More Gold: 4 Pieces This Time

[nuggeteer]

Hi everyone,
This week I did what l usually do: biking, hiking, climbing, crawling, detecting for gold. Several of the sites I discovered turned out to be natural erosion rather than workings, but it was all a good lesson. I explored a lot of wilderness and wound up in some pretty awesome places. I have to say, these mountains are magical.
The first area was a dry wash uphill from an expanse of sluice tailings from circa 1849-1850. Rounded cobbles strewn atop a beige metamorphosed bedrock led me to the impression that it had been an ancient waterway. However, upon closer scrutiny I noticed that some sections of the bedrock were weathering spheroidally, leaving only the appearance of water transport when, in fact, the cobbles hadn't traveled far at all. I didn't get any gold, but I did find a projectile point and a nice quartz crystal... I left these in place.
The second area was a bank of red sediment that was ground sluiced in 1849-1850. After a few hours of nothing, I moved a rock about the size of my head and got a strong signal beneath. About 4 inches into the yellow clay I uncovered a lumpy square piece of gold. I headed up a nearby gulch, but upon the sixth pile of bear droppings I decided to head out.
The third area was a seasonal creek that was the setting of much conflict between Chinese and non-Chinese miners in the 1850's. While detecting I spotted a dredge pool with a single largemouth bass. A couple of months ago I grabbed a rainbow trout out of a similar pool and successfully carried it a good length to running water. Tempted to try it again with this bass I deliberated for a bit, but concluded that the terrain was just too rough.
The fourth area was a flat enriched by gold-bearing quartz veins of a nearby mountain that was mined in the 1860's. After pushing some gravel around I got a hit. The bedrock was shallow, so I got down and blew the dust away until only a little piece of gold remained, in-situ. In the distance, a mid-afternoon whirlwind kicked up and danced. These were a regular sight in Arizona but this was the first I've seen since moving to Northern California... so I dropped my detector and ran into it. For the rest of the day I raked the gravels and by sunset I had two more pieces.

Below: magic land, first area, projectile point, quartz crystal, second area, third area, largemouth, fourth area, gold in-situ, the gold

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[Aufisher]

Way to go! You're on fire!

 

[pannerman]

I would be happy with a little piece of that little piece... Nice job!

 

[goldchaser3]

Nice, Nuggeteer! I saw a guy on a bike this weekend pulling a little trailer behind him near the north fork of the American River. Thought it may have been you. But since there isn't any smoke in your pics, couldn't have been you. (There's a big fire (still) going on near Foresthill - 16,000 acres, 60% contained)

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

WTG Nuggeteer... you're putting together an impressive collection of handsome gold nuggets.

Did you notice where those areas ground-balanced and / or your Fe3O4 bar graph readouts? Would it be fair to say that most such nuggets have been found at shallow depths of a few inches generally, or right on bedrock? Thanks again for an informative and interesting presentation... the photos are just excellent.

Jim.

 

[DesertNuggets]

Always enjoy reading about your adventures. Keep up the good work!

 

[Tnmountains]

Nice gold! That bifurcate base is very old as well. Beautiful country!

 

[nuggeteer]

Nice, Nuggeteer! I saw a guy on a bike this weekend pulling a little trailer behind him near the north fork of the American River. Thought it may have been you. But since there isn't any smoke in your pics, couldn't have been you. (There's a big fire (still) going on near Foresthill - 16,000 acres, 60% contained)

Hi goldchaser3,
Wow, a fellow bicycling prospector! The smoke came in strong yesterday afternoon and the moon was blood red on the horizon last night... Apocalyptic. Right now, the smoke is forming some pretty amazing mammatus clouds.

Below: a hazy day today

WTG Nuggeteer... you're putting together an impressive collection of handsome gold nuggets.

Did you notice where those areas ground-balanced and / or your Fe3O4 bar graph readouts? Would it be fair to say that most such nuggets have been found at shallow depths of a few inches generally, or right on bedrock? Thanks again for an informative and interesting presentation... the photos are just excellent.

Jim.

Hey Jim,
In these areas, the ground balance numbers were consistently in the middle to high 60's. Ferrous bars were low, usually 1 or 2, except when I hit gold at which point the bars would disappear. The two smaller pieces were at depths of less than 1 inch, while the two larger pieces were around 4 inches down. You're right, all of the pieces were resting on bedrock.

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Hey Jim,
In these areas, the ground balance numbers were consistently in the middle to high 60's. Ferrous bars were low, usually 1 or 2, except when I hit gold at which point the bars would disappear. The two smaller pieces were at depths of less than 1 inch, while the two larger pieces were around 4 inches down. You're right, all of the pieces were resting on bedrock.

Thanks Nuggeteer... your information makes good sense to me. I like to gather data where I think it is reliable and stick it into a dedicated file within my prospecting journal. Hopefully over time, a collection of such information will help me to connect dots with respect to soil types and colors, magnetic susceptibility, and ground phase. Perhaps a summary of such can be included into a future electronic prospecting article. I'm fascinated and intrigued by the study of mineral responses to metal detectors, and really appreciate it when anyone responds to my soil questions.

Jim.

