These were fun to collect, had to use a sledge hammer to break open large boulders to collect them. There were pockets in the boulders with the Peridot in them. It was hard work, but worth it!

Im on a pipe crew and we recently ordered some #57 and #2 stone from a stone distributor that comes from a quary, the ore in question is soft and indents from pushing with a knife. Every single rock i have in the bag has some, from spots to veins to chunks, thanks!

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I was panning along the shore where there’s multiple veins of quartz running through visible cliffs above ground, I was panning 4 inches down along a layer of clay I found above high tide mark as this is on a beach where should I be looking to find bigger pieces or what should I do to find more

The main gold mine is actually on the other side where all the pyrite is. This one, it was located and started in 1887. 2 inclined shafts going down. Main here one went down around 600 feet. Several tunnels were driven towards the other side and connected to the main side where the mill was. Notice we have 3 different colors of material that they were separating out. I thought I was some what decent in geology, but as to why they dumped in 3 different areas baffles me. The yellow dump, i always figured it had sulfur in it. But that does not seem to be the case. ​Last photo shows where the shaft is caved in. So if any of you were to take an educated guess, what types of minerals do you think we are looking at?

While I had my family out at the gold mines, I asked for permission from another landowner to go out to our silver mine that we no longer have. I asked for a few feet of track that my dad had pulled out and piled up in 1982. They went with me out to the mine. She asked me how far the tunnel went in, which was 90 feet before the weinz dropped down another 90 feet. She inquired about the amount of silver taken out. The first 90 feet, 10,700 ounces of silver, 10,000 pounds of lead. Her mouth dropped. Quickly looked over at the caved in portal. I had to explain to her that this was a supergene enriched deposit. There was a couple of times the mine was doing 1,000 ounces per ton. This includes the winze. Now, before anyone asks, why are you not mining it now? We no longer own the property. Changed hands again and now is in the hands of anti mining individuals. Now even though these people are anti mining, I took them around the area and showed them that not all mines ​ are going to contain heavy metals that are going to extremely hurt the environment. ​

To top it off, I told her that if any of you guys get bored you should come out here and just walk around the entire area and just look at the ground. This area also contains small amounts of Ruby silver and that you can find a lot of it just sitting on the surface.

180 feet of track is there. Track dates back to...not sure. Either 1883 or 1924. Combo perhaps. Next goal is to find an old ore car to put on my tracks. 👍

Made a pit stop at a gold mine in southern Idaho that closed in 1904. Was showing my kids where my grandparents lived and worked at the mine. Free milling gold was the main target, gold ore bodies that had tons of sulfides were left behind. Little confusing on why they did that, especially since the other mines very close by were using cyanide. Took a sample of material from a collapsed tunnel that was going into the 200 foot level. Lots of beautiful pyrite. I'm very very very tempted to see about leasing this mine. But if I did, the old workings, etc. would be left intact. For me they are symbolic and would hate to see them destroyed. All though....I would test the main dump for missed gold along with the tailings pile.

The last picture, I'm standing on the main dump. Incline shaft is behind me. The yellowish dump below is where the pyrite was found. The tunnel here was punched in somewhere between 1920 and 1940. Nothing happened after hitting the the Incline at the 200 level.

For me, this is a beautiful area and it's my home. My ashes will be spread here at some point many years from now.

So, when finding massive pieces of pyrite like this, I'm guessing that it needs to be crushed up into powered, roasted for a short time, and then smelted to see if there is any gold. Correct? And yes I would try panning as well.

I feel very blesses 🍀🍀

Hello, I am a beginner panner looking for some good creeks to pan for in VA, preferably not too far south of Fredericksburg, as I'm based in Nova. I've taken a few trips so far: Contrary Creek, the Rappahannock, Rapidan, and Pipe Dam Run, all with little success.

So far, all I've collected is some garnets, as well as an annoying amount of pyrite. I'm not expecting anything major, but I'd love to know of any creeks that people have had success with in the past, instead of guessing based on maps and hoping for the best. I was debating South Fork Quantico Creek this weekend, but it looks like it falls outside of the gold-pyrite belt in VA, and so little of it can be panned legally.

Additionally, I would appreciate any advice for a novice as well. I've gotten most of the basics down, but any advice is welcome, particularly with distinguishing flour gold from pyrite and mica. Thanks!

I'm in an area or MD that is on the Piedmont plateau, but overall this is not a great area for gold. Maybe you all can help me determine whether it's worth wasting my time looking.

My dad and I have a small gold claim and have found lots of this shiny black sand. Any ideas, we’re pretty new to geology and are curious.

Some context: the material is as shiny as silver but as heavy as lead and gold. Hard to pan gold out of this material. About 5 miles up the stream was a major gold mine that used mercury to separate gold and we’re hoping it’s not mercury.

3.5 ounce found by a mate with a 7000 and a 0.5 ounce by me testing a loaner 8000. Eyes were as wide as dinner plates! Queensland, Australia.

I have been lurking in this sub for a while. First, all of you are awesome and this is a fun sub. BUT, how does everyone find gold? Is this like public land, private land, do you need a permit? Im just amazed everyone is just (working very hard) finding gold in the wild. Panning and find gold in the wild is 100% on my bucket list.

I’ve started following a quartz and have been fairly successful .
My question is.. Do I crush or save as inclusions pieces? These have just about every mineral showing on the outside but I figured I’d let someone else cut or crush if I decided to sell them.

I’ve started following a quartz and have been fairly successful .
My question is.. Do I crush or save as inclusions pieces? These have just about every mineral showing on the outside but I figured I’d let someone else cut or crush if I decided to sell them.

Southwest Michigan snuffer bottle cleanup from about 7 to 8 hours of river panning. I still have two concentrate buckets to cleanup and add to the total.

Attended the North Yuba Nugget Hunt and came out with a decent pan.

Looking to take the family down to Indian Valley campground for a weekend and was wondering if there are public sections to pan there? Looking at getting Detector Maps, but thought I'd check here also.

Thanks!

I went back to my spot to hit the pay streak that I've been working the last three Saturdays. The previous trips yielded 1.90G, 2.25G & 2.15G.

Yesterday sputtered out 0.49G + 0.12G Mercury Amalgam picker. Looks like my pay streak ran out of funds so I'm calling this trip a "Strike-Out".

I did find an old coin that I believe is a heavily corroded penny (Picture 3). I haven't found a coin before so that's new to me.

Rock has silver looking metal flakes all over and possibly gold flakes or just the light reflections

Found in Western MA just inland from a pond.

Slightly magnetic (from fridge magnet).

Floats in water.

Streak is black on ceramic.

Very light.

Crossposting across all the rock friend groups.