Gold

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General information on Gold

From themost primitive tribes to the most sophisticated cultures, man has pursued gold from the beginning of recorded history.Gold is like nothing else under the sun, sky and sea. It’s beautiful qualities are both overwhelmingly practical and yet somehow mystical. Wherever gold has become the basis of economic life, it’s flow and movement has created paths that have changed forever the destiny of men and nations. Over the centuries, gold has assumed many additional roles, especially in our age of sophistication and technology. Gold is still priced as a store of money and value, but it has many uses. While its principal use is still in jewelry, gold now has many additional applications in our contemporary life. Gold has soared into space with the astronauts, its reflective ability used on the heat shields that are critical to life. It is used in medicine and dentistry as well as a number of industries and especially in electronics.

Great discoveries of gold have always created a rush by men seeking to gain their share. The lure of gold and instant wealth has been a dream since the dawn of civilization. Even the mere rumor of gold has sent rushes of humanity in a fevered search across oceans and continents. Gold fever has made men and cities. This is as true today as it has been at in any other time in history.

Where to find it:

What areas of the world still have gold left to be found? If you have first-hand experience with a spot where other treasure hunters can go, enter info here:

GPS Coordinates, if known: Town/region: Sutters Mill State, country: California Tips for finding it: This is where the Gold Rush first started, and there is still Gold in them thar hills. You can sit on the river's edge and pan for gold. It is a great way to spend a nice afternoon in the california heat.

GPS Coordinates, if known: Town/region: State, country: Tips for finding it:

GPS Coordinates, if known: Town/region: St. Louis State, country: Missouri Tips for finding it: St. Louis has a rich history that few people stop to consider. How many flat-boats sank while crossing the Mississippi River during the settling of St. Louis and the westward expansion before bridges were built? How many homes were washed away by the great flood of 1993? I would be checking the sandbars and river banks when the water is at low flood stage. That old muddy river may hold a few surprises yet. As of yet, I have only found old lead fishing weights with my trusty $60.00 metal detector. But that is actually good news because gold and lead are very close to one another on the Element Chart. If I am finding lead fishing weights, it means that it is only a matter of time before I find something of greater interest. This also tells me that it would be a good idea to walk old creek beds with my metal detector, since no one else has thought of doing so. The perfect excuse to get out for a walk in the woods on the weekend and go camping with a backpack. Just stay clear of private land unless you have permission from it's owner.

GPS Coordinates, if known: Many! Town/region: Various locations across the western US State, country: USA Tips for finding it:Learn about how to find gold - there are many good books. An interesting series of web pages about places to dig can be found at: Where to dig for gold in the Western US

Tools needed:
Pan, 35mm film canister
You can make your own filter. take a 1x2 piece of wood, and some screen door material.
Cut the 1x2 into 4 identical pieces, screw them together to make a box frame. Then take the screen and using a staple gun, attach the screen material to the box frame. Be generous on the staples. You do not want it to come apart. Take several box frames and different size mesh materials, and stack them on top of each other, will allow you to sift at different sizes all the way down to very fine. Then remove the frames one at a time and examine the layers.

It also helps to cut the bottom half off of a five gallon bucket and attach a
copper screen to the lower opening to make a sifter. I heard that copper
is often found in and around gold veins in nature and the two minerals are
somehow atomicly attracted to one another. Neither mineral is magnetic
so the attraction can't be magnetic in nature, there is obviously some other
force at work there. But many old timers will swear by it.

Also, the wooden frames used for cross-stitching and needle point work
in sewing work well for different mesh sizes of sifters. Find the right size
that fits in your homemade 5 gallon bucket sifter and you have an all in
one set that can be carried with one handle and is far lighter than other
such rigs. Also a plastic Frisbee or an old Chinese Wok pan works great
for panning gold, there is no reason to buy a special gold pan.

A length of seemless gutter with outdoor carpet on the bottom surface
forms a great sluth box. (You will learn what that is, it's simple)
It works like a pan only water runs through it and you slowly pour
your sand or dirt into one end and the heavier particles get trapped
in the carpet as it washes down the gutter like thousands of tiny
fingers trapping your gold nuggets while letting the dirt and allot
of the sand wash away. Ingenious contraption if there ever was one.

You can make everything you need from stuff you can find in a yard sale.
It just takes a little vision and creativity that's all.





Special skills needed:
Patience... and a sixth sense for sniffing out lucrative deposit trails
or mineral veins in streambeds and other geographical features that may
or may not be wet in nature.

