Bedrock and Gold: The mysteries . . .

[Lanny in AB]

Do you love to chase the gold? Please join me--lots of gold hunting tips, stories of finds (successful and not), and prospecting poetry.

Nugget in the bedrock tip:

I had a visit with a mining buddy this past weekend, and he told me of an epic battle to get a nugget out of the bedrock, and of what he learned from the experience. I thought some of you might like to learn from his mistake.

While out detecting one day, he came across a large sheet of bare bedrock. The bedrock was exposed because the area had been blasted off with a water cannon (a monitor), by the old-timers! It was not fractured bedrock, in fact it was totally smooth.

He was not optimistic at all of the prospects of a nugget. But, for some reason (we've all been there) he decided to swing his detector over that bedrock. After a long time, just as he was about to give up on his crazy hunch, he got a signal, right out of that smooth bedrock.

There was no crevice, no sign of a crevice, nada! So, he had to go all the way back to camp to get a small sledge and a chisel. The signal in the rock intrigued him, but he still wasn't overly optimistic. For those of you that have chased signals in a similar situation, sometimes there's a patch of hot mineralization in the bedrock that sounds off, but this spot, according to him, was sharp and clear right in the middle of the signal, not just a general increase of the threshold like you get when you pass over a hot spot in the bedrock.

Anyway, he made it back to the spot and started to chisel his way into the bedrock. If any of you have tried this, it's an awful job, and you usually wind up with cut knuckles--at the least! Regardless, he kept fighting his way down, busting out chunks of bedrock. He kept checking the hole, and the signal remained very strong.

This only puzzled him all the more as he could clearly see that it was solid bedrock with no sign of any crevice. He finally quit at the end of the day, at a depth of about a foot, but still, nothing in the hole.

An experienced nugget shooting friend dropped by the next morning to see him, and asked him how the hunt was going. My buddy related his tale of the mysterious hole in the bedrock, and told the friend to go over and check it out, and see if he could solve the riddle.

Later in the day, the other nugget hunter returned. In his hand was a fine, fat, sassy nugget. It weighed in at about an ounce and a quarter! After my friend returned his eyeballs to their sockets and zapped his heart to start it again, he asked where the nugget had come from.

Imagine his surprise when he heard it came from the mystery hole!! He asked how deep the other guy had gone into the bedrock to get it. "Well, no deeper" was his reply.

So, here's the rest of the story as to what happened. When the successful nugget hunter got to the bedrock, he scanned the surface got the same strong signal as my buddy. He widened out the hole and scanned again. Still a solid tone. He widened the hole some more so he could get his coil in, and here's the key and the lesson in this story, he got a strong signal off the side of the hole, about six inches down, but set back another inch into the side of the bedrock!!

My unlucky friend, the true discoverer of the gorgeous nugget's resting place had gone deep past the signal while digging his hole!!

Now, of course, a good pinpointer would easily solve this problem. The problem was, my buddy didn't have one, so why would he widen the hole, right? Well, the other guy was the one with more experience, and that's why he did. It was a lot more work, but what a payoff!

So, my buddy's butt is still black and blue from where he kicked himself for the next week or so for having lost such an incredible prize.

Some nugget hunting lessons are harder than others to learn. . . .

All the best,

Lanny


P.S. When in gold country--check the bedrock, regardless of whether it looks likely or not! Mother Nature likes to play games sometimes.

 

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[Goldwasher]

hi this is my first post on this thread but i want to point out something i notice in the hand stack pics above, that i also notice here in the motherlode. If i came across a spot like that here that i could see so well...wich you cant see so well here becuase of all the blackberry,poison oak,vines, wild grape...etc.. I would know they were working an ancient river, and as you can see in second pic or so there is alot of the original material to be dug....you can see the conglamerate side walls lots of mixed material.If it was tailings, the material that was redeposited out of a sluice tends to be a more consistant size off aggregate..the big stuff was stacked at the heads and along long sluices as it was washed, any thing the water could wash out the end was..and there were sluice tenders who were constantly pickin out cobbles and keeping the flow going. Once you come across these spots more youll start to notice the classifacation that was going on.Another reason youll find fine gold and pickers in and under tailings is the mud and clay that was sticking to alot of those rocks that never made it in the sluice..they werent really looking for the gold that was sticking to those rocks. All these decades later after many many rains that mud and clay has been washed down into and around those tailings.If you look at the satellite photo you can see how they were working into the deposit looks like an ancient flood plain, or riverbed..and from the close up and the sat photo it looks like acres of those deposits remain...just like here. also looks like its only wet seasonally and thats one of the main reasons everything wasnt alwasy mined.

