Greenhorn prospecting. Questions about material found in pan after first trip

[GoldHunter24k]

Greenhorn Hunter here! So after copious amounts of research, youtube videos, reading forums and speculating, my girlfriend and I ventured out to try our luck in a well known river location in southern California. This spot is famous for its placer deposits and I have seen and met folks who have done quite well in that area, so i know there's gold there. All you have to do is find it right?! We went about a mile up the river and found a 90degree bend, so we started digging on the inside curve. I found lots of big boulders about 4 feet deep that were covered in a clay like mud. Makes sense that gold would travel with the biggest boulders because they are heavier and carry the most centrifugal momentum when tumbling down the river in a flood. So I began to fill a bucket of the material under and around the boulder to see if there was any black sand and maybe even color! Low and behold there were glimmers at the bottom of the pan!

Now, the greenhorn in me got really excited because i had found my first flake of gold! Or was it? So after classifying and panning a bit I had put all the flakes I found in a small vial for safe keeping. After about an hour or so I looked into the vial and noticed that the pieces weren't quite gold anymore. They look a darker color, and weren't quite as gold and shiny as they were in the pan. What was going on here? Was this fools gold or some kind of dark mica or graphite that, when the yellow sun shown on them they looked to be gold? Well I didn't have much time to wonder because the clouds rolled in and it started to rain I had just spent the last hour digging and filling that bucket and now I was going to have to ditch the material because of the storm. Well the stubborn greenhorn in me braved the rain and classified as many bigger stones out of the bucket as I could and humped it back to the truck.

I brought the bucket home and began to pan the concentrate under a light. Well I ran into the same problem. At first I thought I was finding flakes and flour gold but after harvesting the flakes that looked golden in the light, I held the vial up and the pieces were the same dull color I found before. Can anyone shed some light on what i'm finding? It seems to have some weight to it because it falls directly to the bottom when I turn the vial over. Makes it very difficult to actually tell the difference from actual gold or these gold-like specs that i'm finding. Sorry for the long post but i hope that other beginners can learn from this. Thanks

 

[okbasspro]

Welcome to the TNET GoldHunter24K where you located. Gold will look the same no matter the light angle.Once you see it nothing looks the same.As to what you have there are a million things that shine in a creek.Welcome to the fever for which there is no cure.

May your pan be full of the yeller stuff

 

[TerryC]

Welcome to THE NET, GH. Nothing wrong with the long post. I, for one, liked it. The stuff you were collecting is probably "fool's gold". Gold seems to have a "light" of its own. Nothing to do with being shiney. In fact, its "light" seems to turn on in the shade! A certain buttermilk glow that, once authenticated, will forever define the metal for you in the future. TTC

 

[GoldHunter24k]

thanks Okbasspro! I live in Los Angeles working as an audio engineer. So it remains a constant color and doesn't shimmer when it rolls back and forth in the pan? I still have half a bucket of material to go through but i feel like it might be a waste of time because all im finding are these flakes of what look like gold in the pan but somehow change color when i put them in a vial. All the material is from the same hole more or less, so if i dont find any real gold in one pan then i should ditch the rest of the material?

Thanks for the kind words

 

[GoldHunter24k]

Thanks TerryC! So does fools gold have a similar density to real gold? That's good because the light i was using made almost every particle have a yellowish tint to it. Also i was having trouble with my panning technique. I felt like i was washing too much of the material away and i couldn't separate the black sand from the smaller particles that were obviously not gold. I know there's black sand in there for sure because i bought a black sand magnet and it seems to pick up a bunch each time i try. Its a magnet specialized for black sand but is it possible that its picking up the gold as well? I was under the impression that it was designed to pick up only the black sand to separate the gold?

thanks for the replies
Hunter

 

[Oakview2]

You already did the work to dig, classify and hump it back to your truck, so I would process it. All the hard work is done, now practice your panning and separation skills. The least it will cost you is a good time..... PS fools gold will be lighter than the black sand, it will also break apart. Poke it with a pin, roll it in your fingeres. It should not break or come apart in flakes. Good luck

 

[GoldHunter24k]

thanks for the tips Oakview2. You're probably right about the leftover material but it sure does a number on the lower back! Pretty sore after yesterdays prospecting. I might wait until tomorrow to process the rest. I'm going to go to home depot this weekend and see if i can build a sluice box. They seem pretty pricey for not much tech so i might just design a cheaper one.

