CO n00b looking for techniques and locations Options

[benjamin]

Howdy, I just discovered this hobby last week and have been to a few places on the Cleer Creek west of Golden and found.... zilch (!).

I built a large bilge pump gizmo for hand dredging but so far I think I need better valves because it doesn't work well at all. I have managed to vacuum a couple shovels worth of stuff off the rocks in Cleer Creek and got a lot of black sand and some red things. Interested in knowing where people go (while there is still snow covering the Breckenridge area) to see even the slightest hint of gold. So far I could claim that gold does not exist in Colorado, having never seen even the tiniest speck in the 10 or so pans I've sloshed. Seems like I was following all of the lore regarding where to look and how to dig but I guess not :\

Anyway, I'll try to attach a pic of the red things and the black sand that came out of just 2 cups of material I got when my pump was working. Seems like a lot of black sand for so little gravel... and zero gold for that. Hmmm. There is a learning curve.

I'm in Superior if anybody has any suggestions.

Thanks!
Ben

[jim]

Welcome to the forum. YOU WILL FIND GOLD. You have found the best site on the internet for prospecting in Colorado. Dan and Denise (owners here) have a finger on all the info (just about) that you need to find gold in Colorado. Take a few hours lol and look through the whole site for lots of prospecting information. Then if you have questions you can email the D's. They are very helpful in numerous ways. You can also visit the chat area where at times you can find many seasoned prospectors.
I am not a gold prospector myself. I am a rockhound and I do some lapidary.From what I can see in your pics you have got the panning down.You got that black sand really clean. You must have gone to a place where all the gold has been taken. With that much sand it seems like you would have gotten a speck or two. As far as the red pieces go they may be garnet.
Anyway... welcome and come often for a lotta good pics and great info. enjoy Jim

[benjamin]

Welcome to the forum. YOU WILL FIND GOLD. You have found the best site on the internet for prospecting in Colorado. Dan and Denise (owners here) have a finger on all the info (just about) that you need to find gold in Colorado. Take a few hours lol and look through the whole site for lots of prospecting information. Then if you have questions you can email the D's. They are very helpful in numerous ways. You can also visit the chat area where at times you can find many seasoned prospectors.
I am not a gold prospector myself. I am a rockhound and I do some lapidary.From what I can see in your pics you have got the panning down.You got that black sand really clean. You must have gone to a place where all the gold has been taken. With that much sand it seems like you would have gotten a speck or two. As far as the red pieces go they may be garnet.
Anyway... welcome and come often for a lotta good pics and great info. enjoy Jim

Thanks for the info, Jim. I did spend several days poking around the site before joining. I guess I just need a nudge or two in the right direction so I can learn the last few details I need to look for in a site. Stuff like - go to the X turnout in route 6 and dig down 18 inches, etc. I'm all about exploring for myself, but if it takes me 3 months to see my first speck, it's gonna be less fun :P

Anyway, I used a couple of rare earth magnets under the pan to help get the iron in one spot, that way I could really go through the classified tiny bits and see what I (didn't) have. People keep saying there is invisible gold in the black, so I thought I should start saving that stuff. I know a mining engineer on another unrelated site who says that a 5 gallon bucket of good black sand can contain 30lb of gold. zoiks.