well my dad and I are finally gonna go searching for gold (or gems) he has always wanted to do this and so I guess I will be the usual labor force behind this since he even older than most of you guys!!! anyways I was wondering if you guys have any advice for our trip. We haven't picked a spot yet so if you have any suggestions please share them. any advice on location, supplies, general technique, or anything else I would love it if you shared it, as would he. Thanks guys
Generally if you are looking for easy gold, you want to look at alluvial streams where previously gold is found. You really hope that in such water you get weathered rocks and gold is washed in a pile. But geez, you reckon people will be nice enough to share where they can find thousands of dollar worth of gold? Might be lucky but you can possibly end up finding pyrite.
My thoughts would be to hit some of the small tributaries feeding into Spearfish Creek, in the northern Black Hills. Be discrete and smart, there can be some not so nice "Claim Jumpers" this time of year with the basically the same ideas... http://gorp.away.com/gorp/activity/fishing/features/blackhills2.htm http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri954080/
I would tell you where you could go, where the gold can be found, but who does that? I have done a fair bit of placer mining in my teenage years, let me tell you, water that is ice cold melt run off does really feel cold after awhile. It is fun to do, but if you are really serious you buy a dredge and sluice box and increase your volume dramatically, that is the only viable way to perform placer mining. Don't expect to find pay dirt unless you are on private land with permission, otherwise if your caught, it might be your last trip ever. In other words, make sure you have permission, people in the hills are a bit more territorial about their turf. It is not only people hiding out their gold claims, but also people growing controlled or rather illegal substances in some of these domains. Don't expect to do it on state land without a claim, otherwise you can get in hot water with the los jefes. From experience these public areas are well picked over, and really not good, because everybody and their uncle staked claims and picked off anything good long ago.
Good point Scottishmoney. Make sure you know where you are exploring. Always check who owns the property and you don't want to mess around with the authorities. But hey, who said you can't give it a go if you have the opportunity? I think there was a story about a man finding a large diamond in a mine open to the public (there is only one mine that does that as far as I am aware but the name doesn't come to me) where thousands of people tried before.
I assume you will be panning/prospecting. Gold mining is another thing altogether. Actually finding something in a stream is all about location, unless you are in areas where people have found something in the past it seems unlikely you will get gold. Anywhere downstream from a known gold-producing area is a potential candidate, if it is legal to pan there. But if you have already done that research and have some streams in mind, then I suggest the following: 1) Get a fairly big pan. Is heavier, but you can pan greater quantities of material, thus better probability of getting a flake. 2) Make sure the pan has a conical shape, or has ridges, anything that will tend to capture heavies in a relatively small surface area. Make sure it is smooth, as any little knick or gouge will trap flakes where you don't want them to be. 3) Dark colored pans better, contrast greater with the flakes. 4) Pan below areas of high energy, example in a bowl below a small cascade where water energy levels drop dramatically. 5) Don't bother panning mud or fines. Dig down and get the sand and gravels 6) Pyrite, muscovite, and some other minerals look like gold to the untrained eye. Muscovite (a mica) is flat and light, easier to distinguish, but pyrite is heavy and gold-colored. But put a piece of gold next to pyrite and you see right away how pale it is in comparison.
acanthite, I smell that you are either a geologist or a mining engineer or very closely related. Am I wrong?
Take it from one who has lived in rural areas, in gold country, you would rather mess with the authorities. At least they ask verbally, and not with a shotgun
As a member of the GPAA (Gold Prospectors Association of America) I could tell you a lot of places to look. Unfortunately, you have to be a member to look in most of the places, as they hold claims in all 50 states. Which would be my best advise...join the club. It's inexpensive and a lot of fun. I go to the get togethers once in a while in CA, and would like to attend the ones in AZ, but they are mostly metal detecting trips. I never make enough to even cover the trips, but finding even the tiniest speck of gold on your own is well worth the time and effort. Have fun and good luck! And here is a link to the GPAA Guy~
Gold panning is great fun. I used to pan on Butte Creek in North California. No claims on the stretch I panned and BLM declared no dredging. I used to walk right up the creek, sometimes sniping on the downstream side of rocks, often I would take a dive mask and fan certain parts of the stream bed that was close to bedrock. The easier gold is usually found just after the spring high waters recede, leaving gravels deposited in certain places where there are low pressure areas (back current eddies). I once found a small tree growing out of the bedrock (sandstone) that had about 3 inches (about a 5 gallon bucket worth) of light gravel around it. The tree was above a large gravel bar and there was an area that look to have formed a whirlpool by how the boulders where laid out. I pulled a half ounce of fine nuggets out of those gravels, and more than an ounce below, but out of a lot more gravel. Black sands are a good indication that you might be in an area that have heavier concentrates, an indication that gold might be there. One thing for sure, gold is where you find it. Ive seen small nuggets on the ground and wondered how they got there, so keep your eyes open!
thanks guys, my dad really wants to go to VA/NC/Georgia so I took to the internet and found some pretty good places to go I do not know if you can tell but he is really excited and he needs a labor hand so it is about time for me to pay back the well needed charge he put into my coin collecting, turning it into something greatly cherished and enjoyed
My advice would be take sun screen, bug spray and a hat So long as you go into it thinking "one tiny fleck would make me real happy, it's about the experience" (kind of like going fishing) I think you'll have a great time. Try not to expect a fortune otherwise you'll almost certainly come home disappointed. Have fun!!!
