Gold prospecting in South Carolina

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Greenie
Dec 20, 2012
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Hey fellow prospectors and treasure hunters. I started this thread to see what people had to say about gold still in South Carolina. I aq'uired a small tract of land in Smyrna, York County. Land has been untouched since the California rush (except the little old lady that lived there since 1912). Basically I'm wondering has anyone ever picked up a nug in SC. I understand that it would be rare and would be quartz, not like a nug found in the west. If anyone knows of the Dixon Mine, Martin Mine, Horn Mine, or Southern Gold Mine which all closed in 1939 I think by Roosevelt because of the war. I'm near there. They were pulling some good size nugs from the myths. So let me know of your stories of gold found in SC.

Using a White's GMT. So far about 20 hrs. prospecting. Digging everything under 85% iron somtimes I dig targets anyway off of fence lines. Slow going lots of nails and .22 cal. bullets in rocky soil. Found a few buttons with no markings and some worn down axe heads about 14" down under large roots. Makes you wonder what happened to make someone be so careless with such a valuable asset of the time. I'm going to search it all of course, consentrating on the tickest areas of the forest first since the leaves are down and try to hit as many ridges and hillsides before summer slows things even worse. I'm detecting the area first then I'll dig some prostpecting pits. What gold have you guys seen in SC?
 

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behappyjason said:
Got down to bedrock today in new spot on the stream and got about the same maybe a little more gold. The bedrock is shale and hard to get with out a dredge because of the loose sand filling in the hole. But with it being about the same in a the different spots then it has to mean there's a lode deposit some where close by.

What u think?


Jason
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That is possible but not always the case! Due to the eroding of the mountains, eroding of Gold bearing rocks and due to some decomposition, Placer Gold has been flowing through most of the streams in your location for thousands upon thousands of years. During that time, the Gold has been deposited, washed away and more Gold deposited as it continues to flow from the sources, and there could be many sources. If the stream is open and free for you to prospect it's length, you can follow it upstream, stopping to pan ever 30 yards are so, to see if you can find the source. Sometimes you can find the source and sometimes not as it may be well covered by rock, sediments and even rock or mudslides. If you try to find the source and you get to a point where there is no more Gold in the stream, then you have passed the source or where it is entering the stream from another stream or creek. Just back track, panning every 10 yards or so, until you start getting Gold again. Once you do, then pan every few yards until you find where it is entering the stream.


Frank
 

huntsman53 said:
That is possible but not always the case! Due to the eroding of the mountains, eroding of Gold bearing rocks and due to some decomposition, Placer Gold has been flowing through most of the streams in your location for thousands upon thousands of years. During that time, the Gold has been deposited, washed away and more Gold deposited as it continues to flow from the sources, and there could be many sources. If the stream is open and free for you to prospect it's length, you can follow it upstream, stopping to pan ever 30 yards are so, to see if you can find the source. Sometimes you can find the source and sometimes not as it may be well covered by rock, sediments and even rock or mudslides. If you try to find the source and you get to a point where there is no more Gold in the stream, then you have passed the source or where it is entering the stream from another stream or creek. Just back track, panning every 10 yards or so, until you start getting Gold again. Once you do, then pan every few yards until you find where it is entering the stream.

Frank
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Here is a picture of the stream. It barely has enough water to run a small sluice. I don't have access to the upper part of it. But the gold is below a layer of clay. Basically it's packed clay, loose sand and gravel then the clay with gold on top of the bedrock.

Thanks for ur help and hope this draws a better picture. I think I'm going to hit thermal city up in a few weeks with the boys

Later
Jason
 

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I have done some panning and hand sluicing and run somebody else's dredge for a day on the Rappahannock in Virginia and found a little gold.
I am not an expert but not knowing any more about your experience I would say you are probably not digging deep enough or are not working the low pressure areas of your creek.
Gold tends to settle onto the top of the bedrock under the sand in creeks and rivers. Also if you can find a crack in the rock at the bottom of your creek, work it as hard as you can. Don't shy away from breaking the crack open because sometimes cracks are small at the surface and larger underneath. Gold is often found in cracks at the bottom of a stream. A suction dredge is really nice for working a stream bed since you can vacuum up whatever is down there. They are a bit expensive but if you have a creek on your own land that you can prospect without fear, you really ought to try to find somebody who has a dredge to come out and explore it for/with you before you invest in one of your own. If you have large rocks in your creek, roll them over and pan what's under them.
Another thing you can try is if you get into sand or mud that you think probably has gold in it, dig it at the site and take a few 5 gallon buckets of mud home with you and pan it at home where you can take your time and run the material several times. You are not likely to find anything big enough that you can pick up, but even tiny flakes would get me excited. One other thing I can tell you is finding gold in a creek is a lot of work but its like fishing, the more you do it, the more you are likely to find.
Another thing to look for is black sand. if you are not finding black sand you won't likely find any gold either.
 

