Discovery Channels Gold Rush Brings Prospecting to the commen man

The New Hit Series hits the ground running on friday nights these boys all want to strick it rich follow the misshaps and adventures , and watch out you might learn something in the meen time    discovery channels gold rush alaska-stakes its claim

Gold bugs abuzz in quest for treasure

Hobby that can pay

Saturday, December 25, 2010  02:53 AM

By Jerry Revish and Marcey Goulder

 

 | View a related video from WBNS 10TV  | The near-record price of gold, coupled with an anything-but-glittering economy, has triggered a modern-day gold rush.

Some folks are digging through cabinets, dresser drawers and jewelry boxes, looking for unwanted gold they can swap for cash.
Others are taking a more old-fashioned approach: They're pulling out their atlases, pulling on their waders and stepping into out-of-the-way streambeds in search of tiny flecks of gold.
It's nothing like the California Gold Rush of 1849, when hundreds of thousands of gold-seekers - or "forty-niners" - headed west, drawn by dreams of instant wealth. But a growing number of people are panning for gold - in Ohio and across the United States.
Travel companies are offering gold-panning excursions. Would-be prospectors are snatching up basic equipment. (A "starter kit" sells for about $39.) And gold-
prospecting organizations are reporting significant membership growth.
The biggest, the Gold Prospectors Association of America, has seen its membership double since 2007, when the economy started to sour. The association added about 15,000 people to its rolls last year, raising its membership to more than 45,000.
"Oh, it's boomed," said Patrick O'Masters, a 48-year-old heating-and-cooling contractor from Columbus and an active member of the association's Buckeye Chapter.
"I'm not surprised - with today's economic climate. Gold is a tangible asset. You can't print more of it."
Gold closed Thursday at $1,380 an ounce in New York futures trading, $48 below the record high of $1,428 set Dec. 6.
The metal is up about 29percent this year. The Dow Jones industrial average, in comparison, is about 11percent higher than it was on Jan.1.
"Spiking gold prices are sometimes the deciding factor to stop watching TV and actually go prospecting and experience it for yourself," said Brandon Johnson, president of the prospecting association, which is based in Temecula, Calif.
"That quarter ounce or couple pennyweight is worth a lot more now than it used to be."
Members of the association receive a patch, a bumper sticker, a window decal, instructional DVDs and a one-year subscription to Gold Prospector magazine.
More important, they gain access to privately owned prospecting locations that have yielded gold before.
"If you want to find gold, go where it's already been found," O'Masters said.
Nationwide, the association has about 1,800 claims. Three are in Ohio: the Swank Claim near Bellville, in Richland County; the Frazee Claim near Zuck, in Knox County; and the Lewis Claim near Lucasville, in Scioto County.
However, because the gold in Ohio is "placer gold" - that is, it was carried here by prehistoric glaciers - it can, in theory, show up in most any stream.
"You can find gold anywhere where the water slows down and creates a little eddy, like around a bend," O'Masters said.
He said he keeps an eye out for mineral-rich black sand, which can be an indication of a placer deposit.
"You don't always find gold with black sand, but you always find black sand where you find gold."
O'Masters thought he'd hit pay dirt on a recent outing in southwestern Franklin County.
"Aw, that's called 'Leaverite,'" he said, taking a close look at a speck that had caught his attention. "Leave 'er right where you found it."
Much of the gold in Ohio is ultrafine "flour gold." Bigger pieces - those you could pick up with your fingers - are known as "pickers."
Kevin "Golden Eye" Adkins, a 55-year-old maintenance supervisor from Hilliard, likes to talk about the picker he turned up in Ross County.
"I was kind of excited," said Adkins, who's been prospecting for seven years. "You never know what you're going to find."
Dennis Staskiewicz, 41, of Wapakoneta, knows the feeling. He found a 3-gram nugget in water behind a Circleville factory.
"The river was fairly dirty; there was garbage in it," he said. "I didn't think I'd find anything - and that was my best find in Ohio in 10years."
The Gold Prospectors Association of America says it worries that some people, especially those frustrated by extended periods of unemployment or dead-end jobs, will view prospecting as a path to riches.
"Not every full-time prospector can earn a prosperous living, especially those with little to no experience," the organization says on its website. "And, while some prospectors do earn a successful living, they are the exception - not the rule."
Hobbyists such as O'Masters, Adkins and Staskiewicz insist there's no need to worry about them.
They said that although they don't always find gold when panning, they invariably find something they value almost as much: a break from the daily grind.
"I enjoy getting out of the house, out of the city, out in nature," O'Masters said. "It's a great family activity: Big kids, water, dirt - that's a good equation."
And with gold forecast to hit $1,500 an ounce in the year ahead, it's a pastime likely to grow even more in popularity before it wanes.
jerry.revish@10tv.com

How to Remove Gold from its Impurities

Gold that is found in placer deposits in the form of fine grains or flakes is extracted by a process called goldpanning.  It is a simple and ancient way of removing gold and is cheap too.  The pan used is a shallow one and is measured in inches by its diameter.  Pans range from 10″ to 14″ in size and come in both metal and plastic.  They have a means for trapping the heavy elements when they are agitated. In goldpanning, the material is filled along with water and is shaken in a steady way to make the gold and other heavy elements at the bottom and the lighter elements which are unwanted are thrown away.  Native gold also appears in the form of nuggets which can also be separated easily as they are easily visible to the eye.

