I have the fever....but not the location....Im in Minnesota!

bottlecap

bottlecap

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Feb 22, 2014
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West Metro, Mn
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I have the fever....but not the location....I'm in Minnesota!

Hi guys I have gold fever....bad. I recently went to a gold and treasure show here in Mn and bought a bag of pay dirt, a pan and a couple classifiers, I have panned most of the bag and gotten some great gold out of it, I am hooked for sure. I have been kicking around the idea of diving into this hobby for quite a while and I think it's time to try my hand. After talking to some of the folks at the treasure show I know there's gold in Mn for sure but it seems to be pretty fine gold. Has anyone heard of people finding any flake type gold around here? I would think there has to be a chance that not everything is flour gold but maybe I am just being too optimistic, I am not talking about finding nuggets or anything, just stuff you can see without a microscope.
Doing that first pan and at the end swirling that last bit of dirt and seeing all of that warm colored gold smiling at me in the corner, I can't get enough! The pay dirt I bought was from Alaska so it's really good stuff, I just thought it would be good first time practice and it was.
Also what do you folks recommend for retrieving the really fine gold? I have read a lot of threads on here about it and everyone seems to have a different opinion. I am extremely grateful to any of you that reply and take the time to read this! Thanks!
 

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Granted most of what you find here in Minnesota is flour, occasionally you will find a few flakes and possibly a picker. If I can figure out how to post a picture I'll show ya. Good luck to ya.
 

Flakes
 

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bottlecap said:
Hi guys I have gold fever....bad.

your not the only one. LOL

Also what do you folks recommend for retrieving the really fine gold?

Fine it first.

I have read a lot of threads on here about it and everyone seems to have a different opinion.

Its not realy different opinions Its different ground what the guys and gals have out west is not what you and I will find and what you will fine will be different from what I find. I have heavy black sand you may not. you need to get out and see what the ground is going to show you whats there. The ground can change foot to foot or inch to inch. Your going to need to move lots of rock and sand. I say join a club by you. and dont trespass talk to land owners some will some wont let you on there place.

I am extremely grateful to any of you that reply and take the time to read this! Thanks!
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my service droped out on me look above in box for my reply

Hope it helps

Bill
 

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Recovering fine gold is no different than any other type of gold. The main trick is to get everything classified to the same size. Gold is 19X heavier than water, black sands come in at about 9-10X and regular sand is about 3X. By having everything at the same size, the gold is going to want to stay in one place while the water flow moves the lighter stuff. This is true if you're using a pan or a sluice.

One reason you've got mostly fine stuff where you're at is because of the ice age glaciers than came through way back when. They pushed a lot of gold south as they moved but they also ground it up as they dragged it across the bedrock. If you can happen to find a terminal moraine to dig in, you should be able to find more of the larger stuff.
 

24k gold is 19.3 times heavier than water but gold in nature is not 24k. 22k gold is 17.3 times heavier than water. 18k gold is 15.5 times heavier than water. Black sands (magnetite, hematite ect) are about 5 times heavier than water.

There are numerous ways to separate the gold from the sands. Search the forum and you can decide which method suits you.

Good Luck!
 

Thank you all for your replies!!! Think it may be time to hit a river and see what I come up with. Assuming people look for rockier gravel type rivers than the soft bottom creeks.
 

bottlecap said:
Thank you all for your replies!!! Think it may be time to hit a river and see what I come up with. Assuming people look for rockier gravel type rivers than the soft bottom creeks.
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Some random thoughts. Hard bottomed creeks are probably a good bet (especially if they cut some glacial deposits). The heavies and gold have a better chance of more less concentrating in likely spots in them. Upper midwest sand and gravel pits often have glacial gold and these are often from glacial deposits. Also check these out if you have not already. https://www.google.com/webhp?source...&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=gold prospecting minnesota
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=gold+prospecting+wisconsin

Good luck and welcome to the forum.
 

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arizau said:
Some random thoughts. Hard bottomed creeks are probably a good bet (especially if they cut some glacial deposits). The heavies and gold have a better chance of more less concentrating in likely spots in them. Upper midwest sand and gravel pits often have glacial gold and these are often from glacial deposits. Also check these out if you have not already. https://www.google.com/webhp?source...&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=gold prospecting minnesota
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=gold+prospecting+wisconsin

Good luck and welcome to the forum.
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I will try locating something tomorrow to do a little test panning on, some of the closer creeks to me are soft bottom kind of mucky, the Mississippi river isn't far I guess but was hoping to find a smaller body of water to try.
 

A little local creek can be great if it runs thru glacial till...even a creek a few feet wide can do the job of concentrating gold for you!
 

This was taken from a gravel pit in Minnesota. No idea weight and how many yards of material ran.
 

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bottlecap said:
Wow very nice! Would assume that came from up north somewhere.
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No reason to assume that as the glaciers covered your whole state and got South into Iowa several times. The best spots might be the terminal moraines in fact.
 

goldenIrishman said:
Also remember that it might be fine/small gold, but it ALL adds up!
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Heck ya it does! Gold absolutely intrigues me, I can't believe how heavy it is. When transferring even the tiny pieces into the vile they drop through the water at light speed. I was hoping to get out today but completely screwed up my schedule, thought I had all afternoon but forgot about kid stuff, should have a few hours tomorrow, checking a river that no one in my state club I am aware of has checked yet, sure sometime in history people have given it a shot but have a feeling I will come up empty. I feel I was a bit spoiled with the bag of dirt I purchased from Alaska.
 

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