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.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[Terry Soloman]

Big Gold!!!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[bcfromfl]

Sounds like this hot spot will be near the top of your list for this season? Thanks for opening my eyes a bit wider for things to be alert to, and for all the important details you share!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sounds like this hot spot will be near the top of your list for this season? Thanks for opening my eyes a bit wider for things to be alert to, and for all the important details you share!

There's a few spots I have to get back to for sure.

You are most welcome for any benefit you can gather from any of my writings, but more importantly, thanks for taking the time to let me know that you find it helpful, that makes quite a difference to me, and I appreciate it.

I'm back for a couple of days for some follow-up medical stuff, but while I was out this last time, I was able to capture 4.20 grams more of small nuggets with the detector. However, it was hard work, pick work actually, cutting down through an old run in a trough. I had to scrape off a couple of inches of clay and cobble, then scan for gold. If I got any signals, I'd investigate to find out what was causing the disruption in the threshold. When they were sub-gram pieces, I'd collect them of course, then scan to make sure I hadn't missed anything in the exposed layer. Then, I'd scrape off a couple more inches of material and start all over again. It was tough sledding, but I did get some gold in the poke that way, and my partner took the scrapings and ran them through a little high-banker and he had a nice catch of gold by the end of the day as well.

All the best, and thanks again,

Lanny

 

[bcfromfl]

4.20 is nothing to sneeze at! Awesome! If you don't mind me asking, were you using your Minelab or the GBP, or both? Thanks!

 

[Lanny in AB]

4.20 is nothing to sneeze at! Awesome! If you don't mind me asking, were you using your Minelab or the GBP, or both? Thanks!

I only had time to use the GB Pro as the spot I was in required some tricky entry, so I went in light, and by the time I was finished, I didn't have time to head back to base-camp to get the 5000 to head back in again.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Many thanks to all for the 300,000 + views of this thread, and many thanks to T-NET for sponsoring this site to allow the opportunity to create a place to get together to discuss what we enjoy so much.

All the best, and thanks again,

Lanny

 

[Terry Soloman]

Way Cool - Congrats Lanny!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Way Cool - Congrats Lanny!

Thanks Terry!

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

"I was able to capture 4.20 grams more of small nuggets with the detector. However, it was hard work, pick work actually, cutting down through an old run in a trough. I had to scrape off a couple of inches of clay and cobble, then scan for gold. If I got any signals, I'd investigate to find out what was causing the disruption in the threshold. When they were sub-gram pieces, I'd collect them of course, then scan to make sure I hadn't missed anything in the exposed layer. Then, I'd scrape off a couple more inches of material and start all over again. It was tough sledding, but I did get some gold in the poke that way, and my partner took the scrapings and ran them through a little high-banker and he had a nice catch of gold by the end of the day as well."

I thought I'd add a bit more to this previous post about the gutter in the bedrock I was working:

As I was scraping down through the compacted channel material in the gutter/chute/trough to detect for nuggets, I noticed something I didn't write about in the quote posted above. As I worked my way down, there were areas with sticky clay and stones with rocks up to football and soccer ball size, but never any detectable nuggets. However, from time to time, the material would change to what I can only describe as runs of broken bits of bedrock, not long shards of bedrock that I commonly see when I know I'll soon hit bedrock, but runs of smashed pieces of bedrock 1/4 to 3/4 inch in size with only small stones interspersed.

I thought I'd comment on this before I forget to mention it. First, because it was so unusual as the runs of crushed material were only three to six inches deep before they petered out to where I'd hit the bigger rocks and sticky clay in a thick layer again. Second, I wanted to be sure to comment on this as the crushed bedrock was packing the gold! So, that crushed material became a visual indicator of where the nuggets were running. Of course I was checking all of the layers of material all the way down, but the nuggets were running with that crushed bedrock, so when I'd expose a new layer of it, the sight of that stuff would get the blood pumping, and sure enough, the detector sniffed out the gold hidden in the streaks.

Sadly, I had to abandon my diggin's before I hit the bottom of that trough, but I did hit an underlying layer of gooey clay and rocks the size of the ones I've described above, and I dug a quick-test hole to see if I could hit bedrock in the chute, but the layer of the sticky clay and bigger rocks was about a foot deep, so I ran out of time and had to leave the spot before I hit bottom. With all the digging I'd done, I'm sure someone else will see where I was working and get to the bottom of that gutter to find out what, if anything, is running on the bedrock. I just hope there's not another layer of crushed bedrock tight on the bedrock bottom as that would trouble my dreams . . .

All the best,

Lanny

P.S. Off again to the mountains to chase some sassy gold, so I'll be out of the loop for a bit.

