Odd day sniping, did I find a vein?

Wilderness medic · Aug 19, 2019

Went out even farther than usual to snipe for gold today, about another mile past where I usually snipe. I spent about 4 hours busting cracks and crevices that I thought were sure to have good gold. One of them was about 15' underwater at the lowest water level of the year. One spot had shale with a ton of cracks that looked like they would grab any gold that came by. I didn't find a single piece of gold.

Then I came upon a big quartz vein eroded away by the river. It looked a little out of place. There was a pile of loose material on top with gold all over. I've never seen gold just laying around like that. None of it was big, but there was a bunch of it, and it was thicker than your average flake. I spent the next few hours sucking up the lose material and meticulously loosening up some packed in rocks here and there. A bunch of the gold seemed to be stuck in the quartz but wiggled out fine. Some of the gold looked like it was half gold and half lead/mercury(?)

Is this possibly a gold vein? It was a giant quartz vein mixed in with chunks of oxidized iron with clay packed in pockets. Above water was a pretty large slab of vertical bedrock with tons of eroded quartz stringers as well. I didn't find any gold anywhere else in the area, which is unusual.

I had a 2 hour hike out and had to call it a day because the sun was going down or I would have stayed and kept investigating. Possible source or just a random slot that happened to trap all the gold right on top...? :icon_scratch:

BillA · Aug 26, 2019

2 questions: rounded gold from 'upstream'?, and visible gold in the quartz? - could be either or both
take a loupe and look at the gold and the quartz,
you will most likely have to pulverize the quartz - but not hard for a small amount

inside bend likely

Wilderness medic · Aug 26, 2019

Pyrite I guess? Got excited. But after I crushed it up and tried grabbing the shiny yellow pieces they all broke apart.

OwenT · Aug 26, 2019

Congrats on the gold. I am always blown away by how easy it seems for some guys in CA to just start finding good gold like that. My first nugget didn’t come along for a few years and that was only because I got let into a good mine.

et1955 · Aug 27, 2019

OwenT said:
Congrats on the gold. I am always blown away by how easy it seems for some guys in CA to just start finding good gold like that. My first nugget didn’t come along for a few years and that was only because I got let into a good mine.

If it was easy it would not be fun, the challenge is to master finding gold in your area, which may have little or no gold, even if there is no gold you need learn the indicators of where gold could be and when you go to an area that has good gold you will do well.

IMAUDIGGER · Aug 28, 2019

et1955 said:
If it was easy it would not be fun, the challenge is to master finding gold in your area, which may have little or no gold, even if there is no gold you need learn the indicators of where gold could be and when you go to an area that has good gold you will do well.

Of course the key piece of work is finding gold that doesn't already belong to someone else.
That is harder than simply finding gold.

Asmbandits · Aug 28, 2019

IMAUDIGGER said:
Of course the key piece of work is finding gold that doesn't already belong to someone else.
That is harder than simply finding gold.

Not really as hard as some make it out to be. There are are plenty of whole sections of river un claimed and open to prospecting.

IMAUDIGGER · Aug 28, 2019

Asmbandits said:
Not really as hard as some make it out to be. There are are plenty of whole sections of river un claimed and open to prospecting.

That requires an understanding of a PLSS legal description, which few take the time to figure out.
Nothing directed at the initial poster (nice looking gold).

Going to the courthouse...plotting those legal descriptions on a quad map...even fewer people willing to take that level of effort.

Much of my found gold comes from open ground...not along known producing rivers..but unclaimed ground (and I have access to a lot of claimed or owned ground to work with).
Certain river drainages are completely claimed up with overlapping claims for 30 miles. Some marked, but most not very well.

OwenT · Aug 28, 2019

IMAUDIGGER said:
That requires an understanding of a PLSS legal description, which few take the time to figure out.

I was very fortunate to have learned about the PLSS in Middle School for competing in the “Road Scholar” event in Science Olympiad. Really has been useful and it made being a newbie prospector that much easier. It really should be taught to everyone in school. Unfortunately We never went into depth with metes and bounds but I guess I’ll figure it out whenever I need to stake a lode claim.

IMAUDIGGER · Aug 28, 2019

OwenT said:
I was very fortunate to have learned about the PLSS in Middle School for competing in the “Road Scholar” event in Science Olympiad. Really has been useful and it made being a newbie prospector that much easier. It really should be taught to everyone in school. Unfortunately We never went into depth with metes and bounds but I guess I’ll figure it out whenever I need to stake a lode claim.

It's not complicated, but I meet (intelligent) people every day that have zero understanding.

et1955 · Aug 29, 2019

IMAUDIGGER said:
Of course the key piece of work is finding gold that doesn't already belong to someone else.
That is harder than simply finding gold.

I have pulled out over 2lbs. of gold on state land that is legal to mine in my state and also other states, no claims required just proper research, knowledge and experience. Finding a place to mine is not hard as you think. Keep an open mind, negative perspectives hold you back, go mining !!!

IMAUDIGGER · Aug 29, 2019

et1955 said:
I have pulled out over 2lbs. of gold on state land that is legal to mine in my state and also other states, no claims required just proper research, knowledge and experience. Finding a place to mine is not hard as you think. Keep an open mind, negative perspectives hold you back, go mining !!!

There is a lot of unclaimed ground.
Yup - Proper research.

IMAUDIGGER · Aug 29, 2019

Wilderness medic said:
Also found my first nugget(?) Not sure what people define them as but it’s right at 1g.

View attachment 1746575

I'd call that a nugget.

russau · Aug 29, 2019

And a nice nugget at that!

Wilderness medic · Aug 31, 2019

Awesome, thanks! Well then yesterday I continued my search and found a couple more small nuggets. Unbelievable every crack in this new section contained gold. One little dent had a single pebble in it. I figured eh why not only takes a second. Biggest piece of the day was under that single pebble

BillA · Aug 31, 2019

nice,
so do you have an idea as to the source (rounded pieces) ?

edit: Wm here is a thread with your nugget photo
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/615275-what-nugget.html#post6286141

Goldwasher · Aug 31, 2019

Wilderness medic said:
Awesome, thanks! Well then yesterday I continued my search and found a couple more small nuggets. Unbelievable every crack in this new section contained gold. One little dent had a single pebble in it. I figured eh why not only takes a second. Biggest piece of the day was under that single pebble

View attachment 1748046

So, no fines? What state are you in?

Wilderness medic · Aug 31, 2019

Goldwasher said:
So, no fines? What state are you in?

No for that bit I went in the fastest part of some rapids and found a log crack that seemed to be unopened. I went back today and all the rest were already busted as well as the next half mile. Not a single piece of gold.

I’m in placer county in ca.

The gold is so strange. I found that one wide slot littered with flakes, and also the nugget and nothing else around. No color in the pan. Public land is so picked over it seems like the rules go out the window and you just need to get lucky and see an overlooked crack.