Gold prospecting: Questions

All of my creeks and rivers are now completely flooded but upon doing research there's been no gold found in my area. However further south near the mouth of the gulf of mexico, some have claimed they found flakes. So if that is tue I'd suspect it got there from the northern parts d the river where I know gold is found. I'm assuming along the way it had to pass my areas. But who knows how crazy deep it is in the larger rivers. But maybe the smaller creeks this summer may be an interesting adventure to hike in search for minerals.

NHKeith said:

So I prospect the gold river in stowe vermont. when the river is low, there is black sand along the river edges. it looks like you took a packages of black salt and spread it along the ground. I do not have any photos. I do have a few buckets I dug the last time I was up there, and every time I pan the dirt, i can use a magnet and pull out tons of dark purplish black sand. I have only found a few flour/flake gold. its hard hard work, to get not a lot of return.

I suggest you go and buy a bag of concentrate from Alaska and try panning the concentrate. i have done this a few times and have over 4 grams of nice alaskan gold. I realize they "salt" the concentrates to make sure the customers are happy and buy more. but it still is fun, and the gold is nice also..

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I panned gold up near our property in NH last September after Irene went through. There is a good amount of gold there, my son and his friends get an ounce or two every season.

All good information on here.


There is non magnetic black sand that sometimes concentrates in places but is not heavy and not associated with gold deposits , its made up of ground up black stones and mussel shells , etc. Sometimes people new to the hobby get this confused with the magnetic black iron ore that we call "black sand ". If you want to be certain check it with a magnet.

The heavy black sand associated with gold deposits will drop out in low areas on a river bed , in bedrock cracks , behind rocks and boulders , tree roots , the far side of the inside bend in a river , or anywhere the current slows. Sometimes during high water times the scouring action of high fast moving water will deposit a lot of black sand and sometimes fine gold with it up onto riverbanks and you can literally see it there after the water recedes.

You dont always find gold where you find black sand , but you usually find black sand where there is gold. Some other heavy materials can sometimes be found in black sand deposits because they are heavy too and settle into the same areas , like mercury , lead , platinum , and a few others.

There was no gold reported found in my area either until I found some