 

[bcfromfl]

Thanks, Lanny, for adding the important details. If only there was a way to see those types of cataclysmic geologic shifts in process to better understand how anomalies like you described got where they are now! Strange how the bedrock layers seem to fold and tilt the way they do...

Best of luck on your trip!

 

[meMiner]

Something else I took from your post is that others will be drawn to where you were digging. I tend to avoid where someone else has a hole, other than to quickly scan it and the dirt they had moved to see if they "didn't check their hole". I guess I assume that a worked over area is depleted. If I intend on coming back, I will pick up a piece of junk from nearby and place it into my spot (drill rod, tin or something equally obvious).

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

"I guess I assume that a worked over area is depleted."

If that were true, we wouldn't be drawn to the old diggings. New diggings are no different.
I've heard of some fantastic finds being made in partially dug holes.

When I run across an area that has obviously been turned upside down recently...the brush is broken and piled up...I immediately start going over it because I know someone was probably finding something good.
I almost always find something in these areas. I take it as a challenge.

Here is an example.
The nugget below was found laying nearly on the bedrock surface on an open slope about 10' below an area that showed evidence of recently being worked over hard (broken brush and raked tailings).
It was on unclaimed public ground, that had been ground sluiced.

I think many people get tunnel vision and focus in on the area where they find their first nugget rather than stepping back and calmly surveying the area to get a broad perspective...how did the gold get here and where is it slowly going. Downhill is always a good place to look. Gold is a follower...there is always one more piece ahead of it.

I think many people skip doing the broad search that would get the easy gold, instead they immediately begin raking through tailings or working a piece of bedrock. They get physically tired and move on to another spot if they don't find something fairly quickly. When I find a piece of gold, I always take a break and think about things before taking action.

When I first started nugget hunting, I would find a nugget, do a search of the area and move on if I didn't anything. Now I know that a single nugget can be a clue. Ignore it and you will miss out on much more.

 

[IMPDLN]

Hello Lanny, Dennis here. Been awhile since I checked in here. Sorry to read about your injury. It seems you are recovering nicely since you have returned to the field. I have been busy , haven't taken time to scan recent finds and do a story as of yet, however I will eventually. I will say that I bought 2 new detectors last year. The SDC2300 and the 4500. In less than a year they have both paid for themselves. The 4500 in one hunt over a 24 hour period. That is a story that will take some time to assemble the details, but was basically the best Thanksgiving ever.

Just wanted to wish you luck on your current season there, and let you know I haven't fallen off the planet as of yet.

In response to the most recent posts......Never leave any stone unturned when detecting for gold. I've found a lot of missed gold scanning other peoples left behind holes. I even paid for my Gold Bug with a nice 1/4 ounce chunk from a hole somebody started and gave up on for whatever reason. I can only imagine they assumed it was just another bullet and got lazy about realizing the target. Their loss is my gain. I myself dig 'em all. Large, small, shallow or deep, if it sounds anything like a possible target I dig. I guess that's why nobody ever wants to follow me out in the field, lol.

I'll try to check back more often. Good gold to all who try. Dennis

 

[Lanny in AB]

Thanks, Lanny, for adding the important details. If only there was a way to see those types of cataclysmic geologic shifts in process to better understand how anomalies like you described got where they are now! Strange how the bedrock layers seem to fold and tilt the way they do...

Best of luck on your trip!

Hey, thanks for dropping in, and I'm with you; I'd love to have seen it all happen. It must have been incredibly fantastic with insane power at work to accomplish all of it.

I hope you get a chance to get out and chase some gold this season.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Something else I took from your post is that others will be drawn to where you were digging. I tend to avoid where someone else has a hole, other than to quickly scan it and the dirt they had moved to see if they "didn't check their hole". I guess I assume that a worked over area is depleted. If I intend on coming back, I will pick up a piece of junk from nearby and place it into my spot (drill rod, tin or something equally obvious).

I've checked others holes before, ones they worked on long before I arrived there, and every once in a while, I'm rewarded with a nugget, but most modern prospectors scan their holes with a detector now, more so than earlier, or there are people watching where others are working, watchers that have top-notch detectors that are ready to move in and detect throw-out piles, or piles of classified material, to get the gold they've missed.

I've been rewarded often enough in "worked out" areas that I'm still in the habit of checking them out.

All the best with your season, and let me know how it's working out,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

"I guess I assume that a worked over area is depleted."

If that were true, we wouldn't be drawn to the old diggings. New diggings are no different.
I've heard of some fantastic finds being made in partially dug holes.

When I run across an area that has obviously been turned upside down recently...the brush is broken and piled up...I immediately start going over it because I know someone was probably finding something good.
I almost always find something in these areas. I take it as a challenge.

