- Joined
- Jun 12, 2013
- Messages
- 156
- Reaction score
- 28
No problem Martin that's understandable. Good luck with the crevice! Have you run your Eurek over the series of them to see if you can get a good reading? Be sure to keep us posted!
-
Please join our new sister site dedicated to discussion of gold, silver, platinum, copper and palladium bar, coin, jewelry collecting/investing/storing/selling/buying. It would be greatly appreciated if you joined and help add a few new topics for new people to engage in.
Bullion.Forum
Question re Crevicing - how far down should one dig?
- Thread starter mdv
- Start date
Help Support Prospecting Australia:
If you are on private property in theory I'm sure you could use a drill with an
extra long bit to drill through the clay and help break it up a bit. Even a steel
rod and a lump hammer may break it out pretty quick.
Anyway looks like from the pic there are plenty of other crevices to keep you
busy there.
extra long bit to drill through the clay and help break it up a bit. Even a steel
rod and a lump hammer may break it out pretty quick.
Anyway looks like from the pic there are plenty of other crevices to keep you
busy there.
gold can be on top of and under clay due to cycles of storm , flood and seasonal changes locally and upstream
and you can have multiple layers of what looks like "bedrock" until you chip away with a pick and find its just shale from compacted silt and sediment , with more gravels underneath.
If you think you're on bedrock and you found no gold , but the history or geology or your instincts say that gold should be there , then look around the area to see if there has been seismic shifts in the plates to uplift or twist the old creekbeds to another location.
The old riverbed alluvials could be vertical now as the side of a hill or it could be horizontal but 40 metres higher than the river is now . or it could be buried under two or three layers of shale with layers of gold bearing alluvial gravels in between.
wish i had a portable core drill , and the legal freedom to use it :|
edited . would it be legal to make a hand powered core drill for sampling ?
and you can have multiple layers of what looks like "bedrock" until you chip away with a pick and find its just shale from compacted silt and sediment , with more gravels underneath.
If you think you're on bedrock and you found no gold , but the history or geology or your instincts say that gold should be there , then look around the area to see if there has been seismic shifts in the plates to uplift or twist the old creekbeds to another location.
The old riverbed alluvials could be vertical now as the side of a hill or it could be horizontal but 40 metres higher than the river is now . or it could be buried under two or three layers of shale with layers of gold bearing alluvial gravels in between.
wish i had a portable core drill , and the legal freedom to use it :|
edited . would it be legal to make a hand powered core drill for sampling ?
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2013
- Messages
- 228
- Reaction score
- 131
Gold is where you find it. There isn't really a rule of thumb here. Its not likely that much gold will penetrate the clay layer itself, but that also doesn't mean that the clay layer isn't sandwiched between the layer of material you have already removed and another gold bearing layer below it.
As many of the others have suggested, I'd always dig out a crevice until I hit rock or I can't reach anymore, only that way will you ever know for sure. You may luck out with a bunch of dud crevices where you will find little to nothing after you hit the clay (or in the entire crevice at all for that matter), but eventually you'll come across one that will make all that effort worthwhile. If you work that area for any period of time the knowledge you'll gather from experience will be your best judge.
Good luck and have fun
Adam
As many of the others have suggested, I'd always dig out a crevice until I hit rock or I can't reach anymore, only that way will you ever know for sure. You may luck out with a bunch of dud crevices where you will find little to nothing after you hit the clay (or in the entire crevice at all for that matter), but eventually you'll come across one that will make all that effort worthwhile. If you work that area for any period of time the knowledge you'll gather from experience will be your best judge.
Good luck and have fun
Adam
hey MDV
Its been said already but gold is where you find it, even if the area was worked hard back in the day you will find that the old sluices(longtom) didn't get it all. in my area if you can find blueish /white clay often it is slate, well at one stage it was mud which was hardened into slate by volcanic activity then its broken back down into clay. I am working a crevice just like the one you are in now. me and a mate started it from the bank didn't seem very deep but got some nice chunky bits so we gradually worked our way towards the middle of the stream in the deepest point I can tell you that we got to a point where i was able to feed nearly 1 metre or wire through the crevis and underneath in this spot the deep mud we were getting 1/2 to 1 gram per pan!! **** you not.
