Depth of alluvial gold

[pczim]

Hi all, I hope I have got the right forum category right here but I figured out as I’m going to sluice or use a small wash plant this is the right place for me.

Whilst being a miner, my forte is hard rock mining, shafts, milling and cyanidation my knowledge of alluvial is nowhere near on par with what I normally mine.

So.... I have a 20 hectare claim that I once pegged on a whim. Just fooling around, I found gold on the surface when looking for reefs (crushed washed rocks, no gold in the pan, crushed soil and rocks, gold in the pan, tested soil only....gold in the pan).

So scraping the surface I ran approximately a ton through a modified sluice box and screen and recovered 0.15g from that ton.

I’m here asking for expertise. If the grades are like that right on the top i.e no more than 2 inches deep, what can I expect as I go down?

The reason I’m asking is that I don’t want to have to hire a truck to transport one of my back hoes to dig, waste of time, fuel and production at my other mine if you experts out there think those are abysmal surface grades and the said grades are not likely to increase.

Please let me know your suggestions.... thanks in advance

 

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[Johnnybravo300]

It can get better with depth but not always, sometimes the best gold is on the surface.
You'll have to dig a big hole and see. To bedrock if possible.