Found ancient river channel :)

omnicron · May 12, 2014

So guys I found this ancient river channel...well what I think is one.

Knowing that ancient river channels can contain massive gold deposits, I tried to dig some of the gravel but it was rock hard.
I ended up just taking some of the loose gravel but only about 1/3 of a bucket.

I didn't classify on site and ran the gravel today after classifying down to -30
This is what I recovered... some Gold, Silver and mercury.

I think it's good considering the amount of material.
I'm going to go back up there and bring back 5 classified buckets to run. Not going to be the best sample.
If it's good then I will need to figure out the path of the channel and start claiming up land like crazy!
I'll also need to figure out a water source...
And most importantly...Funding!!!
It sucks to be poor.

omnicron · May 14, 2014

Jack, as per your PM I'm not sure your at the right place. I may of missed another spot on that road but no matter where I go, I'm always looking for this holy grail type of feature.

Reed Lukens · May 14, 2014

Looks like you found an old hydraulic pit. It does look like tailings basically because of the color and the small size of the material in the hillside. The gold covered with mercury in the pan is common from old diggins. You should watch this series & then you will know the what's what about hydraulic pits and be able to tell us all about how it plays out. Be sure to check & see if possibly you are working someones patented land. Burn the merc off of the gold in a potato if you're not sure that it is gold.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL34DA41102B4C46D3

As for gold covered with merc here's another pic.

KevinInColorado · May 14, 2014

Do NOT WASTE the mercury that way. Find someone nearby with a mercury retort and separate/ recover it that way. Mercury is a useful and valuable material and should not be wasted as Reed suggests. He's a smart guy but this is the 21st century not the 19th.

If you are unsure how to find someone with a retort or the chemistry skills to remove the merc, just contact local prospecting clubs, they will help I'm sure!

panningjack · May 14, 2014

I've got a retort you can use. The problem is that all kinds of other metals and minerals collect in the mercury. So when it coats the gold and you burn it off or retort it the other minerals and metals stay attached to the gold making your gold look dingy. There is a recent thread about shake and baking black sand that I have been wanting to try which might remove most of those other minerals. For the small amount of mercury you currently have on that gold I would not retort it. Just burn it off as reed suggested. Just be sure to stay far up wind from the burning process. If this ends up being a really productive site and you come across a lot of merc then consider retorting. If you ever want some mercury just let me know. I have and can get you pounds. Remember mercury is not to be played with! It will screw you up and could quite easily kill you if you do not respect it. Even the tiniest bit inhaled will affect you and you probably wouldn't notice.

It's like this: Being dead doesn't affect you because you don't know your dead. It just affects everyone else. It's the exact same way when you're stupid or crazy. Lol

KevinInColorado · May 15, 2014

Please don't just burn it off. If you are a serious prospector you will accumulate more so for now just put it in a vial with some water and leave it aside. Once you have a few grams or more, you can retort it. Until then, what's the hurry?

huntsman53 · May 15, 2014

I agree with the others that believe that the material is not tailings! A tailings pile or dump would not be layered as it shows in the pic unless the location was worked, left dormant for a long period, then worked for a short time again, then left dormant again for a long period, then worked again, then forgotten about or abandoned. Also, the silvery material might just be Rhodium, Palladium, Platinum or other heavy metal that is silvery in color.

Frank

Reed Lukens · May 15, 2014

The couple of grains of gold will be good experience for you to just use a potato. This way you will prove to yourself what it is and have clean gold to look at. Retorting is a bad idea for this small amount and the potato will absorb all of the merc. Just cut it in half & pull out a spoon from the center or cut an eye hole in it, pull out the eye, put in the gold, put the eye back in, wrap it in foil & throw it on a fire and come back tomorrow, pull it off & let it cool. You then pan the merc out of the potato after you get the clean gold out of the eye.. It is not enough to even think twice about for retorting and °°°hello°°° no harm will be done to the environment°°°

In the top half or more in the picture where it is all the same size material looks like tailings on a hillside. I have a well trained & proven eye just like John does... The bottom portion may not be tailings but it will need to be blasted with anfo or more if it isn't because it will be as tough as concrete. The tailings covered everything including good ground on other claims if they were located below the operation. If the top half is soft it is tailings, if not then it's probably barren. The merc in your pan makes this scenario obvious so look for the old sluice box placement & then more merc.

