My son and I are in the act of using this knowledge that I gained by watching your videos Chris. This is our second season prospecting in North Idaho Panhandle and have been out twice since our spot stopped flooding. We have recovered a half gram or so and are going to start digging (sampling) methodically and see if we cant come out if the hole with sagging pockets! I appreciate you and your wealth of knowledge and gain most of my insight and ideas from watching your videos. Thanks again Chris.
Good morning Chris, I been watching your videos alot this last few months, I have to say you're the best guy I have found to be so helpful in so many ways, my new A52S is being shipped now, so next week will be out on a new river I have found in wales, GB, anyway I will so you some photos on my new sluice and show you, have a great day and weekend. Rich
The technique is described in a story by Jack London called _All Gold Canyon._ -- which was not too long back made into a short film for the _Ballad of Buster Scruggs_ anthology on Netflix. The old pocket prospector was played perfectly by Tom Waits. :-) Look up the "Gold Hill Mine" in S Western Oregon, for a neat story about just how shallow and rich such pockets could be. They couldn't break the veins up with sledgehammers, they were so welded together with gold.
@@ChrisRalph Tom Waits shaking his fist and talking to the yet unfound pocket up on the hill was good stuff: _"I'm old, but you're older!!"_ They could have brought on a consultant for the panning shots, which weren't quite realistic -- too much swirling.
Great idea. I will do an update with Alex as he digs out that spot (it might be a month or two because Alex has a full time job that he does, so it will take a while to make process with).
Hi Chris I’m really happy I found your page you have fantastic videos on gold etc and I’m trying to suck up all the knowledge I can from you . Thank you sir and have a wonderful 4th of july
Hey Chris, great video, thanks. I have found waterworn placer nuggets on a hill slope in the cone formation exactly as you described. At the top of the slope there was an area 2 m square where 1/4 oz of smooth nugget gold was detected. Old timer workings (which I think were following a braided paleochannel) missed the area. Perhaps a chunk of auriferous conglomerate or part of an ancient riverbed that split off the main lead and eroded down the hillside.
Great video Chris and I do remember reading about tracing to the source of "pocket gold" which involves LOTS of sampling but could lead to "the end of the rainbow" :>) In a sense finding really course angular gold in any area could be a "heads up" to hopefully trace/loam to a possible pocket...the pan readings will show the way.
Great Video Chris, Interesting on how to follow those steps in the mountains as some would also do the same thing for rivers to fine the line of gold. Is that desert in Cali, NV or AZ?
It depends on the area. You need to get down below the layer of leaves, pine needles, etc. In the desert, you might only scrape off a inch or so of loose sand. In the forest, you might need to take off 6 or 8 inches pine needles, bark, leaves, etc. In the desert area shown at the beginning of the video, Alex scraped off half an inch of loose sand. Good question!
I think every prospector knows well how difficult is to find alluvial gold. Even, he knows how harder is to find some eluvial gold. I can't believe how incredibly tough should be to find some gold pocket in vein quartz :-) Anyway, thanx for the precious prospecting lesson: on many prospecting videos on youtube, almost nobody covers gelogical topics as you do... :-) Greetings from Italy
Thank you teacher,a great class about prospecting,very very interesting,meanwhile,ill keep digging my limonite,oxidized crust here. thanks for share,waituing next.
In the Netflix movie "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs", there's an episode/chapter titled "All Gold Canyon". It has singer, songwriter, actor Tom Waits as the prospector who is using the loaming method to find "Mr. Pocket". The "All Gold Canyon" story was originally written by Jack London. You can read/hear the story at this UA-cam link: ua-cam.com/video/bEKbxJ21Jew/v-deo.html During the beginning of the hunt for Mr. Pocket, The Prospector is taking surface samples. He flags the boundary up the hill which forms a wedge pointing to Mr. Pocket. As you can see in the film, the trace starts to head down into the ground, requiring the prospector to dig deeper for each sample as he gets closer to the source. This would happen if the vein got buried for one reason or another (glaciers, landslides, erosion further up the hill). What this tells me is that if the surface trace disappears, you should dig deeper for the samples in order to keep defining the boundary as you go up the hill. The extra effort might get you to Mr. Pocket.
Very informative video really enjoy the Whiteboard I understand every place is a little different but on an average about how far do you do sample holes after your first sample whole how far off do you do your second sample hole and do you make your sample holes closer together as you progress up the Hill or do you keep them all pretty much the same distance apart thank you for your time and knowledge
Very helpful video! I think you forgot to include the use of the metal detector in tandem with the loaming technique you illustrated. Please do another video that would include using the metal detector. Thanks!
