how can you tell paygravel from useless gravel

[Teenagegoldminer]

ive been testing lots of different gravel and found little to nothing ( i live in Georgia by the way) how can I tell gold bearing gravel from worthless rocks?

thanks for the help and good luck to everyone this spring when its finally warm enough to prospect here in Georgia

 

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[rocme44]

Pay dirt has gold in it, or at least I hope it does.
Good luck.

 

[Peyton Manning]

shazam he beat me to it

 

[Lotus Geologist]

It's called "prospecting" and not "finding gold" for a reason.

If you could figure out a way to know, for certain, that various gravels contain gold without testing them (i.e., without prospecting), you would be a very rich teenager and will have accomplished something never before done in the history of mining.

L.G.

 

[Cariboo5]

Check into where the local gold mining companies are doing well. They are staying there for a reason. From that if you can find government information on the history of the area it usually contains reports on the type of ground such as rocks, gravel etc. that gold is associated with in your area. From this knowledge you will be able to recognize the ground which will save a lot of time wasted, how ever this does not mean you will find gold all the time.......

The following is an example from government reports in my area that has helped me to know what I'm looking for that has a good chance of containing gold.....Hope this helps some..

　 "Terrace deposits are dominated by imbricated, moderately to well stratified and sorted, pebble to small-cobble gravels with interbedded sand lenses, of fluvial channel and bar origin. Gold generally is distributed throughout the gravels, but may be concentrated in specific facies such as bar-head and channel-lag gravels. Other deposits such as overbank sand facies generally have low gold concentrations."

 

[B H Prospector]

I will make the assumption and say welcome to the net young man. No. 1 where is the gravel coming from? Are you sampling where gold is likely to be in the creek? Are your samples from the inside bend or outside bend? Are you sampling exposed bedrock? Around large boulders and other obstructions, or are your samples from the center of the creek bed? You can read all the government reports you want but that isn't going to tell you the quality of the gravel and if gold is in it. Only sampling , or as Lotus said, prospecting can tell you that. Reports only tell you if gold has been found in your geographical area and what geology is involved like granite or other rock formations. Learn where gold is likely to settle and check those areas. I already mentioned several. Also check high benches where the creek channal changed and left gravel beds behind and gravel left on the banks by floods. The more in the field experiance you get the easier it will become.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector

 

[Teenagegoldminer]

ive checked all of the following, bedrock gravel, gravel bars, erosions curve gravel. still little more than one micron flake

 

[B H Prospector]

ive checked all of the following, bedrock gravel, gravel bars, erosions curve gravel. still little more than one micron flake

That young sir is why it is called prospecting. It would be called sure thing if it was easy. There are some who go along time before finding anything of substance. Don't give up. Your tenacity will pay off.

 

[NuggetN8]

ive checked all of the following, bedrock gravel, gravel bars, erosions curve gravel. still little more than one micron flake

You might need to look into a new location if you've tried everything you can try. Only one way to know if gravel is pay gravel. Pan it out. Good luck! You'll hit it eventually. Finding a little creek that's really close to bedrock and has gold can pay off well. That way you can just run everything and don't have to make educated guesses.

 

[johnnysau]

If you've got the yearn to learn, here is a roadmap to different rock types for Georgia, find where gold has been found before, click on the area rock type (lithology) comes up. RESEARCH - your generation has all the tools to make it much easier.

http://mrdata.usgs.gov/sgmc/ga.html

johnnysau

 

[kazcoro]

ive checked all of the following, bedrock gravel, gravel bars, erosions curve gravel. still little more than one micron flake

Move upstream, or to another river altogether.

 

[goldenIrishman]

I would be checking the deposit curve (inside). Erosion curves (outside) are faster moving water and less likely to have much if any gold.

 

[mxer47]

Dig deeper, gold travels along the bottom of the river during flood stage. The lighter materials are deposited on top of it. Generally you will find tightly packed gravel on top, bedrock below, gold in between.

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Good luck to ya Ga teenminer!
I fell in the thread, cause I'm trying to decide on pea-gravel and/or 57 stone.
I think we're talking bout 2 different things.

Anywhoooo, good luck and

 

[kevin1]

1) Which part of Georgia are you working in?
2) Are you working within the Dahlonega Belt?
3) Have you found any black sand or garnets?

 

[Lanny in AB]

Have you researched what the size of the gold is that was found in your current prospecting area? For example, if it's micron gold (flour gold) it's going to stay up high in the bars. It's going to waste a lot of your effort to dig down deep to find where the "pay" layer is in the gravel bar. Flour gold likes to drop out where there are fist-sized rocks or larger. It will be deposited in the top six inches generally.

As has been mentioned earlier, there are certain indicator minerals and rocks that run with the gold: black sand, garnets, ironstone (magnetite, hematite). When you find them you'll be close to the gold: to the right of it, to the left of it, slightly above it, or if there's no gold, you'll have a nice collection of black sand and garnets.

If the gold is coarse (good flakes to nuggets) that's when you'll want to dig down to hit bedrock or a solid clay layer (or some other solid layer that won't let the gold pass through) to look for the bigger gold. If the gold is coarse, the size of the rocks you'll be looking for will change as well. Where coarse gold drops out (in runs or bars), the rocks will be watermelon sized or larger. Bigger rocks and bigger gold really like to travel together.

There's lots more to it than that, but that will get you started.

Read all you can. Visit as many online sites as you can to read and ask questions. (If you want to, you can pop over to my main thread to read some tips on chasing the gold: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html

Welcome to the forum and welcome to the passion.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Teenagegoldminer]

im working in forsyth county and yes i found plenty of black sand and garnets i figured out the creeks where i live have been disturbed or are artificial because forsyth county is so populated so im going to simply look for a spot in forsyth county or a nearby county thats a mile or 2 away from any development

 

[cazisme]

It be the gravel that have gold flakes and nuggets in it.

 

[kevin1]

im working in forsyth county and yes i found plenty of black sand and garnets i figured out the creeks where i live have been disturbed or are artificial because forsyth county is so populated so im going to simply look for a spot in forsyth county or a nearby county thats a mile or 2 away from any development

Have you sought the original locations of the disturbed creeks? Their original course would be where the gold was. Forsyth County is well within the Dahlonega Belt, seek out smaller streams as they are more likely to have been overlooked by other prospectors. Those located on private land that only you can access will be worth their weight in...well, you know.

 

[Professional Miner]

Welcome to TN, TeenageGoldMiner..`

You are following in my foot step, step by step...It took me several years to learn,...I'm kind of hard headed...I've learned over the last 45 years of prospecting and mining that success or failure of a prospecting tip rides primarily on the before trip research...then once you've don he research, comes the persistent labor of doing the real prospecting...the other unknown part of the equation....how hard you really willing to work at it...

First, pick an area you want prospect...not breaking out the big equipment mind you, just prospect....look at libraries, read local stories, old USGS reports and bulletins for that area, talk to "old Timers"...learn where the old timers were successful and were they were not....if that information falls within your selected area...then plan a trip....AND...over time....with lots of trips and lots of prospecting, you'll eventually get a "feel" for the right things to look for and what not to look for...and as you progress into a seasoned prospector, your trips will become more successful...

Remember one thing...GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT....meaning you'll be surprised now and then where gold will pop up...Save those trips to areas with very little information from past operations or history....Do a trip to those areas after you've had some good success in areas of known gold production...

Good luck...don't give up... keep going...your pan will shine with gold sooner than you think...

Professional Miner...