Back yard Prospecting

[goldshark]

Welllllll, the Gold usually comes from upstream somewhere. Small particle sizes can move hundreds of miles in water, and maybe a thousand miles by glacier. Bigger gold can work it's way down to bedrock, or an impermeable clay layer, that can vary in depth from nothing, to hundreds of feet. Many a good book has been written on the subject. You will find more there , then anyone here will write. Ask Jeff Williams has a bunch of good videos, I hope you like Ham.
Panning is only for exploration. Bigger equipment means you can run more yardage, a key to getting any quantity. Watch Gold Rush.
Look up geological reports for your area. They will be able to tell what the norm for the area is.
Mining is hard work, as you've probably guessed by now. The likely hood of striking it rich, is probably thousands to one. You never know when God may smile upon you though.
Nobody can tell you where to look, except maybe Superman. The next best thing is a metal detector. They only work on courser Gold, around 1/8" in size, 1/4 gram or so. Don't buy one if the area is known for fine Au only.
Good luck, and have fun.

 

[GoldSaint]

Welllllll, the Gold usually comes from upstream somewhere. Small particle sizes can move hundreds of miles in water, and maybe a thousand miles by glacier. Bigger gold can work it's way down to bedrock, or an impermeable clay layer, that can vary in depth from nothing, to hundreds of feet. Many a good book has been written on the subject. You will find more there , then anyone here will write. Ask Jeff Williams has a bunch of good videos, I hope you like Ham.
Panning is only for exploration. Bigger equipment means you can run more yardage, a key to getting any quantity. Watch Gold Rush.
Look up geological reports for your area. They will be able to tell what the norm for the area is.
Mining is hard work, as you've probably guessed by now. The likely hood of striking it rich, is probably thousands to one. You never know when God may smile upon you though.
Nobody can tell you where to look, except maybe Superman. The next best thing is a metal detector. They only work on courser Gold, around 1/8" in size, 1/4 gram or so. Don't buy one if the area is known for fine Au only.
Good luck, and have fun.

Very cool, thank you for responding. I’m new to the hobby, only been casually at it for a few years. I’ve just been going about it learning what I can and learning hands on as I go. I’m glad to be on this site. Is there a thread here to post pictures of rocks? I literally have what seems to be hundreds of types of very cool mineralized rocks on my property in addition to possible ore. I would enjoy trying to identify them by positing then to a thread for input.

 

[andu]

C

Very cool, thank you for responding. I’m new to the hobby, only been casually at it for a few years. I’ve just been going about it learning what I can and learning hands on as I go. I’m glad to be on this site. Is there a thread here to post pictures of rocks? I literally have what seems to be hundreds of types of very cool mineralized rocks on my property in addition to possible ore. I would enjoy trying to identify them by positing then to a thread for input.

Can't say i'd personally mind if you posted the pictures here, while not a big amount by weight, i do have quite a few types of rocks and i'd love to see what you got.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Very cool, thank you for responding. I’m new to the hobby, only been casually at it for a few years. I’ve just been going about it learning what I can and learning hands on as I go. I’m glad to be on this site. Is there a thread here to post pictures of rocks? I literally have what seems to be hundreds of types of very cool mineralized rocks on my property in addition to possible ore. I would enjoy trying to identify them by positing then to a thread for input.

If you have pictures and so of your rocks, just make another thread and post them.
But it is next to impossible to say by pictures if a rock has values or not.
Still, we like nice rocks

 

[goldshark]

Very cool, thank you for responding. I’m new to the hobby, only been casually at it for a few years. I’ve just been going about it learning what I can and learning hands on as I go. I’m glad to be on this site. Is there a thread here to post pictures of rocks? I literally have what seems to be hundreds of types of very cool mineralized rocks on my property in addition to possible ore. I would enjoy trying to identify them by positing then to a thread for input.

Unless pictures are taken by professional photographers, they often leave much to be desired. There are some good geology books with these photos for identification, but there are many variations among rocks and minerals, leaving one to question wether this is the same mineral as what is in my hand. Many times it will come down to doing a chemical analysis to determine what it actually is. Experience will eventually lead to easily identify a group, but lab or field tests will be necessary to make a 100% identification on certain ones.

 

[jobinyt]

Generally, there is no answer to your question on where the gold lies from where you've tested. Generally, it runs in streaks and layers. You have to test all around. Test much smaller samples than 5 gallons.

3mm is good size - usually more like course gold than a thin flake. Anyhow, sounds like a spot and creek that'll be fun to prospect.

 

[GoldSaint]

If you have pictures and so of your rocks, just make another thread and post them.
But it is next to impossible to say by pictures if a rock has values or not.
Still, we like nice rocks

Yes, it’s just fun to talk to people that enjoy it too.

 

[GoldSaint]

Done!

 

[GoldSaint]

Unless pictures are taken by professional photographers, they often leave much to be desired. There are some good geology books with these photos for identification, but there are many variations among rocks and minerals, leaving one to question wether this is the same mineral as what is in my hand. Many times it will come down to doing a chemical analysis to determine what it actually is. Experience will eventually lead to easily identify a group, but lab or field tests will be necessary to make a 100% identification on certain ones.

Yes, I’ve come to learn this. It is kind of disappointing that it requires a lab to be 100% but understandable, especially since some rocks / ores are so complex.

 

[GoldSaint]

C

Can't say i'd personally mind if you posted the pictures here, while not a big amount by weight, i do have quite a few types of rocks and i'd love to see what you got.