Here is an example.
The nugget below was found laying nearly on the bedrock surface on an open slope about 10' below an area that showed evidence of recently being worked over hard (broken brush and raked tailings).
It was on unclaimed public ground, that had been ground sluiced.

I think many people get tunnel vision and focus in on the area where they find their first nugget rather than stepping back and calmly surveying the area to get a broad perspective...how did the gold get here and where is it slowly going. Downhill is always a good place to look. Gold is a follower...there is always one more piece ahead of it.

I think many people skip doing the broad search that would get the easy gold, instead they immediately begin raking through tailings or working a piece of bedrock. They get physically tired and move on to another spot if they don't find something fairly quickly. When I find a piece of gold, I always take a break and think about things before taking action.

When I first started nugget hunting, I would find a nugget, do a search of the area and move on if I didn't anything. Now I know that a single nugget can be a clue. Ignore it and you will miss out on much more.

/QUOTE]

I really enjoyed your write-up! You did a great job by describing your technique for carefully checking an area where someone has invested some serious time, and by working the margin, below the area that was worked extensively, you were rewarded! I've had the same experiences, and that's one of the fundamental go-to's that Ray outlines in his book, a technique he's used for years to find many sassy nuggets.

Thanks again for the pictures and for taking the time to post your story,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hello Lanny, Dennis here. Been awhile since I checked in here. Sorry to read about your injury. It seems you are recovering nicely since you have returned to the field. I have been busy , haven't taken time to scan recent finds and do a story as of yet, however I will eventually. I will say that I bought 2 new detectors last year. The SDC2300 and the 4500. In less than a year they have both paid for themselves. The 4500 in one hunt over a 24 hour period. That is a story that will take some time to assemble the details, but was basically the best Thanksgiving ever.

Just wanted to wish you luck on your current season there, and let you know I haven't fallen off the planet as of yet.

In response to the most recent posts......Never leave any stone unturned when detecting for gold. I've found a lot of missed gold scanning other peoples left behind holes. I even paid for my Gold Bug with a nice 1/4 ounce chunk from a hole somebody started and gave up on for whatever reason. I can only imagine they assumed it was just another bullet and got lazy about realizing the target. Their loss is my gain. I myself dig 'em all. Large, small, shallow or deep, if it sounds anything like a possible target I dig. I guess that's why nobody ever wants to follow me out in the field, lol.

I'll try to check back more often. Good gold to all who try. Dennis

Dennis, it's been far too long! It's so good to hear from you again. I truly enjoyed your comments and your tips on what you've been up to recently, and it's incredible that you've found the volume of gold that you have recently! Congratulations on your finds and on making your detectors pay their way.

I've had a great season so far and I've found some beautiful gold. I've paid for a few more detectors this year as well.

I can't wait until you write your story!! I look forward to reading it here.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Cariboo5]

Been working bedrock cracks and splits before we can get down to the river bed. Some places where we least expect it we are getting pepper size plus flakes (more on the coarse size)
Picture shows a bedrock split (by years of water action ). Just looking at it doesn't seem like much until one puts the bedrock tools into play and the results have been rewarding.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Been working bedrock cracks and splits before we can get down to the river bed. Some places where we least expect it we are getting pepper size plus flakes (more on the coarse size)
Picture shows a bedrock split (by years of water action ). Just looking at it doesn't seem like much until one puts the bedrock tools into play and the results have been rewarding.

/QUOTE]

Always good to get a little sniping in while you wait for the river to cooperate.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Gold Whispers:

Almost every nugget I found on my last outing was a whisperer, just breaks in the threshold alerted me there was something there. Some of those breaks were so subtle I almost talked myself into not scraping the dirt to investigate further, but the interruptions turned into positive response often enough, and I wound up with a whole whack of sassy nuggets, a wide range of gold all the way from a quarter-gram all the way up to 5.9 grams. Only one was a screamer, and it was one of the bigger ones that was only down a couple of inches. I also found a sun-baker, and that really surprised me, as that hasn't happened in a while.

An interesting part of my last outing is that my son, a raw rookie when it comes to detectors, was with me. I spent two days running him through intensive training chasing virgin nuggets, teaching him how to run the gold detectors: pinpointing, target recovery, proper sweep techniques, sweep speed, proper use of visual meters and tonal recognition, dealing with hot rocks, learning the strengths and weaknesses of VLF's vs. Pulse technology, how to ID faint signals or slight breaks in the threshold, etc. On the third day I turned him loose in a spot I'd been having good luck in, and he sure slew the nuggets! Over half an ounce of pretty gold was in his poke. But, the most fascinating part was that, with the exception of a few, most registered intially as only whispers and slight breaks! I was so proud that he was able to put it all together.

When the weather gets unruly, I'll have a chance to write some more stories and post some summer fun gold pictures, but until then, all the best,

Lanny