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Those of you that have panned for years, what do you look for in a stream to pan?

A

amcjavelin

Active member
hello there i kind of new at this, when you guys try a new river or what is the one thing that you look for to try a certain spot on it? Where i'm here in Maine we have placier gold and sometimes you'l find it embeded in quartz, i have a few that are small streams one has a mountain gorge that has cut into the ledge a good 20' with a pool at the bottom sort has the natuaral water slide idea configuration do you look for gravely beds or silty area's
 
Hey Steve maybe you can help me out, I went and got some gravel sand from a brook thats not known for it but when i was panning it i was finding very nice garnet sand with the mix i hear thats a good sign from not to far away from the gold? can you shed any light on this?
 
Gold is heavy so when you find gold you also find garnet (red sands) and magnetite (black sands). Unfortunately those heavy minerals are also common where there is no gold so it really does not mean there is gold around. It does mean you are capturing heavy stuff in your pan and if gold was there you would have caught it also.

http://nevada-outback-gems.com/basic_prospecting/sniping.htm

Steve Herschbach
 
Maine is not really known for its placer gold deposits. That said, I have had two different groups of guys show me some very nice gold nuggets taken in the last couple years from Maine - like quarter ounce and better type of stuff. So I would suggest there there are some placers in Maine, but not all over the place. Take samples from different streams, testing crevices like Steve said. If you dont get any gold at all after a half dozen pans, give up and move on to the next stream. If you get some small colors move around on that stream and test different spots on bedrock. There has been some historic hard rock gold mining on a small scale in Maine (no big producers) - maybe check those general areas.
 
Well believe it or not gentleman about 100+ years ago there was 2 local gold mines in my area plus some of the best tourmaline in the world has come out here and the stream that i'm panning comes off the mountain where the mine is or was but not many people know about this in my area so i'm just experimenting too but there is one place in the stream that captures my attention is a small gorge cut into the ledge about 20' deep with a decent pool at the bottom should i be trying that or should i just concentrate on the bed rock crevaces and cracks?
 
For sure the bedrock crevices and cracks in the gorge. Gold seeks the lowest point possible so bedrock right next to the water, especially at low water, is your target.

Steve Herschbach
 
how deep is that pool? Reminded me of a spot out in the Black Hills big cut out in a gorge with a 15"deep pool right under a waterfall...I was going down to the bottom with a 5 gallon bucket and scooping gravel. My buddy was on the side pulling in the pails with a rope screening and panning, I would just sort of float there and catch my breath for the next dive, we were finding flakes. I remember there being lots of busted glass down in there as well...after about a half hour of diving and digging the bottom, my buddy looked at me sort of funny...there were loads of little leeches all over my face!
Mud
 
I don't know yet i haven't ventured that close to it yet because its steep to get to it and there is still alot of snow to deal with and i really don't want to fall in it this time of the year i got a feelin it would very cold lol! plus to hinder things worse we have a snow storm coming in tonight 10 to 16", why couldn't rain hot water?
 
Yeah, I hear you there, real steep gorges with water at the bottom and cold ice slick rocks, and old men don't mix...we are getting ice snow and rain right now and its heading towards you. Well, if you ever do get down in there late this summer, who knows whats at the bottom? Report back please!
Mud
 
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