Gold Is Not Where You Find It!

[Doc]

I am always dismayed when I read of fellow detectorists who say that they have yet to find a piece of gold after one year, two years, etc.

I am to the point now where I find gold almost every time I go detecting.  I may get skunked 1 out of 20 times.  That 1 time is usually when I am prospecting totally new ground, and just have not hit a new area yet.

We all know the saying, "Gold is where you find it."  I think that statement is wrong and very misleading and harmful.

In fact I think it may give newbies the wrong impression about prospecting for gold.  It implies that gold is randomly dispersed, and if you do happen to find it, it is only by some coincidence or luck.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Finding gold is a science and an art executed by people with the skill and experience that know what they are doing.

All we are doing with a metal detector is processing dirt.  Now the more dirt we process the better chance we have of finding gold.  But think of what a small amount of dirt we are processing.  A column of dirt under the coil to an indeterminate depth and we sweep that coil back and forth.  We do that for 6 to 8 hours a day?  

Now compare that to the tons and tons of dirt you see the boys on Gold Rush process.  Yards and yards and tons and tons of dirt processed to collect their gold.  It's amazing that we find anything when you compare the small amount of dirt we "process" with a metal detector.

So, think about what a bizarre feat it is for a person with a metal detector to process such a small amount of dirt, and yet be able to find gold.  It is the old adage "needle in a haystack" so to speak. 

Yet, experienced prospectors, like Steve and a host of others on this forum who are always posting pictures of their gold finds ...., us guys that have been around a while, how come we are more successful at finding gold than other people?  Do we process more dirt?  NOPE!  Our secret is we spend our time processing dirt that is more likely to have gold, than other dirt.

We have all heard go low and go slow.  Well, I agree with that "go low" admonishment.  You need to keep that coil on the ground.  But SLOW?  If you watch experienced detectorists, you will see that they vary their speed when they are "looking for gold."  They speed up in areas that their knowledge and experience tell them they are less likely to find gold.  They slow down in areas where that experience tells them there may be a greater chance for there to be gold.  So they spend their time more productively by processing only dirt that has a higher probability of having gold.  Now when they find a nugget, they may turn around and go back over the area they went through quickly.  This time they will go more slowly.  They do this because they now know this area may be more likely to have gold too.  So they invest their time wisely.

As an outlandish example.  You are standing in a paved parking lot of a Walmart.  Next to the Walmart are acres and acres of quartz strewn red dirt with all kinds of gullies where water has ran during the wet season.  Where are you most likely to find gold?  Are you going to spend your day in the Walmart parking lot swinging over asphalt?  Well experienced detectorists are constantly looking at their surroundings.  They look at where they are going and where they have been.  They are calculating the odds.  Is this a Walmart parking lot, or a gold vault?

"Gold is NOT where you find it." 

"Gold is found in places it is most likely to be." 

Seasoned prospectors have spent their careers learning what those places look like.  Now are we ever surprised to find a nugget in a place where we would never intentionally look.  Certainly, but those are few and far between.

Most times when we find a nugget we have a pretty good idea of why it is where it is.  Deteriorated quartz is everywhere, we detect on a bench, in a tailings pile, in the bend of a gully, under a waterfall of boulders, behind a bush lining a gully, near an old mine or there are indications the old timers were there.  I once was way off the beaten path on my ATV.  I found a canteen that said BEAR BRAND, Patent 1918.  Lid still on it, canvas completely gone.  I stopped right there and detected the gully I found it in.  I pulled out three nuggets. 

Let's say after a year you finally find your first nugget, under a boulder up on the side of a gully.  From that day forward, you will check every boulder on the side of gullies.  Why?  Because you learned where to look.  It's no coincidence that after taking so long to find their first nugget, newbies generally find their second nugget soon there after.  WHY?  Knowledge.  I have often said, if you don't take at least 20 minutes with every nugget you find, letting it tell you it's story, you are missing a valuable education.  "How did you get here little buddy?  Why did you stop here?  Where did you come from?  What's different about this gully than other gullies I have checked?  Is there a concentration of deteriorated quartz around here?  A contact zone?  You're sort of rough, you didn't travel far did you?"

I can almost bet that any experienced prospector will tell you that they can be riding on their ATV and all of a sudden they come upon ground and their heart starts beating a little harder.  They may even say to themselves out loud, "Oh man this area looks good."  After years and years of experience, we sometimes just "get a feeling."  It's not voodoo, it's just our subconscious telling us that at sometime in our past, we came across a place that exhibited similar conditions, and we found gold there.  We may not even remember the specific area in our distant past on a conscious level, but our sub-conscious knows.

So what is the moral of this story?  Buying a detector and expecting to learn how to become a successful prospector without training is like buying a 747 and trying to get it airborne when you have had no training.

I hear it time and time again.  I've been detecting 2 years and never found a piece of gold.  Who trained you?  TRAINED ME? "Well I've done a lot of research and I have read a lot on detecting and prospecting and I belong to the GPAA ...." 

That's akin to someone saying, "I have had the worst luck with airplanes.  I have owned five different planes and can't get the damn things in the air; I have crashed every one of them."  Where did you get your flight lessons?  "ME? LESSONS?  YOU MEAN FLYING LESSONS?"

So boys and girls, my lesson for today is:

"Gold is NOT where you find it."

"Gold is found in places it is most likely to be."    So  hire someone to teach you WHERE to look!

There are great dealers who frequent this forum who offer training... it is invaluable. 

A company who only sells you a detector, is doing just that.  They are selling you a detector.  There is nothing wrong with that if you are a seasoned veteran who does not need training.  Or if you have someone who is willing to take you under their wing and teach you this wonderful past-time.

However, if you are new, or not successful at finding gold, look for dealers who sell detectors and offer training.  Because then you are not just buying a detector.  You are investing in a relationship with someone who wants to make sure you are successful at learning how to prospect and find gold. 

Doc
© 2017 G.M. "Doc" Lousignont, Ph.D.

[Reg Wilson]

This is some of the best advise I have read anywhere, on any forum. Tips from a man who obviously knows how to prospect, and not just fossick. Well done.

[beatup]

great advice for those starting out ,thanks for sharing Doc.

[Lanny]

Wisdom is applied knowledge. Nicely done Doc!

All the best,

Lanny

[Goldseeker5000]

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.

[DDancer]

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.

[Norvic]

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.

[Steve Herschbach]

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. 

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.

[Lanny]

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

[mn90403]

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