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Information About Small Gold


Luca

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Hi everyone, my name is Luca, I'm a new user of the forum and I'm a novice in the search for gold.

It's been months for me to read the forum, thank you all, because through your experiences here, I understand many things.

About six months ago, I was fond of looking for gold.

I bought a plate to sift, at my first exit I found small pieces of gold (picture 1 Found me).

A month later I managed to buy a sluice.

I went out looking for gold a couple of times, but I did not find anything.

I live in northern Italy, here is gold, but it is very small. (picture 2 Found by other people)

I would like to use a metal detector to help me in the search.

I can not spend the money in vain, so I decided to write on the forum.

I  would like to ask you, how useful is a metal detector for such a small gold?

Using a low-frequency detector, such as a GMT, for example, will be able to detect very small gold?

(like the one shown in the pictures)

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Ps: sorry for my English.

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Hi Luca, I'm fairly new to the gold hunt and love the adventure too. Welcome to the hunt, great you are finding a little gold that's the first step. Is that the biggest gold anyone has found in the area you are looking? Have you any experience using a detector, or relic/coin hunted? 

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My advice is to stay with a gold pan and sluice box. Those are the best methods for gold that small. If you are not finding gold with those methods a metal detector will not make it appear. I would work hard at trying to find better locations where you can find gold with what you have before investing more money in a detector. If you know somebody who uses a detector successfully in your area who might give you guidance, then a detector might be worth your investment.

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Hi 1515Art and Steve Herschbach

Thank you for your answers.

There are over 50 primary gold mines here. They are almost completely depleted and therefore abandoned. (I attach a map with the various mines)

The earliest gold mining news, date back to the time of the Roman Empire.

Here, the nuggets are rare, the little gold is abundant, (like the one shown in the previous photos or even smaller, to extract it, it is necessary to polish the stone, and to use chemical processes, sometimes small pieces of gold embedded in quartz are found.

Someone has found a 15-gram noodle, but we talk about tens of years ago.

Alluvial gold is present in streams and rivers. Native gold is very rare to find it.

Keep in mind one thing, here in Italy it is very difficult for some important finds to be shared.

Especially because the law permits a collection of up to 5 grams of gold per day.

I have no experience with the metal detectors, so I'm writing to you.

I have been informed (as far as possible, without direct field experience) I believe that no metal detector can find anything so small.

However, I think there may be accumulations of small gold (the "tips" present in the various streams and rivers), maybe so many small pieces that eventually make 1 or 2 grams.

Here is why in this situation it is possible to work the metal detector.

I have many doubts just because I miss the field experience with the various metal detectors.

I attach pictures of finds made here in Italy by various people (who have been shared).

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Very nice photos - thanks for posting!

I have several metal detectors that can find much of the gold you are showing. The 71 kHz Gold Bug 2, 48 kHz White's GMT, 56 kHz Makro Gold Racer, and 45 kHz Minelab Gold Monster can all hit pieces weighing less than 1 grain (480 grains per Troy ounce). One grain is 0.065 gram. The safe choice proven around the world for decades is the Gold Bug 2 with 6" coil.

The catch is that to hit a 1 grain nugget (flake) you have to be right on it, like just a centimeter or maybe two a the most for depth. And sadly, loose accumulations do not enhance the signal. If you had a lot of small pieces packed tightly, literally touching, in a small pocket or crevice, that MIGHT help a little with the signal. Do not count on that at all however because it is very unlikely. The reason for this is explained here.

While in theory a metal detector can find the type of gold you are talking about it generally is not the best way to find very small gold. You have to be quite expert with the device. If money was no object I would say just go for it, but you have indicated money is a concern. I would be misleading you to tell you that the money spent on a detector would allow you to do more than pay for the batteries you put in it, if that.

I am not trying to be negative about this at all, just realistic based on my own personal use of detectors like this. My specialty personally in Alaska was finding very tiny bits of gold and I am quite experienced at it.

Here are some articles that might help illustrate what is possible....

Detecting Small Gold at Crow Creek May 30, 1999

Lode Gold at Hatcher Pass August 12, 2001

Detecting Micro Nuggets at Crow Creek September 13, 2009

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Thank you Steve Herschbach for your very complete answer. Very useful for me.

