Where does placer gold come from – Gold Geology 101 – Finding placer gold sources,
video part 2 of 2 (all 3 segments)
Our discussion of where does placer gold come from? Gold and geology video picks up with a small review of the last video…
(Note: If you need to check – Geology and gold 101 part 1 of 2, that video is found on this post)
Let’s take a look at important aspects of how placer gold nuggets get into streams and rivers from the crustal gold ore and rocks it was injected into. This will need some small understanding of geology or the study of the earth and its structure.
By the way, in this video I mention quartz stringers or gold veins, these are not the only gold deposit in these crustal rocks. These gold quartz veins are also called hydrothermal deposits. Another type of deposit takes place in some rocks with no deposits in the quartz at all. These micro gold deposits are often associated with metamorphic rocks (I cover these in the next video on rocks and minerals) and those gold deposits represent some of the biggest gold resources around.
For now we’ll pretty much stick to the quartz gold veins or stringers as they give rise to our gold nuggets and coarse gold anyway. Enough of the Geo-dictionary for now, let’s go look for some gold!
Watch this video and see what I mean…
Prospector Jess
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Previously I mentioned the “Gold Prospectors Handbook” – by, Jack Black – I’ll keep referring to it as we continue the gold prospecting video series. If you want an indicator of real prospecting value; my copy’s all dog-eared, scribbled in and coffee stained after years and years of service. In fact I’m looking at ordering a new copy as soon as I wear this one out.
As seen in this video and recommended by Prospector Jess.
By popular request: Get your copy of the gold prospector’s handbook – click here
<< Get Your Gold Prospector’s Handbook
By the way Gold geology video part 1 of 2 is found here
I harvest and sell landscape boulders from my property on the Yuba River in California. My work area encompasses a side street that most boulders come from. During huge storms like 1997 the inside turns change. The Yuba comes up and acts like a hydraulic dam causing the side stream to back up, dump it’s loads of gravel and actually flow up the Yuba along the edge and form a huge backwater that circles carrying logs and driftwood. When the water finally recedes to normal levels the side creek is not scoured, just the opposite. There’s fresh boulders, gravel and sand up to ten feet deep. Later storms but not so big wash most of it into the main channel. In 1998 I hiked up the Yuba where the banks were scoured 60 feet verticals and spotted a yellow steak about 18 inches long pitching out on each end. Because I’m running my business and didn’t have time to check what it was I forgot about. I’m now retired and desired to search but can’t find it. It was not sulfide. I once core drilled for secondary enrichment ore on a gossen locally. It was a darker yellow and smooth but I was with others and we kept hiking. I guess you hear lots of story’s like this.
Hello yes I have a rock that now takes on other minerals when next to them it looks like bornite, but it is not! I can ask the Rock yes ask it to change colors and it will, to the colors I ask it is very heavy in weight, likes cold, and absorbs water… Under a blk light, it has many new fluorescent colors it disguise’s it self to what it comes in contact with ….. And much more to see a picture of it go to my Facebook page
Jess. I am working the inside curve of a stream that has lots of large rocks. I have managed to move some and get into the clay underneath. Finding some larger gold pickets in the clay Do I still head to try and reach the bedrock for the best gold? May not be possible with the large rocks! Thanks Robert
Sad but true, large rocks would also indicate larger gold potentially. Focus on areas where flood waters just broaden at the front of these areas. If you are going to sample carefully you need to stack the odds in favor of finding bigger gold. See if you can probe between & under the bigger rocks for colors too.
Why cant I watch the video?
We had a severe server glitch on 4/26 sorry, things should have rebooted soon after. If you need to, we can call you again to assist.
Enjoyed the videos, but music was so loud I couldn’t understand most of your words.
Sorry about that, which video was it you watched with loud music?
Will gold still be carried from volcanic action to the surface of earth and has anyone found gold around recent volcanic eruption on earth.
The primary way gold shows up is through secondary epithermal vents that dissolve the metals deep in the earth then precipitate near geysers and other hydrothermal fissures and vents. Volcanic material will have some gold but it is distributed in low concentrations.
jess ,once again i would like to let you i am in arkansas.i have found a stream that contain all the red iron rocks and also fusion of crystal into other rock and the stream is loaded with crystal and various rock..not sure what type as i am not that familiar with that stuff.this is located in the quachita mountain range .well i’m having fun and i get’s me of my hinny,iguess the question is do i need to take my mini sluice and see what i can find or is gold in arkansas a myth?
Michael, I live in Hot Springs, have some interesting reports…. contact me if you want to know more… Terry
P.S. Jess, great job on these vids….keep them coming….
Thanks for the information in your last video for the book. I received mine in the mail and started to read right away. I am almost half way through it and am unable to digest all the information because it is so rich and deep. I will have to re-read several times to get the most out of it!
You mentioned you were, “looking at ordering a new copy as soon as I wear this one out”. I call these kind of books, “scripture”! Deffinately worth it’s weight in gold.
Thanks Jess!
Larry, Glad the video helped you get up to speed in your prospecting adventure. Yeah, that Gold Prospectors Handbook is a real gem (er… gold) as you can see from my worn copy 😉
You’re welcome!
I was wondering if you could give me some advice? I was walking up a creek with a metal detecter and it had some seriouse tune aroud two bolders, I know my metal detecter will pick up gold so I tryed it on some small pursions of gold that I have found and it does not pick it up!could deposits of gold build under these bolders and should I get back up there and dig under the bolders, and how do you keep it from rolling down the creek? thank you for your time and I hope you can answer my guestions .
Fred, It is not at all uncommon to find a pocket of gold downstream from an obstacle like a boulder. Or sometimes just under it. The real deal is to know that the gold may actually concentrate under, behind or just downstream depending on the water’s behavior in extreme flood flow.
Care must be exercised when working around even smaller boulders as they can shift and trap you or your equipment. A pry bar and shovel can be all you need to roll the rock out of the place where its trapping gold. Just know that if it rolls on top of where your gold is really trapped you just made more work for yourself. 🙁 That’s why pinpointing the gold with your detector find is so important.
Oh, and it’s not that uncommon for finer gold not to trigger many detectors. Detectors require the gold to act like an antenna. The smaller the antenna the smaller the round trip signal.
The metal detector electronics requires a large signal to separate gold return signals (or from other metals) from the background noises they also detect. Too little signal to noise, from a small gold target, then too many false beeps or no signal at all as in your case of small particles of gold. Sometimes resetting your gain or detector sensitivity can help.
Im going to be working an area where the waters width is small, with sand beside that ,and the bank beside that.Im going to start with the bends in the river. Hundreds of years ago was water covering the sand. Should I dig where the sand hits the bank or where the water meets the sand.
See gold in a storm report & video for this. The water turning bends will concentrate gold in a very specific way inside the bend. Cant use words as easily as pictures to describe why and how you can use this to find gold, if its there.