Where on this sand bar would you.....

[eureka77]

dig? The times I found gold where I didn't pay to dig was always up on the bank from past floods. I went to a new creek to try and seen this spot here. I dug where the yellow circle is down to 2' and stil didnt hit any bedrock yet. I only panned 3 or 4 pans worth of material and they all came up dry. Need to get deeper I rekon, if there's gold in the creek.
Before I dig to China just wanted to get some info where a few of ya would dig on this sand bar.

 

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[Newt]

Get behind that rock.
Think of it like a sluice box. The gold deposits behind the hard permanent objects.
New

 

[Astrobouncer]

The rock is a decent place to start for sure, dig down deep behind that thing, but also look for other boulders nearby that might be bigger and deeper, that also create a natural riffle where gold would drop out. Once you have dug out behind one, you should try to pull that thing away and dig under it, gold, loves hiding under rocks.

Also, if the river is as straight as it appears then the textbook place to dig would be the center of the river. Think of the river passing over the land in a V shape, with the sides of the bank higher up the V. At the bottom of the V is where the heaviest things (such as gold) should be. I would dig the middle of the river, if it wasn't too deep and dig until I hit a layer of false bedrock (some kind of clay) or an actual bedrock. Might as well go for the good chunky gold if its there.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Excellent suggestions. May I also suggest using your visualization abilities. Try to imagine the flow in flood stage. Many times it is far different than later in the season.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[eureka77]

Thanks.
Appreciate it Astro. Living in SC as you do, how far down is the clay or bedrock in some of those creeks?
I know they all vary but as an average?

 

[eureka77]

Excellent suggestions. May I also suggest using your visualization abilities. Try to imagine the flow in flood stage. Many times it is far different than later in the season.

Don Jose de La Mancha

Will do, This is the 1st thing that popped out to me. Hope there's gold in there, Only 2 miles from the house.

 

[Astrobouncer]

Thanks.
Appreciate it Astro. Living in SC as you do, how far down is the clay or bedrock in some of those creeks?
I know they all vary but as an average?

Well, I mostly prospect in Western NC now, since the local where I am at is rather poor for any kind of color. It does vary wildly here, some streams are all bedrock right on the top, but rivers like the Middle Tyger River, have so much overburden (10 + feet or more, usually) that finding/exposing bedrock is rare, and only occurs in a few places ( I know one place in that river where a dike crosses it and that's the only place with bedrock for several miles. Both red and gray clay is widespread throughout the upstate. There are many streams near me that have lots of exposed bedrock, and some other streams where the bedrock is only a few feet down. However, almost every single place I described besides the Middle Tyger River is on private land, so those spots cant really be worked anyway.

 

[eureka77]

Got to bedrock. Alot of work for this but know there's gold there now, though minute.
Also a garnet and this weird rock or something, wont set of the metal detector so dont think its slag.

 

[enamel7]

If the circled stuff is gold I'll take all of that minute I can get. That actually appears to be decent.
HH
enamel7

 

[TAKODA]

I would go back to the bench ground your talking about . See if and where it pinches out on you at least . You might find yourself further away from that water than you think . Don't get tied down by thinking the water is your best choice for finding gold .

 

[golddust77]

nice pics i would say from experince that the sand behind that rock is just flow sand it changes all the time an hardly ever holds gold but under tht rock the is probbly good gold and what you are walking on in that creek is more of them boulders thre just hiding under the what i like to call sluff just the stuff on top of the really good stuff.

 

[blynch35]

good question i also have wonderd about this.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Is the stream known to carry flakes and nuggets? Or is the area only known for fine gold? This will make quite a difference on where to look.

Was the gold in the bank fine or coarse?

All the best,

Lanny