Anyone panned sand from Lowes or Home Depot?

[Lownslow]

Hi, I've seen or read about people finding gold in bags of sand from the Home improvement stores. I'm just wondering what the response is from different parts of the country.

 

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[tonofsteel]

They are in the sand business not rocks. So with that, the gold will settle in these rocks and travel on down to bedrock.

Often wondered hearing two different opinions:
- Gold is heavy and will on its own drill down through soil / cobble / rocks to bedrock.
- Gold in a mix of material will remain stationary until disturbed. ie. a flow of water needs to suspend / stratify the material for gold to settle out lower

Which one of these is true?

If I put some nuggets on the top of a pail of dirt I should be able to leave them in the garage and some time later (long time) they will reach the bottom of the pail?

Edit: Just thought of another aspect of the settling thought:

Rarely see flour gold vs larger gold regarding settling discussed. Also heard two different theories here.
- Flour gold is so small relative to the cobbles/rocks/sand mix that it typically remains mixed in with the sand. Some of it will settle out during flow through water but for the most part it is light enough it does not settle and concentrate like larger particles.
- All gold is so heavy that it will settle out to bedrock or false bedrock

When prospecting is there a different model to consider for flour gold vs larger gold. They both share common properties and behavior but I get the sense that flour gold behaves differently vs larger gold in terms of transport / settling / concentration?

 

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[N-Lionberger]

Gold needs to be moving to work its way down, if you dropped a nugget on top of a bucket of dirt and left it covered in an area where the ground doesn't shake it will sit there on top of the dirt, if you left it somewhere like a porch in the rain where it can get wet and/or vibrated the nugget will start to sink. A thought on large vs fine gold is that it takes less energy to move the fines, a flow that won't move the nuggets can move the fines whereis a flow that will allow the nuggets to move won't allow all the fines to settle. It is interesting stuff to ponder.

 

[JeffA]

Nothing in a 50lb bag here in the Northeastern US. It was very rocky (sharp pieces, not rounded) and powdery, leading me to believe it was crushed stone, not sand. This was the Sakrete tube sand they recommended in YouTube videos.

 

[N-Lionberger]

The home depot sand I found gold in was sold for flood protection purposes in bright yellow unmarked sandbags it was the cheapest stuff they had. The sand was -1/4" rounded unwashed material. I ran it through my drywasher I built as a winter project there wasn't any dry sand for testing it out so I figured if it will catch color from the store bought sand then it must be working right, well it caught the stuff, it was pretty fine stuff I was impressed.

 

[ARC]

Every time I do ...

I hear "cleanup on aisle 12"...

and then a bunch of guys in orange with brooms and shovels chase me away.

:P

 

[Capt Nemo]

Menard's Mastercraft playground sand will have gold. It's mined near Eau Claire, WI.

 

[RTR]

Found some small gold in this a couple years ago.......

 

[civil_war22]

Id only aquire this sand if you needed some sand! OR go to a sand and gravel plant close to where you live to save on fuel. I bought some years ago and asked about where they get their sand and I called them to ask exactly where the got it from. my next project will be to goto the sand and gravel plant that gets their material directly from the river. and ill buy a trailer load of unprocessed material and run it through a hibanker while fixing my brothers road of pot holes! 1 trailer load will let me know if ill do another. why pay a inflated price for this material when I could get a better deal on a trailer load.

Around here the local concrete companies will unload a full truck load of sand for nearly nothing. They get their sand directly from the Arkansas River. I’ve seen some small flakes pulled from the sand there. Arkhola Sand and Gravel is the ones who mine the gravel at their quarries, and their barges get the sand directly from the river. Hard to say if it would be worth getting a truckload unless you planned on using the remaining sand for low spots in your yard

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

The internet is a mysterious place!

 

[civil_war22]

The internet is a mysterious place!

Everyday we something different on treasurenet

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

All this talk of prospecting playground sand from Lowe's has me wondering if I slipped into the dark web or worse yet
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