Reed Lukens · May 15, 2014

Be sure to only put what looks like mercury into the potato because the piece above is lead or something else so separate by color.

timberjack · May 15, 2014

How was that cut exposed in the first place? Is there a river or brook at the bottom of the face we cant see? Was it a gravel pit? Seem like some machanical action took place to open that face?

omnicron · May 15, 2014

Ok guys, I have a retort that I built. I save my mercury for future use. The channel was exposed when a road was built many years ago. I can not accept that this is a tailing pile based on how the rocks are layered. Also I can see the flood history in the layers. Maybe it's just me. I did some research of the area and found that there used to be many ancient rivers that feed the ancient Lake Idaho. As for owner ship, I've already checked and it's BLM land. Further research show no mining in this area. Come Saturday I will know if this is worth working or not.

jog · May 16, 2014

I have a very simular thing on one of my claims, it's 200ft above the main river. Ancient river channel that was hydraulic mined, there is a China ditch that runs several miles to a water source. Is there any sign of an old ditch nearby?

omnicron · May 17, 2014

I'll know today. PanningJack and I are heading up to dig a little hole or two today. I'll be scouting the area to be sure! I'll post some pics tonight or tomorrow of what we discover.

Bum Luck · May 17, 2014

Good luck!

May the Force be with you !

omnicron · May 18, 2014

Please stand by, I'll post a update soon...so much go... update soon....

omnicron · May 18, 2014

So here is a bad video I shot yesterday. For those of you who don't know, I'm dealing with a type of "throat cancer" so my voice is really bad.
The wind was playing havoc on the sound...
The end of the video shows the end results.

Oakview2 · May 18, 2014

Omni, so sorry to hear of your health challenges, I thought the video was great, showed exactly what needs to be seen. The true tertiary channels ran north and south, most modern rivers run east and west. Here is a link to a google online reprint that explains the phenomeon in the Sierra Nevadas

The Tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California - Waldemar Lindgren, Frank Hall Knowlton - Google Books

omnicron · May 18, 2014

Thanks Oak, I've been dealing with this for many years now. The VA did a experimental procedure on me the second to last surgery. It didn't work out and accelerated the growths. So now I'm left with this voice that doesn't work well and is getting worse.

I think the gold from my first test came from my classifiers. That's the only logical explanation.

Reed Lukens · May 18, 2014

So there was no gold in the 12 buckets? I couldn't see any in the video but my eyes aren't good enough these days not to ask

It would be interesting to test the bottom of the wash behind the one that you originally took the picture. Maybe follow it some and see if it is a wash or an old flume. Nice looking homebuilt dredge you have there also :notworthy:

omnicron · May 19, 2014

Reed Lukens said:
So there was no gold in the 12 buckets? I couldn't see any in the video but my eyes aren't good enough these days not to ask
It would be interesting to test the bottom of the wash behind the one that you originally took the picture. Maybe follow it some and see if it is a wash or an old flume. Nice looking homebuilt dredge you have there also

Thanks Reed for the Kudos on the dredge. I really like your dredge and was all set to go that route but then saw this other design and it fit my needs better. I just wish I had something other then the 6-30gallon barrels as they take up all my trailer space. If I can find some 15's I'll swap them out in a heartbeat.

We didn't test the wash, we just took samples from different spots within the gravels.
I'm really interested/confused at the formation of this. It's just there with no rhyme of reason. How did it form? Where is the rest of it? The only explanation I could come up with is it might of been placed there after the Bonneville Flood.
Bonneville flood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lanny in AB · May 19, 2014

I remember driving through areas like that after leaving Nevada and heading through Arizona shortly after the Hoover Dam. The deposits that the road cuts through there look very similar.

They are large piles of water worn rock in deposition layers.

What I don't know is where the water that rounded the rocks came from. In other words, I don't know what geological event deposited the rocks in what today is a very dry desert area. Was it stream action? Was it a titanic flood?

Up here in the far north, I see the results of a lot of glacial action that stacks piles of rounded rocks and what appears to be channel action in the strangest places, but I have no idea of the extent of glacial deposition in your particular area.

Plus, I've found old river channels (not glacial) before that had no gold in them at all, none. An old channel is like an existing modern channel: some of them carry gold and some of them are barren.

Keep following the three rules of prospecting: 1. Test, 2. Test, 3. Test, and see what happens. Reed has given you a good idea on testing as well.

All the best, and post updates on recovery when you get them,

Lanny

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html