huntsman53 said:
In the creeks, you really need to get down to the aluvial gravels and rocks (ancient stream bed) and down to bedrock. While the creek bed will likely contain powder and flake Gold as you dig deeper and deeper, you will encounter the bigger Gold in the aluvial gravels and rocks and down on top of the bedrock. If you encounter any clay layers that are whitish and/or greyish and/or bluish in color as you dig deeper, make sure to process as much of this as possible as it will contain nice powder and flake Gold and possibly some small pickers. These clay layers in NC, SC and GA are often lined with oranges, reds and almost brown colors due to intrusion of red clays and other soils that are nearby which often get mixed into the clays during heavy rain events.

As far as finding Gold in the rock layers on your' land. The Gold in these rocks as well as in Black Sand, are often chemically bonded to the host rocks and Black Sand and you must first release the Gold from the host rocks. Dig some of these rocks up, crush them into powder, roast the powder in a large iron skillet or pot, then after it cools, pan the powder in a Gold Pan to see if there is any Gold. There are also chemical means of getting the Gold from the powder but some of these are expensive and dangerous. A lot of Gold in these areas of SC and NC are in the slate/shale layers and some Quartz veins that are fairly deep. However, if the Quartz and slate/shale layers are closer to the surface on your' property, then these are the rocks that you really want to excavate and process by the same method as above!

Good luck!

Frank
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Thank you frank. This company says there is a 150m×250m lode deposit 100m to the north east of me. It is all up hill for 700 m to there large deposit they plan to mine In The coming years . They are not coming across the county line, for what we presume, is greedy county politics. If I were to show you the site,and my location, do you think you could give me a better opinion?
 

behappyjason said:
Here is a picture of the stream. It barely has enough water to run a small sluice. I don't have access to the upper part of it. But the gold is below a layer of clay. Basically it's packed clay, loose sand and gravel then the clay with gold on top of the bedrock.

Thanks for ur help and hope this draws a better picture. I think I'm going to hit thermal city up in a few weeks with the boys

Later
Jason
Click to expand...

Maybe we should make a day for you to come sluice and pan this creek. It is 4 feet deep and 5-10 feet wide . About 30 feet of ancient creek bed thats 2 feet shallower and no longer containing water. The water however is only 3-6 inches deep and 1-3 feet wide.but we have a couple few hundred feet of it. (I really need to get some pics in here) .
Mick
 

I live in Greenville and stumble upon this thread by searching for places to gold pan. I have been to Thermal City for some panning, found some small pieces but was hoping to find somewhere a little closer, maybe within an hour drive, to pan at. I'm still new to the game and only have been gold panning (no machinery) and would love to learn more about the process and more places to pan.

I know Oconee county is supposed to have some gold. Are there any camp sites by the river, or specific pull-offs by the river that it is definitely legal to pan from? I'm originally from Virginia and am having a difficult time learning the ropes to finding new spots in SC. Thank you for any help!
 

Can't help u but I know foothills gold could probably help his name is Doug and he is up in that area. I'm south in kershaw and don't get up that way much.

Good luck
Jason
 

Today's prospecting is this quartz vien that's highly mineralized and bad thing is. It's in the front yard.
 

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Lol. Keep it neat and theyll never know. Too deep and I hear the army core of engineers will show up.
 

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Nice. That creek looks like it has potential and it has good water flow. Looks like a nice bit of bedrock pushed up there to.
 

definitately hiding in host rock geothermal and hydrothrmal sugestes sulfide ore bodys it will proably microscopic gold that will be mined and best chances of sizable gold will be at the margins of that anamoly if at all but if you have a stream there chances are good that there is gold in it but would likley be small flakes and flour for sideshowmick regarding that anamoly you spoke of
 

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a lot of work equals a little gold but it only takes a little
 

Close up of the gold I'm finding in the stream it's about 70x zoom
 

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