I thought it was fools gold at first but it seems to drop almost the same velocity as the black sand. Also it appears gold and then changes color when i put it into the vial. I figured fools gold would still remain gold in the vial.

Im starting to understand the real meaning of "fools gold" since i did all that work for what i thought was gold hehe.

 

[Gold Maven]

Radio Shack sells a 30 power pocket microscope for about 10 bucks, even the smallest flakes of gold look amazing.

It helped me alot when I was getting started, small gold is easier to identify.

Good Luck, post some pics.

 

[okbasspro]

thanks Okbasspro! I live in Los Angeles working as an audio engineer. So it remains a constant color and doesn't shimmer when it rolls back and forth in the pan? I still have half a bucket of material to go through but i feel like it might be a waste of time because all im finding are these flakes of what look like gold in the pan but somehow change color when i put them in a vial. All the material is from the same hole more or less, so if i dont find any real gold in one pan then i should ditch the rest of the material?

Thanks for the kind words

Run it all you did the work to get it.Keep at it you will find some you are in a great state for gold.Your crappy leaders are messing with that right though.I have used lots of homemade equipment and had lots of fun doing it.There is lots of info here and lots of great people to help you.

 

[GoldHunter24k]

thanks for the reply Gold Maven. come to think of it i think i have one of those somewhere... i will definitely post some pics when i verify that i have found the yellow stuff!

 

[TerryC]

This is (was) the way I verified gold or Fool's gold. Put a little bunch of the stuff in a small baggie. Hammer it on a rock lightly. Fool's gold will turn to powder. Real gold will just flatten. It is very maleable. One ounce of pure gold can be drawn into a thin thread 60 miles long! TTC

 

[B H Prospector]

This is (was) the way I verified gold or Fool's gold. Put a little bunch of the stuff in a small baggie. Hammer it on a rock lightly. Fool's gold will turn to powder. Real gold will just flatten. It is very maleable. One ounce of pure gold can be drawn into a thin thread 60 miles long! TTC

One ounce of gold will also cover a 10'x10'x10' room inside and out when hammered out. There is a room at the gold museum in Houston I think it was they did it.

B H Prospector

 

[Aurabbit79er]

thanks for the reply Gold Maven. come to think of it i think i have one of those somewhere... i will definitely post some pics when i verify that i have found the yellow stuff!

I'm glad you started gold mining It helps the rest of us feel we aren't the only crazy people in the forest.
Here's a pic of some of my finds.

When I first started gold panning I even dumped the dirt in my shoes into my pan after stepping out of the hole I was digging in.
IGOT GOLD FEVER. IT AIN'T FATAL, BUT THERE AIN'T NO CURE. There's a song about it.
Your in SoCal. Come out to the San Gabriel East Fork River. I go there alot.
I'm headed there with the Wife next Wed. the 14th
If you haven't been there go on Google maps and look up Camp Bonita Road and park in the lot at roads end.
You need to get a stupid Adventure Pass(5 bucks) to park. The Ranger Station is on the right, as you go around a bend in the road and leave civilization. They open at 8am.
I'm 20 years + chasing the yellow metal. Build my own gear when I can.
On Friday I worked across from the broken bridge. I needed to field test my newly built Hand Suction Trap Dredge.
I bought everything to build it at Home Depot for under $50.

The Hand Dredge worked perfect, 4 pulls filled the trap. Then I took the tip to the sluice (or bucket). Rotate the trap up 180º and it all dumps out.
About 3' under water, in front of a rock in the river I drew out a half a bucket or so and did a test pan. Zip.
So with tears in my eyes I walked over to the west bank 20' away and found a wet hole with a big rock showing just above the water to dig under.
Cause dam, I already set up the sluice right there. It wasn't so bad, maybe a 1/4 gram from 8 buckets.
Some Couple hiking stopped to talk and showed strong interest in doing some gold mining so I gave him e green gold pan.
Then told him to read some books and the basics on how and where to dig for gold in rivers.
Ha, He thought I did him a favor. He's going to get hooked just like us HaHaHaHa
I used the gold as my avatar.

