Locating The Source

[jog]

I have been working a particular creek for a few years now, I have been working in the same location for the last three years moving every rock a cleaning everything bank to bank. I have been getting most of the gold & pickers from a small pay streak and also getting some color in the overburden hence the reason for moving everything. This year that pay streak ran out to absolutly nothing so I moved up stream about a hundred yards or so, punched another hole and started getting pickers again so I proceded to move & clean everything down to bedrock again. When I looked down the creek from where I was getting the most pickers it was in line with where I had stopped at the other location so I know there are faint pay streaks where the gold is dropping out. The thing is when I got home and started looking at the pickers & comparing them to the ones from prevous years allmost all have some of the matrix still attached to them. I have found a lot of rotten quartz seams & cracks in the bedrock but nothing that looks like what is on the pickers. I am looking for suggestions on how to locate the source, other than move every rock down to bedrock for who knows how many miles.

 

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[Hoser John]

Where gold stops break out the ol'detector and hit them banks as that gold is eroding from somewhere close as not all of it is smooth and polished. Seek and you shall find-lotza luck-John

 

[jog]

Thanks John, I think the next chance I get I am going to move up about a half mile & see if anything changes. I was thinking the same thing you were about the smoothness of the gold, some are still fairly rough.

 

[DDancer]

Try pot holing up the creek and check the character of your gold for roughness. When you go up far enough the character will change, or the gold will disappear, then start pot holes in the sides of the creek to determine where its coming from. The rougher and sharper the gold the closer you are. Keep an eye out for rough fines as well. Once your reasonably sure of the direction of the gold start looming until it disappears then dig down. That would be my approach. Bit of work but if your finding a lot of specimen material you might be near a good lead.

 

[dave wiseman]

Perhaps you should be breaking out those quartz stringers and sampling every one of them by crushing and panning them out.Check the fines and smaller gold with a loupe for roughness and quartz matrix.As said above, check the banks and hillsides for veins and stringers and sample any you find.The gold and quartz in the creek has been polished by moving sands,gravel and water for eons so the quartz may apperar a different color.A gold detecter is great but what if all the gold in the vein is three feet down and spread out in small species and fines.