Gold by Albuquerque New Mexico

[magrudersGold]

Hey folks, just moved to Rio Rancho from so cal, and I have found small flour hold in my backyard! The dirt looks horrible because it doesn't look like gravel, or rocky material it just looks like plain ole dirt, but there are some rocky parts or even rock piles that's where I tend to dig. Waiting to dry pan when the weather gets warmer. I'm also confused on where the gold source is.

 

[tamrock]

How close are you to the Rio Grande river? It's my guess your digging up an old river channel or flood plain from the RG river and the flour float gold came in from the Rocky mountains of Colorado?

 

[arizau]

Who knows but just up the freeway towards Santa Fe and to the East is one gold placer and that may be your source or maybe even from ancient erosion of the Sandias or the mesa on the West side of the Rio Grande. Here is some info for you. https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1348/report.pdf

Good luck from a native New Mexican.

 

[hvacker]

First, welcome to NM. I am just down the hill in Corrales. Not sure where in Rio Rancho you are digging but most of the town is on a high mesa and the source is more likely from the Rio Puerco. It's source is the Jemez Mountains. If you have Google Earth just go West on Southern Blvd and you will find the Rio Puerco. It's a ways.
There isn't much actual soil there but a lot of sand and clay all up hill from the Rio Grande. Most actual soil seems to end West of Rio Grande.
Storm waters used to dig very large arroyos working their way to the Rio Grande. I have found piles of river worn baseball size rocks in what now is a development. I have tried a bit of panning but no luck. My home has a bunch of black sand.
The storm waters still wipe out my road from time to time.

 

[magrudersGold]

Thank you all for your help and welcomes. I stay at Northern Meadows and behind my wall is just desert the gold here is so fine it doesn't look like gold up close looks kind of dull. Maybe it could be the Sandias but it's like 50 min away. I'm not sure if it's an ancient river bed because it's only random piles of dirt and rock like it was put there by man.

 

[magrudersGold]

 

[magrudersGold]

I'm also like 20 something min away from the rio grande

 

[arizau]

Just in case you are interested in the formation of the Sandias and the Rio Grande near Albuquerque....https://www.google.com/webhp?source...=2&ie=UTF-8#q=geology of the sandia mountains
Also this concerning the volcanoes....https://www.google.com/webhp?source...spv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=volcanos+albuquerque+geology

 

[magrudersGold]

Thanks I'll check it out. Also the petroglyphs national park isn't to far which are volcanos

 

[hvacker]

I've read that Edison was invited to the volcanoes to see if he could find a way to extract the gold there.
He couldn't and left. A good thing otherwise they might not be there.
Altitude wise the Rio Grande at Albuquerque is about 5000' and going West it rises to a ridge that's well over 6500'
Not much gold has been found here because of the lack of water. There are some exceptions like the Ortiz Mountains.
and the Grants areas.

 

[Clay Diggins]

There is gold on the East side of Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, gold near Tierjas above Albuquerque, gold near the top of the Jemez, gold on the Ortiz mine grant between Golden and Cerrillos, gold on the Rio Grande below Santa Fe, gold on the Rio Grande above Santa Fe, Gold on the upper Pecos above Pecos, gold on lower Coyote creek near Mora, gold on Mt Baldy above the Cimmaron, gold in the Red River valley, gold in and east of Chama in the Brazos gorge and at 10,000 feet on Placitas creek, gold in the eastern Manzano mountains, gold in Ancho and White Oaks in the Jicarilla mountains, gold around and above Monticello, gold on and west of Caballo mountain, gold in the area around Hillsboro, gold at Pinos Altos, gold in the Burro mountains, gold at Gold Hill, gold on the little Blue river and gold in and around Mogollon.

Those are the places I personally know to have mineable gold in New Mexico. I know of others but I've promised not to share those other locations. Although several are associated with nearby volcanic activity none of them are on or in volcanoes.