I was in a creek this weekend with my Minelab 1000 and it was just going crazy in the solid rock telling me non-ferrous and iron targets but mainly it would say non-ferrous in all settings
Very informative video. I was metal detecting for relics today and came across a boat load of quartz rocks and big quartz boulders in a mini canyon or an old stream bed on the side of a hill. I got curious, so I followed the quartz up until it stopped and found a pretty decent sized quartz vein partially exposed. I didn't see any visible gold in it and I think there was only a small amount of minerals in it, so I didn't really bother doing anything with it. I have a second metal detector that's a gold bug, might have to go back to see if it gets any hits.
Great information. I have used this method on my claims, however I have not been lucky enough to find any sources. An area with lots of glacial till can make it very difficult to use this method.
Try and Try again try differant locations learn basic geology and geophysics ,first I got 5gram nugget it was the first day, how do you think if I expand my knowledge ,I think iam the path of success really
i inow that some pocket gold is from eroded sulfide deposit or iron where the gold has leached out. i friend described gold located in the desert whrere what might be called a vein was located and it was like a finger pocking straight up a foot wide or so and very rich in cold. not exactly a pocket but was small and hard to miss but very rich.
Hi Chris, great video!! I have a kind of a mystery. I live in a gold bearing area where gold was mined in the iron age (500 BC to 50 BC) by Celtic people. In this area there is an ancient goldmine on top of a hill. The surrounding area seams to be devoid of any gold bearing quartz veins. However this particular mine is incredibly rich. I in fact found a few pieces of gold in quartz there, that you better should call quartz in gold. The hill is however covered by three meters of peat and one meter of soil. How could these Celts have homed in onto this particular spot? For your information; the peat and the soil were there already 2000 years ago when the Celt dug at this spot. Any idea how they did this?
Follow that lizard. It knows the gold source. Lol ! So this is where those to quartz veins from previous video merged ? I've had many experiences loaming. The technique works with placer deposits too. It's like detective work. Investigating the scene. I use it on my claim to map deposition boundaries. Gold is very coarse, so the source has to be close. Thanks for sharing this important prospecting technique ! 🤠⚒⛏👍
I saw the lizard while we were filming but thought no harm in it. This vein is actually a cross vein that goes 90 degrees to the veins in the previous video. They are fairly close but not on top of each other. The gold in the cross vein is much coarser than the other gold around the area.
Your videos are exceptional. I do have a question about vein formation in regards to how the gold gets distributed. Will the gold spread out thinly in places appearing to look like thin coats of paint and then form into blobs bonding with arsenic and pyrite? Thank you again for you selflessness. You have helped me understand the earth so much more. There should be more people like you on this planet.
Its not that simple - gold is often deposits after the quartz is laid down and not at the same time as the bulk of the quartz. The chemistry, temperature changes and pressure changes all affect the size of the gold and where it is deposited in a vein.
@@ChrisRalph Professor, does it make sense that after a mountain is formed, over time, the gold is then distributed into the vein causing in some steep mountain ridges the gold, instead of weathering and rolling into rivers below it forms a small “mesa” or “plateau” towards the mountain peak because of the immense weight of the gold? Would it not be a good method to detecting large gold deposits using satellite imagery? I ought to continue reading your book “Fists Full of Gold”. Thanks again brother sir man professor and teachers teacher or more like experts expert you are! Thanks once again for your selflessness for it has enriched my life in so many ways. P. S. In love how you encourage us and present us with resources to research. And, please take your time to respond, like i said i need to consult your book.
remember first that the gold is spread out through the country rock as tiny traces of a few atoms here and there. The geologic process of forming gold veins is essentially a natural process to chemically dissolve the gold in hot sulfur waters and collect those traces of gold to later deposit them together in a vein. The chemistry of the waters which go to form the vein changes over time. Normally quartz is laid down first, then gold is often deposits after the majority of the quartz is deposited. The gold is sometimes deposited in thin cracks where it might look like it was painted on. Some gold is deposited as more chunky blobs. Some is in or very closely associated with sulfides like pyrite and arsenopyrite. The chemistry, temperature changes and pressure changes in the hot fluids that form the vein all affect the size of the gold that is deposited and where in the vein it is deposited. Quartz veins can be very different in all these factors and so you can get veins and gold deposits that look very different from each other. The traces of gold in the country rock will not by themselves form nuggets and placer deposits. The formation of mesas or steeper slopes has to do with uplift and rock types, no so much any gold present. If there are gold deposits on fairly flat mesas, then gold will get deposited there. If the slopes are steep, the gold will erode and wash down. - Chris
Mark Twain, in his book, Roughing It, has a chapter called "Pocket Mining", which describes this process in the Nevada and California mining districts. "Roughing It" is a great book showing his trials and tribulations on the frontier as he stumbles onto his career as author and journalist.