Beautiful experiences in Alaska and compliments for the "divide and conquer" very ingenious and fun.

You've been able to take away all the doubts, (especially for the mass of the single piece of gold perceived by the metal detector) there is only a doubt about the mineralization of the ground, where I live.

I can not understand if it is very mineralized or slightly mineralized. (I do not know the different types of rock).

I think it is very mineralized because there are many types of rocks, when I clean the sluice mat I find much iron concentration.

I attach the images of the torrents I have visited (until now), and where I found my first little piece of gold.

Can you understand if it is a soil with a high mineralization?

Thanks for sharing your experiences, they are very useful especially for those who are at the beginning.


Ps: In the image n2, looking to the right and almost in the center, there is a basin (about 50-60 cm deep) excavated in the rock. In there I found my little gold. :-)

Image 4, is a 100x magnification of the small gold.

image 5 and 6 are what I find after cleaning the sluice mat.

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get a super magnet and run it through your concentrates...a little iron= little mineralized. A lot of iron=very mineralized...

a simplified test but effective.

If you are not detecting it won't matter much. That is great bedrock, are you working into the bedrock and really cleaning out the cracks?

fred

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Hi Fred

I use a super magnet, (taken in an old hard drive of a computer), very good, I recommend it to everyone.

I have kept all my concentrates, (because I cleaned the sluice mat always in my house).

Attached images of concentrates.

I forgot to separate the last concentrate, useful for these images.

Inside the plate I separated the iron rocks from the non-ferrous rocks (last concentrated from the sluice).

Same procedure for bottles, I separated iron rocks from non-ferrous rocks.

You can understand the concentration of iron, simply looking at the proportions between the two types of rocks.

I did not clean the cracks.

At the base of the rocks, inside the creek, I did not dig (I have to dip under the water, which I will consider).


I tried to find "tips" in the creek, (as far as I can do it), and I excavated and then washed it in the sluice.


I think a metal detector is in trouble in these conditions, (to find the small gold, like the one shown earlier).

Otherwise, if they are nuggets (such as those shared by Steve Herschbach in a recent topic), perhaps the metal detector will work properly.

I hope it is correct as reasoning.

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Good looking locations..

In my humble opinion based mainly on the size gold in your photos, I concur with Steve: A detector would be of little value and/or help.. Further, thanks to the gold's average largest size and smaller, you can get into recovery fairly inexpensively -- a very good thing as you deceide if persuing recovery is for you either as a hobby or as a way to make money to begin with..

You have a map showing where gold has been found previously (knowing where the gold is is well over half the battle) and you are legally allowed to collect 5 grams a day.. Right off the bat you know what your "salary" will be given maximum daily recovery.. Can you live on let's call it US$200.00 a day..? Odds are it'll be closer to $200.00 a month if you're lucky, but that's a whole other story..

My time would be spent thoroughly cleaning material out of cracks in the bedrock both in and out of water, breaking them open with chisels and pry bars if you are allowed to do so, in order to get as deep into them as possible..

Once you have a bunch of material the next step is classification.. (Depending on recovery equipment being used and water flow rate some people will try to tell you classification isn't necessary.. I maintain it is vitally necessary.. But I digress..) If you have access to scrap screening, scrap lumber, 3 or 4 buckets, already own a hammer, chisel(s), pry bar and have the ability to fashion a few different types of deep-crack scrapers / scoops, it is possible to end up with gold-bearing concentrates for zero dollars out-of-pocket to this point..

Methods of recovery are too numerous to get into here, along with this being where most out-of-pocket costs occur -- all of which can be found on the net and many as vid on YouTube.. Remove magnetite or not..? Other questions..

There's nothing easy about breaking open bedrock cracks and scraping out the material contained within.. But doing so does have its own simplistic beauty and is something a few of us both enjoy and have no other choice because we live in minor gold-bearing locations much like yours.. This is especially true when the color begins revealing itself at the end of the process.. There's only one way to find out if it's for you too..

Swamp

EDIT: Oh -- I see by your most recent post you're a bit further along with all this than initial impression.. Never mind..

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Hi Swamp

Thank you for your answer.

I fully share your thoughts.

I would like to be a full time job for me.

But I think that here in Italy is not possible. Just like hobbies.

Even though it is so, I want to continue to try, I really like looking for gold.

 

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