Detecting seam diggins, vein deposits, and free gold ores

[UncleMatt]

Yes most glacial drift gold is flour gold just not all of it, and searching for the hidden drainage placers may not be time or cost efficient.

Damnit GG, how are you going to maintain your reputation around here as a genius with answers like that? I expected you to post a photo or video of some new device or technology that would make this task easy. You're slipping.

 

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[Goodyguy]

Damnit GG, how are you going to maintain your reputation around here as a genius with answers like that? I expected you to post a photo or video of some new device or technology that would make this task easy. You're slipping.

No genius here, still prospecting the old fashioned way....... boots on the ground.
Dig and sample. Dig and sample.

Google Earth, USGS survey, topographical maps, and research on known deposits aid with the search.
Of course you could try your hand at dowsing, works better for some than others.

Besides if it were easy there wouldn't be any gold left.

GG~

 

[lastleg]

UncleMatt

Have stayed at most of the fishing camps along the upper Rio Grande. In the 80s, before getting into prospecting, one evening I took a
pan to rivers edge and shoveled some material and tried to pan it. I found a matchhead piece and mashed it on a rock and it spread out
nicely as gold is supposed to. The bunch I was with fished from dawn to late afternoon and I missed a chance to get some nice gold.

This was near the seven mile bridge west of Creede. The gold had traveled a long way from Stony Pass which is on the divide not far
from the Window. With gold up so high I wonder if anyone has dredged the area. I quit fishing 20 years ago.

Another gold district was above Lake City at old Carson which is atop the divide.

 

[UncleMatt]

UncleMatt

Have stayed at most of the fishing camps along the upper Rio Grande. In the 80s, before getting into prospecting, one evening I took a
pan to rivers edge and shoveled some material and tried to pan it. I found a matchhead piece and mashed it on a rock and it spread out
nicely as gold is supposed to. The bunch I was with fished from dawn to late afternoon and I missed a chance to get some nice gold.

This was near the seven mile bridge west of Creede. The gold had traveled a long way from Stony Pass which is on the divide not far
from the Window. With gold up so high I wonder if anyone has dredged the area. I quit fishing 20 years ago.

Another gold district was above Lake City at old Carson which is atop the divide.

I am going to look into that further. I am beginning to develop a network of people in the SW part of CO that are keeping their eyes and ears open for promising places to prospect.

 

[gold tramp]

I have found a couple of veins indirectly by detector, the residual placer gold was my indicator, i found a nugget patch and as all patches it played out, so i went in search of the source wich i found, check out pics of notch gold at bb mining company rocks and Art - B-B home The vein material bleeped loudly and i dug it out till it made no noise, one hole went to 32 feet in solid rock bleepin all the way.
Most gold veins are very fine gold, not detectable by machine.
The course gold pockets are rare and that would be the stuff that would bleep, and there are still course pockets out there. were trying to find them every day.

I dont swing my bleeper on every vein i come across, in fact my machine doesnt get much use unless i see gold by eye, then we use our trusty gold bug to get the specimen gold, when prospecting, your best tools are your eyes.
I dig and sample myself every spot i come across, and i always sample all old timer diggs i find.
basicaly its learn as you go but most of all patience,persistance youll find gold.

Good Luck N Happy Hunting Cpt Herb

 

[UncleMatt]

UncleMatt

Have stayed at most of the fishing camps along the upper Rio Grande. In the 80s, before getting into prospecting, one evening I took a
pan to rivers edge and shoveled some material and tried to pan it. I found a matchhead piece and mashed it on a rock and it spread out
nicely as gold is supposed to. The bunch I was with fished from dawn to late afternoon and I missed a chance to get some nice gold.

This was near the seven mile bridge west of Creede. The gold had traveled a long way from Stony Pass which is on the divide not far
from the Window. With gold up so high I wonder if anyone has dredged the area. I quit fishing 20 years ago.

Another gold district was above Lake City at old Carson which is atop the divide.

Lastleg, exactly how far from the seven mile bridge bridge were you there? Was it public or private property?

 

[UncleMatt]

I have found a couple of veins indirectly by detector, the residual placer gold was my indicator, i found a nugget patch and as all patches it played out, so i went in search of the source wich i found, check out pics of notch gold at bb mining company rocks and Art - B-B home The vein material bleeped loudly and i dug it out till it made no noise, one hole went to 32 feet in solid rock bleepin all the way.
Most gold veins are very fine gold, not detectable by machine.
The course gold pockets are rare and that would be the stuff that would bleep, and there are still course pockets out there. were trying to find them every day.