I get so many, many requests from people for rock and mineral ID every day, I just cannot do that. This is mainly because it is almost impossible to identify minerals and ores reliably from just photos. Watch this video and learn how to identify minerals for yourself: ua-cam.com/video/MpkW58ZeQlc/v-deo.html
Chris Ralph, Professional Prospector i’m going to get your book on Monday😃 I’m excited to read it 🙏 thanks for this book and all your videos 👍✊️✊️🤔 it’s a really good deal $29.95 on Amazon 😊🤔 I purchased it through your link below the video.
The method was employed with considerable success in the Klamath Mountains of Oregon and N. California -- but, yeah, probably not quite the overburden you have in Georgia.
I live in the hills of Southern Vermont where there are outcroppings of white quartz and where gold has been found in the past. Do you think this might be a worthwhile technique to help me find gold? I am just getting started at this.
@@ChrisRalph yes but whats weird is that the quarts Cristal's lay on the surface only for 15 to 20 yards and I don't see the quarts vein near the surface and the stream below has a rusty collor to the water im thinking of checking it out any way to be sure and if I find gold or something valuable I can put the laoming teckniqeu to use and learn by practice and gain some good experience and a nice adventure into the mountains I know there are valuable item s up there couse these mountains were part a historical event which took place the Boer s and the British fought here and I have found very old bullets here with my gold pan working the streams in those mountains and lead like that would lay in places gold would 👨
Not sure if you'll see this so far down the road but have a question for ya. I'm in northwest Arizona, and I've been prospecting around the basins (I belong to a couple groups) for some time now with pretty good success drywashing and detecting but I've never taken the proper amount of time to search for one of the many small veins to be found out there. My question is, and maybe I missed it but how far down does the sample have to be? Do I need to get down to calichie, which in the case of that area is about 3 feet down? Also I was wondering what you think about the Garrett ATX as a cheaper alternative to the more expensive Minelabs, if you have the time to answer both.
Thank you, sir. Good, useful information! On the subject of carrying water for test pans...what do you think of a little bit of winnowing to get rid of some of the silt? Water turns to pudding so quickly! Is it too risky? I appreciate all your videos.
You'd need a good sized tarp to catch the falling sand. Remember the gold you are trying to see is very tiny, like dust, so you dont want to blow that stuff away.
I seen some old workings where they apparently used this technique But the holes were like a cubic metre Do I need to dig as big hole as that or is say a shovel head or two deep enough ? And if I found flat flakes of gold doing this , what would that mean ?
I purchased your book from amazon, they sent me a dvd with software upgrade to a Cessna citation ( I do not own an aircraft), I rang them and they said send it back, all good until Australia post lost it, so Amazon are useless, Australia post is useless, and so thanks to them I don’t have your book
Lol 😅 sounds like Australia Post ! They lose my stuff (and letters) all the time! My little country P.O. is well known for its many major and very often very high occurances. Hope you get your book soon 😁 Good luck mate, happy prospecting and I wish you many gold loaded pans 😁 🦘🇦🇺
I like this information Chris, nice to see that your still safe! There is lot to learn but, there are easier ways to find the pockets. But your do not believe in that!
I think he's talking about dowsing. I always ask that dowsers show me all the gold deposits in the ground that they have already found, not just that they believe it can be done.
Chris Ralph, Professional Prospector 👍. I am a Dutchman so due to travel restrictions I have to skip this year. But I would love to go out with you guys to show. I’ll be digging in The Netherlands and Germany this year. Lots of super fine gold up to 600 mesh.
362 your gold prospector is on the way ,the images of th book is too wide and is good for begginner to see well the pictures and location where may be gold
Bless your Heart... ~~To be helping others is very honorable, sir😊Thank you kindly for your Genuine Loving intention for all of us!!!💖 It's S000 VERY MUCH appreciated🌈💖
Thanks alot Chris. That's great information and useful for what I been doing with alot of my free time lately. Should make it alot more efficient too, lot more than the way I been doing which sounds pretty silly now. )) Boy I could pick your brain on thus matter abit haha. Ps: been trying to get your book in Australia buy onky can find with exhorbant postage from USA. Any other way? Thanks
There is a guy who has a several hundred in stock in Australia and is distributing them to some dealers who are in his system. Unfortunately, I have lost his name and contact but he has a bunch and his dealers have them also.
@@ChrisRalph Oh wow, you actually replied haha. Didn't really expect it. ))) OK Chris I haven't seen them online anywhere or thriugh my connections but I'll check around some the prosoecting stores and such. Maybe strike gold, so to speak. Uhh remember which State he was in? What about audiobook even if can't find? Thanks Chris, appreciate it.
Friend - it took me like 5 seconds to Google "Fists Full of Gold book in Australia" and see that Nuggets Ned's and also Reed's prospecting in WA has it available. I've actually been in Reed's prospecting shop in Perth. I dont have an Audiobook or an apple or Kindle book as these are made for books with no illustrations like novels. My book has hundreds of illustrations and you be getting half a book if you leave out the illustrations.
