Besides black sand and quartz, what are the most common indicators?

[Wishbone]

Your right Rob, learn, learn, and learn some more. It just snowed again today, so getting to the claim is still a ways off. I come to this site (and a Canadian one of course) all the time. Tnet is IMHO better then our (for me). Sometimes I like to interact, and sometimes I just listen and learn! This is the first claim we've ever owned a claim, and I don't even know what raw gold looks like, except for youtube and stuff like that.
The thing I like the most so far, is feeling like a little kid again.
Hope to see you here lots Rob in KS. Take care.
Wishbone

 

[YumaMarc]

Learning to be a miner I've found out quick that, "gold is where you find it" and it like's to hang out with certain friends. I've learned a lot about black sand and quartz, but in the mineral world, who is gold's other buddies? I mean in your experience, with placer and load mining.
Thanks for your help.
Wishbone

Having been a gold miner and assayer most of my working life, it appears to me you're familiar with the two most common indicators. However, in addition to quartz and black iron we also looked for veins of red hematite and chloritic schist formations.

 

[Wishbone]

Perfect information YumaMarc! I've never heard of either of those. I'm going to copy and paste them into Google images and get up to speed on my geology.
One thing I have learned about Geology is every third word ends with "ite"...lol... if I can learn the first half of the names, I'll be laughing.
Wishbone

 

[TerryC]

Look for the SULFIDES. Iron sulfide is pyrite. Lead sulfide is galena. And others. Quartz is much too common to be considered. virtually every type of rock found has some form of quartz in it. Also, if the area has (or had) hydrothermal and siesmic activity, you have a good area for gold. Look for good books on the subject. TTC