Last Post 17 Mar 2015 10:48 AM by  Don McElyea
Sampling Tips and Techniques to Find New Areas?
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JAMES AU
Greenhorn
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10 Jul 2014 10:39 AM

    I have been using two sampling methods to find new areas to prospect. 


    First is either bring water or use available water to pan and finish pan samples on site. If there's the slightest bit of gold it will show up in the finish pan. I'll sample at different depths and locations at one site.


    The next way is to take samples from an area in quart ziplock bags or larger buckets, label the bags for location, then either pan and finish pan them at home or run them through my gold cube then finish pan if there's more material.


    If I find so much as one Morton Salt or Flour Gold speck of gold then I'll do further sampling to pinpoint things. If not, then I'll cross that location off. Depends if the geology and data on MineCache/Google Earth suggests there "should" be gold in that area and I'm just not honing in on it. 


    I've tried using a Fisher Gold Bug to get an idea of things if an area might be gold bearing but so far it hasn't been useful in that way.


    Can anyone share how you go about sampling various locations to see if it bears gold? 


    thanks for sharing,

    AlohaJim 
    James Peace
    Highbanker
    Highbanker
    Posts:100



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    10 Jul 2014 11:56 AM
    See my post here: http://www.goldprospector...munity/Forum/aft/209
    WALTER EASON
    Buzzard
    Buzzard
    Posts:581



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    14 Jul 2014 07:47 AM

    Hi James

    I have done just about the same thing, will check several spots in location and usually use many buckets and mark each with a letter that corresponds to way-point with GPS reading and route followed. Good tip to share.
    JAMES AU
    Greenhorn
    Greenhorn
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    14 Jul 2014 08:27 AM

    Thanks Walter. A couple prospecting friends do that too. The hilarious mix up is when one uses decimal GPS coordinates and the other uses the other format. Then we have a hard time finding the place again if it's way out in the National forest or BLM land. Of course senior memory capacity always gets us lost again. But fun.

    We used to use ziplock bags and label them but over time I think it's better to use larger samples like buckets to get a better look. Lately I've been carting water jugs in to sample on site if there's no water. That way I have instant results instead of taking the samples home. I think I spend much of the time looking for new areas and sampling, looking for better quality gold, chunkie vs flour gold.
    JAMES AU
    Greenhorn
    Greenhorn
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    16 Jul 2014 02:56 PM
    Okay. This is one of the ways I go about finding new areas to sample. I use the "MineCache" add on program to Google Earth and compare new vs old claims. I also overlay the USGS mineral resources and mine location maps in Google Earth. Old mine tailing locations and everything downstream and downslope from where gold has been found before. Try to stick to BLM land and National Forest land. This is in addition to the GPAA locations in the book. Then I head out sampling and exploring, lookin' fer the riches.

    Anyone else use these methods?
    Don McElyea
    Basic Member
    Basic Member
    Posts:131



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    17 Mar 2015 10:48 AM
    Thanks guys, for the tips.  I and my partner are gearing up for a trip and both newbies at this.  Here I am almost 70 and getting the gold fever.
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