Sometimes the source has completely eroded away, maybe 30 million years ago or something like that. If you cut the hillside on the white board drawing in half, same rules apply but no top honey hole. That's when you stop, look around and say,....If I was heavy Gold,..."Which way would I go ?" because the top is now at the bottom. I Liked the video !
VERY HELPFUL VIDEO THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR I AM BUYING NEW GOLD PAN AND MINELAB GOLD MONSTER 1000 13/6/2020. SIR I STARTED ALL YOUR VERY WONDERFUL BEST WAY SIR
I get so many, many requests from people for rock and mineral ID every day, I just cannot do that. This is mainly because it is almost impossible to identify minerals and ores reliably from just photos. Watch this video and learn how to identify minerals for yourself: ua-cam.com/video/MpkW58ZeQlc/v-deo.html
I stumbled on this vid today, interesting that I ordered sprinkler system flags about an hour before I even saw this : Think the Dirt is Talking to me!
Good morning Chris, I been watching your videos alot this last few months, I have to say you're the best guy I have found to be so helpful in so many ways, my new A52S is being shipped now, so next week will be out on a new river I have found in wales, GB, anyway I will so you some photos on my new sluice and show you, have a great day and weekend. Rich
My son and I are in the act of using this knowledge that I gained by watching your videos Chris. This is our second season prospecting in North Idaho Panhandle and have been out twice since our spot stopped flooding. We have recovered a half gram or so and are going to start digging (sampling) methodically and see if we cant come out if the hole with sagging pockets! I appreciate you and your wealth of knowledge and gain most of my insight and ideas from watching your videos. Thanks again Chris.
That is great to hear! I'm glad you enjoy the videos.
Great video as always. Thanks for keeping the knowledge of the old timer’s alive
You bet, thanks for watching, lots more videos coming soon.
Thank you for sharing with others to help people learn, and understand prospecting.
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed the video!
Good morning Chris,
I been watching your videos alot this last few months, I have to say you're the best guy I have found to be so helpful in so many ways, my new A52S is being shipped now, so next week will be out on a new river I have found in wales, GB, anyway I will so you some photos on my new sluice and show you, have a great day and weekend.
Rich
Best of luck to you.
The technique is described in a story by Jack London called _All Gold Canyon._ -- which was not too long back made into a short film for the _Ballad of Buster Scruggs_ anthology on Netflix. The old pocket prospector was played perfectly by Tom Waits. :-)
Look up the "Gold Hill Mine" in S Western Oregon, for a neat story about just how shallow and rich such pockets could be. They couldn't break the veins up with sledgehammers, they were so welded together with gold.
I've heard of that video. Glad you enjoyed this one.
@@ChrisRalph
Tom Waits shaking his fist and talking to the yet unfound pocket up on the hill was good stuff: _"I'm old, but you're older!!"_
They could have brought on a consultant for the panning shots, which weren't quite realistic -- too much swirling.
Great video on tracing the load !!!! Hope to see more on how Alex does
Great idea. I will do an update with Alex as he digs out that spot (it might be a month or two because Alex has a full time job that he does, so it will take a while to make process with).
@@ChrisRalph looking forward to seeing how and what all he finds
That was a great intro Chris ! I dont know how I missed this video
Glad you enjoyed it
Hi Chris I’m really happy I found your page you have fantastic videos on gold etc and I’m trying to suck up all the knowledge I can from you . Thank you sir and have a wonderful 4th of july
You have a great holiday too, and I've got more videos coming soon.
Thanks alot Chris very informative video
Glad it was helpful!
Hey Chris, great video, thanks. I have found waterworn placer nuggets on a hill slope in the cone formation exactly as you described. At the top of the slope there was an area 2 m square where 1/4 oz of smooth nugget gold was detected. Old timer workings (which I think were following a braided paleochannel) missed the area. Perhaps a chunk of auriferous conglomerate or part of an ancient riverbed that split off the main lead and eroded down the hillside.
Interesting. Sounds like a great find.
Great video mate.
Thanks for the visit, Glad you enjoyed it.
Awesome lecture! I am sampling using your methodology. Thanks,
Glad it was helpful!
Lil' lizard comes up to say hello 2:07 ! Great video!
Thanks - it'san oldervideo. The little trench he was working is now 15 feet deep.
Great video Chris and I do remember reading about tracing to the source of "pocket gold" which involves LOTS of sampling but could lead to "the end of the rainbow" :>) In a sense finding really course angular gold in any area could be a "heads up" to hopefully trace/loam to a possible pocket...the pan readings will show the way.
Yep, and I hope you do find that "pot of GOLD"!