I dont swing my bleeper on every vein i come across, in fact my machine doesnt get much use unless i see gold by eye, then we use our trusty gold bug to get the specimen gold, when prospecting, your best tools are your eyes.
I dig and sample myself every spot i come across, and i always sample all old timer diggs i find.
basicaly its learn as you go but most of all patience,persistance youll find gold.

Good Luck N Happy Hunting Cpt Herb

I appreciate hearing about your real world experience on this, as it seems all to rare (no pun intended). More and more I understand experience in identifying minerals and geology is more valuable in hard rock prospecting than a minelab metal detector, or any metal detector. I have absorbed so much material on this over the last year, that now when I drive around, the land is starting to speak to me about things I was oblivious to before. Erosion patterns, river and creek paths, visible outcroppings, and glacial morraines, are all starting to make more sense.

 

[UncleMatt]

I ordered a brand new Gold Bug II yesterday with both smallest and 10" coils. Free gold may often be too small to sound off, but sometimes it is large enough in the vein to give a signal. And I needed one for the small stuff anyway, since my Infinium would most likely miss it.

 

[Seden]

The only thing I have found that works is a Scintillation Gamma meter. I have located 3 mines with it easy. I used to try using various Geiger Counters but they are NOT sensitive enough,not even close. I bought the Scintillation Gamma meter off ebay for a song from some poor geologist in Spain just as their economy was tanking. I'm sure he cried briney tears selling it for that price. Lode deposits give off a higher amount of Gamma rays than the surrounding country rock and normally have a ring of radioactive potassium -40 around the gold or silver. There have been several articles in the ICMJ over the years about this. Another trick you can use cheaply is look for ant hills and gather the dirt off the top which would of come from the bottom of the hole. Read this: http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/anthill.htm . In all the books and articles I've read I have never heard of using a mag. for hard rock. I have a Geometrics Proton Precession Mag. that works fantastic for placer location so I dunno. Good luck and keep us posted.
Randy

 

[Seden]

Forgot to mention that you can buy your chemical test kit here: http://www.thegoldhunter.net/

This is the one I use,it's inexpensive and you can do a whole lot of tests. What I do is walk along the foot of the mountain looking for any little stream and take a sample. Put the sample in a numbered zip lock bag and enter the GPS co-ordinates in along with the bag number in a small notepad or what have you. The when you get home you can go through all you bags and have the little squares of paper towel that you put your chemical results on numbered with the zip locked baggie's number. Now you can easily spot the area with the most gold if there's any to be had. Make sure you use the smallest measuring spoon so that each sample will have had the same amount of dirt used in the test tube. You will need to screen the dirt down to the smallest screen you have to avoid the "nugget affect".

Randy

 

[BugHunter]

The only thing I have found that works is a Scintillation Gamma meter. I have located 3 mines with it easy. I used to try using various Geiger Counters but they are NOT sensitive enough,not even close. I bought the Scintillation Gamma meter off ebay for a song from some poor geologist in Spain just as their economy was tanking. I'm sure he cried briney tears selling it for that price. Lode deposits give off a higher amount of Gamma rays than the surrounding country rock and normally have a ring of radioactive potassium -40 around the gold or silver. There have been several articles in the ICMJ over the years about this. Another trick you can use cheaply is look for ant hills and gather the dirt off the top which would of come from the bottom of the hole. Read this: http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/anthill.htm . In all the books and articles I've read I have never heard of using a mag. for hard rock. I have a Geometrics Proton Precession Mag. that works fantastic for placer location so I dunno. Good luck and keep us posted.
Randy

Randy, is the scintillation meter something like Delta Epsilon SC-133 or something totally different? Do you also use an external detector attached to it? Can you recall the year/issue of the ICMJ containing an article of this subject?
Thanks.

 

[Seden]

BugHunter,

Yes it is exactly like the Delta Epsilon SC-133 minus the hand held separate probe. I have 2 articles by Dr. Edgar B. Heylmun: "Use that Radiation Detector!" Oct.1986 1 pg. and the much better "A Low-Tech Radiometric Survey" Nov.1995 2 pgs.
Good stuff!

Randy

 

[BugHunter]

Randy, thanks a lot.