Gold ore is found as amalgam which is a combination of gold and mercury or as electrum which is its combination with silver.  In either case, a chemical process is used for removing the gold from such ores.  Some gold is also found embedded in hard rocks in the form of fine particles.  For extraction, gold panning can be done and also froth flotation is used for concentrating the gold.
Some of the gold ores contain sulfide minerals in larger quantities and here a chemical process of froth flotation has to be done.  Ore smelting is performed for removing the pure gold from its ore and here the process that takes place is called reduction of the metal, whereby electrons are removed.  This process is just the reverse of oxidation, but it is more than just melting of the ores.
A non metal oxide waste called slag is formed.  The gold ore smelting first involves crushing and milling the gold into dust and then it is classified by sizes.  If the gold is present in the form of very fine particles and is not well liberated from the parent rock, then the concentrates are treated with a chemical process of cyanide salts which is also called cyanidation leaching and then recovered.   
The gold dust is then melted in a furnace along with a chemical flux.  A slag which contains all the other metals in it such as copper, zinc and iron is formed and this can be removed.  What is left behind is pure gold and this is formed into bars.  Direct smelting is also possible.

Gold not just sunlight and water

How to Take Out Gold from Its Host
 By: Ed Brown
In the past gold was believed to be a combination of sunlight and water as it shone brilliantly and was commonly found near water. From the ancient civilizations like Egypt and the cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, gold has been used as a symbol for prosperity. Gold mining is the process of extracting gold from the ground. There are many different techniques and methods for mining gold.
Some of the techniques are gold panning, dredging, sluicing etc. One method that was used in the past was the cradle method developed by Isaac Humphrey. In this method a wooden box with a handle on the side and a ridged bottom is used. The bottom is lined with Hessian cloth. The deposit is put inside the cradle where it is rocked violently with water from a creek. The finer particles go through the screen and any useless residue was discarded. This method allowed a lot of gravel to be examined and so was considered to be a better method than the gold panning method. These methods were however not suitable for commercial purposes.
Open cut gold mining and underground gold mining are used to extract gold for commercial purposes. In open cut mining, the mine will be excavated as a series of layers. These layers are called benches. This way trucks and other vehicles can enter the benches and provide assistance for mining like drilling and ore sampling. The machines are used to remove the rocks after which comes the sifting process. This method utilizes explosives like ammonium nitrate to break the rock. Doing so gets the job done with very less damage to nearby areas. In underground mining everything is done under the ground. A shaft is sunk about 1000 meters deep into the ground after which horizontal tunnels are dug. These tunnels allow the miners to access the gold deposits. The danger of the mine collapsing increases as the mines go deeper and deeper. Even though strict safety guidelines are adhered to by underground mining corporations by providing sufficient support for the walls and ceiling and supplying ample ventilation and lighting, there will always be the imminent risk of complete collapse. The underground mining method may produce results but it is expensive and highly dangerous. Today a wide variety of high tech machinery and techniques are used to successfully extract gold which is then used in its various forms.

Sarah Palin Goes Panning for Gold in Alaska

Sarah Palin panning for Gold

Gold Rush: Alaska

Premieres Friday, December 3 at 10PM ET/PT

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GOLD RUSH: ALASKA, follows six men who, in the face of an economic meltdown, risk everything - their families, their dignity, and in some cases, their lives - to strike it rich mining for gold in the wilds of Alaska.  Inspired by his father Jack, Todd Hoffman of Sandy, Oregon, leads a group of greenhorn miners to forge a new frontier and save their families from dire straits.  While leasing a gold claim in Alaska, Todd and his company of newbies face the grandeur of Alaska as well as its hardships, including an impending winter that will halt operations and the opportunity to strike gold

GOLD RUSH: ALASKA The United States is the world's second largest gold mining country — behind South Africa.

1 Australia, Canada and, increasingly, developing countries also are major gold producers.

1 Southeast Alaska, the location of the claim at Porcupine Creek, is said to have an estimated $250 billion worth of gold yet to be unearthed.

2 The rate of gold discoveries in Alaska over the past two decades has increased exponentially. Almost 200 million ounces of gold have been identified in quantifiable resources since 1990.

2 The largest gold resources identified in Alaska have been at lode deposits in locations such as Pebble, Donlin Creek, Money Knob (Livengood), Pogo, and Fort Knox. About six million ounces of these discoveries have been mined to date.

2 Most U.S. gold mining occurs on federally owned lands in 12 western states, with Nevada being the source of most U.S. gold production. Other top U.S. gold producing states are Alaska, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

1 Most gold in the United States is produced at above ground surface (open pit) mines, though mining and production methods vary from location to location.

1 Gold is nature's most versatile metal. For thousands of years, it has played an essential role in savings, commerce, art, adornment, commemorations and religions. Contemporary society has added new roles for gold in modern technology and medical diagnosis. 1

 

BACKGROUNDER

THE NEW GOLD RUSH / MINING

Clay and Gravel

Gravel and clay... what to look for!

Snowbound is what we are… not enough to cause travel problems but enough to keep us from trekking through the woods.  It’s a good time to discuss where and how to look for gold…

The Black Hills gold rush was mostly composed of would-be prospectors (we call them Greenhorns) looking for gold nuggets to be plucked out of the creek!  A small minority of those rushers knew their stuff… and generally were the ones who ended up striking it rich!