Great Video Chris, Interesting on how to follow those steps in the mountains as some would also do the same thing for rivers to fine the line of gold. Is that desert in Cali, NV or AZ?
Its in Nevada. Glad you enjoyed the video. Those steps work well in some cases.
I love the video! I have one question how deep do you dig these holes for your samples?
It depends on the area. You need to get down below the layer of leaves, pine needles, etc. In the desert, you might only scrape off a inch or so of loose sand. In the forest, you might need to take off 6 or 8 inches pine needles, bark, leaves, etc. In the desert area shown at the beginning of the video, Alex scraped off half an inch of loose sand. Good question!
Chris your great. I have learned so much from your videos. Big thanks for what you're doing.
I appreciate that! Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@ChrisRalph
Just got your book in the mail from Amazon. Looking forward to reading it.
Finally. I've been waiting for you to cover this for quite a while.
Hope you can use it to find a lot of gold. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I think every prospector knows well how difficult is to find alluvial gold. Even, he knows how harder is to find some eluvial gold.
I can't believe how incredibly tough should be to find some gold pocket in vein quartz :-)
Anyway, thanx for the precious prospecting lesson: on many prospecting videos on youtube, almost nobody covers gelogical topics as you do... :-)
Greetings from Italy
Gold is expensive because it's so very rare. Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I enjoyed this educational video--Barton
Glad it was helpful!
Bought your book, Chris. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I hope you enjoy it, I think you will.
Excellent video, thanks again, Chris...!
Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Thank you teacher,a great class about prospecting,very very interesting,meanwhile,ill
keep digging my limonite,oxidized crust here.
thanks for share,waituing next.
Sounds great!
In the Netflix movie "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs", there's an episode/chapter titled "All Gold Canyon". It has singer, songwriter, actor Tom Waits as the prospector who is using the loaming method to find "Mr. Pocket".
The "All Gold Canyon" story was originally written by Jack London. You can read/hear the story at this UA-cam link: ua-cam.com/video/bEKbxJ21Jew/v-deo.html
During the beginning of the hunt for Mr. Pocket, The Prospector is taking surface samples. He flags the boundary up the hill which forms a wedge pointing to Mr. Pocket.
As you can see in the film, the trace starts to head down into the ground, requiring the prospector to dig deeper for each sample as he gets closer to the source. This would happen if the vein got buried for one reason or another (glaciers, landslides, erosion further up the hill). What this tells me is that if the surface trace disappears, you should dig deeper for the samples in order to keep defining the boundary as you go up the hill. The extra effort might get you to Mr. Pocket.
Interesting. I've heard of that video. Glad you enjoyed this one.
Very informative video really enjoy the Whiteboard I understand every place is a little different but on an average about how far do you do sample holes after your first sample whole how far off do you do your second sample hole and do you make your sample holes closer together as you progress up the Hill or do you keep them all pretty much the same distance apart thank you for your time and knowledge
I run the lines across the hill about 20 feet up the slope from the last ones.
Great lesson
The follow-up / update to that video is coming in the next few weeks.
Very helpful video! I think you forgot to include the use of the metal detector in tandem with the loaming technique you illustrated. Please do another video that would include using the metal detector. Thanks!
Metal detecting is mentioned as something that can be used this way in the video, but only briefly.
Lol you had some photo-bombing reptillians tour through Alex' site seeking their moment of fame :)
I saw the lizard as we were filming, but though it was no harm ,so I just kept going.
I was in a creek this weekend with my Minelab 1000 and it was just going crazy in the solid rock telling me non-ferrous and iron targets but mainly it would say non-ferrous in all settings
I hope it was gold!
@@ChrisRalph I'm not sure it was solid bedrock I never could identify
Very informative video. I was metal detecting for relics today and came across a boat load of quartz rocks and big quartz boulders in a mini canyon or an old stream bed on the side of a hill. I got curious, so I followed the quartz up until it stopped and found a pretty decent sized quartz vein partially exposed. I didn't see any visible gold in it and I think there was only a small amount of minerals in it, so I didn't really bother doing anything with it. I have a second metal detector that's a gold bug, might have to go back to see if it gets any hits.
Yep. Give it a try but there are loads of quartz veins with very little or no gold.
Hello, I was wondering where you purchased the bipod for a detector.
Miner John sells them - you can find him via Google on the internet.
@@ChrisRalph Thank you!
I followed your instructions and I found 6 nuggets in tow days . Thanks a lot
Great 👍 Good work and I hope you find more gold in the future.
Great information. I have used this method on my claims, however I have not been lucky enough to find any sources. An area with lots of glacial till can make it very difficult to use this method.
It workd great in some places, but no so much in others.
