FOR EVERYONE, experienced and non-experienced, What do you know about gold?

[go4thegold]

This thread hopefully will become a favorite or a saved thread of yours. (It'll be mine for sure!)

This thread is for everyone here who is a prospector, to share information about what they know about how gold behaves...And most importantly, where it is found so we can help one another to not be digging blindly! (Gravel Bars, river bends, what rocks to look for, etc etc). I realize there is information out there for anyone to look up but I'd say a thread covering old ideas and new ideas is even better!


I'll start it off by obviously saying, gold is heavy. So it will always sink to the bottom of just about anything.

Look in crevices in bedrock! Flush them out with little kids water blaster or suck it up with a turkey baster!


YOUR TURN!

 

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[PatrickD]

I have also seen people use those corrugated drainage tunnels that run under roads as a natural sluice. Apparently, dust and nuggets collect in the ridges as water flows through them.

 

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[Goldwasher]

I have also seen people use those corrugated drainage tunnels that run under roads as a natural sluice. Apparently, dust and nuggets collect in the ridges as water flows through them.

if your lucky enough to find an old school one in a rich area...they are actually engineered to not hold on to material, better oof looking below the entrance and at the exit!........that ones been going around for too long......also you can not use balloons tied to fishing weights to try and find spots where gold settles out. The power and force of flooding is amazing. I recently found a Hand built scrub box I made several years ago....a bent oil drip pan that I used as a mud/scrub box for a long tom. I had stashed it in the blackberries at one of my spots....flood got it two years ago....I was relieving myself the other day while sniping and I found the dang thing....smashed folded ant beat up.....like SEVEN miles downstream, as the crow flies....even more in actual waterway miles....amazing coincidence and distance!

 

[Duckwalk]

Trying not to sound like the noob I am but... What's a scrub box?

 

[Fullpan]

Some call it a puddling box - to break up clay etc. by hand method.

 

[Herby D]

Classify, classify, classify.. the whole process of finding gold is to separate out everything that isn't gold.. panning is the final process of classifying.. save yourself a lot of work, get rid of the junk before it goes in your pan.. if you are expecting to find a 2 ounce nugget then look for it in your classifying screen..... and the chance of that is just about the same odds as buying a mega lotto ticket... but it sure is fun to look.. classify, classify, classify....

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[Fullpan]

here's an African version:

 

[3xflyfisher]

A simplified explanation; placer gold is a secondary deposit. Gold originally was deposited by hydrothermal (volcanic) solutions in what are known as lode deposits. Erosion occurs washing the lode gold into streams and rivers making a placer deposit.

 

[Sick4gold]

I've learned that as random as a waterway seems there is actually method to the madness.
Flat glass and steel/iron will usually form a straight line. Mark each piece and you will usually see your pay steaks or pretty close.
I've learned gold will only be found if and when it wants to.
Ive also learned that gold prospecting is the hardest work I've ever loved doing.
I've learned that asking for advise and giving when possible is good for the soul.
Mostly I've learned that I'll forever be a student of nature.

 

[KevinInColorado]

I've learned that as random as a waterway seems there is actually method to the madness. Flat glass and steel/iron will usually form a straight line. Mark each piece and you will usually see your pay steaks or pretty close. Ive also learned that prospecting is the hardest work I've ever loved doing. I've learned that asking for advise and giving when possible is good for the soul. Mostly I've learned that I'll forever be a student of nature.

Well said indeed, agreed!

 

[Goldwasher]

Yep, what fullpan said. It was the first box that we dumped everything into .With a few slat riffles to catch large gold and help hold clay and mud long enough to wash and break down. That hit an under current feeding a pipe into a sluice running in the stream. Sort of a modern day long-tom gravity fed wash plant. We were getting great flood gold that was fairly evenly distributed. Running several yards a day paid two guys pretty well. Out of work. Dredged for two months after the ban we got sketched out. Yet ,had the desire to run lots of gravel. You gotta do what you gotta do

 

[IMPDLN]

Gold is elusive. At least in the desert, gold knows no rules. Although most nuggets are found on bedrock, specimens could be anywhere. When I metal detect I start with the exposed bedrock. However as days go by and I spend more time in an area, I eventually scan everything including flow sand and embankments. I found a specimen recently 5 feet higher than the known high water mark from past floods in a wash that I have found no other indications of gold, fine or course, after multiple samplings by both metal detecting and cleaning crevices both in and out of the wash. Last year I found a specimen near the surface in loose fine powder flow sand high up on a bench. Right on the other side of the same creek I found 2 nuggets in some red hard pack and actually found a 3rd nugget in the same spot that somehow I missed the 1st time, with the same coil.

Moral of the story is you must be persistent and diligent in your search for the elusive yellow metal. Dennis

 

[Armchair prospector]

Gold is a mystery as to how, why, and where it ends up. Gold does not discriminate. It can be found in abundance, but ussually not. It is not easy to find and there are no gaurantees. Many have tried and given up, but those who are persistant will win out. It is total freedom to be out looking and enjoying the time hunting. It is also found in some of the most pristine areas to be in which makes OK when we get skunked. To sit around a camp fire with friends at the end of the day talking about where to look tomorrow.

 

[Herby D]

Save yourself a lot of frustration and hard work..Buy a set of good Gold maps.. you will seldom find it where it's never been found before...

Most important two letter word sentence.. "If it is to be, it is up to me"

 

[goldenmojo]

If you got newbies in your neighborhood take a panload of the tailings. They leave plenty......

 

[TheGoldProspector]

If you got newbies in your neighborhood take a panload of the tailings. They leave plenty......

Haha, Agree!

 

[Fullpan]

I know there is still a LOT of gold left(in calif). I spent thousands of hours digging and dredging in a one mile stretch of river. Had maybe ten partners over ten years - we got 40-50 ozs. But only thoroughly excavated 1/10th of that one mile stretch.

 

[Portadrillmini]

Gold in nature is not always 100% pure. Is mostly not pretty and shiny . Is often alloyed with other impurities. And most all of you guys throw away more precious metals than what you think you do.. TRY using a microscope more often on your CONS and SEE what you are really THROWING AWAY...

 

[Duckwalk]

I've learned that as random as a waterway seems there is actually method to the madness. Flat glass and steel/iron will usually form a straight line. Mark each piece and you will usually see your pay steaks or pretty close. I've learned gold will only be found if and when it wants to. Ive also learned that gold prospecting is the hardest work I've ever loved doing. I've learned that asking for advise and giving when possible is good for the soul. Mostly I've learned that I'll forever be a student of nature.

Are you saying look for glass and steel in the waters you are prospecting?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Are you saying look for glass and steel in the waters you are prospecting?

yes, and lead and garnet...