Hunting Virginia Ounce Nuggets Pt 1

[PG-Prospecting 42]

After much research and mapping, I believe I have narrowed down the area where the old timers found ounce sized nuggets back when my creek was actively being mined.  Two areas in the creek fit the description.  I had to piece together info from multiple reports and geologic descriptions, then use property boundaries, court house, records, geologic maps, lidar maps and lots of hiking and scouting to find these two areas seem to match.  Only time and lots of dredging will tell if i got it right or not.  Hope you all enjoy the video and stay tuned for more.  

 

 

[Au Seeker 2,824]

Very nice PG-P< I like your dredge and using the LaTrap is a very good way to get the material down to super cons, saves a lot of panning for sure!

How do you like that propane water heater(?) if you get a good one it's much better than a exhaust water heater and no waiting on warm water as well as being much more consistent and sure helps keeping the chills at bay!

The volume on the video wasn't the best on some parts so I couldn't hear if you said you got down to bedrock or not, but good gold for a short day in a new location, I hope you start finding some big nuggets!!

Was that last pan the total for the day or is that without what you got after moving the first big rock?

[Aufinder777 1]

Nice Video that boulder you moved looked interesting,  kind of a weird shape it was ? Good job on video

and good luck , get that gold bro !!!:)

[PG-Prospecting 42]

Thanks!  And i guess i need to talk louder, i didnt notice the sound issue when i was putting the video together.  The propane heater works well, and its much better then the exhaust heater that i bought, that thing never produced enough heat to keep me warm.  

Yes i got down to bedrock and cleared maybe 2 square feet of it.  The last pan in the video is from the day, which was about 3 hours of dredging, came to be just under a half gram.  This area definitely hold promise and ive dredged there one other time this year and did pretty well, just a lot of area to cover with a small dredge.  

Thanks for watching 

[PG-Prospecting 42]

Aufinder777 - 

 

The boulder is made of meta-rhyolite.  Part of the reason this spot seems possibly right for big nuggets is the geology, there is a lense of meta-rhyolite that is within the surrounding slate/phyllite.  So bedrock in the 2 square feet that i exposed was made of phyllite, meta-rhyolite and a quartz vein between them and some quartz stringers in the phyllite.  The meta-rhyolite is more resistant then the phyllite so it forms large boulders and most likely a ledge that cuts perpendicular across the creek.  So even if it isnt producing the gold, it should be a great catch for any gold that moved over it.  

 

So many areas i want to dredge, and so little time, i wish i could retire already lol.  

[Aufinder777 1]

Yes , looks like you just need to get through the overburden and you'll be golden. (hopefully lol) you'll get it sounds like you've got a good plan !:)