Try and Try again try differant locations learn basic geology and geophysics ,first I got 5gram nugget it was the first day, how do you think if I expand my knowledge ,I think iam the path of success really
i inow that some pocket gold is from eroded sulfide deposit or iron where the gold has leached out. i friend described gold located in the desert whrere what might be called a vein was located and it was like a finger pocking straight up a foot wide or so and very rich in cold. not exactly a pocket but was small and hard to miss but very rich.
Sounds interesting.
Hi Chris, great video!! I have a kind of a mystery. I live in a gold bearing area where gold was mined in the iron age (500 BC to 50 BC) by Celtic people. In this area there is an ancient goldmine on top of a hill. The surrounding area seams to be devoid of any gold bearing quartz veins. However this particular mine is incredibly rich. I in fact found a few pieces of gold in quartz there, that you better should call quartz in gold. The hill is however covered by three meters of peat and one meter of soil. How could these Celts have homed in onto this particular spot? For your information; the peat and the soil were there already 2000 years ago when the Celt dug at this spot. Any idea how they did this?
Having never seen it, I have no idea.
Follow that lizard. It knows the gold source. Lol ! So this is where those to quartz veins from previous video merged ? I've had many experiences loaming. The technique works with placer deposits too. It's like detective work. Investigating the scene. I use it on my claim to map deposition boundaries. Gold is very coarse, so the source has to be close. Thanks for sharing this important prospecting technique ! 🤠⚒⛏👍
I saw the lizard while we were filming but thought no harm in it. This vein is actually a cross vein that goes 90 degrees to the veins in the previous video. They are fairly close but not on top of each other. The gold in the cross vein is much coarser than the other gold around the area.
Your videos are exceptional. I do have a question about vein formation in regards to how the gold gets distributed. Will the gold spread out thinly in places appearing to look like thin coats of paint and then form into blobs bonding with arsenic and pyrite? Thank you again for you selflessness. You have helped me understand the earth so much more. There should be more people like you on this planet.
Its not that simple - gold is often deposits after the quartz is laid down and not at the same time as the bulk of the quartz. The chemistry, temperature changes and pressure changes all affect the size of the gold and where it is deposited in a vein.
@@ChrisRalph Professor, does it make sense that after a mountain is formed, over time, the gold is then distributed into the vein causing in some steep mountain ridges the gold, instead of weathering and rolling into rivers below it forms a small “mesa” or “plateau” towards the mountain peak because of the immense weight of the gold? Would it not be a good method to detecting large gold deposits using satellite imagery? I ought to continue reading your book “Fists Full of Gold”. Thanks again brother sir man professor and teachers teacher or more like experts expert you are! Thanks once again for your selflessness for it has enriched my life in so many ways. P. S. In love how you encourage us and present us with resources to research. And, please take your time to respond, like i said i need to consult your book.
remember first that the gold is spread out through the country rock as tiny traces of a few atoms here and there. The geologic process of forming gold veins is essentially a natural process to chemically dissolve the gold in hot sulfur waters and collect those traces of gold to later deposit them together in a vein. The chemistry of the waters which go to form the vein changes over time. Normally quartz is laid down first, then gold is often deposits after the majority of the quartz is deposited. The gold is sometimes deposited in thin cracks where it might look like it was painted on. Some gold is deposited as more chunky blobs. Some is in or very closely associated with sulfides like pyrite and arsenopyrite. The chemistry, temperature changes and pressure changes in the hot fluids that form the vein all affect the size of the gold that is deposited and where in the vein it is deposited. Quartz veins can be very different in all these factors and so you can get veins and gold deposits that look very different from each other. The traces of gold in the country rock will not by themselves form nuggets and placer deposits. The formation of mesas or steeper slopes has to do with uplift and rock types, no so much any gold present. If there are gold deposits on fairly flat mesas, then gold will get deposited there. If the slopes are steep, the gold will erode and wash down. - Chris
Is the Sunburst and spiral theory pretty much the same ? They both use a process of elimination. To follow the gold.
Not familiar with those terms, but they sound like you start at the center and move out, which is the opposite
Great stuff👍😃 keep it coming!!
Thanks! Will do! I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Mark Twain, in his book, Roughing It, has a chapter called "Pocket Mining", which describes this process in the Nevada and California mining districts. "Roughing It" is a great book showing his trials and tribulations on the frontier as he stumbles onto his career as author and journalist.
One of my favorite books.
Thank you so much for such an awesome channel. How would I be able to contact you personally?
I get so many, many requests from people for rock and mineral ID every day, I just cannot do that. This is mainly because it is almost impossible to identify minerals and ores reliably from just photos. Watch this video and learn how to identify minerals for yourself: ua-cam.com/video/MpkW58ZeQlc/v-deo.html
😃 I love your videos they’re so helpful🙏🤔 you’re awesome thanks😊🤔 i’m going to purchase your book.