We project that 25% of the population wants to be gold prospectors… of that 25%, maybe 1% know what to look for!  Most of the claim jumping on our claims is harmless; they don’t know where or what to look for so they just dig in the creek and probably find enough gold to figure out it is hard work for a few flecks of gold!

Gravel bars are a good prospect.  This is rounded rock that has migrated down the creek through multiple flood events.  The gravel is deposited in layers with each successive season.  Gold is heavy, so it quickly settles through the layers to either bedrock or false bedrock. Gold found while digging a bit in the creek was probably deposited recently and it is doubtful you will find paying quantities.

Here’s where it gets tricky!  You’ve found a gravel deposit… where is the gold?

Clay can be false bedrock and will be either your friend or foe.  Clay bands are easily recognizable in an exposed bank.  They can be false bedrock that keeps the gold from settling to bedrock, but they are also what we like to call “a sluice robber.”  Clay in your sluice box will collect gold and carry it back into the stream. 

We’ve encountered a variety of clays, everything from gritty red clay to slimy yellow smectite. 

There are instances in the Black Hills of yellow clay being high-grade clay containing gold.   Historically documented near the modern day Gilt Edge Mine, is a gold rush era article stating, “recent strike at depth of 32 feet proven to be an immense flat body of rich ore resembling yellow mud.”

All clay should be tested before sluicing to determine gold content.  Why??  We have trouble convincing “greenhorns” that the ore can’t be put in the sluice box and end up having visible gold in the box “disappear” with clay-bound ore. 

So before you sluice suspicious ore, break clay balls and rinse ore extensively while panning.  This helps determine the gold content and whether or not the clay becomes water soluble.  There is a product called Clay Gone that will help break down the clay, or a few drops of environmentally-friendly dish detergent might accomplish the same purpose.  We also “clean” the sluice box before attempting to sluice gold-rich clay-bound material.  That way you haven’t lost acquired gold, but might recover gold from the clay.

The Bear Gulch area is said to have a clay band within inches or feet of bedrock.  Between the clay and bedrock the gravel is said to be extremely rich in placer gold.  It would be assumed that the gold was laid down in gravel, some sedimentary event covered it, and eventually decomposed into a clay.  Through the eons other gravel was deposited upon the clay, creating false bedrock.

We’ve also found, at another location nearby, a gold-rich iron-stained band above a grayish-silver clay, the clay band from 6 inches to 3 feet deep.  The clay looks like a decomposed bedrock.  We’ve never found what is below the clay band because penetration of the clay brings in water.

In another region quite geographically distant, gold tends to be concentrated closer to the surface.  Some bands are completely barren of gold and others are low-grade.  We’ve found gray clay, more than likely decomposed porphrey, which seems to carry a lot of nice flour and small nuggets.  If  bedrock can be reached, very nice pockets of nuggets exist in a red clay zone which is blackish-red sand carrying small, rounded hematite nodules in abundance.

Clay, therefore, is your friend because it may help collect gold to a specific layer.  It is your foe because it absorbs and carries the gold you are trying to recover!

We can’t emphasize strongly enough… look for clay bands to test, but don’t run clays through your sluice box if it already carries gold!

The Gold pan or the Batea

The extraction of gold by washing or dressing alone using a pan or batea is the oldest recovery process employed by the man. The recovery of gold was used in civilized countries and the main disadvantage was the gold loss, which was around 40-50%. This problem was partially solved when gold panning was coupled with amalgamation. In California, gold prospectors used a pan to test gold-bearing rock and to extract the finest gold on a small scale. It was made of black sheet iron, usually Russian sheet iron; in Australia the pan was generally made of sheet tin. In Mexico and South America a wooden dish in the shape of a flattened cone 16 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep was known as batea. Similarly shaped wooden dishes were used by uncivilized or semi-civilized tribes in some parts of the world (e.g. Borneo, Malay Penninsula, and Africa).

The gold pan was used in prospecting for gold in cleaning gold-bearing concentrates and in the hand-working of very rich deposits. It is a shallow pan which varied from 15 inches to 18 inches in diameter at the top, and from 2 inches to 2 ½ inches in depth, the sides having a slope of about 30^o. it weighed from 1 to 1.5 kg. Most the time, the pan was made of heavy-gauge steel with the rim turned back over a heavy wire to stiffen it. Where amalgamation was to be done in the pan, it was either made of copper or had a copper bottom. When used by a skilled operator, it has a capacity of from half a yard to 1 yard in 10-11 hours.

The object of panning was to concentrate gold and heavy minerals by washing away the lighter. To do this most efficiently, all material should be of as even size as possible. The pan was filled about three quarters full of gravel to be washed, and then it was submerged in water. The first large gravel was picked up by hand, then the clay was broken, up, after which the operator raised the pan to the edge of the water, inclining it slightly away from him, moving it with a circular motion combined with a slight jerk, thus stirring up the mud and light sand and allowing it to float off. This was continue until only the heavier material remained, such as gold, black sand and other minerals having a high specific gravity. These concentrates were stored until a large quantity was obtained, after which the gold is separated from them. It was picked out by hand, amalgamated with mercury, sometimes in a copper-bottomed pan. In some case where the separation was extremely difficult and the quality and quantity justified, the concentrates were shipped to a smelter. Basically, panning was learned by watching an old miner or experienced operator at work, learning certain tricks in the trade from him. A clean six or eight inches frying pan made an excellent prospecting or clean-up pan. It was well to burn out an iron pan after having used mercury in it, and then polish it with a soft rock or piece of brick, otherwise it was difficult to see small colors or flakes of gold.

