New Guy Needs Help

[Medina Joe]

Hey guys just really got into Prospecting in ohio I'm from medina ohio. Still having alot of trouble with my EZ sluice filling up with my cons. Also here is some pic of a river I was at today. I'am trying to see where i'm going wrong. can't seem to find any gold.

 

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[Terry Soloman]

Remember Joe, there has to be gold there in order to find it. - Good Luck!

 

[Medina Joe]

thanks terry. I have been told there is Placer gold in that river.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Check out these folks Buckeye Chapter of the GPAA

 

[rodoconnor]

M/J a lot of new guys make the mistake of running their water too slowly. If you seem to be overloading real fast , you may need to change your set up. Increase the water speed, slow down your feed rate,etc..Hang in there G/L

 

[Duckwalk]

I'd take a few pan samples of where you are digging first. So, try to pan out some of the tailings (the stuff you sluice kits out of the back) to see of it's throwing gold out of the back. If it is, you need to adjust your angle.

 

[Gold Maven]

Welcome to Treasurenet, from Holmes county.

Ohio gold is here, but it is mostly very fine and easy to blow out of your box.

Look for bedrock in that creek, and clean out the cracks.

I have also found some here on sand bars that have black sand showing. One place on a stream I fish, right below some rapids, has a sand bar with a layer of black sand on top. Some how the water concentrates the heavies on top, I scrape the top layer off, and pan it.

The best place in Ohio is in gravel pits. There are certain places where gold collects during the sand washing process, and you get the benefit of thousands of tons concentrated for you.

Here's pics of some Ohio Gravel Pit Gold.



Gaining permission to a pit can be tough, and crawling around inside machinery that can chew you up can be dangerous......but the gold is there.

Good Luck!

 

[huntsman53]

If your' sluice is oriented sideways as the pics are, then that may be the problem! Just kidding!

Like others have stated, it is best to do some test pans first and when you start seeing some color (Gold dust or flakes), then set up your' sluice. As far as the sluice clogging up with material and rocks, you need to adjust the angle a little more to get faster flow through the sluice. This may require building a dammed up area so the top of sluice is higher than the bottom which should empty into a lower pool but still be at the least, slightly above the water level.

By the way, welcome to the forums and I hope you stay and share some stories of Gold prospecting with us!


Frank

 

[KevinInColorado]

Welcome to Treasurenet, from Holmes county. Ohio gold is here, but it is mostly very fine and easy to blow out of your box. Look for bedrock in that creek, and clean out the cracks. I have also found some here on sand bars that have black sand showing. One place on a stream I fish, right below some rapids, has a sand bar with a layer of black sand on top. Some how the water concentrates the heavies on top, I scrape the top layer off, and pan it. The best place in Ohio is in gravel pits. There are certain places where gold collects during the sand washing process, and you get the benefit of thousands of tons concentrated for you. Here's pics of some Ohio Gravel Pit Gold. <img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1018446"/><img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1018447"/> Gaining permission to a pit can be tough, and crawling around inside machinery that can chew you up can be dangerous......but the gold is there. Good Luck!

Look for areas where a bit of black sand shows as Gold Maven mentions. These are areas where the water flow has been strong enough to strip away the lighter material but leave the heavier (including any gold)...thanks for the help Mother Nature!

 

[Sick4gold]

Few things
Medina may be difficult as the drift thickness may be too thick to approach bedrock.
From the pictures I don't see any larger rocks, go to where the bigger rocks are accumulating.
Pan first, sluice after. Test pan until you find Indicator minerals and follow the concentrations. Look for FLAT broken glass, bullets, buckshot, steel, etc. If your finding bullets and no gold move to another creek.
Avoid shale creeks too.
Not every creek in Ohio has gold, very hit and miss; some are great others are barren.
Look for black sand, pyrite, tiny garnet, etc.
Keep eye out for glacial materials. Round black rocks that are very heavy for their size is a good indicator that they have tumbled a long distance and then sat buried for a very long time.
Balls of quartz usually good signs too.
Read a book called Midwest Prospector; yes it's pricey and hard to find but buy it anyways.

 

[B H Prospector]

Hi Joe and welcome.While the ez-sluice will handle 1/2" material pretty well, classify your materisl down to a minimum of 1/4" and sice Ohio gold is so small 1/8" may be the better choice. Aslo follow the rest of the advice given it is all good.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector

 

[AzViper]

If you click on the photos then click on the photos again the photos will be in the correct position for viewing.

 

[Medina Joe]

Thanks guys for the info. I have one other question. Whay stay away from shale creeks?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Thanks guys for the info. I have one other question. Whay stay away from shale creeks?

good question! I've found gold in a shale creek here in metro Denver!

 

[Gold Maven]

Nothing wrong with shale bottoms IMO, it can be easy to remove slabs and uncover pockets of heavies.

You should be able to find bedrock in places, there is plenty here, one county south.

 

[Gold Maven]

Nothing wrong with shale bottoms IMO, it can be easy to remove slabs and uncover pockets of heavies.

You should be able to find bedrock in places, there is plenty here, one county south.

 

[Sick4gold]

I can't speak for other parts of the country as Ohio is my stomping grounds and each states geology is different.
I recommend to avoid shale here in Ohio because it wears quickly and does not make great gold traps.
Shale creek here are usually very fast waterways and change constantly thus blowing gold down the creek.
For my time I'll stick with Limestone, Dolostone and granite here.
The gold here is Glacial so unless a shale creek cuts through a glacial bench it's unlikely to produce as there will be no glacial materials in it. Shale is a sedimentary rock here so the creek with shale has already cut down past glacial drift.
But again don't just take my word for it, try a few for yourself and form your own opinion. I'm just going from personal experience.
Gold is where you find it though, good luck

 

[goldenmojo]

I too like shale. It can have some nice gold in it. Here's the question. Before you setup your sluice how many colors are you getting per each pan at the specific depth levels that you are digging to? As you move north south east west from that spot how does the amount of colors per pan change?

 

[TheGoldProspector]

I too like shale. It can have some nice gold in it. Here's the question. Before you setup your sluice how many colors are you getting per each pan at the specific depth levels that you are digging to? As you move north south east west from that spot how does the amount of colors per pan change?

mojo is the wiseman sitting at this table-awesome knowledge

 

[Medina Joe]

mojo, most of the time its real fine or none at all. I'am having lots beginner problems. it seams like the shale just clogs my ez sluice. I went down to 1/4. I did see a few spots on the river that are laden with quratz stones in the river. I'm going this weekend and are going to try those spots