plants/shrubs/trees that grow near or where gold is?

[bandti7]

Hello all I'd say I'm still a rookie at finding gold, I somewhat know the type of soil to look in around CA, all ask in another post to be certain. I recently found out that there are plants/shrubs/trees that like to grow where gold is found. I live in California and I was wondering if anyone has any info on the types?

 

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[Bodfish Mike]

I know of a spot with good gold but poison oak is keeping it protected.
Tried to get to it twice --- I'm not going back.

 

[placertogo]

There are plants which uptake certain elements/minerals such as copper, zinc, lead, etc. Gold, being inert, is much less prone to uptake, although some plants have been found to have minute amounts of gold in qualitative lab analysis. Personally, I would be looking for plants which prefer growth media with high concentrations of black sands such as magnetite and hematite and look for those as possible indicator plants for areas of heavy mineral concentration. Lode gold in sulfide ores may be more likely to be found in areas where there are certain plants which happen to thrive in sulfide rich soils.

 

[Digger79]

I know of a spot with good gold but poison oak is keeping it protected.
Tried to get to it twice --- I'm not going back.

I don't catch/rash up going through oak if I can ever be of assistance. 😀

 

[russau]

Here in Misery the Department of Natural Resources did a study on "soil resources" for our state and I think most states have also done this . But see if your state has done this and put it to a publication called "Soil survey" . this shows you in detail what the soil is made up of and gives it in great detail. The publication (as you would think ) is a thick publication of many pages and it isn't free like some / most studies that we already paid for. Do a goggle search to find this for your state. But check into this publication for Great locations. GOOD LUCK

 

[Goldwasher]

In the Mother Lode you can tell by the plants where serpentine is.

Finding places where serpentine is contacting slate, schist, granodiorite, and where it is crossed with quartz veins are a good place to look.

Over serpentine you will mainly find Grey pine ( digger pine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_sabiniana

Buck brush https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceanothus_cuneatus

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/serpentines/adaptations.shtml

Over a serpentine belt the brush is more sparse. That makes it easier to find contacts by chasing quartz float.

Serpentine will also make a vlf detector have fits.

 

[rodoconnor]

When I was a kid , an Old Timer told me that manzanita was an indicator of gold. I think it is more of an indicator of high iron content in the soil. Plus the fact that manzanita covers thousands of square miles in N. Kal. and Oregon, it really doesn't pinpoint it for you LOL.

 

[arizau]

If I were you I would concentrate first on looking for areas where gold has been found before....and still is being found! Here is the best resource available to research that. Welcome to Land Matters

Side note: Numerous grasses, weeds, bushes, trees, cacti, etc. are what cover the area I most often prospect in. Just saying, look where gold has been found before and that is where you will find it.

Good luck.

 

[Goldwasher]

When I was a kid , an Old Timer told me that manzanita was an indicator of gold. I think it is more of an indicator of high iron content in the soil. Plus the fact that manzanita covers thousands of square miles in N. Kal. and Oregon, it really doesn't pinpoint it for you LOL.

Yep one of the worst "old timer" advice I hear too. The stuff is all over the foothills...and they found gold all over the foothill's not much of an indicator really.

Though in my experince thick clusters of it tend to mean ground that was cleared .

Thick big trunks and spread groves are natural and on ground that wasn't cleared

 

[okbasspro]

In the emerald triangle whacky tobacky is usually in the good gold areas. [emoji13][emoji13][emoji13][emoji482]

 

[Goldwasher]

In the emerald triangle whacky tobacky is usually in the good gold areas. [emoji13][emoji13][emoji13][emoji482]

I had a lease on a 160 acre claim in south El dorado Co. in 2009.

The owner gave us a driving tour of the access points. Pointing down into the canyon describing a few areas.

One was an area we were to avoid digging. Because they had got really good gold off of a tributary.

We were like what ever man we have like a mile of river to work.

About two weeks in I decided to go for a walk upstream while my partner had his turn on the nozzle. We had like two hundred square foot of bed rock clear and he was gonna be detailing I didn't need to tend the sluice.

I grabbed my rifle and started heading upstream. Knowing I was going towards the forbidden zone but I had my mind on an area I knew had old drifts from some research I had done. it was up river and not up the side canyon.

I started coming across hand stacks and could tell a canyon was opening up to my left. Pretty decent clearing in the canopy. I start noticing jugs and water bottles. Looked up and I was on the edge of a small weed grow.

Plants all in between these long tom stacks. Virgin gravel bank and all.

The thing is the owner was a good old boy. It was a family claim. In the early 80's it was a claim Buzzard filed on. This family had it right after and for years.

So, I don't think it was old boys green gold. He would not have leased to us with a fake warning knowing he gave us free reign otherwise.

I think for some reason the Cartel happened to grow on the best part of the claim.

We were there five days a week until it snowed and we never went to that area of the again or were we visited that I know of.

By the farmers or F&G considering we dredged for three months post the ban. I figure our motors running chased them off.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I've never put one ounce of stock into plants showing gold's location in my area. To me, looking at plants for a good gold deposit is like sniffing a fart after a steak dinner to try and find out what the cow ate.

Between natural and man-made disturbances in the ecological profile in any given area, you'd be better off looking for the actual geological gold indicators.

Of note, no one knows what the original range plant ecology looked like in California. Just about every other state you have a database of what was endemic versus introduced, but not in California.

 

[enamel7]

There is a plant noted in my area that supposedly is a sign of high black sands. I don't know the name, but it has a straight stalk with a red flower on top. Whenever I find one I always find better gold with it.

 

[Seden]

In the Mojave Desert you have the Trumpet Plant that only grows in highly mineralized areas and the California Poppy grows in soil with a high copper content.