Virginia Gold?

[lookingharder]

Most gold mining in Virginia was concentrated in the Virginia Gold-Pyrite belt in a line that runs northeast to southwest through the counties of Fairfax, Prince William, Stafford, Fauquier, Culpeper, Spotsylvania, Orange, Louisa, Fluvanna, Goochland, Cumberland, and Buckingham. Some gold was also mined in Halifax



I have done lots of research but cant seem to find the answers I'm looking for. I'm about 20 miles east of this gold band. I will be honest, I know very little about types of gold, but I have a huge hankering to get into prospecting. First question, would gold be anywhere else along the outside of this band. I have found lots of huge Quarts Crystals on my property, some 4 or 5 inches across with perfect facets. The ground is red clay. I want to invest in a sluice and other prospecting tools but I'm wondering if its worth the investment for the area I live in. I have a small creek that runs through my property. Second question would be, Would there be any surface gold that would be in the creeks. Any help or opinions would be appreciated.

 

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[smokeythecat]

I have done some prospecting in the gold belt before. The problem is access. A place called "Contrary Creek" in the mining district has colors in it, but there is a high sulfur content there and cave ins have happened. I'd try the little county park in the town of Goldvein first. They have a nice little museum. If you're out of the gold belt, you might as well be on Mars. There are of course smaller occurrences outside the dots, you need to test pan a nearby creek. The Rappahannock river, at some places they launch boats, may be decent access.

 

[autopilot42]

If you want to get started I would swing by the goldvein mining park on US 17. The park ranger can give you the info for the prospecting club that meets the first Saturday of the month from April thru October. The creek they have permission has some gold in it. A lot of helpful people in the club. I don't know if the club is still active, it has been a few years since I was going. Once my son got older he lost interest so we quit going.

 

[brianc053]

Hi lookingharder, I'm glad you have a hankering to get into prospecting. You're lucky to live so close to the gold-pyrite belt in VA. I live in NJ and I drive down to VA a few times a year because it's some of the better prospecting on the East Coast. One of the big advantages your state has is the laws around access to rivers/streams: basically the state owns the water up to the high water mark, and grants the public access to that water. So, as long as you can get into the water legally, you can go most places legally (so exceptions apply, and that's too far off topic to go into).
I've been to Contrary Creek many times, with a pan, a sluice, sucker tubes and multiple dredges. Let me know via PM if you need help figuring out how to access the Creek.
As for your first question about gold outside the gold-pyrite belt, well...they say "gold is where you find it." Maybe you'll discover the next deposit in VA by doing some backyard prospecting. Because you've got proven gold locations just 20 miles from your home, even if you buy the equipment, try locally and strike out, you can still take some short trips to places where you will likely find gold.
Here in NJ I've prospected the creek that runs behind my house; I haven't found any gold, but I gave it a shot. I still love having the equipment because I can take it down to VA, up to NH and even over into Pennsylvania where they've got a little glacial gold.
Finally check out the CVGP Club. They're active and I'm told they're good guys.
Again send me a PM if you want more info.
- Brian.

Edited to add some Contrary Creek pics:

Gold found in 1 day of running the 3 inch dredge:


My son running the nozzle:


Gold found running a high banker for 2 days at Contrary:


A cool sedimentary rock from Contrary with a line of garnets in it:

 

[RTR]

2X on Contrary creek,been there did that.Also gold in Va. is located in more locations than the OP map shows.I know of 3 registered gold mines w/in 5 miles of my location.So I'm sure there's more.Good luck Winters a good time for research .As far as a sluice goes.Angus MaCkirk makes great ones and they don't cost an arm & leg. https://www.carolinaprospectors.net/Angus_MacKIrk_Sluices_Dredges_s/44.htm

 

[lookingharder]

Has anyone tried a X-Stream Hybrid PRO HAND DREDGE ? I have watched a ton of video's on these. Being a disabled vet, getting down on my hand and knees is difficult, especially now that I had a knee replaced. Another reason I'm interesting in one of these is I have a great friend who owns a farm with a med. size river running through his land in NC along this gold belt. The river is shallow but has bedrock with vertical cracks running through it. We have already talked about possibly finding some gold in his creek. I see that they make a box that goes onto of a sluice. The video's look pretty interesting but asking for word of mouth is always my first option.

 

[Darth Placer]

Hey Lookingharder some good pointers here For starting out in VA a plastic drop riffle sluice is a good way to go. They require very little flow to function right. A traditional sluice needs more water... In some of those places Brian mentioned the flow is minimal. In the dry months you will have to run a rock dam across the creek to get enough flow to sluice.

When your ready to highbank you can make a hopper for the drop riffle and get away with a smaller (cheaper) pump. You cant do that with a traditional sluice.

I have a 16" wide I put on the end of my dredge when I lift the mats... does a good job getting the junk out and has minimal losses. The benefit of the 16" wide is you can shovel directly to it and doesn't need much flow. Great sluice to start off with and can grow with you. I get a lot of use out of mine.

Dad runs the little 79cc pump from HarborFreight on a 11" wide drop riffle... made a hopper out of a kitchen trash can. Works great and very easy/quick cleanups.

Never heard a bad word spoken ever about Angus's sluices. I don't think they need much flow either. I do know they are very thick plastic. Solid sluices.

As far as hand dredges go, they can be a bit of a workout to pump. The Gold N Sand is a popular one that works well. They do work, and do help you get gold out of crevices in the bedrock. Buy or make a simple header to hook up to your sluice and you won't have to deal with the heavy buckets or waste time feeding with a garden trowel.

Join the CVGP as Brian pointed out. Lot of bang for your buck with a membership. Excellent properties and lots of them, great gold, well run club, and very friendly helpful members. LOL I'm one.


Brian hit me up when your ready to do a trip.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

You can get a whole set of different sized pans pretty inexpensively. I went down to NC panning right before I retired, and picked up an A52 sluice at around $100.

I've panned and sluiced my streams, and gold was found off a different creek less than two miles East of me. None here yet, but that doesn't mean the dream is over.

You think about it, it's actually far cheaper to chase gold in streams than it is to gear up for metal detecting!

Edit: I did find gold in NC, still have it, and when I pull out the magnifying glass I can even see it

 

[brianc053]

Brian hit me up when your ready to do a trip.

Darth, I can't wait to get out there. Let me check the calendar and I'll message you. Andrew's ready to get out there and run the nozzle too!
- Brian

 

[Darth Placer]

I admire Andrew's passion to run the dredge.... most kids these days only smile like that when you give em a big bag of candy and drop a game controller in there hands.

Yeah been a long cold winter.... I got the itch real bad.