Black sand stream

[diggingthe1]

My brother found this stream and thought it might be worth checking out. Any advise for him. I said look for some bigger cobbles with the black sand and try there. Thanks for any advice

 

[Hoser John]

Look for bedrock and sample sample sample it all. John

 

[diggingthe1]

Thanks for the advice John!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Run, do not walk, to the truck for your gold pan!

 

[huntsman53]

If I found a dry stream with that much Black Sand in it, I would not only find a way to pan it but would also run a metal detector over every inch and even well outside it's visible banks. Shucks, if I had a Backhoe and Dump Truck, I would scoop everything up, take it home and run it through a sluice.


Frank

 

[diggingthe1]

Thanks for the posts, he will be out there this week with a pan. Can anyone recommend a good cheaper beginning spinner to spin the gold out?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Thanks for the posts, he will be out there this week with a pan. Can anyone recommend a good cheaper beginning spinner to spin the gold out?

Sure, it's called a pan. LoL! Read how to process your material here:
http://findinggoldincolorado.com/finish-processing-your-concentrates-after-a-day-of-digging/

 

[diggingthe1]

Thank you for the link!!!! We appreciate it! Better find the gold first then the good equipment!

 

[johnedoe]

Set up your gold cube recirculator and RUN THAT STUFF...................
I'm assuming it is magnetic?
Or you could set up a recirculating magnetic sluice like the cleangold ... just classify everything to 1/8th inch.

 

[smokeythecat]

Use a detector too with the SMALL coil on it to find tiny gold. Try going upstream to see where it is coming from.

 

[johnedoe]

I can't think of any detector that would be any good in that black sand... especially considering the size gold that will be in it.. Most likely -100 mesh ..
But hey... I would be happy to be proven wrong about that.....

 

[Lucky Baldwin]

My brother found this stream and thought it might be worth checking out. Any advise for him. I said look for some bigger cobbles with the black sand and try there. Thanks for any adviceView attachment 1487661View attachment 1487662

i found a black sand wash out in the desert



(i know... what i need to find is a better camera)

so like any good prospector, i: 1) followed the black sand upstream to where it started to drop out. 2) found a good looking spot and dug down to bedrock and 3) got my wiskbroom out and started to collect a sample off the bedrock. that's when i discovered the source of the black sand. the bedrock was granite and in this area was a pegmatite which the wash crossed for a fair distance. in a pegmatite the individual granite crystals grow to a very large size. this includes the magnatite crystals which, when they eroded, formed the large black sand deposit.

looking for gold in such a deposit is a waste of time. that doesn't mean pegmatites are worthless, however. i've heard of rubies and sapphires being found in pegmatites.

so before you spend a lot of time and money on your deposit, you might consider poking around to make sure it isn't just a pegmatite under that streambed.

 

[diggingthe1]

Thanks for the posts, the gold cubes look fun! I have a place in Leadville for one of those! I would freak out to start detecting nuggets Hopefully that is the case. Baldwin your advice is well taken, it will be exciting to see what he finds, small little gemstones would be a bonus!