The Burden of Overburden

[Tony_agr]

The little creek that I work on my property consists of a conglomerate (sp?)cement of small slate,shale,quartz etc along with mud and clay..the bedrock,which really isn't bedrock it's slate on end is about 18" to 24" down, sometimes I'll hit clay at 6 inches..my question is this, I am tired of classifying and sluicing this overburden as I've never found anything except a couple of really small specs in it. I've hit a level in the creek that is actually producing gold (not very much but its still gold)I want to expand the hole in which I'm working but that means clearing lots of muddy overburden.. Is the depth that I've found this gold consistent? The creek now has very little water left (pool in the hole I'm working) and digging hauling classifying with a hose is a major pain.. So ignore overburden and dig straight approx level ? or?
any thoughts,advise etc is appreciated
Thanks
Tony

 

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[SchoolOfHardRocks]

Only you will be able to determine through sample panning if the gold is consistent. It seems you have found a pay layer covered with a lot of overburden. I would shovel the overburden to the side and work your pay layer. You can also dig down to your pay layer depth in other areas of the creek to see if there's a greater deposit around if the gold you are finding is just OK.

 

[Underburden]

"the bedrock,which really isn't bedrock it's slate on end is about 18" to 24" down."

If I found bedrock to be slate on end, I'd remove everything within an inch of it and consider the slate my pay.
Slate on end is a fantastic gold catching medium and I've worked slate on end on the Clearwater River here in Idaho and it pays really well and not just a few specks here and there.
Bring a cat claw and brake and pull the slate like you are pulling teeth. Also brush the dirt/clay that sticks to the slate and pan that pay dirt and then post a pic of your finds for us
Here's a pic of gold found within slate on end bedrock.


Bob

 

[arizau]

The little creek that I work on my property consists of a conglomerate (sp?)cement of small slate,shale,quartz etc along with mud and clay..the bedrock,which really isn't bedrock it's slate on end is about 18" to 24" down, sometimes I'll hit clay at 6 inches..my question is this, I am tired of classifying and sluicing this overburden as I've never found anything except a couple of really small specs in it. I've hit a level in the creek that is actually producing gold (not very much but its still gold)I want to expand the hole in which I'm working but that means clearing lots of muddy overburden.. Is the depth that I've found this gold consistent? The creek now has very little water left (pool in the hole I'm working) and digging hauling classifying with a hose is a major pain.. So ignore overburden and dig straight approx level ? or?
any thoughts,advise etc is appreciated
Thanks
Tony

I have a similar problem but there is no water at all in my spot. I have been shoveling off the mostly barren overburden and taking the known gold bearing material home. That is too much weight to carry very much material out at a time (about a mile or so round trip). In the future I plan on hauling in water and a small panning tub (a plastic laundry basket that I shortened to about foot tall but could be shorter) that I can pan in with less water than a mortar tub. I will use a production panning method and carry home only pre concentrated material. With my setup I can pan pretty much all day with about 3 to 4 gallons (takes about 5 gallons to start in a mortar tub with a need to add more due to losses as the day goes on) and process much more material any given day than I can carry out in 3 or more days. I plan on saving some of the dirty water in gallon milk jugs and stashing them nearby so I don't have to carry as much water in on future visits. The Angus MacKirk EZ pan (https://www.google.com/webhp?source...S576US576&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=ez+gold+pan) is what I am planning on using to reduce the material to concentrates but production panning can be done with any pan. Might that method be worth a try? With this method you can sample pan on site too and that might help you to quickly determine what layer of material to concentrate your efforts on.

Good luck.

 

[kcm]

Test your area by digging holes down to the bedrock (slate). Sample the soil from each hole individually. If all of the upper samples show nothing, then the overburden is just that - a burden. Nothing more you can do but get it the heck out of the way. That said, make sure you sample the overburden from area to area, just to make sure nothing has changed. The gold you save "could" be your own!

 

[Hoser John]

Gold miners make it on bedrock-go for it and sample pan on the way down as the truth will set you free. BUT just remember 10' away it can/will/has been 100% completely different results. Sample sample sample -John

 

[Tony_agr]

That is encouraging.. I will be digging more soon,hope it cools down first.. gets real hot in that creek bed..seen to many bad things happen to heat victims
Thank you

 

[Tony_agr]

Thanks to all

I really appreciate the responses, this is an awesome sight with good people
Thanks

 

[Goldwasher]

this......

and one of these

are essential to dealing with barren gravels. You can pitch large cobble and wash and rake a spot to go down layer by layer. You will be amazed at how much material you can deal with. Yet not have to carry or put through your sluice. Decent flow is good, gold will move down as you rake. Don't worry about gold getting washed down stream.

 

[Thurman]

Goldwasher, what a fantastic idea!!!!!!!!! No kidding, this is going to save millions of hours this summer. Glad I stopped by the Forum this evening. WOW!

 

[Goldwasher]

Goldwasher, what a fantastic idea!!!!!!!!! No kidding, this is going to save millions of hours this summer. Glad I stopped by the Forum this evening. WOW!

not my idea i just read a lot about historical placer mining and look at a lot of old pictures...you'll see a lot of rakes and pitch forks in the old gold rush pics