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Stan Grist's Resources For

Gold Prospectors, Metal Detectorists, Treasure Hunters
and Explorers

http://www.stangrist.com
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Source for Success.
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ALLUVIAL GOLD PROSPECTING COURSE - PART 5 of 7

Contents: Introduction to Prospecting - Part D
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The screw drivers, shovel, spoons and brushes etc. are tools that help clean out the crevasses to get out all of the material contained within. Remember, the gold is very dense so it will settle to the bottom of the space. This is why it is necessary to have these tools.

The bucket is handy for carrying and organizing your collection of tools. It also can be used to transport the materials to be panned. Five-gallon buckets are very inexpensive or even free.

Sniffer bottles (also called snuffer bottles or sucker bottles) are very handy for removing the gold from your pan. They may usually be purchased wherever gold pans are sold.

The small bottle is for storing the located gold. Almost any small bottle will do so long as it can close tightly and is water tight. A good example of this is a baby food container however, be careful not to drop it! 35 mm film containers work well and don't break.

Glass gold vials are available at prospecting stores and come in a variety of sizes from 2 DWT (pennyweight) to several ounces. They work well for estimating how much gold you have accumulated and for showing off your gold.

Lets review so far:

You have: your tools, time to prospect, you are traveling along a stream which looks unregulated, curves and has what appears to be a good amount of elevation drop, there appears to be a good selection of mineral diversity in the surrounding rocks and you are ready to find gold!

Find a spot in the waterway earlier discussed and imagine how the area looked in the spring flood. Go to an area above the mid-summer waterline and estimate the height of the winter flood level above present water level. Look for rock formations (bedrock) with various sized crevasses or large obstacles that created eddies where the heavy materials fell out of the turbulence of the spring flood.

NOTE: Keep track of the general height above present water level where you are looking. The heavy material may be concentrated at a particular level or a different one. By doing this, the prospector will begin to develop a "feel" for the future location of gold in that area. Now comes the fun, the panning commences!

Remove all material from the spot you have chosen and sweep it clean. This includes the live organic material on top (grass, weeds, moss etc.), the material in the area all the way to the bottom. The material on the bedrock and in the cracks is most likely to contain gold. Be very careful to save the dirt attached to the moss and roots. Remember, gold has a much higher density than the normal river material and will seek the lowest level of the area in which you are looking.

Load this material into your pan. Fill it to about 2/3 capacity, or to a physically comfortable level. The next step is to perform the panning. This can be better described as separating the materials into layers based on their densities, removing the less dense materials at the top and then extracting the gold.

Locate an area in the water where it will be comfortable to do the panning. The water should be flowing but not at the full force of the waterway. A flat rock in slow moving water about a foot deep is ideal. Sitting on the rock is much easier on the knees and back. Summer temperatures may offer a wading technique that will be both easy to perform and refreshing. Fill the remaining space in the pan with water and locate the rim about the level of the water.

Remember, what you are about to perform is a separation of material based on the different material densities, then the removal of the common materials (less dense, on the top) leaving the most dense on the bottom.

Hold the pan level and agitate it sufficiently to create a homogeneous mixture where all the material seems to be suspended. The key here is all the material must be moving. I stick my finger in the mix as I agitate it to feel if everything is suspended. Almost immediately the organic material will rise to the top surface.

As this is being performed, slow or stop the agitation and in a level position, gently lower the entire pan into the water, 1 or 2 inches below the surface. A gentle circular motion will cause the least dense materials to be carried away by the water.

Continue the agitating procedure until all the muddy silt and organic materials are removed. It also is a good idea to sift the entire pan with your fingers to remove large stones and other non-gold items. Be sure to break up and dissolve all clay lumps if any. Not only can they hold gold, they may be sticky and pick up some free gold in your pan.

Also, break up any moss clumps and thoroughly clean any grass roots as they sometimes hold a surprising amount of gold. It is easy to know when the low-density organic material and silts have been removed. The water is no longer muddy while you are agitating the pan.

Continue to perform this technique for a period of time stopping to sift through the mixture and removing the largest stones. As the panning proceeds, the size of the removed stones will become smaller and smaller.

How long should this part of the panning last? This is a very difficult question to answer, as there are many variables to take into account. If the prospector remembers that the function of the agitation is to separate the materials into their respective densities, the heaviest on the bottom and so on, the time needed to do this will be easier to estimate.

A good rule to first start out is to agitate no longer than one minute. Now comes the time to start removing the less dense materials and hopefully, the gold. Lift the pan out of the water just about one to two inches in a level fashion. Start agitating the pan as before and tip the pan to an angle that will allow the most dense materials to collect in the lowest corner of the pan.

When you are satisfied that the most dense material is collected there, it is time to remove all the rest of the less dense materials. While the pan is still tipped on the angle, dip it into the water and lift slowly upward. This action will create a small wave. If done correctly, the wave will take with it an amount of the undesired, low-density materials on the top. The key here is only the top layer of material is moving.