The Ortiz mine grant west of Albuquerque is a very productive historical and current gold producer. That's where my group has mined for the last few years. That's where Edison built the world's largest drywasher plant and failed spectacularly. Edison believed that an electrostatic charge would increase the retention of gold and he gladly took other peoples money to prove it would work. It didn't and doesn't. The episode became known as Edison's Folly. We've sampled some of Edison's tailings and found good gold values.

In New Mexico the Rio Grande Rift is the dominant and controlling geological feature. To understand New Mexico geology you need to get an understanding of the Rift dynamics. Along and above the Rio Grande the Santa Fe Group of deposits (PDF) fill the rift. These are mostly unconsolidated sand and stone debris and it's not uncommon to find small scattered gold in the Santa Fe Group.

For Rio Rancho itself you will be working in the Santa Fe group with some addition from the Jemez creek deposits. The Rio Puerco is 50 miles south of Albuquerque and has no association with the geology around Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.

Heavy Pans

 

[magrudersGold]

Thanks very useful info

 

[hvacker]

Good links.

 

[rodoconnor]

So Edison found a thousand ways not to drywash.

 

[mpgken]

Since you are new to ABQ. Be extremely careful east of Kirtland AFB/Sandia Labs. Do not go near the west side of the Monzano mountains. If you even get close you'll very quickly know why. It is not worth trying to go there. If you go to the the east side of the Manzano's don't try to go over the top. The Manzanos are hollow mountains with missiles in them. The military compound is extremely well protected. You don't want to deal with the military there. Kirtland and Sandia Labs are not places to play around either. No amount of gold is worth getting in trouble for. It is best to keep your distance. Ask a native of ABQ how close is too close. New comers won't usually know about these things. If you can see the fences you are too close! Don't even try to dig or you'll have the military on you in a very unfriendly way instantly. No matter how innocent your actions may be. Don't do it. It's not as bad as Area 51 but close. My dad sold computers to Area 51 and the little he can tell us is pretty scary.

If you do accidentally get near the compound on the Manzanos you may get to the first gate but you won't be comfortable when several guys with weapons and dogs come to 'greet' you and you won't be allowed to leave until they thoroughly go through your vehicle while you get to have some very unfriendly dogs for close companions!

I used to deliver freon to that compound. They used it for cooling the missiles and machinery. It was never a fun experience. When I got to the first gate they would go over the whole truck, check all paperwork then have one of the unfriendly dogs sit in the middle next to me and one of the military guards sat in the passengers seat. The route sometimes changed depending on what they did not want anyone to see. But I was always glad to get out of there. Delivering to Sandia Labs wasn't nearly as bad but still wasn't fun.

Just be careful. You don't want to enter that compound. You could go missing! Seriously. No one will know you were taken in and no one will know what happened. There are safer and easier places to get gold.

Also, you are in Rattlesnake country big time so if you go anywhere be aware they are out there all over. I grew up across from Manzano High before all the apartments, church and buildings were there. Our house was the last one and the mesa was between us and the Sandias. When my parents built the house it wasn't in the city limits! We had a great front and back yards with plenty of grass to play in but whenever mom told us to go out and play we always ended up in the mesa catching lizards, making tumbleweed forts and walking by ourselves to the Sandias. Those were the days when ABQ was a safe place for kids. I never saw any snakes until one day my mom was doing a little cleaning up of the landscape in our front yard and there were about a dozen baby rattlers under a bush. But then never saw any snakes after that. But I always knew they were around.

Some of the reason the gold you are finding is spotty is because that whole area is an old river bed and you wouldn't know it now but flash floods happened all the time. Water comes off the mountains big time and off the desert when it rains. It is hard to tell now because it is all overbuilt and the city built a lot of dams and diversion channels. When I was a teen Lomas flooded behind my house in a flash flood. It ran down Lomas all the way to Los Altos where it crosses the diversion channel. The water was about three feet deep and as steep as Lomas is it was running very fast. This happened with a small rain shower. The rain shower lasted about 15 minutes and moved on quickly. After that flood the city built a couple of dams in the mesa between town and the Sandias. I doubt those are still there since they have built over all that land now but they most likely have channeled the water coming off the Sandias differently and you would never know that can happen. That big drainage ditch between the interstate is 99.9% of the time empty and dry. But there are times when it can run several feet deep with water and you don't want to be caught in it.

