Im finding everything but the gold (ohio)....please help

[surfin]

Hello,
This week I went over to Licking County Ohio and shoveled up some light clay and gravel from behind some boulders in a small creek. Brought home approx 10 gallons of sand and gravel for a test run and found alot of black sand, garnets, quartz and crystals.

I found no gold although I have suspicion that the black snd has minute traces of super fine gold in it.

My question is: Am I in the right area if I am finding all of these things and does it warrent another test dig?

Surfin

 

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[Jagdpanther]

Sounds like you're in a good area. Never a sure thing but you have a lot of indicators. Try going deeper and see if you can get down to bedrock. You might also try moving up stream and test pan as you go.

Good luck!!

 

[surfin]

I found some areas that you could see the gravel in the bank where it is starting to wash away. I have to think its there waiting to be dug out. With the amount of black sand I found there I think I need to go on back.

Surfin

 

[EggyOG]

Ohio = glacial gold.
The gold is most likely in your pan, you're just looking for something that is a lot bigger than the gold you have available to find. In most cases, unless you happen to be at a terminal moraine from the glacier that pushed farthest south in your area, the gold you are looking for is probably somewhere between 2 and 50 specks that area each probably about 1/8 the size of a grain of sand. That is the reality of glacial gold in the midwest for most areas.
Now for the good news, there are clubs in Ohio that have access to some of the areas where slightly larger gold has been found. Seek them out and join one of them. You don't have enough gold in Ohio to learn how to prospect without some help.

 

[surfin]

Thanks,
I plan on joining the GPAA next week. I found their 3 claims here.

Surfin

 

[AZ-Mtnman]

I hate to burst your bubble, but, the only indicator of gold you mentioned is the black sand. There is an old saying, wherever there is gold, there will be black sand, but not necessarily will there be gold with the black sand. There is a wash across the valley from where I live that has black sands three feet thick, but not one piece of gold. A ton of silver, but no gold. Quartz? Maybe at best. You have to remember that of every rock and mineral on the earth, quartz is the most common, so that doesn't tell you much without other signs. Garnets? No help. They are cool to find, tho. Crystals actually tell you the opposite of good. Gold and crystals don't form in the same zones, usually (I put this in here since I've seen the same pics someone will post to say it isn't true, but it's rarer than hen's teeth), so I wouldn't trust that, either. If you'd like a real opinion on what you've found, pan out a sample, dry it out and post a macro pic of your cons. We might be able to help you out then. I'm not saying there isn't any gold in OH, there is. I've found gold in OH, WV, KY, TN, IN, IL, MO, MI, WI, MN, KS, and NE. There are more spots than that, but that's where I've hunted in the midwest. From what you're saying and the gold is that fine, you'd be better off using a leaching solution on it than trying gravity recovery, but that is a whole different ball of wax. I wish you the best. Hope to hear from you soon.

Randy

 

[EggyOG]

AZ,
The zones things form in has almost nothing to do with placer gold in the Midwestern states that have been scraped clean by glaciers several times over the last few hundred thousand years. We have glacial till in my local area from Minnesota, Michigan, Ontario, Northern Wisconsin, and Manitoba.
The glacial retreats and advances have mixed up all this material several times over, so the only true indicator we have is specific gravity. Black sand, garnets, and lead shot are the three best indicators we have that we are in an area that the glacial washes have concentrated heavy material. Most areas have no rivers that are over 9,000 years old and our bedrock is often under over 100 feet of till.

 

[AZ-Mtnman]

I hear what you're saying, Eggy, and didn't mean it to sound like there are regular hard rock deposits there. All I was getting at is that there are certain trace minerals that have a higher specific gravity than quartz, garnets, or crystals and are found in gold deposits, so they should have been moved with the gold and should occur in the same placer deposit. Personally, I wouldn't count garnets as being in that group since they only have a specific gravity of 3.5-4.3. If you do some research on the areas of Canada where that got moved from you'll find that alot of the deposits there share the same trace minerals. If there is mention of one of the Diorites (there should be) and you learn to recognize it, then that will save you some time while you're out there. Just trying to help you get the most bang for your buck.

Randy

 

[Lookin]

Surfin,

Check out the Ohio State Prospectors Association, also. Their website is www.ohiostateprospectors.com and they have at least one lease, are aquiring other leases/claims, and can help you out with what you are finding (or not finding).

Good luck!

Looking

 

[surfin]

Yes, I plan to join when I get paid this week. I am having trouble getting the fiance to sign off on this. I am going back out tommarrow and I know it would only take one flake to sell her. Any how its a good bonding tool for her 8yo son and myself. Also I think every kid need to go out and shovel dirt so they can understand why its so important to go to college.

I am going to spend more time looking for just the right spot to get my dirt from. And worst case I will just buy some gold and through it in there and make sure Jen pans it out.

Surfin

 

[Lookin]

Surfin',

I was going to email you some pictures of more OH gold, but couldn't find your address. At any rate, here's some gold and other metal I found (lead) the last time I went out up in OH. Hope you find some, too!

Lookin'

 

[AU Seeker]

Surfin,
You said,
Quote:
"Brought home approx 10 gallons of sand and gravel for a test run and found alot of black sand, garnets, quartz and crystals."

Are you just digging buckets of material and taking them home, or are you classifying before taking the materials home?

I ask this question because as mentioned the gold in Ohio is glacial gold and most if not all is really fine, if you are not classifying you are taking way to much "over burden" or the larger material home, if you classify down to at least 1/4" you will be taking home MORE of the possible gold bearing materials, you can look through the material that you are classifying out for possible gold nuggets and pretty rocks rather fast, before you toss them back to mother nature.

After getting the classified material home you should classify it down even more, you can pan fine gold, but it take patients, to pan fine gold successfully you need to have "all" of the material in your pan the same size as the gold, this means that if the gold that you find is 100 mesh then you need to classify down to say 80 mesh, this will take everything that is bigger out of the mix, the reason you need to do this is because, if you have "other" materials that has a specific gravity of 3 and it is 10x bigger than the gold which has a specific gravity of 19.32, the other material will be heavier then the gold thus the gold will move in your pan as easy as the other material and you will lose it.

You can make you own classifiers out of 1/4 hardware cloth, metal window screen, tea strainers, etc., or you can buy them.


I wish you luck on finding that "yellar gold", and don't give up on the fiancee, just get her out with you and enjoy each other and the outdoors first, make it a family outing/picnic, fun in the water and then find gold together!!!


Skip

 

[surfin]

Thanks guys,

I did find some gold last thursday. (i work add days of the week) I was pretty nice and best yet it showed up in Masons pan. An 8 year old finding gold is exciting to watch.


anyhow thanks for the info and pics keeps sending ideas.......

AU Seeker-
Yes I bring home way to much. I classify it down to about 1/4 inch maybe more and I dont mind bringing it home because the pebbles look good in my entrence gardens. I want to buy a sluice but funds are tight right now. Im going for the Pea gravel look out front.

And it wont have any of that pesky gold in it.......you know how that can ruin an entrence.

Surfin