The batea was cone-shaped and was the equivalent of the pan. Basically, it was made of wood or sheet metal. It varied from 15 to 24 inches in diameter and had an angle from 150^o to 155^o at the apex. Many prospectors claimed that wood could hold fine gold better than metal. A shallow wooden chopping bowl was used as a substitute for the batea. This was used in the same manner as the pan.

                                                                               Pan                                                                             Batea

Nuggets Found in Arizona

Gold Nuggets Found in Arizona

By Tom Lutzenberger, eHow Contributor

updated: November 9, 2010

I want to do this!What's This?

1. 
   Gold Nugget image by roger from Fotolia.com 
   Finding gold in its raw form involves either digging for gold veins or finding the metal in rivers and creeks.
   Finding gold nuggets involves hard, dirty work either inside caves, on the side of rock hills or more commonly in mountain rivers where rock is washed down from higher elevations. In Arizona, finding the precious metal tends to be impacted by the natural behavior of the desert. Understanding how this topography and its environment work can help in more easily finding gold.

Water-Driven Locations

2. Deserts are primarily dry, however, many Arizona deserts have flash floods when it does rain. The water goes into what are called desert washes or drainage gulleys. These are common places to find gold nuggets unearthed by the water and deposited in the gulleys.
   
   In those areas where moving water can be found, Arizona creeks and rivers also have the potential for gold nugget discoveries. The work usually involves sifting through the river silt and dirt, which can be a bit of a production to find small nuggets moved by water.
   
   Yavapai County provides a good location for creeks and dry washes. Numerous rain gulleys and creeks exist all over the Bradshaw Mountain foothills. Named creeks and washes that have potential for gold nugget finds, however small, include French, Big Bug and Agua Fria.
   
   In Greenlee County, three locations can provide water-prospecting for gold washed down by rivers: Eagle Creek, Chase Creek and San Francisco River.

Mountain Areas

3. For dry harvesting of gold, Mohave County includes a number of locations for gold-digging. The Red Hill placer diggings and Printer's Gulch both have potential for nugget finds. They are found in the Mohave Mountains, a little less than 20 miles outside of Topock.

Spelunking for Gold

4. In terms of traditional gold-hunting --- going into caves and mining for gold in Arizona --- there are few options. Most of the old mining locations have been stripped from previous activities. Additionally, much of the land is on public government zones where you need prior permission to mine.
   
   Private mining claims basically mean the property is off-limits unless you get the owner's permission. Many gold digging areas are already claimed in Arizona. It would be easier for person to join a mining association and use their claims for recreational nugget finding than to attempt to weave through property rights of various owners.     

Dont pass up the pretty Rocks they may be worth more than the Gold

FINDING GOLD III (Gold & Sapphires)

 

www.treasuresites.com Location guides & tools. Do not discount the
"pretty" rocks found along with gold. The sapphires you see are worth many times
more than gold. Sapphire (& Ruby, (corundum), is like garnet, a relatively
high specific gravity that will catch in a sluice readily. These gems act as
gold, they will drop behind a boulder, in bedrock cracks, and set up in the
stratiform layers of a bar on the inside bend of a stream. In a perfect
(laboratory world) a river bar sets up from front to back: Gold, Platinum, Lead,
Iron Ore (black sand), Gems, Sand. and in a stratiform layer (top to bottom)
Sand, Gems, Iron Ore, Lead, Platinum, Gold. In the real world big gold drops out
at the head of the bar and as the bar is formed, it forms an airfoil shape which
sucks light gold flakes (and gems) to the back of the bar. What you want to look
for is concentrations of black sands at the back of the bar to know there is
gold (and gems) likely. At the front of the bar will be the heaviest gold
(nuggets) and gems, but they may be too deep or covered by massive layers of
boulders to get to. Just remember to follow the black sands and move slightly
ahead of them for the richest concentrations of fine & flake gold (and
gems). More info at my website on the Gold and Gems info page.

The Lucrative Hobby Of Panning For Gold

The current price of gold is out of this world.  Many people can’t believe that it’s gotten so high but analysts are expecting it to go even higher.  This means that those people who know how to find gold stand to make a lot of money.  If you’ve always been interested in panning for gold, now is the perfect time to learn. Believe it or not, there’s still plenty of gold in them there hills.  It’s just  out there waiting for you to go find it.  This article will discuss how to get started in this lucrative and exciting hobby.
Many people who get started in the hobby of gold panning especially appreciate how inexpensively it is to get started.  You probably have some of the things you’ll need to get started laying around the house  like shovels and plastic buckets.  Some of the other things such as a gold pan, a snuffer bottle, and a couple of other knickknacks that you can pick up will still cost you less than $50.
If you want to go out and buy everything that you need to get started and gold panning, that’s fine and you won’t have to pay much money but it’s even less expensive if you subscribe to a one year subscription to an organization called Gold Prospectors Association Of America.  It will only cost is $67.50 for a year subscription.  Basically you will be signing up to what they call the buzzard subscription.  This will give you everything that you need to get started in the hobby of panning for gold as well as a bunch of extra items like magazines, hats, bumper stickers, window stickers, dvds, and more.
If you are looking for gold, the best way to know where to look is to look where other people have already found it.  People in the gold mining hobby are usually very secretive about where they are finding their gold but there is a way to discover their secrets.  The way to discover their secrets is to use a web site called www.goldmapsonline.com and purchase some gold prospecting maps from them.  These maps contain the exact locations of every registered gold mining claim in your state

Teen beats old-timers to win national title

Click photo to enlarge

Amelia Gatward-Ferguson (14), of Queenstown, became the youngest winner of the New Zealand gold-panning championships yesterday, outclassing panners with 40 years more experience. Photo by Lynda van Kempen.