On the West Side the same thing happens with the rains and they have built similar dams and drainage channels. Just because it is all desert looking doesn't mean a lot of water and dirt doesn't get moved. Don't be fooled by the dry look of the place. Some of the drainage ditches are under ground so you won't see them. The Rio Grande used to wander all over that valley. Any gold would be deposited sporadically. Because of the flash floods disturbing the ground. Do some research and find pictures of how the valley looked back before the 80's. That will give you an idea of how things used to be. In the 80's the place really changed and has become the overgrown nightmare that it is now.

You'll find black sands and plenty of it all over the place. Take a magnet and toss it in the dirt anywhere there and it will get completely covered in a second. If there was money in black sands that place would be the motherload!

It is funny to hear you say it takes you 50 minutes from the Sandias. When I was a kid anywhere east side or west took just about 20 minutes at most. Could drive from the west side where Rio Rancho is now to the Sandias and around back of them in less than an hour! I remember when Intel built on the west side. I could see it from the northeast heights and it was an eye sore up on the hill there. We would drive to nine mile hill sometimes and watch the sunsets and it would take about 20 minutes to get there.

Don't know if Bella Vista is still there but if so and if they still do the fish fry that is a great place to eat. I know the place burned down a couple of times and they rebuilt. We used to go about once a month, all you can eat fish, fries and sodas. The platter they would bring out held about 2 dozen fish! And that was just the starting platter.

El Pinto - another good restaurant but it has changed a lot since the kids took over. Still good food.
Sadies - is great.
Los Quates another great place. I could go on forever on the great places to eat there.
Don't be afraid to check out the little hole in the wall places. They have some of the best food. The big flashy places usually water down the food so it is easy for the gringos to eat. Not worth the time once you have stopped being a gringo!

Most of the 'Mexican' restaurants are real good. Just realize you won't find the bland California Mexican type restaurants unless you really look for them. Mexican restaurants in NM are really New Mexico Mexican restaurants. They have a whole lot better flavor and the best green and red chilies anywhere in the world.

The best burgers are at Blake's. Try their green chilie burger. If you are looking for a good steak Paul's or Charlies back door but they are both in the northeast heights. Charlies is in Hoffmantown and Pauls is off Juan Tabo just north of Lomas. It is actually at the end of the street I grew up on - Sierra Grande.

Anyway, I got way off topic.

Good luck. The gold will be small and dirty. Be safe.

I am getting home sick for some good food! Darn. I knew I shouldn't post to this thread!

 

[magrudersGold]

Haha when you said I got way off topic🤣🤣🤣 haha

 

[magrudersGold]

Thanks for sharing I'll stay away from that military site

 

[mpgken]

One thing that would make it easier for you would be to screen the material down before running it. All the gold will be very small so you could screen down to minus 20 or smaller and just run that. A few buckets of minus 20 could be taken to the Rio Grande and run. No one would see any difference in the color of the water!!!

I am not a fan of drywashing. I always use water. Classifying your material will help you capture more gold no matter how you run the material. There are dry washes all over your area and any of them could have gold too.

Next time I come down to visit family I plan on hitting a few washes and maybe even around the mountains. Probably won't be there until next Christmas/new years holiday but will still get out since it doesn't really get cold there and there isn't much snow to speak of. My younger brother lives way out on the west side and there is a lot of ground I would like to check out by him. We'll see how things work out and maybe we can meet and eat some of that great NM Mexican food!

 

[magrudersGold]

Sounds good to me. I love dry washing but anyways the weird "gold " I get is from the desert behind me sometimes there's literally random piles of rock mixed with dirt I just work that. I know it can't be natural cause it doesn't make sense but I don't know where it could come from to be honest

 

[mpgken]

Do you have any pictures? That might help.

