New Jersey Prospecting

[jwb549]

Hey guys I am new to the message board, hope I am posting this in the right section.

I've browsed some old threads and saw a lot of talk of "potential" spots for gold prospecting in NJ, but no one actually talking about success.

Has anyone been successful on here or know anyone who has been in this NJ?

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Reach out to Brian053. He's our local NJ expert and can invite you to a local club.

 

[joee5]

Only gold I been finding is in the wet.
Good luck

 

[brianc053]

jwb549 and I connected, and he joined our Delaware Valley GPAA meeting yesterday! So did BrettCo124, by the way! Great meeting you both.

The weather cooperated and let some of us from the chapter visit one of the nearby "claims" (places we have permission as a club to prospect) yesterday afternoon. For clarity, this spot is in SE Pennsylvania along French Creek, not in NJ as the thread name implies. I got 3 different sluices up and running and jwb549 added his sluice too, and then a small group of us moved material for a few hours. We only got to pan some of it and only found one small (100 mesh or so) piece, but it was something!
Picture attached; the gold is circled in red - the other larger thing is a small piece of lead.
- Brian

 

[jwb549]

Great time yesterday! Hopefully we can find some NJ spots next time.

 

[BrettCo124]

Nice to meet you guys yesterday! Learned a lot. I went ahead and purchased the 15" garret supersluice pan and the Garrett 14" classifier (couldn't find a 15" anywhere so I hope that's okay).

Really happy with the one piece of gold! It was more work than I had even thought, but it made it more fun. Once I got the hang of finding areas under the rocks that had dirt, it became easier.

Hope we can all get together soon for another trip out somewhere. I'm ready whenever you guys are.

-BrettCo

 

[njcommercialdiver]

brian, so the Delaware valley chapter is still around? I haven't been a member there for years, do you guys still go to peters creek? did you guys ever get to the belvidere quarry?

 

[brianc053]

Hey njcommercialdiver, yes the DVGPAA is still around, and membership is strong. There are some "old timers" involved (Dave, Rich, Tim, Rob, George - maybe you knew some of them) and then there's some people like me, who joined a few years ago, and then there's the "class of 2016" like Brett.
We do make 1-2 visits to Peter's creek per year, but more often we're digging up in Lehighton or at French Creek - those locations are more central to most of the membership.
I don't know the Belvidere quarry but I'd love to hear about it.

Feel free to come to the next meeting if you can; its this coming Saturday 4/9.

And in June we are planning a group trip up to New Hampshire too.

DVGPAA gave me a chance to apply all the things I read about on Treasurenet - for me it's been great.

- Brian.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Here's some Facebook info on a spot fairly close to NJ which suggests NJ beaches would be worth checking too!

...thought your club would like this Brian!

 

[brianc053]

Whoa! That's a decent haul of gold (of course it could be a season's worth of gold...but still, a nice haul).
Thanks for the heads up; I've been curious about black sands on beaches. I visit Delaware beaches with family and once in a while you'll see a line of black sand.

From that Facebook post it looks like he's using a gold cube; I don't have one of those (and don't plan to get one), but I hear they're the device to use on beaches. Panning probably wouldn't produce much.

Thanks for the heads up Kevin!

- Brian

 

[BSminer]

A small electric highbanker makes the best sense for beach gold. I've done some highbanking on a few beaches in CA and OR in known gold areas, did OK.

 

[Capt Nemo]

That pic looks like the amount in about 4 yards of Lake Superior beach sand where I'm hitting a 2" seam of BS.

 

[ImJudy]

I spent last winter studying NJ geology online and read books. Bought some paydirt to learn how to pan and also bought a gold bucket to classify my finds. Not have gone out yet to pan for gold, in the spring came across a road cut so pulled over to grab a coffee can out of the trunk then filled it with some dirt. Left it in the trunk for months before running it through the gold bucket then panned the heavies that was left. Would you believe I found a beautiful picker?!?? My first time, in New Jersey and I find a nice picker!!! In southern NJ no less!!! Next time out looking for quartz in a NJ river for jewelry making I wash the sand from the quartz and pan the sand, because you never know. There at the bottom of the pan are 4 grains of gold just a tad bit bigger than a grain of sand. Found in a NJ river tributary. So there is gold to be found in NJ. Just go where the streams are and you may come up with some gold.

 

[ImJudy]

This is the picker I found in south Jersey.

 

[brianc053]

I'm truly jealous ImJudy. (Can I just call you Judy?). Maybe I'm driving 4-6 hours from NJ to NH and VA for nothing, when I could be prospecting close to home!

I have done some research also, and some testing up here in Northern NJ. My research told me that while the glaciers terminated up here, the till they left is very thick - dozens, maybe 100 feet thick in some valleys. I've still tested by panning and sluicing in a few streams, but I've only found (lots of) black sand. (This area was an iron mining area).

On my property there are random chunks of various kind of quarts - not a lot, but some. And some seem to be local hornblend, but others seen non-native.

Anyway, thanks for posting your picture and your story Judy! I'd be happy to join forces to research or even prospect if you want!

- Brian

 

[ImJudy]

We have a family cabin in the Appalachians in PA could not believe the glaciers were right there on our property all this time and for over 35 years didn't know! So last summer panned in our creek there and found nothing!!! So I'm having better luck right here. The small grains I found were in Monmouth County, I found the picker in Ocean County. Is there an area near you, say a stream or valley, with the bottom being bedrock? If so the gold will settle into the cracks. Look for black sand too because it's about the same weight as gold so gold will settle with the black sand. The outside of a gravel bar is a good place to look too. Over the summer our family goes to a local spot to get quartz and other stones etc. I think the stream might have some gold in it too, but have not found it in there yet. But think there's a good chance. I'll let you know when we're going and you can meet us there. It does have plenty of black sand!!! Good luck!!!

 

[ImJudy]

Brian, I sent you a reply but being a newbie I sent it to this thread instead of directly to you. You can find my reply on the second page...

 

[flyadive]

I also had the bug ! I purchased The Gold Bucket, purchased pay dirt and practiced , then I built a Miller table ! But I haven't actually gone out prospecting! I'm also in south jersey! Perhaps I'll get back into it??
The problem with me is that im the only one into it! Helps to have a partner.

 

[ImJudy]

My husband enjoys the hunt too so I do have someone to go with so happy about that. If you go out to prospect in Ocean county try the areas that have the cohanesey formation, that large course white to yellow gravel. Found my picker in a road cut, not in a stream but at one time everything was covered with water. From what I learned over the winter, the Delaware River went through central NJ then went into the atlantic ocean. So the gold flowed with the water...

 

[flyadive]

My metal detecting buddy is not interested in panning for gold. My wife isn't either.

I've heard from a well driller that the sand is hundreds of feet deep and that they have surfaced shark teeth when drilling! That's the Pine Barren area he's referring to.