NEVER Miss the Signs of Gold Again, Try This Old Digger's Trick
Old Col's Gold Tips
305 views
Old Col's books on reading the ground and staying legal: https://oldcolsgold.com/yt
US$27 each, or US$57 for all three. Instant PDF download, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. No book can promise you gold.
The ground shows you the signs of gold long before you dig a hole. Most people miss them because their eyes are up on the hills, and the signs are under their boots. So walk one hill with Old Col, bottom to top and back, and he'll read each sign as you come to it.
THE WALK, SIGN BY SIGN
At the bottom, the rubble. Broken quartz on the slope is float: bits of rock that broke off where they started and worked their way downhill. Don't kick it. Walk uphill in a slow zigzag, and every time you find a piece, look uphill before your next step. If the pieces stop, you've walked past where they came from, so turn round and pick the trail up again. Float spreads out in a fan, and the narrow top of the fan is closest to the source.
Along the foot, salt and pepper. That's white quartz and dark ironstone scattered together. Plain quartz on its own isn't much of a sign; you want the mix. Walk the foot of the rise, find where it's thickest, and climb from there.
Halfway up, the contact. Where one kind of rock runs into another is one of the best places to look. Watch for the spot where the rock, the colour of the dirt or the plants all change at once. Walk along that line, not away from it, and pay attention where it bends.
Near the top, rusty ground. Ironstone and laterite gravel, sometimes full of little round pellets called pisolite that look like spilt ball bearings. Walk the edges as well as the middle, and work close in, slowly.
On top, things in a line. Reefs run in lines, not spots. Look for a row of quartz outcrops, a string of ironstone knobs or a line of old diggings. Once you've got two points, walk the line past them both ways, and check it's real outcrop set in the ground and not somebody lining a track.
Last night's map. The geology map shows the contacts, faults and reef lines. The night before, mark two or three spots along a line where a track gets you close, and put them in your GPS. The USGS keeps the national geologic map database, along with the state geologists.
Down the far side, trees and the gully trick. A line of trees or scrub can show you shallow ground or a line, never gold itself, so treat it as a second sign. (Yes, scientists have found gold in gum leaves, but the bits were so small it took a lab to find them.) A reef leans into the ground, so where it crosses a gully the line shows up off to one side, then swings back on the next hill. Look to the side before you give up on it.
Before heading back, read the gold. Smooth, rounded gold has travelled a fair way. Rough, prickly gold hasn't gone far from where it came from.
Back over the top, look back: the dry strip. An old prospector in an 1897 book found his reef by a faint strip across the paddock where the grass was drier than on either side, because the quartz sat too close to the surface to hold water. You won't see it while you're standing in it, so get up on a rise and look along the country. A strip on its own proves nothing. Walk it and look for float. Two signs in a line beat one on its own.
BEFORE YOU WALK
Check the rules where you are: your licence or permit, who holds the ground, and whose land it is. A reef line doesn't stop at the fence, but you have to. If your float ends at an old shaft, stay well back. Take water, take a mate, and carry a personal locator beacon in remote country.
When you're out walking, where are your eyes? Hills or boots? One word in the comments.
Next time: Col shows you how to turn an old roof gutter and a doormat into a sluice box. Black sand is coming soon after.
Chapters
0:00 Signs under your boots
0:39 The rubble at the bottom
2:10 Salt and pepper ground
3:01 The contact halfway up
4:22 Rusty ground near the top
6:22 Lines on top and the map
9:24 Trees on the far side
10:25 The gully trick
11:38 The sign from the top
Old Col is an AI character created by JS Media. The prospecting tips are real and sourced.
1 Comments
NEVER Miss the Signs of Gold Again, Try This Old Digger's Trick
Old Col's Gold Tips
305 views
Old Col's books on reading the ground and staying legal: https://oldcolsgold.com/yt
US$27 each, or US$57 for all three. Instant PDF download, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. No book can promise you gold.
The ground shows you the signs of gold long before you dig a hole. Most people miss them because their eyes are up on the hills, and the signs are under their boots. So walk one hill with Old Col, bottom to top and back, and he'll read each sign as you come to it.
THE WALK, SIGN BY SIGN
At the bottom, the rubble. Broken quartz on the slope is float: bits of rock that broke off where they started and worked their way downhill. Don't kick it. Walk uphill in a slow zigzag, and every time you find a piece, look uphill before your next step. If the pieces stop, you've walked past where they came from, so turn round and pick the trail up again. Float spreads out in a fan, and the narrow top of the fan is closest to the source.
Along the foot, salt and pepper. That's white quartz and dark ironstone scattered together. Plain quartz on its own isn't much of a sign; you want the mix. Walk the foot of the rise, find where it's thickest, and climb from there.
Halfway up, the contact. Where one kind of rock runs into another is one of the best places to look. Watch for the spot where the rock, the colour of the dirt or the plants all change at once. Walk along that line, not away from it, and pay attention where it bends.
Near the top, rusty ground. Ironstone and laterite gravel, sometimes full of little round pellets called pisolite that look like spilt ball bearings. Walk the edges as well as the middle, and work close in, slowly.
On top, things in a line. Reefs run in lines, not spots. Look for a row of quartz outcrops, a string of ironstone knobs or a line of old diggings. Once you've got two points, walk the line past them both ways, and check it's real outcrop set in the ground and not somebody lining a track.
Last night's map. The geology map shows the contacts, faults and reef lines. The night before, mark two or three spots along a line where a track gets you close, and put them in your GPS. The USGS keeps the national geologic map database, along with the state geologists.
Down the far side, trees and the gully trick. A line of trees or scrub can show you shallow ground or a line, never gold itself, so treat it as a second sign. (Yes, scientists have found gold in gum leaves, but the bits were so small it took a lab to find them.) A reef leans into the ground, so where it crosses a gully the line shows up off to one side, then swings back on the next hill. Look to the side before you give up on it.
Before heading back, read the gold. Smooth, rounded gold has travelled a fair way. Rough, prickly gold hasn't gone far from where it came from.
Back over the top, look back: the dry strip. An old prospector in an 1897 book found his reef by a faint strip across the paddock where the grass was drier than on either side, because the quartz sat too close to the surface to hold water. You won't see it while you're standing in it, so get up on a rise and look along the country. A strip on its own proves nothing. Walk it and look for float. Two signs in a line beat one on its own.
BEFORE YOU WALK
Check the rules where you are: your licence or permit, who holds the ground, and whose land it is. A reef line doesn't stop at the fence, but you have to. If your float ends at an old shaft, stay well back. Take water, take a mate, and carry a personal locator beacon in remote country.
When you're out walking, where are your eyes? Hills or boots? One word in the comments.
Next time: Col shows you how to turn an old roof gutter and a doormat into a sluice box. Black sand is coming soon after.
Chapters
0:00 Signs under your boots
0:39 The rubble at the bottom
2:10 Salt and pepper ground
3:01 The contact halfway up
4:22 Rusty ground near the top
6:22 Lines on top and the map
9:24 Trees on the far side
10:25 The gully trick
11:38 The sign from the top
Old Col is an AI character created by JS Media. The prospecting tips are real and sourced.
Instant PDF download, 30-day money-back guarantee.
Ever walked right over a sign of gold without knowing it? Tell me below, mate.