Spider, I am sorry that I did not post a response sooner! I had planned to but the Thread got buried by all of the other Threads and it totally slipped my mind! Unless you and/or your dad is a member of the GPAA or LDMA, you will have to stick mainly to the pay for Gold Mining locations! In some areas of Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia, you must obtain and permit whe prospecting within the National Forest, so check with the National Forest Office that serves the area in which you plan to prospect. Otherwise, you can prospect (I think the rule is) within 50 yards of the centerline of the roadway where creeks, streams and rivers flow under the road. You must enter the creek, stream or river from public land (i.e. access parking for fishing) on property which is owned by the State or County. It is possible that some land owners will allow you access from their' property but a lot of places are posted. I would recommend pay for Gold Mining places such as the Heather Grove Mine just off of Highway 221 South of Marion, North Carolina and the Thermal City Mine just off of Highway 221 near Rutherfordton. Both of these offer panning, sluicing, dredging in the stream (with your' own equipment or you can rent what you need) and also have an undercover panning area where you can purchase bags of Gold Ore bags of dirt (which usually only have enough Gold in them to keep your interest up). I like the Heather Grove Mine as it is very near the Vein Mountain LDMA Mine which I have been to several times with a friend that is a member of the LDMA. There are approximately 6 slate/quartz veins running under these areas which contain unknown amounts of Gold but unless you are willing to dig to China and drown at the same time, you will probably make it down deep enough to reach the veins. Also, the Heather Grove and Vein Mountain Mines are not very far from the Huntsville Mountains where extensive Gold Mining was done in the mid 1800's to early 1900's and some really big Gold Nuggets were found (if memory serves me correctly an 8 pounder found in a dry creek bed). If you work these streams, there is some Gold in much of the stream bed down to the first clay layer but you have to go deep for the better concentrations and usually any nuggets. You may encounter three different clay layers usually beginning with a gray or whitish/gray layer, then a whitish/orange/brown layer, then another whitish/gray layer. That is all I can tell you, as I was trying to reach the bedrock or alluvial stream bed (as this is where nuggets have settled) but never got down that far. If you can buy or make a metal probe, then you can dig down 3 or 4 feet from the top of the stream bed then see if you can probe and find the bedrock or alluvial stream bed. Even if you find either of them, you probably won't be able to reach them as they are deep and the stream run pretty heavy this time of year due to spring/early summer thunderstorms. I have started digging in the stream bed which was two feet below the top of the water level (at slow flow times) and went down so deep that I was blowing water out of my mouth in an attempt to go any deeper. If you want to drive about one hundred or more miles East Southeast of Marion, then there are some pay for Gold Mining locations close to Charlotte and New London. The Mountain Creek Gold Mine near New London, North Carolina allows panning, sluicing, high banking and dredging in the stream or you can high bank material that they dig out of the stream with a backhoe. They also have available, dirt that has been run through a trommel to remove the bigger rocks which contains quite a bit of Gold from the Gold Mine and it is not salted. The dirt pile is right across the access road to the creek from the undercover panning area. A married couple was there earlier this year and while the husband highbanked creek material, the wife panned dirt from the (trommel) run dirt and she found a 1/2 ounce Gold Nugget while the husband found maybe a 1/2 gram in Gold Flakes. In Georgia, I do not know of any pay for Gold Mining locations except for the Crisson Mine but I am pretty sure that there are some. I will never go back to the Crisson Mine (which says that the Gold comes from their' mine) as I purchased some Gold Ore bags to pan out at home and all of the Gold that I found, smelled like gun powder. I believe that their' Gold comes from around the world and is mixed in with sand and dirt at the location for sell to customers. I also believe that the Gold Ore dirt offered at their' panning area (there is no stream panning, sluicing or dredging available there) is also salted. There are some really good GPAA and LDMA Mine locations in Northern Georgia if you or your dad is a member. If you need any further information about Gold Prospecting in North Carolina, don't hesitate to email or PM me! Frank
as a member of the GPAA, are you also allowed to use all LDMA territory also? the website has both together, are they combined and if you join the GPAA are you also a LDMA member also?
Spider, No! They are into it for the money besides providing good locations for members to prospect. As a member of the GPAA, you can only prospect on GPAA claims. However, as a member of the LDMA, I think that the GPAA membership is included and you can prospect on both LDMA and GPAA claims! Frank