Seven flakes of gold gave Queenstown teenager Amelia Gatward-Ferguson a glittering advantage yesterday when she became the youngest winner of the New Zealand gold-panning championship. Amelia lined up in the final at Cromwell beside the category winners and the next three top panners from the day's competition.
Her father David was one of the finalists, as were defending champion Bill Lind, of Haast, who had won the event for three successive years, his brother Artie, of Timaru, and John May, of Ettrick, both former national champions.
Competitors were each given a bucket of soil "salted" with a certain number of gold flakes.
They had no idea how many pieces of gold were in the soil and had 10 minutes to pan it, retrieving as many flakes as they could.
The time taken played a part in their overall mark, but finding all the flakes was crucial as a five-minute penalty was given for every flake they did not retrieve.
Amelia was surprised to take top honours, although she hoped she might do well when she realised she had found more flakes than most of the finalists.
Her prize includes the right to represent New Zealand at the Australasia Goldpanning Championships in Ballarat, Australia, in March 2012, and $1000 to go towards her expenses.
Organising committee member Margaret May, of Ettrick, said Amelia was the youngest national winner in the 19-year history of the event.
"It's been a long time coming.
We've never had anyone from the under-16 category being the overall winner before but she'll do us proud in the Australasian championship," Mrs May said.
Amelia said representing New Zealand overseas would be "pretty cool".
She has been gold-panning for about six years, starting when her parents David and Amanda took up the pastime.
"The best thing about it is the feeling you get when you see one of the gold specks in your pan."
Although she has not been "training" for the competition, the family occasionally panned in the Arrow or Shotover Rivers.
"It's more of a hobby for us, than a sport."
Technique, skill and the kind of pan used determined the end result, she said.
Amelia had little time to celebrate her victory - she had to catch a bus to head back to Dunedin, where she attends Columba College.
The championships are run by the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust and this year attracted more than 40 entries.
Category winners were.- Under 16, Connor Chubb (Wellington); veterans, Paul Chisnall (Queenstown); women, Alison Marsh (Wellington); men's section, classic and open, Bill Lind (Haast).
Mr Chisnall was runner-up in the national championship and Artie Lind (Timaru) was third.

Japanese Mining sewage for GOLD

A sewage treatment facility in central Japan has recorded a higher gold yield from sludge than can be found at some of the world's best mines. An official in Nagano prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, said the high percentage of gold found at the Suwa facility was probably due to the large number of precision equipment manufacturers in the vicinity that use the yellow metal. The facility recently recorded finding 1,890 grammes of gold per tonne of ash from incinerated sludge.

That is a far higher gold content than Japan's Hishikari Mine, one of the world's top gold mines, owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd (5713.T), which contains 20-40 grammes of the precious metal per tonne of ore.

The prefecture is so far due to receive 5 million yen ($55,810) for the gold, minus expenses.

It expects to earn about 15 million yen for the fiscal year to the end of March from the gold it has retrieved from the ashes of incinerated sludge.

"How much we actually receive will depend on gold prices at the time," the official said.

Some gold industry officials expect prices this year to top the all-time high above $1,030 per ounce set in 2008, on buying by investors worried about the deepening economic downturn.

How Can You Tell the Difference between Mica Flakes, Pyrite Flakes, and Gold Flakes?

Whether you’re gold panning or shopping at a garage sale or digging through your attic, when you see gold flakes it’s an exciting moment, especially if they turn out to be real gold.  But how can you be sure it’s gold and not mica or pyrite (also known as fools Gold?  Here are some things you can try:

• Take tweezers and bend one.  Gold will bend, but pyrite and mica usually will not.  If the flakes shatter or break, they aren’t gold.  Gold will simply bead up.  Note that if you don’t bend it far enough, mica might spring back since it does have SOME flexibility.
• If you poke pyrite or mica flakes with a pin, they will usually break apart into even smaller flakes, whereas gold will dent and spread like soft lead.
• Rub the flakes between your fingers.  If they disintegrate, they aren’t gold.
• If you’re gold panning, pyrite and mica are much lighter than gold and will usually float out in the panning process.  Be more excited about gold flakes that stay at the bottom of the pan!
• Gold flakes will still look like gold in the shade whereas pyrite and mica won’t.
• If you scratch a larger piece of pyrite, it will produce a sulfur smell.
• Gold is a metal, pyrite and mica are not, so see what your metal detector has to say!  However, keep in mind that the detector won’t always detect flakes because they’re so small.
• Gold shines, but pyrite and mica (due to their crystalline structure) tend to be more glittery in appearance.  In the sunlight, gold nuggets or flakes will continue to shine as the specimen is turned to different angles and remain the same color.  Pyrite and mica will glitter as the different sides of their crystal-like structure reflect light differently.  They will also change color when tilted in a different direction due to its color coming from reflected light.

