Bedrock and Gold: The mysteries . . .

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Do you love to chase the gold? Please join me--lots of gold hunting tips, stories of finds (successful and not), and prospecting poetry.

Nugget in the bedrock tip:

I had a visit with a mining buddy this past weekend, and he told me of an epic battle to get a nugget out of the bedrock, and of what he learned from the experience. I thought some of you might like to learn from his mistake.

While out detecting one day, he came across a large sheet of bare bedrock. The bedrock was exposed because the area had been blasted off with a water cannon (a monitor), by the old-timers! It was not fractured bedrock, in fact it was totally smooth.

He was not optimistic at all of the prospects of a nugget. But, for some reason (we've all been there) he decided to swing his detector over that bedrock. After a long time, just as he was about to give up on his crazy hunch, he got a signal, right out of that smooth bedrock.

There was no crevice, no sign of a crevice, nada! So, he had to go all the way back to camp to get a small sledge and a chisel. The signal in the rock intrigued him, but he still wasn't overly optimistic. For those of you that have chased signals in a similar situation, sometimes there's a patch of hot mineralization in the bedrock that sounds off, but this spot, according to him, was sharp and clear right in the middle of the signal, not just a general increase of the threshold like you get when you pass over a hot spot in the bedrock.

Anyway, he made it back to the spot and started to chisel his way into the bedrock. If any of you have tried this, it's an awful job, and you usually wind up with cut knuckles--at the least! Regardless, he kept fighting his way down, busting out chunks of bedrock. He kept checking the hole, and the signal remained very strong.

This only puzzled him all the more as he could clearly see that it was solid bedrock with no sign of any crevice. He finally quit at the end of the day, at a depth of about a foot, but still, nothing in the hole.

An experienced nugget shooting friend dropped by the next morning to see him, and asked him how the hunt was going. My buddy related his tale of the mysterious hole in the bedrock, and told the friend to go over and check it out, and see if he could solve the riddle.

Later in the day, the other nugget hunter returned. In his hand was a fine, fat, sassy nugget. It weighed in at about an ounce and a quarter! After my friend returned his eyeballs to their sockets and zapped his heart to start it again, he asked where the nugget had come from.

Imagine his surprise when he heard it came from the mystery hole!! He asked how deep the other guy had gone into the bedrock to get it. "Well, no deeper" was his reply.

So, here's the rest of the story as to what happened. When the successful nugget hunter got to the bedrock, he scanned the surface got the same strong signal as my buddy. He widened out the hole and scanned again. Still a solid tone. He widened the hole some more so he could get his coil in, and here's the key and the lesson in this story, he got a strong signal off the side of the hole, about six inches down, but set back another inch into the side of the bedrock!!

My unlucky friend, the true discoverer of the gorgeous nugget's resting place had gone deep past the signal while digging his hole!!

Now, of course, a good pinpointer would easily solve this problem. The problem was, my buddy didn't have one, so why would he widen the hole, right? Well, the other guy was the one with more experience, and that's why he did. It was a lot more work, but what a payoff!

So, my buddy's butt is still black and blue from where he kicked himself for the next week or so for having lost such an incredible prize.

Some nugget hunting lessons are harder than others to learn. . . .

All the best,

Lanny


P.S. When in gold country--check the bedrock, regardless of whether it looks likely or not! Mother Nature likes to play games sometimes.

 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I love reading these stories and first hand report's BUT the only thing I don't like is when a person gets old and beat up like me is remembering, all the great times and friends I came across and friendships that came to be and thinking that I can't do this anymore with these life time friend's ............BUT there again , I did have a GREAT TIME and life long friends and you just can't put a $$$$$ sign on that. PRICELESS TIME & FRIENDS !!!!:hello2:
I agree wholeheartedly with everything you've said!

Thanks for being a friend and dropping in to leave a note.

All the best,

Lanny
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
What a tale. A miner sharing his bonanza! It generally isn't in our nature but if we could all be a little more like Miner Mike I'm sure we'd all have more than enough "gold" in our lives.

I believe Mike was a miner not too unlike yourself, Lanny! Thanks for always sharing. Merry Christmas, to you and to all!
Thanks for the thoughts and reflections Owen, and thanks for dropping in!

