Cherokee County Gold 9/18

[rtenpin]

My name is Tenpin and I am new to panning. I bought my Garrett's pan set 4 weeks ago.

I live in Cherokee County in GA right on the GA gold belt so I thought this would be a neat hobby. I went to a meet and greet with the Allatoona gold panners, got taught, found some flakes and now I am hooked.

There are creeks on public land (corps of engineers) that can be prospected (using pan and shovel only) all around Lake Allatoona. That's all good. Great even! But what's better is having a friend that owns land that has a creek. A creek that had a mine on it less than a mile upstream. A creek that had a hundred year flood 3 years ago. A creek that no one has picked over. And over.

I thought I'd take a few pics (gps info removed lol) to share from my trip out today.

I'd started a test trench last week that ran perpendicular to the creek on this 20-yard-long bench deposit. This week, based on what I'd found in the perpindicular trench, I started a line parallel to the creek where I had my best shovelful the week before.

Here's the start of the parallel trench and my 1st pan of dirt. I'm heading upstream.

The 1st pan of the day. 2 shovels worth.

Here's the results of that first pan. Looks like it's gonna be a nice day...

...And it was! . I did 2 10 foot runs that were side-by side. App. 20sq ft total. 1 shovel deep.

The day's results:

Just have a shovel and pan so this took about 6-7 hours but after seeing the results some people are getting from a weekend of dredging, and sluicing, I'm feeling fortunate.

 

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[Gramps43]

Fortunate is an understatement dude, you have blessed by the Leprechauns. That is absolutely gorgeous and after only 6 or 7 hrs. zowee I'd be spending every waking hour up there. You need a trommel/sluice set up then it would be shovel, shovel, shovel all day long, with clean-ups every couple of hrs.. Then pan the cons in the evening and cackle like a crazy chicken looking at all the gold.

Gramps

 

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

Score another one for the Georgia Gold Belt!

Huge congrats!

Go Dawgs!

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

THAT IS AWESOME!!
IT SOUNDS AND LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE TO TREAT (NOT CURE) GOLD FEVER!

CONGRATULATIONS, THAT CLEAN UP WAS SPECTACULAR.

WELCOME TO TREASURENET!

HAPPY HUNTING

PROSPECTORMIKEL

 

[rtenpin]

CONGRATULATIONS, THAT CLEAN UP WAS SPECTACULAR.

Thank you
I use magnets from dismantled computer hard drives to remove all the black sand. They are super strong. Magnetite is magnetic of course, but what a lot of people don't know is that hematite is also weakly magnetic. If you have a strong enough magnet it gets removed easily as well.

I make multiple passes to remove the black sand and then I use an eye dropper to "poof" out any hidden quartz granules that may be stuck between the flakes.

If you use a hard drive magnet, cover it with a plastic shopping bag or you'll never get the sand off the magnet.

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

MAN!
YOU REALLY PAID ATTENTION IN CLASS, AND YOU ARE IN A GREAT SPOT.
I HAVE BEEN PROSPECTING, HERE IN ARK FOR OVER A DECADE AND YOU HAVE AS MUCH IN THAT CLEANUP PAN, AS I HAVE COLLECTED FROM ARK IN ALL OF THAT TIME.

I AM IMPRESSED. GRANTED, LOCATION IS IMPORTANT, BUT YOU DID GOOD WORK.

I TOO, USE MAGNETS AND ZIP LOCK BAGGIES, TURNED INSIDE OUT, THEN TURN THEM OUTSIDE OUT AND ZIP THE BLACK SAND IN THE BAGS TO SAVE IT FOR DRYING AND RE-CLEANING LATER. HERE IN ARK, GOLD IS VERY HARD TO FIND SO YOU DON'T LET ANY GET
AWAY.

I BUILT MY OWN VERSION OF THE "BLUE BOWL" AND IT WORKS VERY WELL ON THE SMALL SPECKS OF GOLD AND I HAVE RE-PANNED SEVERAL PANS OF THE WASTE FROM IT AND HAVE NEVER FOUND ANY LOST GOLD, YET.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. I HOPE YOU RETIRE TO PROSPECTING THERE.

PROSPECTORMIKEL

 

[rtenpin]

Thank you Prospector Mikel. Sounds like you work very hard.

I am fortunate to live where I do. I drive about 3 miles to get to this spot.

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

THANKS, BUT IT'S NOT HARD WORK NOR GREAT EFFORT, IT'S JUST ONE OF THE SYMPTOMS OF GOLD FEVER.
NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT.... I HAVE NOT BEEN PANNING AT ALL THIS YEAR. IT HAS BEEN TOO HOT FOR ME TO GET OUT. THAT'S A SYMPTOM LEFT OVER FROM A HEAT STROKE.

EVERYBODY SAYS THERE IS NO CURE FOR GOLD FEVER, WELL THERE IS SOMETHING THAT CAN KEEP YOU FROM GOING ALL SUMMER. I THINK I WOULD RATHER HAVE THE FEVER THAN THE CURE.

WELL, YOU JUST KEEP DOIN' WHAT YOU ARE DOIN'.

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU.

MIKEL

 

[Mitch Dickson]

Rtenpin, That is a way but not "The" way. Any old magnet will remove magnatite. You should use one of those first. Hemitite and Platinum are both paramagnetic, so after the magnatite is gone, pick up those with that Neodynum N52 out of your hard drive and keep them seperate. A strong sulphuric acid will disolve the hematite (don't take much, just cover the 2 in a pyrex beaker) and you will have pure Platinum (maybe a little palladium according to where your at). Then you nutralize the acid. Since Platinum is just as valuable as gold, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater! I see creeks all the time that run 40% platinum to gold!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Mitch are you willing to share any platinum bearing locations? I would love to find a sample myself!

 

[enamel7]

You're responding to someone that hasn't posted here for over 1 1/2 years.