Different Kinds Of Northern Nevada Gold (pictures) From 1 Trip = Over An Ounce

[Gerry in Idaho]

My last trip of 2023 to Northern NV was everything I expected and then some.

On the last day, I was able to break the 1 ounce bar I had set.  I actually had 2 goals for myself, at least a 1/2 oz and if the gold gods were on my side, then hopefully an ounce.

After soaking my Nevada gold to remove caliche, my weight was 31.4 grams. Soaking results shows some totally unique and different variations of Au. Some nuggets with crystallized characters, a few weathered and smooth pieces, 5 leaf gold types a few bigger chunks and many smaller picker types. Even have a triangle formed prize.  My biggest nugget of the trip was 6.6 grams and has a bit of chevron pattern.

Majority of gold recovered was with a GPZ-7000, but I did find gold with 3 other models of machines (EQ-800 with 6" coil, Manticore with stock 11" coil and GPX-6000 with stock 11" coil).  I took in trade while on the trip the 7 from a DP member, as I didn't own one (too heavy).  One good thing about winters is early morning temps are too cold to hunt and the amount of light in a day is cut by 5 hrs.  So with my thinking of starting to swing around 10AM and finish around 3PM with a lunch break, is about all my body can take of swinging a GPZ-7000.  Plus I needed to test the detector before I sold it.

Pics show just how interesting a small area of the region can have different gold patterns.

Below is the gold right out of the ground and showing 32.9 grams.  Has not been cleaned.

 

Next pic is after CLR soaking to remove the Caliche (Calcite) that seems to form on many of my NV gold nuggets.  Final weight was 31.5 grams so I only lost about a gram.

 

Not as many chunky nuggets this trip (getting smaller each time)

 

This next 2 pics are front and back of the biggest find and also my deepest dig a 6.6 gram at 15".

Leaf gold is more rare than typical nuggets, but I still think Chevron is even more rare.

 

Solid dense nuggets are always a treat as they are usually heavier than they 1st appear.  The biggest of these is only (half a corn kernel) but weights .9 of a gram.

 

The Triagon type nugget (in center) is really cool and collectible (only if it was a gram or more).  Notice it also has a darker gold color to it.

 

When I see those black cubes, I really start paying attention to my detector.  They are Limonite cubes and come in many sizes.

 

Last pic is all the gold again and showing a token I recovered in Nevada.  It says NATIONAL, NEV.  Wonder when the abbreviation for Nevada changed from NEV to NV?

Well, I hit my goal for the trip and am proud of my efforts considering how hoard these places have been hunted.  Actually, one of my good friends had asked if I found new locations that had not been detected and the answer is no.  All gold was recovered from the same places I have known about and hunted.  Sure I walked a couple washes I personally have not swing, but my staff have. 

If you are going to hunt Northern NV for gold, a great resource is "Placer Deposits of Nevada" by Maureen G. Johnson.

Yes, each of the sites I hunted is mentioned in the above book.  There's your "Nugget" of knowledge folks.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone across the globe this week.

Gerry

 

 

 

[Lunk]

Great job on a hard won haul of nice nuggets, amigo!

[Drellim]

Wow that is we’re experience turns to

art   Amazing finds 

[flakmagnet]

Some of your usual beautiful gold Gerry. It is inspiring to see how regularly you come up with beauties.

I wanted to add that anything Maureen Johnson wrote is usually among the finest in the category, she was amazing.

[Steve Herschbach]

You killed it out there Gerry, good for you!

The book and many others like it can be downloaded free on this website. Look at lower half of the page.

[RickUK]

That's a fair haul of the yellow stuff,very well done.

[deathray]

Good write up and pics Gerry. Dangit...I gotta get out,lol.

[Steve Herschbach]

Funny thing about that post Gerry is you halfway got me thinking of getting another GPZ 7000. You also have me halfway thinking there is now one ounce less gold to find out there, so why bother. 

[Arky]

Very nice results Gerry! And I'm glad the 7k is still with us. 

[LuckyLundy]

Gerry, 

Great hunt and a great examples of the different Nugget types of the Regional Placers.  This season I haven’t seen very many prospectors in the field.  The Gold is still out there, besides knowing a few clues it boils down to getting your Coil over that Nugget.

LuckyLundy