Please Help me find bigger gold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[INDEAD]

First let me thank all of you who have posted great advice in the past. I have enjoyed reading up on this site for many a year.
After many years of playing in and around Alaska on public use areas, my mid-life crises manifested in the purchase of a few claims in Willow Alaska last year.
I had a lot of fun using the river reading advice, bought a bazooka(Great),and perfected my panning skills. However all I got for the season was Approx. 1 Gram. And it takes a lot of Fly **** to make that!
This year I plan on trying to find old benches. Any advice would be much appreciated.
The snow is gone and I want to find my first flake!

 

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[DDancer]

Sample, sample and sample again. Pot hole, pot hole and pot hole till you see the yellow. Dig deep and find the streak. What else is there one can do? Just because its easy to camp next to your claim better gold maybe over ruffer terrain. Sample, pot hole dig deep and find the streak. Gold is where you find it. Luck to ya

 

[DizzyDigger]

Do you have any photo's of the area(s)? If so, many here
could suggest spots to check.

For the most part, DD nailed it. Sample, sample, and then
sample some more. Do you have anything indicating where
mining has been done on the claim previously?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Benches are a smart focus. A lot of times the old-time miners didn't bother with benches that were high and dry since they couldn't process enough material, fast enough, to make a real profit. Today with a 4 wheeler or a zipline you may be able to move more material, faster then they could...or maybe you aren't in the same hurry to get rich since you can go home to your warm bed at the end of the day!

So, how to find a good bench? Study the hillside for odd shapes like little ridges running across the hillside. Also look for larger rounded River rock on the hillside...remember that rock may have rolled downhill so look where it sits AND uphill above it. Then dig potholes and run samples.

If you dry classify at your dig site, remember studies show 25-30% of the gold will be sticking to the rocks you toss aside (so rinse them off in a bucket or tub).

Oh and post pictures here of your work! Good luck and have fun!
Use survey flags to mark your holes so you can see a pattern on the hillside. Also be sure you are allowed to dig on the hill and BACKFILL those holes to stay out of trouble with land owners, authorities and the public in general.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Another good spot to check is the uphill edge of a hydrauliked area. The old timers didn't use pumps to hydraulik a hill, they ran a pipe from a stream uphill of the diggings so as they worked their way uphill, they often ran out of pressure before they ran out of paydirt(!!!). That paydirt is waiting for you

See my prospectors journal from last summer where I documented one of those spots here in CO.

You will spend a lot of time hiking hillsides and digging samples but benches can also be quite rewarding

 

[INDEAD]

 

[INDEAD]

My two claims are the east and south west.
If we had gophers in Alaska anyone looking at my claims would be certain of a infestation due to all the holes I dug with my post hole diggers last year.
Mostly I hit gray glacier silt, but the water table was so high last year that I could never get a good read on the strata layer.
Thanks for all your posts, its getting me motivated!

 

[johnedoe]

Sometimes an area just doesn't have big gold. The key is to set up to recover the type of gold that is there.

This book goes into a very detailed description of geochemical prospecting using Dithizone.

It is available through Action Mining

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Sometimes an area just doesn't have big gold. The key is to set up to recover the type of gold that is there.

This book goes into a very detailed description of geochemical prospecting using Dithizone.
Click image for larger version. Name: Screen Shot 2015-05-14 at 4.56.36 PM.png Views: 12 Size: 192.7 KB ID: 1161392
It is available through Action Mining

The 3 same words mentioned already,,, sample, sample, sample. As they say, truth is in the pudding. If you purchase a claim "just to have a claim," or you purchase (let's say on Ebay) a claim "sight unseen," then the possibilities of a substantial gold find ,,, large gold included, is narrowed down to a 'nil / very little chance. However if you've done your home work, sampled before buying and have worked the same stream from top to bottom (mouth to headwaters), and found this portion of the stream to hold the best opportunity for finding the source, THEN YES .... there is bigger & better to be discovered. Experience has taught me this: Finds like these don't happen overnight. Depending on what has happened on this stretch of river in the past (as DizzyDigger mentioned) and what research you may have found on its history may speed up the process. Not to change the subject but as any hunter will tell you,,, you can't bring home any game if you spend most of your time in camp. The more time spent on the claim (river or banks), the better your chances to find larger gold. Don't get me wrong, we all would love to find big nuggets but would you not be just as tickled to death to find a 20 ounce pocket of small fines?? Luck plays a great part to the equation but mining knowledge and skill can go a long way in this game. I've always approached this business of gold with the attitude that if I treated each piece as if it were a nugget, I'd be rewarded some day with a 10 fold. That day has come many times over since I embarked on such a quest and like John Schnabel of the show Gold Rush once said, "Never give up,,, You got to keep trying." I suggest you do the same INDEAD, there are a thousand miners or more (including me) that would love to be in your shoes on your Alaskan grounds. Enjoy it for what it is but certainly make the most of it! Best wishes and as Kevin has stated,

Oh and post pictures here of your work! Good luck and have fun!

As a motivating factor: Here are some pics I took from a single day's work with just hand tools on the claim this past week. Cheers - Randy

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Absolutely beautiful gold. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Cheers to you Dave^^ and your comments, I hope my writing has inspired the same enthusiasm as the gold pictures. I'd like to add another note to the above. It's been said time after time that bigger gold will lead you to better ground. This is very true, especially if you are an argonaut of the mid 1800's. But as a modern day miner, we not only have to understand not only what mining operations may have taken place previous to our purchase but what bank erosion, stream alteration, woodland fires, and weathering has done since past years. As I said earlier, a large amount of fines can be just as productive as finding a single picker or small nugget. What must transpire in this search is the more productive grounds to be worked. In other words, a good pay streak. While you may find micron or even flood gold in overburden gravels, the pay streaks lay in more concentrated areas. Pockets, numerous bedrock cracks, and in the such case of Alaska,,, false bedrock (decomposed or fractured bedrock). On the contrary, digging deep doesn't always guarantee you the best gold. Experience will tell you when to stop digging any further (pan observation after each dig will also assist you in your stoppage - no gold, no more further digging). Gold will adhere to clay (as Kevin made mention of) to rocks and is a good point of reference to continue on. Most times these clays with sediment and gold mean they have not been disturbed. My question to you INDEAD (and many others on this thread) is can you use a dredge on this property, what is the width of the stream, its depth per average, and how many acres does it consist of?

 

[INDEAD]

My question to you INDEAD (and many others on this thread) is can you use a dredge on this property, what is the width of the stream, its depth per average, and how many acres does it consist of?[/QUOTE]

Width alters between 50 to 100 foot. Depth 6inches to 6 feet. Two forty acre claims.
I could use a dredge if so inclined, but I am staying away from power equipment, when I go out, the peace and quiet is just to enjoyable!
There are spots on the creek where every shovel produced 10 to 20 colors, however I was never able to get even a single flake. The final spot that me and the little lady worked last year we got to a depth of at least 5 feet deep and maybe 6 feet wide. Never did hit bedrock, and damn near ever shovel had color!
My plan is to do a Recon this weekend, but it may have to much snow pack still.

Again thank you all for the advice and pictures, I have owned Gold pans since being stationed in Alaska since the 90s. And in the last 2 years have learned that I didnt really know ****!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Collect all that small color and try to quit obsessing on big gold that may not exist where you are digging. The small stuff does add up fast with the sort of paydirt you are seeing!