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Gold Is Not Where You Find It!


Doc

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well put Doc. I just read this thread after I started a thread on gold, geology and sharing knowledge. Knowlege is the key to finding the gold we seek. If one doesn't stop and ponder how or why the nugget they just found got there, they are missing out on learning the clues that will put them onto that nuggets friends hiding close by or that nuggets other relatives hiding further up the hill 500 yards away. This is a game of clues. Learn everything you can find on an area geologically speaking including success of others if it is shared or slips from their mouth. This is how a friend of mine, Rick Radke who is now gone from this life, was so successful. He was very good at unraveling the clues.

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Well put Doc.  However I'll stay with the original saying and that is not to be harmful, hateful or misleading.  I consider the saying a prompt for young prospectors to dig into whats required to find it.  I usually follow up the saying with information and tips to point them, young prospectors, the right way and encourage research in to how to go about prospecting.  I've honestly run into to many "gold diggers" not to use the phrase and put them off however when I run into genuine people who are trying they get the benefit and the prompt to do better.

The saying is also a disingenuous way of telling a seasoned prospector to go find there own ;)

My thoughts.

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Good advice except I`d have to delete one thing,  I use in conjunction with self-learnt methods, GPS & moving map software and have done so for yonks, (not just to not get lost) this has lead me to really understand the Irish saying Gold Tis where Tis. But I understand what your on about, it is rarely about luck or coincidence. I suspect success in anything comes down to ability that is acquired through the three Rs, blood, sweat & tears giving one the ability to apply learnt wisdom. 

It is the same in another old passion fishing, only a small percentage get a fish frequently.

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Great article Doc, thanks for posting! As a two finger typist I always appreciate the time taken to post a lengthy effort such as yours. :smile:

There is no doubt training or any sort of hands on guidance can boost the chances of success, and often makes the difference between sticking with detecting for gold or just quitting in frustration. Getting some sort of early success is very important for new people, as it only takes  two or three outings with no gold for many people before they give up on the idea completely.

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Lots of nuggets in your post Doc, and lots of years of hard-won understanding to boot.

Thanks for taking the time to post what has been sifted, sorted, and garnered from being in the field and being successful.

I too have heard from many people that they can't find a nugget, and I think you've provided the best answer I've heard yet to explain that failure. Sometimes, it just needs to be put into words . . .

I'll add one thing that I get tired of all kinds of nugget hunters saying: "The Old Timers/the Chinese got it all." Such a misleading stereotype. I have found so many great nuggets in areas where the Old Timers and the Chinese worked places supposedly to death,  that I deliberately spend a lot of time carefully looking where they worked! Those old boys knew how to find gold, and they didn't come close to getting it all. Add to that the fact they had no electronic technology to see into concreted material, to see deep into bedrock cracks, etc. and looking exactly where those argonauts of old found the gold is the perfect place to look especially for beginners, and I'll add something Ray says, "Check the margins of any area they worked" as that has led me to a lot of nuggets as well.

All the best,

Lanny

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Thanks Doc.  

Your article puts together a number of concepts that the 'old timers'  had to have processed.  They were wandering around all over the countryside with a mule (in the West) and some water looking for color.  What were they looking for?  Many of them were looking for a similar place where gold had been found before.  Their brain was processing the clues.  Many died chasing those placer clues.  Lots more died chasing the lode clues.

You have to be in the right area to have clues.  It takes more than a mountain!  You could spend a lifetime in the Santa Monica Mountains looking for gold and it would be like that parking lot.

Go where gold has been found before works for beginners and the rest of us with the new technology in our hands if we know how to use it.  There are even a few new clues to be discovered.

All of that being said ... there are just some electronic prospectors that are better than others.  Doc, you are one of the best.

Mitchel

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