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Hillside Gold Nuggets


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   Hello, I used pan  to find alluvial gold in the river. But recently I have become interested in searching for gold with a detector, on a hillside, but so far without success, so I need your advice. And so I use a Garrett AT Gold with  Garrett AT sniper 4.5" coil, I surveyed a hillside in a gold-bearing place, where in creek I found gold in the form of 3-5 mm flakes with a wash.

   Therefore, I decided to go to the hillside with a metal detector in search of gold nuggets. But I couldn't find anything with a metal detector. But in my personal opinion, the place is still promising. I am adding a photo of quartz from this hill. Help "come" to the first gold on the hillside with a detector.

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Looks promising- definitely check the top of the ridge above that quartz- its on the hillside for a reason….

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The less the slope the more time for the smaller gold to remain. Try any area with a change in slope. The crown of a hill and where it goes flat at the bottom is also worth a try.

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1st you need to make sure the detectors capabilities of that exact size of gold you found in the wash below.  Get those bits you found and or a few others a little bigger and test them with your detector in the soil of the site you plan on hunting.  I think you'll be surprised how soft of a sound that smaller gold makes.

Also, your pics show much vegetation and overburden.  For small gold you need to rake the overburden down to the hard layer.  Hunt all cracks/crevices and bedrock.  Keep coil near surface.

Be sure to go where gold nuggets have been found below.

Good luck.

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Gerry’s right, and once you verify the detector sensitivity, try the “scratch and detect” method he mentions, its also described being used on a slope from this article by Steve H:

 

 

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11 hours ago, geof_junk said:

The less the slope the more time for the smaller gold to remain. Try any area with a change in slope. The crown of a hill and where it goes flat at the bottom is also worth a try.

I did not know this, on the contrary, I focused on a steep slope. That is, it turns out the alternation of the steepness of the slope makes the accumulation of gold on a gentle slope? By analogy with the bends in the river?

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10 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

1st you need to make sure the detectors capabilities of that exact size of gold you found in the wash below.  Get those bits you found and or a few others a little bigger and test them with your detector in the soil of the site you plan on hunting.  I think you'll be surprised how soft of a sound that smaller gold makes.

Also, your pics show much vegetation and overburden.  For small gold you need to rake the overburden down to the hard layer.  Hunt all cracks/crevices and bedrock.  Keep coil near surface.

Be sure to go where gold nuggets have been found below.

Good luck.

On a 3-5mm Garrett At Gold flake with a 4.5" coil gives a signal within 1 inch, the creek below the hill has no long-lived cracks, the bedrock of the Creek is mostly conglomerate and clay. Therefore, even if there are nuggets in creek, it will not be possible to check. Because nuggets behave differently in creek than small gold.

    Therefore, I believe that on a hillside there are more chances to find gold that is captured by the detector, the more often gold is larger in quartz than in free form. We have deciduous forest here, there are no bedrock outcrops on the hill. The presence of forest organic matter also makes its own adjustments.

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Yes the 4.5" coil is most desired for the smallest of Au nuggets the AT Gold can recover.  You mentioned clay layer and conglomerate.  Many times we have found nuggets on old clay layers.  Sometimes the hardpan layer is tan in color and many times it's a reddish/orange or even a off yellow.  In some of Oregon, it's glue/grey in color that holds the gold.  Either way, be sure to swing any little rise on the side of a hill as those are natural catches as gold works it's way down.

We look forward to seeing your 1st success posted with a big grin here on DP.

A few folks might get a trick or two from this video we did years ago when i was a Field Tester for it.

 

Knowing the size of gold in an area and your detectors capabilities is crucial.

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