Flour Gold???

[hunter_46356]

OK I’ve heard the term flour gold a lot in the description of Indiana gold in general. Can someone post a pic (if that’s even possible) of flour gold. Just panned out a half a 5 of cons from NW IN and got nothing in the range of even a spec. Lots of shiny stuff in the black sand. After drying it down I took a magnet to the black sand and only 25% of it was magnetic. Looking at whats left through a 10X loupe…..and well it just looks like micro grains of hard stones and maybe pyrite. Now I know flour is like really fine but how does this compare to flour gold. Real Newbie sorry!
By the way since I’m such a newb I was worried about my panning abilities and read on this site to practice with lead shot. I did real good with several 10” finish pans not loosing one shot but they roll around a lot. Thought I’d change it up a bit so I took a hammer to the no.8 shot and flattened it out and then cut it into several flakes with a razor blade. Put several counted pieces in some fines and it looks like I’m doing OK with my panning cause I never lost a one. D#*n…. I just need some dirt with gold in it now…. LOL

 

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[TheHarleyMan2]

Flour gold is just that. It is almost powder size form like what you would find in flour itself. Very very fine, some is even hard to see with the naked eye unless you have good sunlight at the right angle.

 

[B H Prospector]

Hi,
Sounds like you have the panning down. The rest of the black sand that the magnet didn't pick up is hematite. It is another iron oxide but not magnetic. When using a magnet to clean out black sand make sure it is dry or some gold can stick to the magnitite.
Good Luck!

B H Prospector

 

[hunter_46356]

B H. That’s exactly what I did. Got the stuff panned down to nothing but black sand, put it in a six in. iron skillet top of the stove and dried it down. Then put the magnet to it. In what was left I looked through it with a 10X loupe and could see some sparkle but if that was flour gold I have no clue how to get out. Is flour gold smaller than the very fine black sand that was left?

 

[placertogo]

Flour gold typically is so fine there does not appear to be much "color" to it. It will show as a fine, somewhat tan-colored line next to the final black sands in finish panning.

 

[James/Ouida]

Hey hunter, I'm new to panning myself. I've practiced several times, and I think (hope) I've got it down. At least kind of. Lots of people have said eventually you'll develove your own "style" of panning, but I'm a little unsure what they mean. Only one way to do it, and thats the right way. Now if someone could show me instead of watchin utube. Anyways, I live in AK and after several hikes, Im starting to see what the experienced guys are talkin about - I found the old creekbed, the washed out sides, and the right places in the creek. Last time out I found a quartz vein. Locals say there's gold "back in there" too. All said and done, only thing I'm panning is mica. Next weekend off, I'm putting my try-hard-panties on and going back to the quartz vein. Don't give up, " there's gold in them hills"

Newbie James

 

[hunter_46356]

James, wish I had a quartz vein within driving distance. NW IN doesn’t even have so called exposed bedrock anywhere close. I’ve been panning a drainage ditch with a very rocky bottom and winding. I know all the right places to look but can’t even find flour gold. I’m going to have to travel south to the middle of the state where they say they find it pretty regular. I’ve got 30 acres in Perry Co. IN (center of the state and 30 min from the Ohio River) with a good creek and many run offs that feed it. Lot of bedrock there but with not much reference info on this area I’m afraid the gold may not be there. It’s way beyond the glacial lines so I might be shooting in the dark.

 

[elijahhenry10]

Someone told me to this, but I can't quite remember who it was, but it has worked pretty well for me. I take the dirt I have left after removing the magnetic black sand and put it in a little bowl. I then put small amounts of it on a piece of black poster board on an angle. I then very gently blow on the dirt, making the lighter stuff blow away and letting the gold stay. I usually have to go through the dirt several times to get all the gold out.

 

[B H Prospector]

Hi Hunter,
I'm fortunate enough to live in gold country and find gold on my claims every time out so I collect alot of cons during the year. I will pan the cons at the end of each day using a safety pan and put the larger gold from panning in a vile. Then I take the cons from the safety pan home and dry them out. I remove the magnatite and then stor the cons in buckets until fall. Then I proccess them further to run in a blue bowl to get the flour and micro gold. This works quite well for me and I can use the blue bowl indoors.
As for finding a place for gold join a club in your state or the GPAA. They probably have a chapter in your state. That will give you places to go where gold has been found.

Good Luck!

B H Prospector

 

[Bucketfreak68]

I know this is likely a bit late hunter_46356 I got this on March first out of about three and a half gallons of classified material I took as a sample here in Indiana this is just half of what was in it as I wasn't alone that day

 

[rc2125]

Here is a pic of what I commonly find in northern IN & southern MI



Just about any creek around. Most pieces are so small you can barely see them sometimes. It's a real trick collecting the pieces. I sniff them up with a sniffer bottle, then deposit all that onto a cheap paper plate and let dry. Once dry, sort thru black sand/etc using a magnifying loop. Wet the tip of a toothpick, touch the piece of gold and dip it in the glass vial to retain it. 10,000 more pieces and I might have an ounce