 

[GoldHunter24k]

60'?! 10'x10'x10'?! That's pretty amazing!

Hey Aurabbit79er nice to meet you and thanks for the advice! Looks like a nice little setup you got there with the EZ sluice. Do you usually set that up by the river? I was thinking of going to home depot tomorrow and trying to find pieces to build a makeshift sluice box and hand dredge. You're design looks great! i think i might have to copy it respectfully of course. I saw it on another thread briefly and someone mentioned something about plans? Looks like it did pretty well. My background is engineering, so i'm all about inventing new ways to separate the good stuff and i have a few ideas that i think might work if fine tuned. When i get my mind set on something not much can slow me down!

It's funny that you mention the East Fork because that is exactly where i was on thursday! I have some older map info and i've made a gold map on google earth and marked all the locations that i think the AU might be concentrated. All we had was a panning kit but i couldn't resist getting out there and getting my hands dirty. Didn't find much before it began to rain but im anxious to get back out there. We are actually going back on the 13 and possibly 14th. It would be great to combine elbow grease and learn some more of the tricks of the trade from an experienced prospector.

We parked at the East Fork parking lot. Not sure if that's near camp bonita rd or which bridge is the broken bridge. We didn't travel very far up the river, maybe half a mile. Felt a lot longer on the way back hauling that bucket of concentrate though!

 

[Gold Maven]

here is some proof that there is gold in Ohio, just over one tenth oz. troy.

 

[blynch35]

check this out its from home depot.



also



really cheap setups

welcome and good luck

 

[GoldHunter24k]

Nice Gold Maven! All the material in the pan is gold? Looks like your gold is a bit more pale than the stuff we got out west. Or is that just the lighting? Either way, nice find!

thanks for the post blynch35, that setup looks fairly simple and not too pricey. I think i'm looking for something smaller though, so i can strap it to my pack and hike up river. I don't have much space outside of my place so i don't think i would be able to build something quite this big but it definitely looks like it does the job. The longer the better right?

 

[freddy williams]

Nice Gold gold maven yes there is gold in ohio it is just harder to come by... Awsome colors you have.. HH

 

[Bell]

When I started what I figured out was if i wasnt sure it was gold it probly wasnt. Also once you find the real thing, you never have that problem again.

 

[Aurabbit79er]

60'?! 10'x10'x10'?! That's pretty amazing!

Hey Aurabbit79er nice to meet you and thanks for the advice! Looks like a nice little setup you got there with the EZ sluice. Do you usually set that up by the river? I was thinking of going to home depot tomorrow and trying to find pieces to build a makeshift sluice box and hand dredge. You're design looks great! i think i might have to copy it respectfully of course. I saw it on another thread briefly and someone mentioned something about plans? Looks like it did pretty well. My background is engineering, so i'm all about inventing new ways to separate the good stuff and i have a few ideas that i think might work if fine tuned. When i get my mind set on something not much can slow me down!

It's funny that you mention the East Fork because that is exactly where i was on thursday! I have some older map info and i've made a gold map on google earth and marked all the locations that i think the AU might be concentrated. All we had was a panning kit but i couldn't resist getting out there and getting my hands dirty. Didn't find much before it began to rain but im anxious to get back out there. We are actually going back on the 13 and possibly 14th. It would be great to combine elbow grease and learn some more of the tricks of the trade from an experienced prospector.

We parked at the East Fork parking lot. Not sure if that's near camp bonita rd or which bridge is the broken bridge. We didn't travel very far up the river, maybe half a mile. Felt a lot longer on the way back hauling that bucket of concentrate though!

Building Your own gear is very rewarding. When it comes to copying others remember we stand on the shoulders of giants. The more you mine the more you will refine your methods. I'm always picking the brains of other miners.
I am going to take a picture of my hand dredge in an exploded view. I will throw in some other items i made too.
I hope to meet you at the EF on the 14th. I'll be in there in a 79 Class C w/ a Chevy Truck Cab.
Oh yea I did the same thing with google maps.
Look.


I have more, I'm working my way to the Bridge to Nowhere.