind in some of the oils into the plastic pan.

Here is the post I read about seasoning a plactic pan . . .
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/282268-should-pan-scratched-sandpaper-before-use.html

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

Your pics tell it. You were in fresh material. Look for big rocks. That gravel is much too fine and loose to have any values. Look fir a slightly faster section with boulders or bedrock. The 2 B's are important. You were very correct in classifying tho. Its key.

 

[benny]

Your pics tell it. You were in fresh material. Look for big rocks. That gravel is much too fine and loose to have any values. Look fir a slightly faster section with boulders or bedrock. The 2 B's are important. You were very correct in classifying tho. Its key.

I tend to agree with GrizzlyGremlin. Your pics show that the stream is slow and has meandered and so the gold (if there is gold) could be found anywhere. In your first pic, the far bank shows fine sediment, but there is some layering of larger stones. I'd dig where those larger stone show in the bank. Also, that bridge in your second pic would have been built on bedrock and so the bedrock may be under less sediment. I'd dig there. Hope you find it!

 

[B H Prospector]

Don't worry about oils getting pushed into the pan. That is just a guess of what might happen. I have seasoned alot of pans never used soap and never had any oil pushed into the pan. Just use wet sand and be done with it.

 

[EngiNerd]

Hello Grizzly and Benny!

Thanks for the great feedback and analysis on the photos! It gives me a better idea of what to look for in a stream.

EngiNerd

 

[EngiNerd]

Hello BH.

I used some of the pebbles that I screened out with some water and moved it around a bit. After that, it seems the sheen is gone from the pan, and water is not beading up on it. Thanks for the suggestion.

EngiNerd