Sniping

[BrisJoe]

I have a creek I know of in a area that has history of gold Ming back in the day.
It is a very rocky creek and constant flow about 2-3m wide on average but only a couple inches deep most of the way.
It is on a very gentle slop, about 5deg give or take and ends in a pool at the bottom before feeding off through another creek.
How would I pick a spot here to start crevicing/sniping?
Start at the top, the middle, the pol at the bottom that I am no way keen on jumping into lol
As the whole way down there are rocks of all shapes and sizes and in every metre there will be 100 suitable spots to work.

The pool

 

[HeadsUp]

start where most of the gold traps are ( large boulders) and work upstream from there , make yourself an underwater scope so you can see the bottom

dont bother sluicing every part of the river , just work your way along slowly until you find crevices coz they can hold 10 x more gold than the rest of the creek

the crevices will sometimes be buried by rocks or gravel so scrape them away if you think there is a crevice underneath.

scoop out everything in a crevice and then use a brush to sweep the bottom stuff into a scoop or else use a crevice / yabby pump coz there will be gold that fell to the very bottom 1 mm of the bedrock in the crevice and a scoop often wont pick it up.

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Bris, 2nd last pic, is the rock bar the boundry of the two creeks. If so, I would sample the bottom here as close to the rock bar and 1 to 2 feet out ak the way across. Look for colour.. find the side with the most gold. Work up that side of the creek. First of all I would walk from bottom of creek up stream,taking note of any gravel bars, bed rock, fallen logs etc that will create trap areas. Look at the flow of the creek and check yhe inside of the bends. If the creek is prone to flooding check on the higher banks for build up of gravels and chech the first foot to 18 inches of these the downstream side of boulders. When i have done my sample track i would look for the area with most colour and work these down to bedrock. Dig a hole no more than 2 feet wide but go down to base. This will hive you a representation of the strata and save dome tine. If the dpot ptove good gold. Widen the trench. If nit fill it in and move to the next spot.
It would take a few weeks to do thorough test of yhe creek all the way along and across..
Goid luck,Tone

 

[G0lddigg@]

you should be able to see evidence of a potential crevis by looking at the hills/banks around the creek, when i'm starting out in a new area i sample everywhere that gold might dropout. i.e. eddies formed around large rocks, inside and outside of bends and wide water sections right after a thin and fast area in the creek. the best thing you can do is next time is starts raining jump in your car and go and have a look at what it does under pressure you will be amazed at areas whihc pop up in a riffle action and you just know that there is a good self cleaning dropout on the downward side of that riffle.

otherwise test pan mate spend a day just test panning don't get excited and keep digging in the same spot cos you found good colour, right it down on your map and keep going you should be able to put the pieces together. a good test pan might mean digging and removing overburdon until your spade comes out with mud

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Bris, 2nd last pic, is the rock bar the boundry of the two creeks. If so, I would sample the bottom here as close to the rock bar and 1 to 2 feet out ak the way across. Look for colour.. find the side with the most gold. Work up that side of the creek. First of all I would walk from bottom of creek up stream,taking note of any gravel bars, bed rock, fallen logs etc that will create trap areas. Look at the flow of the creek and check yhe inside of the bends. If the creek is prone to flooding check on the higher banks for build up of gravels and chech the first foot to 18 inches of these the downstream side of boulders. When i have done my sample track i would look for the area with most colour and work these down to bedrock. Dig a hole no more than 2 feet wide but go down to base. This will hive you a representation of the strata and save dome tine. If the dpot ptove good gold. Widen the trench. If nit fill it in and move to the next spot.
It would take a few weeks to do thorough test of yhe creek all the way along and across..
Goid luck,Tone

 

[BrisJoe]

This creek I want to keep for sniping only rather then bring in a sluice or highbanker.
The creek is relatively straight so not many bends on the banks. Next time i have a free day ill go and walk a decent length on the creek and take a bucket and pan down to cons so I can do final pan at home without carrying a buChet loaded with unclassified.