What i did was pump some water inot the crvis once it was deep enough ton hold it and came back in a few days, could not believe how much of the slate was decomposed not mud. Nice shiny flat bits. unfortunately the last time we were there we dragged the banker down and got started but only pulled 4 ghrams out before the water started coming through, hadn't been water in that creek for over a year what are the odds. at least i know where i'm going in summer.
***find the middle of the creek and work that hard, dont stop untill you cant break any rock off, even the solid looking rock sometimes has cracks in it but you wont know untill you get it in the pan
before
after - we did open the crevice a bit here and there with a crowbar
Its been said already but gold is where you find it, even if the area was worked hard back in the day you will find that the old sluices(longtom) didn't get it all. in my area if you can find blueish /white clay often it is slate, well at one stage it was mud which was hardened into slate by volcanic activity then its broken back down into clay. I am working a crevice just like the one you are in now. me and a mate started it from the bank didn't seem very deep but got some nice chunky bits so we gradually worked our way towards the middle of the stream in the deepest point I can tell you that we got to a point where i was able to feed nearly 1 metre or wire through the crevis and underneath in this spot the deep mud we were getting 1/2 to 1 gram per pan!! **** you not.
What i did was pump some water inot the crvis once it was deep enough ton hold it and came back in a few days, could not believe how much of the slate was decomposed not mud. Nice shiny flat bits. unfortunately the last time we were there we dragged the banker down and got started but only pulled 4 ghrams out before the water started coming through, hadn't been water in that creek for over a year what are the odds. at least i know where i'm going in summer.
***find the middle of the creek and work that hard, dont stop untill you cant break any rock off, even the solid looking rock sometimes has cracks in it but you wont know untill you get it in the pan
before
after - we did open the crevice a bit here and there with a crowbar
Hay G0lddigg@,
I'm working a very similar crevice to the the one in your pics only about 900 km north of it.
I have processed all the material down to the clay and have left it undisturbed at this stage.
I have some questions for you.
Did you process the material above the clay layer and how did it produce?
How did you process the clay?
The loose gravel in my crevice has produced a lot of fine to flaky gold and a few pickers.
My hart sank when at the bottom of one end of the crevice on the clay I found the bottom of a very old, thick green, glass bottle.
I was thinking it may have been a message from the previous person who worked this crack but then was thinking it may have been washed in there from floods. I don't know which, I don't know what the S.G of glass is. I suppose it's very dense and could displace the rocks and gravels.
Anyway I have an area about the size of a soccer pitch with heaps of bedrock crevices and the one I'm on is the first one I have cleaned out and is at the extreme downstream end.
I think if it continues to produce I may be a long time digging in this spot.
Cheers
Mick
I'm working a very similar crevice to the the one in your pics only about 900 km north of it.
I have processed all the material down to the clay and have left it undisturbed at this stage.
I have some questions for you.
Did you process the material above the clay layer and how did it produce?
How did you process the clay?
The loose gravel in my crevice has produced a lot of fine to flaky gold and a few pickers.
My hart sank when at the bottom of one end of the crevice on the clay I found the bottom of a very old, thick green, glass bottle.
I was thinking it may have been a message from the previous person who worked this crack but then was thinking it may have been washed in there from floods. I don't know which, I don't know what the S.G of glass is. I suppose it's very dense and could displace the rocks and gravels.
Anyway I have an area about the size of a soccer pitch with heaps of bedrock crevices and the one I'm on is the first one I have cleaned out and is at the extreme downstream end.
I think if it continues to produce I may be a long time digging in this spot.
Cheers
Mick
backcreek said:
sounds like a nice spot BC , are you going to go to the first feature at the upstream part after you clean out that one ?
i would be curious to draw a sketch , record how many pieces or grams you got from the last downstream one and compare it to the first , second and third crevice on the upstream end
congratulations on the success you might find there
hey backcreek
Yes i did process the material above first, and I was able to produce 5/6 colours per pan but it was not your average fines they were quite chunky looking. The reason i persisted was actually due to the gold not producing past a certain point. My thoughts are that if i'm working a dry creek now what the chances it has been dry before, therefore there will always be layers at which gold has moved and settled over time.