History of Gold

Gold history
Gold is one of the ten elements of ancient times. The oldest findings date back to the 5th millennium before Christ. The Egyptian pharaohs regarded gold as a divine metal. They considered themselves to be descendants of the Sun God. Gold was a means of achieving immortality, for which reason a deceased pharaoh was wrapped in gold, i.e. the burial chamber was filled with items made from gold and silver. When Tutankhamun’s grave was excavated in 1922, the researchers found the pharaoh’s mummy surrounded by three sarcophaguses, while the inside was made of solid gold and weighed more than 108 kg. The burial chamber featured chariots made from white gold, golden daybeds, statues and Tutankhamun’s throne, which was fully plated in gold foil.
The Roman Empire was to some extent established on the basis of stolen gold and silver. Within three hundred years, the Romans managed to attain control of all known mines and deposits of the then known world. Gold and silver were a solid currency, and golden adornments and statues everywhere paid witness to the wealth of Roman life. The Romans already knew a cleaning method by smelting with lead, common salt or chalk.
Gold was also one of the driving forces for Christopher Columbus to search for a new sea route to India. In the 16th century, the Spanish conqueror Hernández Cortés landed near what is today Vera Cruz and subjugated the people of the Aztecs. The king of the Aztecs, Montezuma, welcomed the Spanish with gold presents, but this, of course, only incited the greed of the Spanish all the more. They strung the king along with lies and then murdered him and his entourage at a convenient time. They also destroyed the Aztec capital and were responsible for a terrible massacre of the population. The entire gold of the Aztecs was taken to Spain on ships. This story has been repeated in the line of history in many other variations, whether it is the murder of Inca king Atahualpa by the Spanish conqueror Pizarro in 1532, or the murder of thousands of Indians by Western settlers in the United States in the 19th century.
In the Middle Ages, alchemists tried to use transmutation from other substances to artificially create gold, which was never a success. They regarded cinnabar and mercury for a preliminary stage of the so-called “philosopher’s stone”. The idea was that this was a magic substance, which had the property of making gold from worthless metals. The alchemistic symbol of the circle initially represented the solar disk.
Properties:
Gold is a precious metal which shines in a golden yellow and has a high level of density. It is the most flexible of all metals, 1g of gold can be extended to a wire with a length of 3 km. The metal can be rolled out to gold leaf, which has a thickness of approx. 1 micrometre. The yellow gold leaf appears blue-green when glancing over it. Gold can be alloyed with other metals; when doing so with mercury, amalgam is created. In addition to silver and copper, gold is one of the three best conductors of heat and electrical power. Gold is a very precious and corrosion-resistant metal, which is not affected by air, water or acids. Only chlorine water or aqua regia can dissolve gold.
Deposits:
Gold is a rare element and ranks above platinum 75th as regards element frequency. In the earth’s crust, up to a depth of 16 km, gold can be found with a share of 4.1mg/t in the rock, iron meteorites have an average share of 1.8g/t and seawater has 1-2 micrograms of gold per cubic metre of water. In nature is mainly occurs as native gold in elementary form but is nearly always contaminated with silver and other metals, such as copper, bismuth and mercury. Gold with a content of more than 30% of silver is called electrum. Grains, lumps or “nuggets” are found in river sands which can be found by “gold panning”.
The biggest nugget of the world so far was found in 1931 near Kalgoorlie/western Australia. It is the “Golden Eagle” with a length of 67.4 cm and width of 29.2cm! It has a proud weight of 71.177 kg.
The nuggets are originally from quartz veins which were washed away by water. Due to its high density, the washed-out grains fall to the ground of the river sediment as “soaps”. Some minerals, such as quartz or pyrite, have a minor contamination with gold.
The biggest gold deposits in the world are on Witwatersrand in the Republic of South Africa. The gold content is up to 45g/t of quartz rock. Other significant deposits are in Mother Lode/California, in Cripple Creek/Colorado, in Alaska, in Canada, in the Urals, in Ghana or in Zimbabwe. The biggest lump of gold found to date had a weight of 71 kg and was brought to light in Australia in Kalgoorlie. The most important deposits in Europe are in Transylvania. In Germany the rare metal is recovered with other precious metals from copper pyrite and galena, while the gold content per tonne of ore is approximately one gram. The global reserves are estimated to be approx. 60,000 tonnes. The gold deposits in the world seas, however, make up several tonnes, but their extraction is currently not profitable.
Gold extraction:
The oldest method of extracting gold is gold panning. With this method, river sands are slurried in an industrial plant or only with a simple pan, whereby the gold nuggets or gold plates sediment on the ground or edge of the pan due to their high density.
Today, two industrial methods are the most important ones: During amalgation, the rock containing the gold is crushed in mills and mixed with water and mercury. The gold creates an alloy (amalgam) with the mercury, from which the mercury can be distilled off through distillation at 600°C. About two thirds of the gold can be extracted from the rock with this method. To extract the remaining gold, cyanide leaching is required, which was invented in 1887 by Scotsmen MacArthur and Forrest. In this method, the finely crushed rock is mixed with sodium or potassium cyanide solution with the addition of atmospheric oxygen. The gold enters into a complex cyanide compound, from which it can be extracted purely through reduction with zinc shavings. The gold drops to the grounds as a sponge. The precipitation is filtered, dried and roasted, then melted with the help of a flux, such as Borax, and melted into bullions.

