Field Trip Report !

[adam 3,095]

Been looking at an extremely remote creek on Google Earth for a while. Teamed up with boulder dash for what we already knew, would be a challenging day.

The detour around the waterfall was by far, the most physical of all I have come across. Once we arrived my first 10 targets were gold. Boulder dash followed suit with his gold soon enough.

A search for the source will likely be on the horizon early summer.

Detectors used : GP3K, SD2200, GM1K, GBII

Here, boulder dash hunts a bench.

A fine coarse nugget as it was found:

Almost all the gold found yesterday. Mine on left, Bd`s on right

 

 

[Morlock 1,480]

Sounds very promising. Keep us informed. Good luck.

[Brownnugget 195]

I love these types of story/adventures paying off!  How far and how long “time” Was the hike??

 

Edited January 27, 2019 by Brownnugget

[Old Tom 1,011]

Man that's rough looking stuff.  Don't wait too long bro, you know.  

   Old Tom

[Au Seeker 2,966]

Nice looking gold Adam!

The gold you found looks much less worn than the gold BD found, were they found in very different parts of the wash?

[Old Tom 1,011]

4 hours ago, Au Seeker said:

Nice looking gold Adam!

The gold you found looks much less worn than the gold BD found, were they found in very different parts of the wash?

Skip, I think that is just how the light is hitting it.  The ones that look smoother don't have the showing that Adam's have.

   Old Tom

[adam 3,095]

5 hours ago, Au Seeker said:

gold you found looks much less worn than the gold BD found

We found coarse crystalline & smooth gold in the same gulch. It is not uncommon in desert placers.  Gold can be smooth straight from the source too, though it seems to be more uncommon.

[fishing8046 315]

Very nice. I can't wait to see what you guys do when it is a bit dryer.

[Alwaysdirty 914]

Its nice when those long hikes pay off. Way to go guys!

[Nugget Shooter 4,552]

Very nice my friends! 

[AllenJ 236]

That is a great day detecting, congrats to both of you!

[Mike Furness 1,498]

Great job guys! And it looks like a good days wages as well! OH to be 40 years old again! 

[Trailertrash 243]

I have days like this, every night. Then I wake up. Great work, congratulations!

Regards, Kyle

[nugget108 1,514]

Great looking gold fellers. Good job.

[adam 3,095]

14 hours ago, fishing8046 said:

Very nice. I can't wait to see what you guys do when it is a bit dryer.

Exactly ! I can not stand detecting in wet ground.

[beatup 178]

WTG on getting to the gold.

[Terry Soloman 858]

Dude, your finds always blow me away! Congratulations!

[Uncle Ron 1,462]

Awesome scores, you two...Looks like you're not too far from the source...What's the total weight? WTG!!!! Cheers, Unc

[adam 3,095]

Hi Ron,   5.7 grams total. 

[Alwaysdirty 914]

On 1/27/2019 at 5:48 PM, adam said:

We found coarse crystalline & smooth gold in the same gulch. It is not uncommon in desert placers.  Gold can be smooth straight from the source too, though it seems to be more uncommon.

This is from a pocket mining article posted on the "Where does gold come from" thread.

"The
gold in those pockets Is generally rough and " scraggly," and pieces are often found all
honeycombed like pumice stone where the quartz has decayed away and left nothing in a
solid form except the gold. Sometimes in the larger pockets of this class there is smooth
gold, similar to well-worn placer gold, found In the center of the pocket; but, upon
examination, it will be found that those smooth nuggets have a coating or glazing of
copper on the smooth surface and are more of an orange tint than the rest of the gold in
the pocket.
Sometimes those nuggets or pieces which are found In the center of the pocket are
rough and scraggly on one side and smooth and glazed on the other. Those smooth
pieces are found only In large pockets, and in pockets where they are found there Is
always a large percentage of copper In the mineral combination."

 

[adam 3,095]

Hey Shay,  

Thanks for the read.  My observations are from the field but what is written there sounds plausible. I think Chris Ralph wrote something about nuggets being born smooth....its all very interesting.   I wonder who wrote that piece you quoted.

[Alwaysdirty 914]

Alex Quartz 1893. Thanks to GeoJack for finding this article and posting it. I learned quite a bit from it, I now have a new sporoach thought out for a pocket I am trying to locate. This article is based more for Cali/Oregon, but the technique definetly applies here in AZ.

Here's a link that AzNuggetBob posted to the entire article.

Pocket Hunting

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Alwaysdirty

[Brownnugget 195]

Speaking of how nuggets are born I found this interesting.  A piece of hardrock ore and then magnified.  The shape on the ore is very similar to where I found the shape of a nugget I have.  Almost like a mold for the gold liquid to fill into before it cooled. 

[Au Seeker 2,966]

4 hours ago, Alwaysdirty said:

Alex Quartz 1893. Thanks to GeoJack for finding this article and posting it. I learned quite a bit from it, I now have a new sporoach thought out for a pocket I am trying to locate. This article is based more for Cali/Oregon, but the technique definetly applies here in AZ.

Here's a link that AzNuggetBob posted to the entire article.

Pocket Hunting

 

I know a fellow in Virginia that found some pocket gold there, he followed much the same as described in that report to track down a lot more gold in and around the first pocket he found, he ended up with a few pounds after it was all said and done, many of the pockets were eroded out and leaving up to 1+ ounce nuggets scattered around the hillside he was working.

Mostly such finds are very rare here on the east coast, but they do happen from time to time, it helped that the area he found this on was private property and has been for 100s of years and was never worked commercially.

[Micro Nugget 770]

Mmmm, yummy.  Makes me hungry to get out again.  My F150 gets out of the shop at week's end...Yippee!!

BTW, I am attaching a summary of the Alex Quartz pocket mining piece that I wrote up last February.  It only focusses on the type of pocket we as detectorists are most likely to run across.

Pocket Mining Segment PDF.pdf