Awesome! Thank you! - I think you will like the book.
Chris Ralph, Professional Prospector 🤔 I know your book will pay for itself with all its valuable information 😃I look forward to reading it🙏
Chris Ralph, Professional Prospector i’m going to get your book on Monday😃 I’m excited to read it 🙏 thanks for this book and all your videos 👍✊️✊️🤔 it’s a really good deal $29.95 on Amazon 😊🤔 I purchased it through your link below the video.
Loaming and tracing. But by smell. Hehe. Thanks for this video ☺️
No problem 😊
Good video. Now come to Georgia with 3+ feet of overburden and use this method! Lol. So easy finding gold in the desert, compared to here
Yep, the method works great sometimes, but other times not. When it does work, it can be pretty spectacular.
The method was employed with considerable success in the Klamath Mountains of Oregon and N. California -- but, yeah, probably not quite the overburden you have in Georgia.
@@ChrisRalph do you ever cover how to us usgs maps to locate potential areas?
I live in the hills of Southern Vermont where there are outcroppings of white quartz and where gold has been found in the past. Do you think this might be a worthwhile technique to help me find gold? I am just getting started at this.
Possibly. Give it a try and you will find out.
A great video as always. The book is awesome! I just got my copy the other day and can’t put it down.
Thanks for the kind words on the book, and glad you enjoyed the video.
Hello sir ..i m from Pakistan and i request..which detector is better for small nuggets and can nugget detector pickup gold nuggets from depth
Check out my other videos, see: ua-cam.com/video/oTBIcrwswZU/v-deo.html
Is it still good to check if i see quartz cristals laying on the surface
Gold may or may not be associated with quartz crystals. Its not a good indicator.
@@ChrisRalph yes but whats weird is that the quarts Cristal's lay on the surface only for 15 to 20 yards and I don't see the quarts vein near the surface and the stream below has a rusty collor to the water im thinking of checking it out any way to be sure and if I find gold or something valuable I can put the laoming teckniqeu to use and learn by practice and gain some good experience and a nice adventure into the mountains I know there are valuable item s up there couse these mountains were part a historical event which took place the Boer s and the British fought here and I have found very old bullets here with my gold pan working the streams in those mountains and lead like that would lay in places gold would 👨
great video
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the video
Not sure if you'll see this so far down the road but have a question for ya. I'm in northwest Arizona, and I've been prospecting around the basins (I belong to a couple groups) for some time now with pretty good success drywashing and detecting but I've never taken the proper amount of time to search for one of the many small veins to be found out there. My question is, and maybe I missed it but how far down does the sample have to be? Do I need to get down to calichie, which in the case of that area is about 3 feet down?
Also I was wondering what you think about the Garrett ATX as a cheaper alternative to the more expensive Minelabs, if you have the time to answer both.
Usually you have to get below the caliche to the bedrock below it. sometimes that is inches, sometimes it is many feet.
@@ChrisRalph that's really good to know. I've found bedrock at 2 feet out there so that'll make it quite a bit easier.
@@ChrisRalph would biotite schist be considered bedrock? Because thats all over out there at a pretty steady depth
Thank you, sir. Good, useful information!
On the subject of carrying water for test pans...what do you think of a little bit of winnowing to get rid of some of the silt? Water turns to pudding so quickly! Is it too risky?
I appreciate all your videos.
You'd need a good sized tarp to catch the falling sand. Remember the gold you are trying to see is very tiny, like dust, so you dont want to blow that stuff away.
Hey Chris when you doing tracing up a hill what is the depth of samples in the ground ?
take a full depth of the soil.
When I can I like to use my gas powered auger I can take a 3ft sample.
thank's for the class fam. great info. it's will help me out a lot. so fair i'm still on and off lol. GOLD SQUAD OUT!!
Best of luck to you in your prospecting efforts.
I seen some old workings where they apparently used this technique
But the holes were like a cubic metre
Do I need to dig as big hole as that or is say a shovel head or two deep enough ?
And if I found flat flakes of gold doing this , what would that mean ?
I do not know your areas.
@@ChrisRalph Thank You very much your assistance
I purchased your book from amazon, they sent me a dvd with software upgrade to a Cessna citation ( I do not own an aircraft), I rang them and they said send it back, all good until Australia post lost it, so Amazon are useless, Australia post is useless, and so thanks to them I don’t have your book
Sorry. Probably some Cessna owner got a copy of my book.
Lol 😅 sounds like Australia Post ! They lose my stuff (and letters) all the time! My little country P.O. is well known for its many major and very often very high occurances. Hope you get your book soon 😁 Good luck mate, happy prospecting and I wish you many gold loaded pans 😁 🦘🇦🇺
I like this information Chris, nice to see that your still safe! There is lot to learn but, there are easier ways to find the pockets. But your do not believe in that!