Repeat the wave, taking away the low density material several times. Alternate between the horizontal agitating motion and the tip and wave removal process until roughly 2-5 tablespoons of material remains. Since small gold particles can float on the surface tension if exposed to air for any length of time, it is important to keep the material submerged as much as possible. If you see any black sand or gold during the tip and wave removal process, it is definitely time to go back to the horizontal agitating motion. The black sand or gold will appear along the line between the bottom of the pan and the material.

Do not hesitate to continue to remove the stones which are now large pebbles (at this point, I have always referred to the pebbles as boulders). The process is now almost complete! There should be a small amount of fine material resting in the lower corner of the pan. This material is called concentrates because you have concentrated all the material in your pan down to this small amount.

You may notice the presence of a high concentration of black sand. This is probably magnetite, which is a form of iron and other heavy material. The presence of this indicates that you have performed the technique properly as iron is 3 times as dense as the common sand and rocks that make up the majority of the river bed material.

Some other things you may notice are old fishhooks, lead sinkers and perhaps mercury. These are all indications that your search is being performed properly. You have successfully separated a small amount of highly dense materials from the stream. It is obvious at this point the importance in the size of the pan. The large pans will allow a significant amount of total material to be panned and the effort may cause your arms to want to fall off. The smaller pans are easier to use but yield a smaller amount of dense materials.

Lets review the panning procedure up to now:

1. Fill pan about 2/3 full with all debris from a small area from the streamside. In the case of cracks or under large items, remember - dense materials filter out first (deepest).

2. Fill the remainder of the pan with water and agitate the mixture to separate the mixture into the materials' respective densities. Any motion will work as long as the mixture of the material and water is homogeneous (moving). Remember to include weeds and grass in the initial material to be panned, the roots commonly pull up material from the very bottom of the crack.

3. Tip the pan to remove the least dense materials and small stones. The most dense materials will collect in the lowest corner of the pan.

4. Locate and remove the gold. This is explained in part E

A Comment from a prospector who purchased the Ancient Deposits Modern Wealth Package

Stan,

I recently decided to try my luck with my gold pan near the border of
Wyoming and Montana. Your report said that the ancient Old Mammoth
River passed through this way a few million years ago. I was able to locate obviously round river gravels along the east side of the Wind River Range. I filled a bucket with some of this gravel and drove to the nearest river.

I was finding some nice fine gold in each pan until I got to the bottom of the bucket. In my last pan I came up with a small little nugget the size of a BB. I wonder how much gold must be laying there on the mountainside. Unfortunately this is part of a National Park and I'll have to work it periodically one bucket at a time.

Thanks for the tip! Anonymous

ANCIENT DEPOSITS MODERN WEALTH

If you want to find alluvial gold in large quantities,
you have to find the ancient tertiary river channels.
They exist throughout all of the western Americas, from
Alaska to Chile. The vast majority of these deposits are
still virgin and unexplored. For more detailed and
extensive information about the ancient alluvial river
deposits and where to find them, please have a look at
my Ancient Deposits Modern Wealth Package. This special
package includes information and maps you won't find
anywhere else and reveals all of my "ancient river"
research, experience, discoveries and secrets.

Please visit:
http://www.stangrist.com/AncientChannels.htm
for more information about the package.

With the price of gold bouncing between $500 to $700 an
ounce wouldn't you love to find some with your metal
detector right now?

"Stan, Just wanted you to know about some success I had
recently. I live near San Diego. Last week I tried your
trick for finding jewelry at the beach. I found 5 gold
rings in one pocket in shallow water! This added up to
more than 1 ounce of pure gold. Thanks for that method,
it is brilliant. Sincerely, Jim Trottier, San Diego CA"

FIND GOLD CLOSE TO YOUR HOME

Did you know that gold is everywhere and that you don't
have to travel far away to find it? It can be found in many
different forms such as gold rings, gold coins, gold nuggets
and flakes, complex ores, circuit boards, old jewelry and
gold bars, to name a few.

Many people have written to me asking how they can find
gold close to their own home. I am very pleased to
announce my new report "Find Gold Close To Your Home."
This report is unlike anything you have ever heard of or
seen before. My new report teaches you how to even find
lost or hidden gold right at home, no matter where you live
in the world. You can find gold close to your home, around
your neighborhood, your city, or outside city limits using
the information and tips detailed in my new report.

Much of this information gathered from over 35 years of my own
and others' personal experience is now being revealed for
the first time. It is designed to maximize your chances of
success in finding gold. To get all the details or to order
'Find Gold Close To Your Home" please visit:
http://www.stangrist.com/FindGold.htm

Making Money Through Adventure?

If you didn't have to go to work everyday and could afford to travel anywhere in the world to discover gold, ancient treasure or a lost city, where would you want to go and what would you hunt for?

You can leave the rat race behind, live a life of adventure and freedom plus earn a great living at the same time - I did and I will show you how to do it step by step with my new 2006 epackage "Creating Wealth Through Adventure with the Stan Grist System"

Find out more about my new system:
http://www.stangrist.com/CreatingWealthSystem.htm
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Copyright ©, 2002. http://www.stangrist.com.
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Published by Stan Grist and Susan Millar
(c) copyright 2002, Stan Grist, All Rights Reserved
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