What to look for???

[makton]

Virgin with a question...My In-laws own 5000 acres in the UP N. of Marquette which from my understanding
is a decent place for both placer and hard rock. He even has a few abandoned mines on his property.

My question is I have no idea what to look for while hiking the hills looking for potential spots.
Do I look for quartz outcroppings, which I would think would be easy to see(white) or ore deposits, which I have no idea what the ore would look like?

Do I pan or detect the many streams on the property or focus on the 1 of 3 waterfalls where the most water action is? The only detector I have is a Whites M6 w/ 9.5, 4x6 and 6x10dd coils which has worked pretty good with mineralization up there.

Any suggestions for clues or signs to look for would be helpful

 

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[EggyOG]

You've got a tough nut to crack in that area! My guess is the property has the Marquette greenstone belt running through it, or possibly the Ishpeming greenstone belt. It depends how far north and west you are from Marquette, they cross over one another. The greenstone is a chlorite schist that contains gold, but it is virtually all flour gold. If you travel further west, you encounter gold in quartz and even electrum if you aren't afraid of heights. Your best bet in that area is to go up in late April/early May when the snow is causing decent run-off and look for the temporary streams in the valleys between the bluffs. Find the areas where they widen out and dissipate (picture spring run-off getting squeezed between all the rock and then dumping into a swamp). Take some pictures of these areas. When the weather is nicer, go to the dump areas and work some of the material with a rocker box or gold pan.
The other option would be to just give me a call sometime and I can teach you how to pan and show you the most likely spots in the area. The black sand around there can be quite a challenge since damn near everything is iron. I can honestly say I have never seen gold in quartz north of Marquette, but I have north of Ishpeming.
By the way, you may want to come to the Greenbush Prospectors Gold and Treasure Show on March 28 and 29. The show will have everything from mineral dealers to metal detector dealers to prospecting equipment along with demos and speeches. The Wisconsin Gold Panning Championship will also be held there (two time champ trying to keep my title). I sell prospecting equipment and I will be glad to show you what to look for and how to use the tools of the trade. I will have examples of what rock to look for in the area you are interested in.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

5 X 5 eggy, righton.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[djui5]

Look for yellow



Sorry, late night.

 

[makton]

I am sure if there is any gold in quartz, finding it would be a needle in a haystack.
But I know one of the mines was at 70 feet and the vein was carrying fine gray copper ore liberally charged with gold and silver in the early 1900's. They never had a stamping machine in place to retrieve the minerals and transporting the ore out of the woods was impossible because of lack of a good road or railroad. Railroad didn't come through until 1905 and I am guessing since their money ran out in 1904 and the mines kept flooding, so did their veins.
Another mine close by had samples of gold at 125/ton. I don't know if that 's good or bad and I am not looking to sink any shafts or do any major digging. I am just looking to have some fun and if I find a little color, I would be more than happy.

I guess my thinking is if it's been found there in the past, even if in small quantities, isn't there a really good chance of finding it again?

I plan on trying the panning thing to see if I have any luck but my question reverts back to when hiking in the hills would I be looking for exposed ore or quartz and if ore, would it be be grey in color or rock that has grey and reddish streaks in it?

Makton

 

[flyspekau]

They may have used an arastra to crush the ore if they had no stamp . Look for piles of rock and or quartz. Try a little of everything sample pan areas, metal detect and ore piles you might find

 

[thompy]

it should look like takodas post a degraded quartz matrix, from the tailings ive seen, havent really spent much time on the Ishpeming range, though a buddy has found some nice pieces around ishpeming not in the quartz[ a softer black rock]. some of the quartz can have silver, copper, iron with the gold. 125to a ton is like 4 oz to a square yard of rock, very good, most of the mines didnt have the capital to really get going in the area, and as you mentioned flooding was a problem even with steam pumps, at some mines

 

[djui5]

Another mine close by had samples of gold at 125/ton.
Makton

125 what to the ton, dollars? In 1900's dollars? If so that is super rich!!

Look for quartz, but quartz with crystals. Look for any red coloring. Also just grab random rocks (mark their location so you can get back there) and get a Mortar and Pestal. Crush the rocks and pan them out. If you find anything metal, go back and get more.

Also go through the mines dump piles. You never know what your gonna find. Look for any blue or green coloring too. If you find any crush the rocks and pan.