I personally process clay by hand in a bucket with HD rubber gloves, I scrape as much clya as i can then add water and plenty of fine and cause gravel to massage into the clay, I did try running a few loads through my highbanker without working the clay too much and the results were poor at best. but i am working on a clay spray box at the moment which i believe will rectify this issue.
I have to say thought this clay was quite unique in that it does not congeal like alot of clays it seems to be more chalky and willing to break down, I do change the water quite frequently untill the water in my bucket is nearly clear if water permits.
If you plan to work this area frequently and your not afraid of loosing a few buckets here and there I would dig your clay and leave it sitting around in buckets(assuming you have water available) this will make the whole process so much easier and everytime you visit your spot you'll have material ready to process.
With regard to the glass to me that's a a good sign, i've found 1/2 pennies, glass, pottery all sorts in crevices that produce well, think like your back in the 1800's there's people lined up along the creek the water is horrid and murky due to working all the way up the creek. Now be honest have you ever panned gold in really murky water? it changes the whole game flat gold will easily float right right out of the pan or sluice (longtom) Now where is all that gold going to go it will end up in the crevice for sure, thats my belief and its produced really well around areas that were worked quite heavily.
devil is in the detail though and you need to get your gold under a microscope to see if its moved very far the gold below was the stuff i was pulling out of the mud and i can see it hasn't come to far, today i'm off to sample a further 1km up the creek to try my luck, good luck with your crevice mate.
Yes i did process the material above first, and I was able to produce 5/6 colours per pan but it was not your average fines they were quite chunky looking. The reason i persisted was actually due to the gold not producing past a certain point. My thoughts are that if i'm working a dry creek now what the chances it has been dry before, therefore there will always be layers at which gold has moved and settled over time.
I personally process clay by hand in a bucket with HD rubber gloves, I scrape as much clya as i can then add water and plenty of fine and cause gravel to massage into the clay, I did try running a few loads through my highbanker without working the clay too much and the results were poor at best. but i am working on a clay spray box at the moment which i believe will rectify this issue.
I have to say thought this clay was quite unique in that it does not congeal like alot of clays it seems to be more chalky and willing to break down, I do change the water quite frequently untill the water in my bucket is nearly clear if water permits.
If you plan to work this area frequently and your not afraid of loosing a few buckets here and there I would dig your clay and leave it sitting around in buckets(assuming you have water available) this will make the whole process so much easier and everytime you visit your spot you'll have material ready to process.
With regard to the glass to me that's a a good sign, i've found 1/2 pennies, glass, pottery all sorts in crevices that produce well, think like your back in the 1800's there's people lined up along the creek the water is horrid and murky due to working all the way up the creek. Now be honest have you ever panned gold in really murky water? it changes the whole game flat gold will easily float right right out of the pan or sluice (longtom) Now where is all that gold going to go it will end up in the crevice for sure, thats my belief and its produced really well around areas that were worked quite heavily.
devil is in the detail though and you need to get your gold under a microscope to see if its moved very far the gold below was the stuff i was pulling out of the mud and i can see it hasn't come to far, today i'm off to sample a further 1km up the creek to try my luck, good luck with your crevice mate.
backcreek said:
Thanks Headsup and G0lddigg@,
I'm was thinking I'll work my way up from this lower crevice and gradually move upstream but if we have a flood it may move gold down into the previously cleaned crevice. It may be better to move to the top and work down stream, what do you think? Theoretically the heavier gold should be at the upper end of this area.
This area only flows during high water events when the river takes a short cut, in normal circumstances the river flows around the outside of this area There is debris in the trees about 1.5m above where I'm working.
So the way I'm thinking is that during a flood when all of the heavies are boyant they will tend to flow over the area i'm working.
G0lddigg@ Interesting what you you say about working your clay. The stuff I'm working is much like a pipe clay white-ish grey, and is very greasy.
In the past I have worked clay from hardpack by puddling it in a bucket, adding gypsum and detergent and using an electric drill and a paint stirrer to break it up. I may bring some home next time and give this a go.
