Help am I deep Enough?

[mountainman22]

I have been out to a spot a lot lately sluicing and panning. Everytime I go I dig for hours, sluice, and bring my cons home. Its a river and I dig the gravel bars up on high water mark area but only usually have time to go about 3 feet deep. I find tiny amounts of gold specks, like literal dust. Does that mean if I dig deeper will I find pickers/flakes because they are heavier?

 

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[Aurabbit79er]

Well, Wecome to TNet .
You, as I, will find out that this is a great place to get mining questions answered, and find like minded folk to share your mining experiences with.
I think I my have an answer for you.
Can I ask you some basic location questions first?
How far is the gravel bench from the river?
Is it under a real big rock?
Do you hit water at the bottom?
Is the bench on the bend of the river?
Inside or outside the Bend?
Sandy or silty, or fine to large gravel?

 

[mountainman22]

The gravel bench is about 15 feet from the active rivers edge. No not under a big rock. I did get fill in or maybe the water table fill the bottom five inches of my hole. It is inside a slight bend with large sandy gravel where I dug.

 

[Aurabbit79er]

The gravel bench is about 15 feet from the active rivers edge. No not under a big rock. I did get fill in or maybe the water table fill the bottom five inches of my hole. It is inside a slight bend with large sandy gravel where I dug.

OK, good info.
Sounds like you are digging in a high water flood deposit. The gold you described is typical for that type of zone.
Without knowing the river I can only tell you some basic understandings.
The bigger the rock the better the gold.
Gold follows the gut of the river. The gut is the center of the main water flow during the peak of the flood.
The river rearranges the loose material and as the flood starts to slow the gold stops and is buried.
This is why underwater dredging is so popular.
The heavy gold stops first.
The High banks of a river may have been in the rivers gut in the ancient past and hold good gold.
If you are in a river valley and the valley walls have river rounded rocks exposed the is a good chance there is gold there.

Miners say Gold is where you find it, but it aint always where you look.
I live in So California. I do most of my mining at the San Gabriel East Fork River.
Good gold there. Not always easy to find, but worth looking for.

 

[Aurabbit79er]

I looked at your profile, then found this for your area.

CO BLM | Royal Gorge Field Office | Minerals | Placer Mining

Look up mining clubs in your area that go on mining outings in your area.
I personally recommend the GPAA.
Nationwide, Local chapters, Outings, Treasure Shows, Claims Guide w/ unlimited access $67.50 a year.
I started 1995. They have an Alaska Expedition every year.
I'm only one member, lot of miners here. lots of experience.

 

[Jason in Enid]

If you aren't getting to bedrock, you will never know.

 

[mountainman22]

Thanks a bunch aurabbit! By the way I love your set up in that photo! I just was informed of the gpaa and gpoc, so I am going to join one or the other. I will probably move up mor to were you describe. One thing that is frustratuing me is how do I know bedrock from gravel Whats the difference?

 

[Aurabbit79er]

You need a rock drill and explosives to dig up bedrock.
It is what stops the gold from going down any further.
It's where much gold is found.
It supports the river bed.
Exposed bedrock in and around the river is good to dig along and dig out and break the cracks and find trapped nuggets.