Basic Infomation about how to dig your own placer gold can be found at:
Basic Placer gold digging


Identification tips:
Few minerals have as intense a metallic luster, or form in the same types of shapes. It is heavy and soft, and deforms like a soft metal when struck or cut.
Two minerals commonly confused by beginners as gold include pyrite and mica. Mica breaks into sparkling little sheets when rubbed between the fingers and just does not have a true metallic luster. Mica is also fairly light – it does not have the density of gold, and it will not be found in the heavy concentrates when panning or dredging. Pyrite, when fresh and unoxidized, does have a nice metallic gold color and though not as heavy as gold, is heavier than most other rock forming minerals, so that it will be found in the heavy concentrates. It also commonly occurs with gold in quartz veins. That ‘s why it gets the well-deserved name of fools gold. It often forms cubic to angular shaped crystals, which are usually easily recognizable. Luckily, pyrite also rapidly oxidizes in the air and the surface changes to a rust brown mineral, usually limonite, and in this form it is not often mistaken for gold. If it is hit by a hammer, Pyrite shatters because it is brittle, but gold will flatten out in a manner similar to lead. This is a quick and easy test, but should not be preformed on things that could be nice gold specimens, as it destroys their collector value (which can be significant). I always tell folks that once you’ve seen enough real gold, it’s hard to mistake mica or pyrite for the real thing. The following website has a good number of clear photos showing natural gold in a variety of forms if you’d like to see some.

Natural crystal and nugget gold


Real Gold is soft and weighs more than Fool's Gold. Have a pocket knife handy to test the Gold you find. If you can scrape a little off, it is more than likely real Gold.

Also, real gold is comparable to lead and has a similar melting point.
My suggestion is when in doubt, collect it all. Then later when you have
enough of what you suspect is gold... melt it down in a small gas fired
smelter using a small ladle used for making homemade fishing weights
and musket balls. The Fool's Gold is a type of pyrite like quartz and won't
melt, you can pick it out with sweezers or tongs and drop it in water so it
doesn't pop in your face or cause a fire. The melted molten substance
that is left in the bottom of the ladle afterwards is real Gold and can be
further refined or purified by removing any impurities floating on the
surface when it is in it's molten state. If you have enough of it you can
make your own little gold bars by pouring it into a customised mold
with your initials or your business start-up's company logo.
Information on smelting your own gold and other metals can be found
on the internet as well as "how to" manuals. It's how foundries get started
and it is also how bronze sculptures are made. It's interesting subject
matter to say the least.




Additional helpful resources:
[include links to websites, book titles, maps, clubs]

A gold prospecting encyclopedia, including lots of "How To" type
of information can be found at this website:
Prospecting Encyclopedia

Google "Gold Prospecting" and you will learn allot.
Beware of items pertaining to the Klamath River in California
or Oregon, these areas are littered with serious gold miners
that are competing ferociously with expensive floating dredges
and other high tech modern gear. It's good to learn from them,
but I wouldn't get in their way if you know what I mean.

Besides, their dredging the river with scuba gear... I am the
sort of guy that would be looking up toward the mountains that
feed that river, and following the various streambeds back
toward their sources. Those nuggets are coming from
somewhere, and what goes up must come down.
Often times larger nuggets that have eroaded away from
a gold vein are too heavy for water currents to move and
they become lodged in a creekbed up in the mountains.
So if you find one... chances are there is a much larger
find near that location. Most 49'ers being simple minded
gun toting uneducated lay persons often jumped the gun
and went to town, instead of investigating further.

Those that were smart enough to do so eventually filed
lucrative gold mining claims and bought the land that
made them millions.

If your planning an adventure, I would use Google Maps which
uses high res satelite imagery over electronic maps to paint a
clear picture of the terrain and it's relationship to roads and
near-by towns or cities. You can almost pinpoint where you
want to go before you even pack your bags.

A very helpful tool for mapping out and narrowing down your
desired search area before you actually get out there in the
field. Making the time you spend in the field more productive
and pro-active. We have the technology, why not use it?



Recommend a guide or tour:
[If you need a guide, list them here with phone/email and website URL]

I would recommend doing some personal research on the subject as
far as geography and technique is concerned, then take a hike with a
backpack outfitted with a tent and the camping gear you'll need for a
week or two following streambeds by canoe or on foot... in other words,
go it alone without a guide or organized tour. Just you, your backpack,
your trusty metal detector, your pan and sifter, and your whits.

Your hunting for gold, that isn't something you want everyone knowing
exactly where you found it and how much was found, if any.

"Think And Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill
A must read book for any serious minded prospector or
entrepreneur wanting to maximize and leverage their efforts
to attain success.

Besides, you don't want to be led to places that have already been
panned over with limited opportunity for success, unless you just
need a cheap vacation to keep the kids busy and interested.

They would be allot more interested if they actually found something
they could have turned into a necklace or a thousand dollars in cash.
I would go it alone... it's allot more exciting that way, just be carefull
and above all, enjoy yourself while doing it.



Recommend an appraiser:
Just about every major city has at least one coin shop.
Tip: They deal in more than coins.

Allot of times they can grade the gold you find for purity, provide you
with a certified written appraisal for a fee and even buy it from you,
if you are ready to sell it. Remember, you don't pay taxes on the gold,
only on the money you make when you sell it. So you might want to hold
on to your findings for a rainy day so to speak. That's what I would do,
but it's your gold, liquidate it at your leisure.

Some info on selling gold can be found at:

Selling your gold nuggets