Detecting for Silver in Northern Ontario

[trainermick]

Getting ready for another season of searching for Silver in the area surrounding Cobalt, Ontario. With a lot of the mine dumps now being closed to detecting, it's time to hit the woods for some high grade finds. Research pays off.

 

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[63bkpkr]

Best of success to you!................63bkpkr

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Hope you have some enjoyable visits to the area over the course of the summer and find some good silver Fred. I doubt we’ll venture north until September, and this will cause us to miss you again because you’ll be back home preparing for the work term.

Last season apparently several areas we frequent were signed and closed to detecting. On arrival we didn’t see any evidence of closures. There are two individuals known to me in the area that do occasionally put up such signs but have no authority to do so. I expect this was the case in some areas and those signs must have been subsequently removed prior to our arrival. In any event there are many sites available to search.

We tend to do a lot of scraping of surface material in areas we know have produced in the past. It is work but in some cases we have found good silver and that has made the effort worthwhile.

One such area that doesn’t produce a lot but does give up occasional high quality silver is at the far end of the track at Cart Lake. You can drive all the way down, park and retrace your steps along the tailings for maybe 25 yards. Turn left into the trees and search carefully while heading in a direction that would eventually take you straight back to the main road (Coleman Twp Road) as you walk back parallel to the track you drive in on. It will be sharply uphill and generally 20 yards to the left.

Maybe five or six years ago I was in there for maybe an hour pretty much killing time while a friend was learning his new detector. I found a half dozen small pieces and a larger sample as shown below. It was the final piece that surfaced that afternoon and then we decided to leave. I’ve never been back there since and the story I’ve just told you is no-nonsense truth.

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Another obvious spot that has produced much small silver but apparently has been overlooked by many (who probably thought there’s no point) is down at the Cobalt Lode mine and right out in the open flats.

Pull into the first driveway on the left and through the gate and park. For thirty or forty yards to the right (south more or less) and all the way straight back to the forest margins search slow and careful. Yes, others including us have found plenty there. But if you’re feeling anxious, this area will give some small but really good quality nuggety silver. At the far end near the forest edge, take some moments to check out the exposed bedrock areas as per the photo below. We found plenty of small material back there, but nobody gets it all…and we only searched randomly. It is a really pleasant place to detect because most signals are small but good silver, and very little cobalt or trash. Search in motion all-metal and dig every faint or wispy signal.

Hope this background information is useful. I’m sure you are familiar with these areas already. But it is a good thing to know these two areas have produced nicely in the past. With a little selective scraping of surface material, there ought to be more. Good luck and good hunting!

Jim.

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[Aufisher]

That's some nice looking bedrock!

 

[trainermick]

Thanks Jim, I know those exact spots. I retired in January so every day is a Sarurday for me now. I will also be going up in the fall so am sure that I will run into you. Especially since we will be camping at the same place.