All the best,

Lanny
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I love reading these stories and first hand report's BUT the only thing I don't like is when a person gets old and beat up like me is remembering, all the great times and friends I came across and friendships that came to be and thinking that I can't do this anymore with these life time friend's ............BUT there again , I did have a GREAT TIME and life long friends and you just can't put a $$$$$ sign on that. PRICELESS TIME & FRIENDS !!!!:hello2:
So true what you're saying, and it's rough and tough when the brain keeps telling the mind it's still eighteen-years-old but he body just doesn't care anymore. But like you say, the friendships and the wonderful people met along the way while chasing the gold, that's the real treasure that rings true.

All the best,

Lanny
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Got out in the desert in the winter (early December) late last year and my wife and I both found some nice, sassy desert gold!

Another guy (that took us to his nugget-shooting spot) was with us and he found a sweet catch of nuggets as well.

The nuggets were in a wash with shallow bedrock (lots of old hard-rocks nearby as well), but the nuggets were up about five feet from the bottom of the wash, and the gold ran in two parallel lines about two feet apart (if you've ever read Ray Mill's gold hunting book, he talks about gold running in lines, and these nuggets really followed that pattern).

All the best,

Lanny
 

Geraldsr

Greenie
Dec 5, 2022
11
4
Do you love to chase the gold? Please join me--lots of gold hunting tips, stories of finds (successful and not), and prospecting poetry.

Nugget in the bedrock tip:

I had a visit with a mining buddy this past weekend, and he told me of an epic battle to get a nugget out of the bedrock, and of what he learned from the experience. I thought some of you might like to learn from his mistake.

While out detecting one day, he came across a large sheet of bare bedrock. The bedrock was exposed because the area had been blasted off with a water cannon (a monitor), by the old-timers! It was not fractured bedrock, in fact it was totally smooth.

He was not optimistic at all of the prospects of a nugget. But, for some reason (we've all been there) he decided to swing his detector over that bedrock. After a long time, just as he was about to give up on his crazy hunch, he got a signal, right out of that smooth bedrock.

There was no crevice, no sign of a crevice, nada! So, he had to go all the way back to camp to get a small sledge and a chisel. The signal in the rock intrigued him, but he still wasn't overly optimistic. For those of you that have chased signals in a similar situation, sometimes there's a patch of hot mineralization in the bedrock that sounds off, but this spot, according to him, was sharp and clear right in the middle of the signal, not just a general increase of the threshold like you get when you pass over a hot spot in the bedrock.

Anyway, he made it back to the spot and started to chisel his way into the bedrock. If any of you have tried this, it's an awful job, and you usually wind up with cut knuckles--at the least! Regardless, he kept fighting his way down, busting out chunks of bedrock. He kept checking the hole, and the signal remained very strong.

This only puzzled him all the more as he could clearly see that it was solid bedrock with no sign of any crevice. He finally quit at the end of the day, at a depth of about a foot, but still, nothing in the hole.

An experienced nugget shooting friend dropped by the next morning to see him, and asked him how the hunt was going. My buddy related his tale of the mysterious hole in the bedrock, and told the friend to go over and check it out, and see if he could solve the riddle.

Later in the day, the other nugget hunter returned. In his hand was a fine, fat, sassy nugget. It weighed in at about an ounce and a quarter! After my friend returned his eyeballs to their sockets and zapped his heart to start it again, he asked where the nugget had come from.

Imagine his surprise when he heard it came from the mystery hole!! He asked how deep the other guy had gone into the bedrock to get it. "Well, no deeper" was his reply.

So, here's the rest of the story as to what happened. When the successful nugget hunter got to the bedrock, he scanned the surface got the same strong signal as my buddy. He widened out the hole and scanned again. Still a solid tone. He widened the hole some more so he could get his coil in, and here's the key and the lesson in this story, he got a strong signal off the side of the hole, about six inches down, but set back another inch into the side of the bedrock!!

My unlucky friend, the true discoverer of the gorgeous nugget's resting place had gone deep past the signal while digging his hole!!

Now, of course, a good pinpointer would easily solve this problem. The problem was, my buddy didn't have one, so why would he widen the hole, right? Well, the other guy was the one with more experience, and that's why he did. It was a lot more work, but what a payoff!

So, my buddy's butt is still black and blue from where he kicked himself for the next week or so for having lost such an incredible prize.

Some nugget hunting lessons are harder than others to learn. . . .

All the best,

Lanny


P.S. When in gold country--check the bedrock, regardless of whether it looks likely or not! Mother Nature likes to play games sometimes.

Great lesson to learn, thanks for sharing!
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Have been out a few times this summer, found some nice nuggets, had some great hunts.

An interesting thing I've learned about the Minelab Goldmonster, if the meter says ferrous, always dig down and move some more dirt. If the meter starts to bounce between the two--move more dirt. Always get the coil as close to the target as possible. When that meter pins on non-ferrous when you're in gold country, it's almost always a nugget (there are a few hot-rocks that are trouble from time to time though).