Years ago excess dirt from building sites was dumped wherever a truck could get to. The west side wasn't built up at all. The west side was thought of as worthless for building and ABQ grew north, east and some south around the AFB/Labs towards Belen. It wasn't until about the 80's that the west side was starting to be built on and that mainly happened because Intel built out there. Rio Rancho is a young city.

Back when I was a kid no one wanted to live on the west side because of all the blowing dirt and lack of water. Traditionally people build and live near water so along the Rio Grande was the main target of building and up towards the Sandias. Belen and Corrales were more like tiny villages and so was Bernalillio. It was a long drive to any of these places and was all desert.

If someone was building houses they would dig the dirt for foundations and need to dump it someplace. So they would drive out to any part of the desert and dump the excess dirt. Dirt is dirt and it doesn't matter where it is put. In addition, Sandia Labs and Kirtland AFB built a lot. Including at the Labs they have a huge pit just like the University Pit only bigger. And remember I said in my earlier post that the Manzano mountains are hollow, well they had to dump all that dirt somewhere. Not saying your find is from any of these places but it is possible. Of course if it is from any of them you won't be able to do anything about it now.

Don't know exactly where you are but if you ever hear sonic booms it is most likely coming from the Labs in their pit where they are testing something. Now days there are too many airplanes in the sky and people think the booms come from the planes but unless they are fighters or other fast military planes they don't make sonic booms and those booms come from the pit at the Labs. Anyway, that pit and the University Pit had a lot of dirt removed. If you have been to a Lobos Basketball game or been to the Pit for any other reason you won't have an idea of how much dirt was removed. They didn't just dump the dirt all in one place.

Unless you have some reason to be at the Labs and near the pit they have, you'll never see it. It is enormous. All the different contractors will dump the dirt in different places and so it is likely your random piles are there because of some of this kind of dumping.

Another place to be careful of is the abandoned airport on the west side. Only dig there with good protection and don't dry wash that dirt. There are some very deadly cancerous chemicals in the ground there. If you don't know where the airport was/is find an older map or ask a local. Personally, I wouldn't touch the dirt there for any reason. If you don't find anyone who can tell you and since you are in the hot air balloon capital of the world find a pilot and ask them. They know exactly where it is. There are plenty of hot air balloon pilots in ABQ/Rio Rancho. Just get up early on Sat. morning and drive out following a balloon (chase). Preferably choose one that is staying on the west side in the open land. You can easily get in an accident if you have to drive the streets and if you do drive the streets in town make sure you have someone with you telling you which direction to go so you can pay attention to the traffic.

Hot air balloon pilots are for the most part friendly and their crews are as well. Unless you are part of the crew or help with the take down of the balloon and loading it up at the end of the flight don't assume you are part of the after flight 'party'. Those people work very hard doing what they do and they do it all year long just for the fiesta so the after flight party is a way to blow off stress and warm up. Probably the most unfriendly person on the crew can be the crew chief not that they aren't friendly but if they have just had to drive through town chasing they won't be in a mood to chit chat especially during the Fiesta when they have to fight all the traffic and they have their pilot yelling at them to catch up. Been there done that several times. Now I can just enjoy the balloons and let others do all the hard stuff.

If you want a great time and something that is a blast to do join a crew. If you want to go through hell join the crew of the president of the Fiesta and stay on the crew and show up everyday for the Fiesta! The Fiesta is not just the days when all the balloons go up. It starts about a month before and there is a ton of work. Expect no sleep during the 10 days of Fiesta.

A crew can tell you a lot about the area. They go places most people will never consider going and see things others don't see. Also as a member of the crew you will have opportunities to go up in the balloon. What you see up there may help you with the ground you are dealing with. Balloons travel at slow speeds so you have plenty of time to look down and study the ground and the formations on the ground. You can see things you won't ever see while staying on the ground.

If you join a crew, wait for the time when the pilot asks if you want to go up. When that happens ask him if he'll fly over an area you would like to look at as long as it is not in town. Don't ever ask a pilot to fly in town. That is a deadly flight and pilots will not appreciate it if you ask and may kick you off the crew.

Post some pictures of the rocks. Maybe that will help.