The area I'm working was hit hard back in the day by the old boys but mainly on the high benches. This area was also worked by ground sluicing/puddling fed by water races from dams on the hills above. I'm thinking by the clay in the crevice that they may have missed it or not been bothered because they were getting better results on the benches. I have no idea how long it takes the clay to build up in a crevice, any ideas?
Cheers
Mick
I'm was thinking I'll work my way up from this lower crevice and gradually move upstream but if we have a flood it may move gold down into the previously cleaned crevice. It may be better to move to the top and work down stream, what do you think? Theoretically the heavier gold should be at the upper end of this area.
This area only flows during high water events when the river takes a short cut, in normal circumstances the river flows around the outside of this area There is debris in the trees about 1.5m above where I'm working.
So the way I'm thinking is that during a flood when all of the heavies are boyant they will tend to flow over the area i'm working.
G0lddigg@ Interesting what you you say about working your clay. The stuff I'm working is much like a pipe clay white-ish grey, and is very greasy.
In the past I have worked clay from hardpack by puddling it in a bucket, adding gypsum and detergent and using an electric drill and a paint stirrer to break it up. I may bring some home next time and give this a go.
The area I'm working was hit hard back in the day by the old boys but mainly on the high benches. This area was also worked by ground sluicing/puddling fed by water races from dams on the hills above. I'm thinking by the clay in the crevice that they may have missed it or not been bothered because they were getting better results on the benches. I have no idea how long it takes the clay to build up in a crevice, any ideas?
Cheers
Mick
I prefer to work upstream so that if the water washes any gold I've missed down the crevis at the bank I try not to dig into the bank. How long it takes mud to build up is a bit like how long is a piece of spring no idea mate sorry.
Dogmatic
Matt
Every time I read this thread title the answer "half as far as two" jumps into my head.
Yeh I know, probably time for bed.
Yeh I know, probably time for bed.
mdv said:
If you're digging and you get this far , then you went too deep
>> - , <<
.
.
google translate might help
http://translate.google.com/?langpair=en|zh-CN#zh-CN/en/
Headsup,
I won't forget to fill in my hole when I reach China and turn around.
Cheers
Mick
I won't forget to fill in my hole when I reach China and turn around.
Cheers
Mick
Serious creviceing is hard but can be rewarding work. With clay I'm going to try drying it out first (same as I did on the gem fields) by using a sheet of tin (an old rainwater tank top). Place tank top out in open, spread out and flatten clay and let the sun do the rest. With crevices, I'm one who tends to get stuck in and open them up using what tools I have, crowbars, rock chisels, sledge hammer ect. I've been to areas were people have claimed crevices have been cleaned out but some of them people have only scratched the surface. They mistake large boulders as being bedrock and go no further or they can't shift or work around them. Water can be a hassle but I build diversion dams and use a small high banker pump to keep the water down to a reasonable level.
Mick
Mick
Explorer385
Terry Rushton
Excellent thread. Could be good for some newer blokes like me to read through.
Terry
Terry
Goldtarget
(AKA OldGT)
Hey BC I have a firm belief based on many deposits that (mosty) great deposit areas have glass (where it exists) in the SG matrix. Often the next thing out is the lead (pellets etc) and more often than not if you get both glass then lead gold is next almost always.
In my sampling of water courses I will expend much energy on glass as an indicator. Sure I've found gold and no glass and odd occasion some glass shards with no gold but they are very often found together in my experience, an excellent indicator of drop zones and natural accumulation points. If I see it in the pan, the classifier or the top both of the banker I get excited.
Perhaps someone can compare the SG values between the 3? (Gold lead and glass)
In my sampling of water courses I will expend much energy on glass as an indicator. Sure I've found gold and no glass and odd occasion some glass shards with no gold but they are very often found together in my experience, an excellent indicator of drop zones and natural accumulation points. If I see it in the pan, the classifier or the top both of the banker I get excited.
Perhaps someone can compare the SG values between the 3? (Gold lead and glass)
That's easy for you to say.Tathradj said:
Similar threads