 

[TAKODA]

Hi everyone,
This week I did what l usually do: biking, hiking, climbing, crawling, detecting for gold. Several of the sites I discovered turned out to be natural erosion rather than workings, but it was all a good lesson. I explored a lot of wilderness and wound up in some pretty awesome places. I have to say, these mountains are magical.
The first area was a dry wash uphill from an expanse of sluice tailings from circa 1849-1850. Rounded cobbles strewn atop a beige metamorphosed bedrock led me to the impression that it had been an ancient waterway. However, upon closer scrutiny I noticed that some sections of the bedrock were weathering spheroidally, leaving only the appearance of water transport when, in fact, the cobbles hadn't traveled far at all. I didn't get any gold, but I did find a projectile point and a nice quartz crystal... I left these in place.
The second area was a bank of red sediment that was ground sluiced in 1849-1850. After a few hours of nothing, I moved a rock about the size of my head and got a strong signal beneath. About 4 inches into the yellow clay I uncovered a lumpy square piece of gold. I headed up a nearby gulch, but upon the sixth pile of bear droppings I decided to head out.
The third area was a seasonal creek that was the setting of much conflict between Chinese and non-Chinese miners in the 1850's. While detecting I spotted a dredge pool with a single largemouth bass. A couple of months ago I grabbed a rainbow trout out of a similar pool and successfully carried it a good length to running water. Tempted to try it again with this bass I deliberated for a bit, but concluded that the terrain was just too rough.
The fourth area was a flat enriched by gold-bearing quartz veins of a nearby mountain that was mined in the 1860's. After pushing some gravel around I got a hit. The bedrock was shallow, so I got down and blew the dust away until only a little piece of gold remained, in-situ. In the distance, a mid-afternoon whirlwind kicked up and danced. These were a regular sight in Arizona but this was the first I've seen since moving to Northern California... so I dropped my detector and ran into it. For the rest of the day I raked the gravels and by sunset I had two more pieces.

Below: magic land, first area, projectile point, quartz crystal, second area, third area, largemouth, fourth area, gold in-situ, the gold

View attachment 849539View attachment 849540View attachment 849541View attachment 849542View attachment 849543View attachment 849544View attachment 849545View attachment 849546View attachment 849547View attachment 849548

Nice Shine .

 

[TAKODA]

Thanks Nuggeteer... your information makes good sense to me. I like to gather data where I think it is reliable and stick it into a dedicated file within my prospecting journal. Hopefully over time, a collection of such information will help me to connect dots with respect to soil types and colors, magnetic susceptibility, and ground phase. Perhaps a summary of such can be included into a future electronic prospecting article. I'm fascinated and intrigued by the study of mineral responses to metal detectors, and really appreciate it when anyone responds to my soil questions.

Jim.

How goes it Jim ? Hope all is well .

 

[pannerman]

Thanks Nuggeteer... your information makes good sense to me. I like to gather data where I think it is reliable and stick it into a dedicated file within my prospecting journal. Hopefully over time, a collection of such information will help me to connect dots with respect to soil types and colors, magnetic susceptibility, and ground phase. Perhaps a summary of such can be included into a future electronic prospecting article. I'm fascinated and intrigued by the study of mineral responses to metal detectors, and really appreciate it when anyone responds to my soil questions.

Jim.

years ago I used to go panning with a bunch of guys. One kept a file of all the gold spots. The rest of us always just went wherever and dug lots a holes. He dug less and found lots more gold than we ever did. Some people have a gold gettin' spirit.

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

How goes it Jim ? Hope all is well .

Hello Takoda,

Everything is good up here in Ontario, the summer has been almost normal … slightly on the cool side… a nice change from the heat and drought experienced in recent summers. I hope all is well with you, the wife and family… and that you’ve been able to get into the field regularly. Your gold photo is spectacular, I’m certain it results from the persistence and hard work you put into your fieldwork. Yes… I’ve seen the truckloads of rocks you pack out of the bush for further processing.

Our new acquaintance Nuggeteer has also enjoyed good success to date. He seems a thoughtful young man… anything under 60 is young to me…appears knowledgeable about his area rocks and minerals, and communicates his experiences effectively. I look forward to his presentations, and feel that we’ll see lots more in the future.

Joanne and I are packing our camper and leaving Monday for a two week trip to the Chaudiere River system… near the Quebec / Maine border. It’ll be a nice change to see some new country… that’s when I feel happiest in life. We’ll do a lot of exploring with a view to seeing about detectable gold. The bedrock is generally about 100 feet down in an area I’ve researched, but sizable gold has been found on the surface in the past. I don’t intend to take either my dredge or Gold-n-Sand hand pump or other streamwork gear this time around… so it’ll have to be detectable gold or nothing I guess. Afterwards I’ll head north to silver country for the remainder of the autumn. Really looking forward to living outdoors for an extended period of time, evaluating silver ores by the light of blazing campfires, and the infinite detecting potential… that’s really living in my books.

That’s about it… I’m sure you don’t want hear about all the house renovations we’ve been doing this summer, but I have added some interesting mineral samples to my ever growing collection. The hematite photo below is but one recent addition… hope I’ve got it labeled correctly. All the very best Takoda, with any luck we’ll speak again later in the season…

Jim.

​