I DIG AND DIG BUT NOTHING!!!!

Coin Head

Jr. Member
Jan 20, 2015
25
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North Carolina
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Tecknetics Delta
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Sure sounds like digging in the wrong spot.
 

This post is cross-posted on your other Thread on the same subject!

Other than using a (I guess you mean) trackhoe to dig 20 foot deep holes in hopes of finding Gold, what else are you doing? Are you panning, highbanking, dredging or what? As Kevin stated, you might be digging in the wrong spot. However, you could be digging in the right or a good spot but have not got into the trapped Gold. While there is some Placer Gold that eroded out of rock layers in your area, a lot of the Gold there is still in Quartz veins in the Slate layers that you may be digging down to. If you can dig down and remove several feet or more of the Slate layer, do so, then examine it for visible Quartz and Gold. If none is seen, you should still crush the removed rocks, and pan the material to see if there is any Gold. Do keep in mind that you could dig a few holes and not find Gold but 10 to 20 feet in another direction, you could dig and find Gold. Also, if you happen to dig through a Slate layer and find large, medium and small cobbles (stones), then take some test samples from this material as you may have exposed an ancient Tertiary stream loaded with Placer Gold. There is or was a pay mine not too far from you that has some Placer Gold in the stream there but the real Gold was in Quartz in the Slate layer deeper down. The owner figured this out and when I was last there, they were getting a lot of Gold. Below, I have included a .jpg file showing the Carolina Gold Slate Belt.


Frank

P.S. You only need to post one Thread in one Forum to get help or answers.

SlateBelt.jpg
 

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If you don't see heavier stuff (rocks) on the bottom layer, your likely not going to see anything at all. You might however find some glacial fine gold inbetween the different layers if you can't find anything on bedrock. Also remember that area has been worked to death many times over, you could just be working overburden that's been stripped and dumped multiple times.
 

Try 6" to the left and keep digging!
 

If you don't see heavier stuff (rocks) on the bottom layer, your likely not going to see anything at all. You might however find some glacial fine gold inbetween the different layers if you can't find anything on bedrock. Also remember that area has been worked to death many times over, you could just be working overburden that's been stripped and dumped multiple times.

There are a few points that you need to understand about North Carolina and past Gold Mining in the State that you may not be familiar with! One, North Carolina saw little if any Glacial drift due to the way it was formed and since most of the Gold in the Carolina Slate Belt and upstream were/are deeper deposits, there was probably little if any Gold brought down into the O.P.'s area by Glaciers. Two, some Placer Gold was likely deposited in the O.P's area by the collapse and erosion of the mountains to the West (which were once 5 to 6 mile high Volcanoes) and some eroded out in the O.P.'s area over the many millions of years since it was deposited in Slate/Quartz layers and other rocks. However, most of the Gold finds and mines in the O.P.'s area of North Carolina were/are via underground and deeper surface mines due to the Gold being deeper down. Three, with the exception of the Uwharrie Mountains, much of Central North Carolina to the coast is mostly flat with rolling hills and a few higher ridges and thus was not as well as could not be mined in the same manner as areas in the West which you are familiar with.


Frank
 

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There are a few points that you need to understand about North Carolina and past Gold Mining in the State that you may not be familiar with! One, North Carolina saw little if any Glacial drift due to the way it was formed and since most of the Gold in the Carolina Slate Belt and upstream were/are deeper deposits, there was probably little if any Gold brought down into the O.P.'s area by Glaciers. Two, some Placer Gold was likely deposited in the O.P's area by the collapse and erosion of the mountains to the West (which were once 5 to 6 mile high Volcanoes) and some eroded out in the O.P.'s area over the many millions of years since it was deposited in Slate/Quartz layers and other rocks. However, most of the Gold finds and mines in the O.P.'s area of North Carolina were/are via underground and deeper surface mines due to the Gold being deeper down. Three, with the exception of the Uwharrie Mountains, much of Central North Carolina to the coast is mostly flat with rolling hills and a few higher ridges and thus was not as well as could not be mined in the same manner as areas in the West which you are familiar with.

Frank

Frank,
Could you provide an overview similar to this for Missouri?
I reside in Hannibal, MO. Its on the eastern edge on the Mississippi river 90 miles north of STL.
My research shows the terminal moraine ending at or above the Missouri river. Wouldn't deposits be concentrated at the terminal moraine and scattered northward?
And, wouldn't placed to look northward be smaller streambeds with exposed bedrock, cracks, cutbanks?

Thank you in advance.
Tim
 

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