 

[Hannah Jo]

I don't have a story to share but I have heard magnetometers do a great deal of help in detecting metals.

 

[Alex Burke]

The only thing I have found that works is a Scintillation Gamma meter. I have located 3 mines with it easy. I used to try using various Geiger Counters but they are NOT sensitive enough,not even close. I bought the Scintillation Gamma meter off ebay for a song from some poor geologist in Spain just as their economy was tanking. I'm sure he cried briney tears selling it for that price. Lode deposits give off a higher amount of Gamma rays than the surrounding country rock and normally have a ring of radioactive potassium -40 around the gold or silver. There have been several articles in the ICMJ over the years about this. Another trick you can use cheaply is look for ant hills and gather the dirt off the top which would of come from the bottom of the hole. Read this: http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/anthill.htm . In all the books and articles I've read I have never heard of using a mag. for hard rock. I have a Geometrics Proton Precession Mag. that works fantastic for placer location so I dunno. Good luck and keep us posted.
Randy

Hi Randy, can you tell me/us more about the Scintillation Gamma meter? They sound useful. I'm especially interested in how heavy, fragile or expensive they are; other minerals it can find or anything else you could add about it.

 

[Dustedyou]

Sooo much information has been lost on those and many other hills... look for an "Old Timer" in the neighborhood! Cup O coffee will go a long Way.. Gold tramp had one of these... I say take a look in the Local VFW... Alot of us are Ex-military (still love the ground pounding), also find a close mine (abandoned or not ) and do the research to find the original owner.. then track it back to his family... there usually in the neiborhod... Ahh well and if all else fails.. walk to the closest neibors and ask.. most people in the country still have a sense of chit chat... or at least i hope they do! lol GL matt and im awaiting your return...lmao i got some washing to do in Cerillos! hehe tell ya later!

 

[gold tramp]

Been thinking and I still think being able to read and follow the secrets of the gossans is our most valuable tool on the hunt for veins.

I also find to much research tends to hinder my search, by filling my mind with visions of new easier ways to search for the yellow, or just gives me a new excuse to get out of hard work. when there is really no easier way to find it than using our eyes and hard work.

I have 5 books I read, Holy bible, prospectors bible, rocks n minerals, bulletin 193 Calif gold districts, and my chemistry book.

The rest is all about walking the hills, sampling every vein that looks to have potential, not being afraid to punch a hole on a potential spot even if there is no surface gold showing.
And always use your bleeper you never know where one of those big pockets is hiding out!!!

and don't forget your eyeglass !!!

Just my 2 cents.........

 

[lastleg]

Uncle Matt, do you have the pamphlet "Gold Panning and Stream Prospection in SW Colorado"
by Jack L Benham, mining geologist @1980? Vallecito vicinity streams appear barren on this map.
Closer to home, Durango, there are plentiful placers indicating lodes. Junction Creek would be
closet to you.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

G'evening SEDEN: Coffee? I was wondering when someone would mention a simple Geo Chem kit and field soil sampling.


Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Gentlemen: some time ago, while above Tayopa, I was inspecting a certain inaccessible zone with binoculars looking for a sign, when I spotted what appeared to be 7 bars of Gold in an inverted "V" formation, flush with the surface of the ground. Continuous checking over the next few days did not change anything, they remained 7 Gold bars under any light conditions.

So I decided to go down below to Obregon to get the required equipment to go after them. The process was carried out slowly, after all the bars, if they actually were bars , weren't going any place.

When I returned the bars had disappeared Investigation revealed that there had been a few very heavy rains since we left, so I came to the conclusion that they had been buried under new growth or muddy runoff.

The next step was to use a helicopter. We landed two men with detectors on the spot and told them to go find the bars. Since the ground was still a bit soft, they were afraid to go near the area where the bars were seen - almost a vertical drop off of a few hundred feet - so they avoided the actual spot. However the dector almost continuously sounded off no matter where they went, they couldn't stabilize it.

So they brought down a handful of the small rocks for analysis. As it turned out, the rocks contained 6 grams of free, visible, fine gold .

So, to answer the question, yes, under certain conditions a detector can be used successfully for prospecting.

NO, I never did see the bars again - but rest assured, before I am through, I will be holding one in my arms..

Don Jose de La Mancha

P.S. the '7' in an inverted "V" was one of the signs that I was looking for, but not expecting gold bars..