Gold Basics & Reference

Gold is heavy! Gold is 19 times heavier than anything else you will be likely to find in your pan. This is the key to locating and recovering the precious metal.

Gold, silver and platinum were deposited as an intrusion by volcanic pressures into fissures in harder material such as granite. Gold is associated with quartz because the same geologic forces of heat and pressure are necessary to create both.

Other indicators created by the same geologic factors include orange to yellow colored stains in the rock created by iron and copper oxides. These oxides create what is known to prospectors world-wide as "black sand", and being heavy, will be mixed in where you find the gold.

Water and weathering erode the deposits and the gold being dense works its way down to the lowest levels ultimately sitting on the bedrock. Look for places where the stream has cut down to the bedrock—Gold will find its way down to an impenetrable level.

The Rocky Mountains have risen and been eroded down twice over geologic time. Glaciers eroding the mountain sides took the ore deposits and ground them up as they slowly slid down the valleys.

These placer deposits have been historically the best place to find "free" or loose gold (placer). As the glaciers melted they dropped their burden of ore laden rock in pockets and streaks. The ore was further washed downstream by the glacier melt. These ancient river beds are known as alluvial deposits and can be identified by the round river rock.

As the present Rocky Mountains were uplifted the ancient river beds were "relocated" into mountain valleys and benches. By sampling in likely spots along current day streams in the mineral belts where the flow has cut down to bedrock through the alluvial deposits the educated prospector can locate GOLD!