Started a thread.

 

[Southfork]

A couple nice sunny days to melt some dirty buttons of gold they had pieces of cupels stuck to them. And a little black sand melted the two buttons together then corn flaked. The gold came out nice and clean ready to remelt into a bar or button 34 grams in the vial. The last photo is what I have been recovering from the panning trough. Mixed all the tails into a slurry with detergent and slowly fed the cleanup sluice a five-gallon bucket worth took hours to recover 3-1/2 grams. looks like a lot more but ultra fine gold.

 

[dannlee]

Run it again a little slower Sam : )

 

[Southfork]

Run it again a little slower Sam : )

Thats almost dead stopped it took six hours for a half bucket. Started one day and finished the next ran the tails again two specks.

 

[Southfork]

I melted it all together about 38 grams after two melts I ended up with 35.5grams of gold. The photo on the scale is the back side that was against the cupel.

 

[fishaholic5]

I hope you keep doing well with it, it looks like you are having fun.
It sounds like it was a pretty rich area in the old days, if it's anything like here where many of the mines weren't touched again after the second world War there may be lots more to be found.

Cheers Wal

 

[Southfork]

I put this 12-volt high banker together out of yard sale sluice boxes and purchased a 12-volt bilge pump. My son and me ran a test in the spring below the house for a water source 5 hours of digging and washing gravel and clay out of the ravine. We found a little gold and had fun working in the shade I cleaned and melted our finds into this 7-gram button . We also saved a little float out of the ravine to crush and sluice about 1/8 bucket and it showed a little color now to find where its coming from. the last photo is from the crush a little blurry but its gold. Water and gravity no chemicals just a little propane Happy Mining

 

[Southfork]

Crushing and milling some ore samples my son brought home from Nevada. I panned the sample, and it appears to have a good showing of gold and other heavy minerals / black sands and oxidized reddish material. It was getting late so I added some Whink to the pan It was reactive started foaming this was the first time to have this type of reaction. I was thinking about all the warnings on this site about dumping acids on unknown ores. No problem it only lasted a short time and we were outside maybe the iron oxides in the ore. And this morning the pan is loaded with fine gold.

Whink Rust Stain Remover contains Deionized Water, Hydrofluoric Acid, Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid (EDTA), Trisodium Salt, Calcium Chloride, sodium Fluosilicate Pentahydrate, and Iron (II) Sulfate Heptahydrate12. Hydrofluoric acid is the primary active ingredient in Whink Rust Stain Remover, and it is used to dissolve rust stains1. When applied to a rust stain, the acid in Whink Rust Stain Remover reacts with the rust molecules, breaking down and dissolving the stain

 

[orvi]

Crushing and milling some ore samples my son brought home from Nevada. I panned the sample, and it appears to have a good showing of gold and other heavy minerals / black sands and oxidized reddish material. It was getting late so I added some Whink to the pan It was reactive started foaming this was the first time to have this type of reaction. I was thinking about all the warnings on this site about dumping acids on unknown ores. No problem it only lasted a short time and we were outside maybe the iron oxides in the ore. And this morning the pan is loaded with fine gold.

Whink Rust Stain Remover contains Deionized Water, Hydrofluoric Acid, Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid (EDTA), Trisodium Salt, Calcium Chloride, sodium Fluosilicate Pentahydrate, and Iron (II) Sulfate Heptahydrate12. Hydrofluoric acid is the primary active ingredient in Whink Rust Stain Remover, and it is used to dissolve rust stains1. When applied to a rust stain, the acid in Whink Rust Stain Remover reacts with the rust molecules, breaking down and dissolving the stain

It amaze me that hydrofluoric acid is found in any commercialized product for broad public (sounds like I can buy it in the store, I do not know the product, as I am from EU). Be careful around HF, it claimed life of my good friend.

If you want to remove rust from the specimens, I advise to use oxalic acid. As it dissolve it, not just detach and dross it off. Also, it can many times remove manganese blackish stains. Just make some arbitrary concentrated solution (can be a saturated, oxalic is not that perfectly soluble in water - so just put some excess into the jar, add water and then after good stirring just decant the solution) and cover the specimens for few days.

 

[Southfork]

Almost any hardware store and most of the large grocery stores carry the product. But I notice the warning labels have changed a little a little more specific on the dangers. Normally most of the oxides just wash away on the milled ore but some remains on the specimen's. The Whink will dissolve the Quartz leaving the gold if you leave it in the solution long enough weeks? I will get some oxalic acid and try it on our ore the reaction slowed or stopped overnight. This Nevada ore is way different from what we normally crush. Maybe some lead and silver along with dirty gold a lot of red oxide like material floating and laying on top of the heavies. We only have a small sample but looks like a trip with the truck in the near future.

 

[Yggdrasil]

It amaze me that hydrofluoric acid is found in any commercialized product for broad public (sounds like I can buy it in the store, I do not know the product, as I am from EU). Be careful around HF, it claimed life of my good friend.

If you want to remove rust from the specimens, I advise to use oxalic acid. As it dissolve it, not just detach and dross it off. Also, it can many times remove manganese blackish stains. Just make some arbitrary concentrated solution (can be a saturated, oxalic is not that perfectly soluble in water - so just put some excess into the jar, add water and then after good stirring just decant the solution) and cover the specimens for few days.

We used it extensively to remove oxide stains after welding stainless steels.
The one we used was a white paste and if you got something on your skin it went yellow in a short time.
It was very dilute though.