Gold Prospecting
Prospecting for gold in New Brunswick is exciting due to the fact that a lot of our gold has yet to be found. Although exciting, the Department of Energy and mines does have regulations in effect for prospecting and panning for gold. I will post the link below for those of you interested in seeing them.
The regulations can be found - HERE
Resources
There are a few sub categories of gold prospecting
- Hard Rock Prospecting
- Placer Gold Prospecting
Each off these have their unique challenges but ultimately the best starting place is placer gold prospecting. Placer gold has been liberated from it's source (Lode Deposit). Hydraulic forces like rivers and streams sort Placer gold into pay streaks or deposits. Once found , these deposits of gold can prove to be profitable for small scale and large scale miners alike. When starting out, don't expect to find a placer deposit or even gold in your pan right away. The first step is usually learning how to locate and track paystreaks buy following Black sands. Black sands generally speaking are magnetite and other heavy minerals which are deposited in a similar fashion to gold and platinum in placer environments.
Locating and following black sand to find placer gold deposits is an age old technique which is still used today by even the most seasoned of prospectors. I have written an article in my blog which you can find by clicking HERE.
Hard rock prospecting is more challenging, it requires that the prospector have a general understanding of geology or minerology. Typically when looking for gold in rock, you will not see the gold with the naked eye. It has been amalgamated with other minerals such as pyrite, arsenopyrite, silver (tellurides) and many others. This proves to be challenging as it is very easy to overlook hard rock gold deposits. One of the only ways to obtain a ore grade value from rock is to submit a sample to an Assay Lab. These labs are specialized in testing your rocks for all types of metals from Platinum Group elements to base metals and even rare earth elements.
There is one exception to finding gold in hard rock which is rare but does happen on occassion. Finding Visible gold in hard rock, this means the prospector can see the gold with his or her eyes. Typically gold is not visible to the naked eye Below 30 ppm or 30 g/t. This means there is 30 grams or 1 troy ounce of gold per ton of ore. A Picture of Visible gold can be found to the right, courtesy of Slam exploration in the Bathurst Mining camp. Slam Exploration has located and is currently in the process of mining a bulk sample 2000 ton's of ore to prove the overally gold ore value of their claims.
Further reading on hard rock gold prospecting. can be found HERE. By searching the blog page with the Keywords "Hard Rock Prospecting".
Above - Gold from Evandale, NB
Below - Slam Exploration Drill Core
Placer Gold Prospecting Tips
Well for starters placer gold prospecting is enjoyable on your own, in a group or as a family. To increase your chances of obtaining placer gold I've put together a few tips and tricks you can use in the field. These are tips and tricks I've personally used and methods shared by other prospectors over time. None of these guarantee that you will find placer gold however most of them will help you on your way.
1. Look for areas of low pressure in the stream. These can be found in a couple of ways. Typically gold will drop out of the flow on bends in the stream which are well defined by a leading edge of gravels depositing on the inside of the bend. You can see in the picture to the right what I mean by this.
2. Pan in a grid pattern. Prospecting for gold can be a tedious process but it's also easy to miss an area of deposition if you pan at random. While panning for gold draw out a grid on the ground. You can do this with a stick or for those who are more particular you can use string. Break the ground up into 2x2 squares and pan a sample from each square. Take note of which squares contain gold or black sands and follow the higher concentrations of either. If you don't get any gold, following black sands are the best way to track the gold down. The higher concentration of black sands, the more likely you are to find gold.
3. Take some light weight fishing line, a couple of lead weights and a small balloon. Put the weights on the bottom of the line and tie the little balloon to the top. Keep the line long enough that the balloon isn't floating the weights at any point. Toss the weights into the stream or river and watch it go down stream. when you see that the balloons are stopped, grab them and take note of where the weights sit on the bottom. This spot is a likely location of placer gold or black sands as well. Typically when you are panning creeks for placer gold you will find old bird shot from hunters in the mix of black sands and gold.
4. Look for bedrock cracks and crevices along the stream, these are typically excellent places for gold to accumulate. Most prospectors either dig into these cracks or use a hammer and chisel to break them open. From there you typically will find clay and sands in between the cracks. This is where the gold get's trapped and is an recipe for gold placers. Some of the best environments for this type of gold accumulation is in shales and slates which are running horizontially across the streams. These natural riffles have an affinity for trapping small gold and large gold alike.
5. Learn how erosion and deposition work, often times prospectors find gold in places where the streams used to flow rather than where it flows now. Natural depressions along the banks of a stream or river may be a good place to look for gold.
6. In areas where you don't particularly have a running stream but believe one had flowed in the past, use a probe to look for gravels. Get an old steel rod and sharpen the tip so it can penetrate the ground. Be particularly careful walking through the woods with this tool, I suggest putting a rubber tip or making a cover for the point in case you were to fall onto the probe. As you walk through your prospective area, push the rod into the ground and feel for sand or gravel. Puncturing earth has a distinctly different feeling from gravel or sands. You will feel a gritty resonance in the rod if you hit gravel or sands. If the ground is compact you can use a hammer to push the rod into the ground as well. Practice this technique in areas you know have gravel or sand and get familliar with the feel for when you are in the field looking for gold bearing gravels. I personally have had a bit of success with this techinique in wide valleys with meandering streams. Finding old channels opens up the opportunity to find gold placers you would never find in present day streams.
7. Look for certain types of vegetation. Horsetails are said to have an affinity for gold and tend to grow in mineral rich soils. Anywhere you find Horsetails, Cottonwood trees and ferns are indicative of water in the ground, which can indicate a good place to prospect for old placer gold channels.
That all being said, there are more tips and tricks to finding gold placers but I will save them for another day or another blog post!
