Placer gold

[NJnuggetpirate]

So I know what placer and lode mineral mining is but besides using those words for just gold mining can you say placer gems too are gems that erode out of there rocky prison considered placer gemstones and just wonder how often can you find gemstones in your gold pans like emerald sapphires topaz ruby diamonds all should be heavy enough to stay in the pan right?

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Sadly no. Diamonds are only a specific gravity of 3.51 and other gem stones are similar or even less dense. They will stay mixed with the overburden rather than go to the bottom of your pan :-(

 

[AlwaysBusyJ]

While gems are a good bit lighter than gold, they are sometimes an indicator your getting close to a good place to find gold. In my area I always look for garnet. If I start panning and see a bunch of tiny garnets swirling around my pan, I almost always find a decent amount of fine gold in the bottom of the pan. So while they are a bit different, gemstones can collect in rivers similiar to how gold does, although I only have experience finding tiny semi precious stones this way. Not sure if larger specimens do this as well.

 

[NJnuggetpirate]

Is there away to catch both gold and gems without buying a grizzly sluice or a expensive high banker

 

[rodoconnor]

nj I have found 2 rubies , 3 diamonds and many saphires in my black sands, I'm very aware that they are here so I do keep an eye open for them

 

[NJnuggetpirate]

Where do you find them

 

[Desertman50]

... In my area I always look for garnet. If I start panning and see a bunch of tiny garnets swirling around my pan, I almost always find a decent amount of fine gold in the bottom of the pan.

Same applies here in AZ. In fact, I have a little vial full of the little red stones. Not sure why, but I likes 'em!

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Actually while diamonds and other gemstones are not nearly as heavy as gold they are enough heavier than common minerals to be captured in a gold pan or sluice box. Diamonds have been accidently found by many gold miners and almost all of the many diamonds found in California were recovered while placer mining for gold. Always be on the lookout for non-metallic minerals that seem slightly heavier than normal. Tourmaline, garnet, diamond, chromite, rutile, barite, corundum, and zircon are all minerals that are heavy enough to be captured while panning for gold. Slightly heavier minerals include ilmenite, cassiterite, wolframite, scheelite, cinnabar. It is very common for gold prospectors to ignore anything not gold in the pan, and no doubt fortunes have been discarded as a result. As a rule, if it tends to hang with the black sand do what any good prospector does - be curious. When in doubt, collect it and find out what it is.

I had a personal experience with this recently as I was discarding what looked like little quartz pebbles but they kept showing up and kept settling in with the black sands. Turns out they were barite pebbles and I have a jar full of them now. Not worth a lot by themselves but could be if traced to the source. It is what they make drilling mud out of.

Garnet is a common placer mineral just like magnetite and when found in quantity is commonly referred to as "ruby sands" instead of 'black sands". They are not rubies of course, but it is worth keeping an eye out for crystal clear, gem quality garnet.

Wisconsin man finds 1.22 carat diamond while panning for gold - NY Daily News

 

[NJnuggetpirate]

Same applies here in AZ. In fact, I have a little vial full of the little red stones. Not sure why, but I likes 'em!

Lol it's not just gold fever it's the crows curse

 

[stonecutter1]

I have in friend near Kansas City where I live who has found several diamonds in the glacial till in the area where he lives, he has had some of them cut. He even had a ring made using gold and diamonds found in Missouri. Maybe he will post a picture here sometime. I know he screens his material to 1/8 inch. He spends time looking through that material carefully. I have found small garnet chips in the material I pan in the area.

 

[NJnuggetpirate]

I have in friend near Kansas City where I live who has found several diamonds in the glacial till in the area where he lives, he has had some of them cut. He even had a ring made using gold and diamonds found in Missouri. Maybe he will post a picture here sometime. I know he screens his material to 1/8 inch. He spends time looking through that material carefully. I have found small garnet chips in the material I pan in the area.

Keep your eye out for green ones there rare and will earn you some nice money