Application:
For a long time, gold was an important currency metal, but this has no longer been the case since 1978. Nevertheless, some two thirds of gold reserves are kept in state deposits as currency reserves. In technology gold has, in contrast to platinum, only a very minor significance, as cheaper replacement substances have become available in the meantime. It plays an important role in dental medicine as dental gold, in electronics for the production of switch contacts and in optics for the production of high-quality mirrors, sun protection glasses and reflectors for satellites. Galvanic gold plating of objects for the protection against corrosion is of some significance in space travel in particular. The gold leaf with a thickness of 0.1 micrometres is used to adorn objects or restore objects of art. As Purple of Cassius, gold was occasionally used to colour glass and porcelain. Such glasses turn into a rich ruby colour, which is down to the existence of colloidal gold.
So why you must be wondering is my blog about gold? Well my offline work involves marketing stock in gold a processor and as a result I have come across a 16 year old German company with its own mine and processing plant with secure storage in St. Gothard Massif, Switzerland and we can get involved in gold investments and build a residual income for ourselves. This is not coins but pure 1,2 and 5 gram 24 Carat  – 999.0 fine gold!

Get Yourself a Gold Panning Map and Have a Fun With Your Family

More and more families are feeling the pressures of this tough economy and looking for inexpensive alternatives to expensive vacations.  One such activity that your family would probably have a great time doing is gold panning.  It’s inexpensive and easy to get started in. The hobby of gold panning is one that can be enjoyed by both young and old.  There’s really no age limits to this hobby.  One of the nicest things about this hobby is that it so inexpensive to get started. 
You probably have a lot of the things that you we’ll need already like shovels and buckets.  The only things you’ll need to buy two get started in this hobby are a few gold pans, some plastic eyedroppers for sucking the gold flakes up out of the bottom of the gold pan, and some plastic bottles for storing the gold that you might find.
To get started with this hobby, I would recommend that you sign your family up with a local gold panning club.  These clubs are full of people who are interested in the hobby a gold panning and are more than willing to help your family learn what they need to know. They often have weekend activities where they get together as a club for a fun weekend of gold panning.  This is the perfect way to learn from people who have spent years learning the secrets of gold panning.
While many people will be in willing to help you learn how to pan for gold when you join one of the gold panning clubs, oftentimes people can be quite secretive about their hot spots.  It can be a little frustrating trying to learn where to successfully pan for gold if no one will tell you where to go.  If you go to this website www.goldmapsonline.com you can buy some online gold maps that show every registered gold mining claim in your state.
I live in California so I bought the California gold panning map. Once you know where other people are successfully finding gold, you can go look in the same area.  It’s important to know however that you are not allowed to pan for gold on other people’s claims without their strict written permission.  That’s not to say that you can’t pan for gold upstream or downstream from their claim and be quite productive.  These maps can show you exactly where to look.

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Ever considered looking for gold on your next RV camping vacation?

Ever considered looking for gold on your next RV camping vacation? All across America, there are places for greenhorns to pan for gold nuggets. Panning for gold is relatively inexpensive, and who knows, you might just come home with the motherlode! If doing a little prospecting on your next vacation sounds good, use the ideas below to start planning your next RV camping vacation.
Southeast US Gold Panning RV Vacation Ideas
For a southeastern gold panning RV vacation, head for Crisson Gold Mine in Dahlonega, GA. Tour the mine, and then pan five gallon buckets of ore for nuggets and gemstones.
Just down the road from the Crisson Mine, you'll find Consolidated Gold Mines, where your family can go underground for the mine tour before panning for gold in a sluice. Dahlonega is also home to some beautiful north Georgia RV campgrounds.
Central US Gold Panning RV Vacation Ideas
  The Phoenix Gold Mine in Idaho Springs, Colorado is a great place for gold panning enthusiasts! Your admission includes a guided tour of the historic Phoenix Gold Mine, plus the chance to spend all day panning for gold.
  Another super family experience is right down the road at the Argo Gold Mine and Mill, also in Idaho Springs. Tour the famous Argo Tunnel and Double Eagle Gold Mine, established in 1893, and stay to pan for gold and native Colorado gemstones. Great RV campgrounds can be found just outside Idaho Springs.
  While you're in Colorado, continue your tour in Cripple Creek in Pikes Peak country, home to the world famous Mollie Kathleen Mine. Take the thrilling mine elevator one thousand feet into the earth to tour the mine, and then head down-valley to the nearby town of Victor to tour the Victor Lowell Thomas Museum. Try your hand at panning there for gold, turquoise, and topaz. There are plenty of RV camp sites right in the midst of Cripple Creek action.
West Coast Gold Panning RV Vacation Ideas
   California is the ultimate Gold Rush State, and plenty of gold panning action can be found there by RV campers. Right in the heart of Gold Country, your family is going to love Jimtown1849 Mining Camp.
Located in the historic city of Jamestown, the Mining Camp will take you back to the days of the Gold Rush. Your family can prospect Wood's Creek for gold with experienced guides and take home what you find.
  Head north from Jamestown to Washington, CA, and pan gold from one of the scenic campsites in Tahoe National Forest along the Yuba River. This gold-rich area is open to casual prospecting, and tourists have been known to "see color" in their pans.
You should also definitely go to the source of the California Gold Rush and pan gold on the American River at the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma. See a replica of Sutter's Mill and twenty other historic buildings where James Marshall found gold in 1848. Park visitors have been known to find gold while panning, so don't miss this historic opportunity!
Within this gold-rich area between Downieville and Mariposa, there are streams and rivers on State and National Park land where panning is allowed. Check with Tahoe, Eldorado, and Sierra National Forest personnel as you plan your RV gold panning vacation.
This is just a quick tour of places your gold-seeking friends and family might want to visit. Doesn't this sound like a great way to spend time on an RV vacation? Pack up your boots and jeans and head for the hills. It's definitely time to find some vacation gold!