I don't know if it's high general iron content in the surrounding soil, or high concentrations of pieces of magnetite that set the meter to ferrous, but digging down to make sure of the target has rewarded me with a whack of nuggets that never read like nuggets initially. This also holds true for my Gold Bug Pro.

So, always move that dirt when your detector signals a response. It needs all the help it can get to nail that target ID.

All the best,

Lanny
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Off to detect for more gold nuggets. We've had some good success this season, my wife and my son keeping me company and finding some nice gold too.

Have done a lot of work in and on bedrock, and it's been a lot of fun--nothing better than family gold time.

It sure is a great adventure finding that sassy gold!

All the best,

Lanny
 

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
2,299
7,478
California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The bedrock thing is interesting my son and friends have been detecting gold in slate bedrock. Not booked or standing but solid bedrock hard work chipping the gold out.
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
The bedrock thing is interesting my son and friends have been detecting gold in slate bedrock. Not booked or standing but solid bedrock hard work chipping the gold out.
Yes, I've got many a sassy nugget that way myself. We're lucky to have detectors that can see down inside the bedrock, a tool the Sourdoughs would have loved, I'm sure.

All the best,

Lanny
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Lanny , when will you get around to putting your adventure's into book form for us to read about ? :icon_thumleft: :icon_thumleft::coffee2::occasion14:
Russ, the book is now my winter writing project, so I hope to have it ready to go by spring.

We've been busy traveling lately, and then traveling some more, with more yet to come, but I'm going to dedicate time during our cold weather to hammer out what I can.

So many stories, including finding desert gold, and of course more gold the last several summers in Paleo streams where the bedrock is down around 50 feet, and all of that overburden has to be stripped off to get to the goodies. But my oh my, what goodies there are in those genuine virgin channels.

All the best,

Lanny
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Lanny I will be sure to be looking for your new writing project when it comes out of print and get my order in for it ! And I hope you would autograph it ! :icon_thumleft: :coffee2:
Thanks for those kind words, truly appreciated. And, as for an autograph, I'd be honored to do that for you.

All the best,

Lanny
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Lanny will you be able / allowed to post when /where we could buy your book ? :coffee2::coffee2:
I sure hope so.

All the best,

Lanny
 

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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
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Lanny in AB

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
Detector(s) used
Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Annual Christmas Poetry

Sometimes Sal

Sometimes Sal, a scheming gal,
Was not a pleasant Maā€™am;
She pestered folks for Christmas funds
But it was just a scam.

She told the town her festive drive
Would help the lowest down,
But deep inside she stewed and planned
To fleece that mining town.

She gathered cash, and nuggets fat
From those with some to give.
While saying that sheā€™d nourish those
Who needed it to live.

But deep inside her bankrupt soul,
Salā€™s only driving need,
Was how to scratch the constant itch
To satisfy her greed.

She cached the dough, and nuggets too,
Well hidden in a pack,
So she could make a getaway
Along a mountain track.

On Christmas eve, when all was clam,
She saddled up her mule,
And rode him quickly up that route
For Sal, she werenā€™t no fool.

She knew that when on Christmas day
Folks found sheā€™d skipped the town,
A posse mad would gather quick
To ride old Sally down.

The night was clear, with starlight bright,
The mule rode surely on.
The trail rose, quite sharply there,
And soon they would be gone.

A forlorn ridge, Miss Sal she crossed,
And there, what did she see?
A sorry camp with starving folks
Beneath a blighted tree.

She tried to skirt that wretched camp
But something in her broke,
And made her dismount from her mule
To help those needy folk.

She nursed and tended with great care.
She fed and comforted.
A newfound warmth soon filled her soul,
Thus changed, she relented.

With things set right beneath that tree
Miss Sal knew what to do.
She got back on her trusty mule
And off to town they flew.

Before the dawn, sheā€™d made it back,
And ā€˜round the town she rushed
To drop off cash and nuggets fat
While all was still and hushed.

That glorious morn, the downcast woke
To wonder everywhere.
For Sometimes Sal had wrought much good
With Christmas morning care.

Salā€™s selfless deeds had forged a change
Down deep within her soul.
The good sheā€™d done had rescued her,
And purged her cankered soul.

In mining towns throughout the West
The story still is told
Of Sometimes Sal, a wondrous gal
With heart of solid gold.

Merry Christmas, and all the best,

Lanny
 

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