Hi😊may I ask you what you're meaning? I'm just learning! Thank you⭐Namaste🌟💫
I think he's talking about dowsing. I always ask that dowsers show me all the gold deposits in the ground that they have already found, not just that they believe it can be done.
Very true!, I dont!
Chris Ralph, Professional Prospector 👍. I am a Dutchman so due to travel restrictions I have to skip this year. But I would love to go out with you guys to show. I’ll be digging in The Netherlands and Germany this year. Lots of super fine gold up to 600 mesh.
I'm in a spot where I'll find small coarse nuggets with a metal detector but I'm not finding any fine gold test panning
That is a little unusual but there are places like that.
This method has one major flaw. What if there are two sources directly in line with eachother?
It also does not work if there are many smaller sources. It works sometimes but is not 100% effective every time.
great mr chris
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the video.
362 your gold prospector is on the way ,the images of th book is too wide and is good for begginner to see well the pictures and location where may be gold
iam not ignore your deep knowledge ,u are my teacher
Bless your Heart...
~~To be helping others is very honorable, sir😊Thank you kindly for your Genuine Loving intention for all of us!!!💖
It's S000 VERY MUCH appreciated🌈💖
You are welcome, glad you enjoyed the video.
Thanks alot Chris. That's great information and useful for what I been doing with alot of my free time lately.
Should make it alot more efficient too, lot more than the way I been doing which sounds pretty silly now. ))
Boy I could pick your brain on thus matter abit haha.
Ps: been trying to get your book in Australia buy onky can find with exhorbant postage from USA.
Any other way?
Thanks
There is a guy who has a several hundred in stock in Australia and is distributing them to some dealers who are in his system. Unfortunately, I have lost his name and contact but he has a bunch and his dealers have them also.
@@ChrisRalph Oh wow, you actually replied haha. Didn't really expect it. )))
OK Chris I haven't seen them online anywhere or thriugh my connections but I'll check around some the prosoecting stores and such.
Maybe strike gold, so to speak.
Uhh remember which State he was in?
What about audiobook even if can't find?
Thanks Chris, appreciate it.
Friend - it took me like 5 seconds to Google "Fists Full of Gold book in Australia" and see that Nuggets Ned's and also Reed's prospecting in WA has it available. I've actually been in Reed's prospecting shop in Perth. I dont have an Audiobook or an apple or Kindle book as these are made for books with no illustrations like novels. My book has hundreds of illustrations and you be getting half a book if you leave out the illustrations.
Amazing professional prospector!! Keep on top 👍. I just keep wondering; how could ancient people found gold?
I have found gold nuggets that are visible to the eye, shining in the sun. They found what they could see.
big ol lizard at 2:09 bottom left corner lol
Yep. We were photobombed by a lizard.
Sometimes the source has completely eroded away, maybe 30 million years ago or something like that. If you cut the hillside on the white board drawing in half, same rules apply but no top honey hole. That's when you stop, look around and say,....If I was heavy Gold,..."Which way would I go ?" because the top is now at the bottom.
I Liked the video !
Yep, the method works great sometimes, but other times not. When it does work, it can be pretty spectacular.
2:08 - someone else coming to learn the finer points
Sometimes there are people around.
@@ChrisRalph hello
Photo bombing lizard at 2;12. LOL. better Lizard than snake.
Glad you enjoyed the trained lizard.... (no, it wasn't trained).
💎💎💎
Glad you enjoyed the video.
VERY HELPFUL VIDEO THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR
I AM BUYING NEW GOLD PAN AND MINELAB GOLD MONSTER 1000 13/6/2020. SIR I STARTED ALL YOUR VERY WONDERFUL BEST WAY SIR
Best of luck to you in all your prospecting and gold discoveries.
Hello Chris may l have your email if possible
I get so many, many requests from people for rock and mineral ID every day, I just cannot do that. This is mainly because it is almost impossible to identify minerals and ores reliably from just photos. Watch this video and learn how to identify minerals for yourself: ua-cam.com/video/MpkW58ZeQlc/v-deo.html
Yes thanks Alot Chris yeah this video will help me alot ,let me watch it 👏👏
9
4
😂 testing yes allot of testing
Lots of testing.
I stumbled on this vid today, interesting that I ordered sprinkler system flags about an hour before I even saw this : Think the Dirt is Talking to me!
But what is the dirt saying?
The dirt says " you've got the tools & technology, time to get boots on the ground"
Sounds like smart dirt!
Good morning Chris,
I been watching your videos alot this last few months, I have to say you're the best guy I have found to be so helpful in so many ways, my new A52S is being shipped now, so next week will be out on a new river I have found in wales, GB, anyway I will so you some photos on my new sluice and show you, have a great day and weekend.
Rich
Best of luck to you.