Gold Prospecting for family fun

Gold panning is a great way to enjoy the outdoors. If you look upon it simply as a hobby, a way to have fun out in the fresh air of nature, you may get more out of it than simply pursuing it for money,
Yes, many weekend gold prospectors make money with their hobby, but usually at the cost of fancy equipment, like expensive dredges. And it takes work, hard work But, if your focus is just fun and some pretty flakes to show off later, then you can get by with a lot less money with simple equipment.
Heck, you can even build stuff like sluice boxes and rocker boxes.
But at a minimum, you will need a gold pan, a small trowel or shovel and a snuffer bottle to suck up the gold flakes and specks in the bottom of your pan.
If the idea of scratching out the contents of cracks and depressions in stream side bedrock appeals to you, you can throw in a few sniping tools like a crevice tool, a couple of spoons, brushes, screwdriver, maybe a rock hammer. And don't forget, a five gallon bucket or two comes in handy for carrying material and tools.
Looking for gold in the outdoors is basically a treasure hunt, whether you find just flakes or you get a gold nugget or two. It is the thrill of the chase, a lot like hunting, as you learn to read a stream and figure out where the gold may be hiding. Gold has its own characteristics, like density, that help determine where it will settle out during high water times when much of the stream bed material may become mobile. As you get better at this, you have the pleasure of greater and greater success.
Some folks aren't all that crazy about digging, so their weapon of choice is the metal detector designed to read the ground for the presence of gold. Some awfully nice nuggets have been found in the US and many other places in the world, with these wonderfully magic machines.
Gold panning is a nice way to introduce children to the outdoors. Some take to it easily, others grow bored, but all can learn to enjoy being away from the house and its TV and computer games. And in the warm seasons of the year, that river or creek can be wonderfully inviting for a swim and picnic.
The US has many places to go to find gold. Public land along gold bearing streams, gold prospecting set aside areas, even private lands with access for a fee. Much of the West, parts of the South, upper Midwest and New England are some likely places to research for gold.
Go out and get the gold!

Prospectors find largest gold nugget in 120 years

 Chris Johnson holds four gold coins next to a cloth-covered gold nugget on Monday. Johnson will unveil the nuggetThursday at The Journey Museum. Found July 6, the nugget is the biggest uncontested gold nugget found in the Black Hills in the past 120 years. The amount of gold in the nugget is equivalent to about four of these coins, he said. Holly Meyer/Journal staff)

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A bright yellow glimmer caught Charlie "Digger Chuck" Ward's eye as he panned. His eyes had fooled him in the past, so he reached in the pan to feel the weight of the clump. Ward handed it to his prospecting partner, Byron Janis, and asked "Is this what I think it is?"
The 2-¼ inch by 1-1/2 inch by 1 inch rock was exactly what Ward thought it was:
gold.
It turned out to be the largest undisputed gold nugget found in the Black Hills in the past 120 years. (A larger nugget has been found, but its authenticity has been called into question).
"We were really excited," Ward said. "We could hardly stay in our skin."
On Thursday, the public will have a chance to see the nugget up close during its unveiling at The Journey Museum in Rapid City.
Ward and his partner, who call themselves the "Ice Box Mining Company," sold the precious nugget for an undisclosed amount to Chris Johnson, owner of the Clock Shop in downtown Rapid City, which often buys gold from prospectors.
"We paid a generous amount for the nugget," Johnson said. Based on current gold prices, the "Ice Box nugget" intrinsically has about $5,000 worth of gold in it. But because of its rarity in the Hills, Johnson could only speculate what someone might pay for it.
"Its value as a specimen far exceeds the gold content in there," Johnson said.
A mixture of quartz and gold, the nugget weighs 5.27 troy ounces, but a gravity test at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology determined its specific gold content was 3.96 troy ounces, Johnson said.
Other nuggets of comparable and larger size were found during the Black Hills gold rush but did not remain in one piece, according to Johnson.
Ward and his partner decided to sell their rare find because, as prospectors, they prefer the hunt and making money to holding onto what they find.
"You either work for money, or you work for gold," Ward said. "It's more about the romance of prospecting and going out and finding than having everything around."
The prospectors would not reveal where they found it but said it is within 20 miles of Rapid City on a dry site Ward and Janis have worked at for about eight months. The two take their diggings from the dry site and then take it to a stream to separate any gold.
Johnson said the nugget isn't for sale, and he expects to keep it on display at The Journey Museum for about a month.
"For the time being, we're just enjoying having it," Johnson said.Read The Article From the Rapid City Journal