 

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[Lanny in AB]

Not sure what to call you, so I'll call you Hunter: thanks so much for your post--very informative on the classification of materials that were being sluiced. It's helped clear up a few things for me, and you've added a nice chunk of information on reading piles of cobbles and river rock. As well, you've given a few tips on why there's still gold under some of the piles.

Thanks again, and all the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

These are some shots of the header (the top part of the sluice) where most of the heavier gold drops out rather quickly. It's a good indication of what's running on the bedrock (fine or coarse) and whether it's worth the time to keep working it or not. When the water is nice and clear you can often visually ID what the bedrock is holding if the concentrations are heavy enough--if the water is murky and you're doing a lot of hand-feeding (partially covering one side of the nozzle so you don't suck in bigger rocks that will jam the nozzle, and then pulling the bigger/longer rocks off so they can be tossed aside), checking out the header is often the only rapid way to verify if you're into good pay or if you're just running gravel and sand.

All the best,

Lanny

P.S. After cleaning off a sheet of bedrock, it's always a good idea to take a good PI underwater detector to scan the bedrock--hidden crevices are often caching pieces of gold.

 

[EagleDown]

Excellent observation "Hunter". I had also recognized the flood plain, but found it curious that some areas that appeared to be "Prime Gold Areas" had not seemed to be touched. Course, it's hard to tell from pictures of an area that you're not familiar with.

I do know that in CA, the floating land dredges only captured a percentage of the gold that was dug. I talked to an old man, (as old as I am now,) who tended the boxes on the land mark dredge near (I think it was Marysville,) who said that there was a steady streak of gold in the boxes that wasn't caught by the mercury traps, that went right back into the tailings behind the dredge. Some coated with rust, and some "cemented" to lighter materials.

He said he tried to get the owner to let him catch the gold as it came off of the end of the boxes, but the owner (foreman?) said it wasn't worth the effort. (lol)

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

Halito Lanny,

And if I could afford the trip to Canada, I'd join you in a heartbeat.

It's about 108f here right now. It's so hot that I don't even like to go outside. Great pictures and instructions for anyone interested in learning how to do things the right way.

I wish you were able to go with me, but don't worry, I know that there is some one some where that I can trust. (And, I'll find him/her.) Correction, better make that a him. I swore I'd never re-marry.

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/Lannyinab/Dredge gold 2010/IMG_0937.jpg

Here's a shot of some of the nice, chunky gold I got last week--1/2 ounce in this shot. Most of this gold was tight on the bedrock. I always know I'm in a good spot when I get to see the gold before it goes up the nozzle. Most of the time, you're running material up the suction hose and you only get to see if there's any gold when you shut down and get a chance to check the header of the sluice. I'll see if I can round up some shots of the header.

All the best,

Lanny

Ahhhh!! That picture only makes me more determined to check out my "stash".

It's kind of a toss-up with me, between seeing it on bedrock, or in the header. I love the excitement of picking it off of the bedrock, but shutting down the water flow and looking in the header is kinda like opening a Christmas present.

Don't you just hate it when someone gives you an empty package, as a joke

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

It's been a week since hearing from Lanny. Sure hope he's getting some "good gold". (Have you ever seen any "bad"gold)

Sorry, it just put me in mind of all the times I've been asked; "Is there any good gold here"?? I've already given you my standard reply.

I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning up to the Merced river. It's only about a 3 hour drive, but I like to give myself plenty of time. I never know when I'll see something that piques my interest, like an old brick chimney on st.rd. 140 that I've been looking at for years. It's in a fenced pasture and was there (and looked old) in 1960. Wonder if it's ever been pounded?

See ya'll when I get back. HH

Eagle

 

[Lanny in AB]

I'm back for a while--got some more gold--will have to get on here and post some info. when I get a chance.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[EagleDown]

I'm back for a while--got some more gold--will have to get on here and post some info. when I get a chance.

All the best,

Lanny

Halito my Friend,

I don't know about the rest who are keeping track of your thread, but as for me, I can't wait for you to post more of your adventures.

Eagle

 

[FiresEye]

What an amazing and informative thread, revealing bits of tangible inspiration and ideas to continue the renewed interest in gold hunting.
Thank you Lanny and all contributors for the awesome thread. Very nice writting style and as a narrative person myself envy such well written story tellings.
And since I spent a good 3 hours reading this thread and didn't even get to the end of the story, I have say thanks and add my two cents.
I myself have found some gold... my gold finds total around one gram or less... However, the glint and aura of those small placer deposits worth all the pain, fortune, and lack of fame.

One thing I would like to contribute to this thread, is that in gold producing country, sometimes the rocks and hard packs that are discarded as slag contain gold. I know for a fact I have chunks of bedrock with gold in them, and also the hard packed clays, that still need crushing, that no doubt contain gold. It's sort of expanding the hobby a bit, but if you're into hauling some rocks, it could be worth it.

I hear you guysmentioning rock piles to get to the virgin ground underneath... but, what if the rocks you are moving contain the very source of the placer gold you're finding in the bedrock. I'll admit most of the gold is still left in the rocks. I've heard of using acids to dissolve quartz showing gold vein to reveal awesome wire gold( which is very rare.)

Most of the gold that's in the bedrock itself that I find, is extremely fine, come even microscopic. The largest pieces of gold in the bedrock I find can barely be seen under my 10x. However, I have some promising quartz conglamorates that could prove promissing.... Have you ever tried pounding the ground with signals over the rocks themselves? If so, have you busted open any? Rocks are so deceiving, because once busted open, they reveal amazing glimpses of mineralization and the formation of the earth itself.

For example, I've seen plenty of rocks with cracks and crevices in little holes all over tailing's piles. These rocks are natural sluice boxes, catching gold in them... But they would roll right off any commercial sluice. So, keep an eye out for " sluice rocks" and especially those "dirty quartz" rocks that look promising, and need crushing..... Crushing the rocks is an entirely different matter. I recommend getting at least a couple tons of material before even going to the trouble of building any sort of stamp mill( which I have yet to do). Also, depending on the stretch of the gold belt in the area, the gold has to have come from somewhere. If you can verify that the rocks and the river contain gold, well, the knowledge could be "golden"!


Thanks again!

 

[SushiDog]

I have purchased several books and other resource and research material for several years now, but I have to say I got an incredible education reading all of the posts in this thread! It's one thing to read a book, but it is another to read about someone who has applied these methods and techniques, and shared perhaps some inner secrets to read the terrain and especially bedrock...I had a great time reading and learning...thanks!....SushiDog

 

[Lanny in AB]

You're right Fireseye--the gold does get trapped in cracks in rocks, and you're right again that you'd sure have to have a huge pile of rocks to crush to make it worth while. The exception to that is nuggets and flake gold that gets trapped in large (car sized) boulders--that size of a rock can be fun all by itself. Thanks so much for adding to the thread.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sushidog--thanks so much for your kind words. A lot of great people have dropped in to leave their wisdom and secrets. I just barely had a chance to take a peek at the thread tonight. I'll post some pictures here for you and the others of some gold from this summer, as well as one of our transportation systems and some solid, hard-hitting wilderness protection. I've promised an update and (if you haven't already) you'll find it in a later post.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[strickman]

nice gold lanny, keep us posted !

 

[SushiDog]

Lanny....did you find all of that gold in bedrock? Also, I really like your rig....your ATV and wagon! Can you gives us a pic of the rig you use too?

 

[Lanny in AB]

Yes--most of the larger gold was tight on the bedrock--I actually saw pieces of it caught under rocks laying on the bedrock, and pieces caught in the perpendicular traps of the bedrock itself. Sometimes it was jammed between the stones right on the bedrock. The area I'm currently working is one where most of the gold is found on or very near bedrock--very unlike some of the other areas I've worked where extensive glaciation has deposited the gold in some very strange places. Here's some pictures of the 4-inch Keene and some more dredge gold, plus a detector shot of me working some fractured bedrock--enjoy. (The links here will take you to bigger picture files--I have also inserted some pics--one of some nice bedrock gold and one of me detecting by some old hand-stacked rocks. Note--sometimes hand-stacked piles are overgrown with trees, sometimes with slower growing, smaller vegetation.)


What I like about the second picture below is that it's very easy to see the hand-stacked rocks to the right of the fractured, exposed bedrock that I'm detecting. It's obvious that these rocks have been left undisturbed for a long time--look at the moss and growth on them.

 

[SushiDog]

Thanks for all of the additional picks Lanny! When I saw your ATV and wagon in one of the first pics posted, it gave me an idea of getting an ATV and wagon of my own! Can you take a side shot of your ATV and wagon for me? Thanks....SushiDog

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sushi--I would if I could, but my partner has the wagon in Arizona--he's down there nugget hunting in the desert. Maybe next season . . . . Here's a shot of some gold for you and another shot of me detecting around an old hydraulic site.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[SushiDog]

Thanks Lanny....I think I will get a used ATV and Wagon on Craig's list when the time arrives that I may need them....I pull a 5th Wheel with my truck now, but wouldn't mind getting a rig like yours....Thanks again for all of the great posts Lanny! SushiDog

 

[Lanny in AB]

This is an underwater shot of a nugget, sitting tight on bedrock, taken with an underwater camera--the nugget was not moved after I uncovered it, and it is exactly in the position nature deposited it all those years ago. (I only wish that I'd have had the ability to do this years ago. Nature drops nuggets in very interesting places.) If you look above and to the right of the nugget, you can see some flake gold too!