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Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums _ Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting _ nugget shooting in colorado

Posted by: golden_journey Dec 26 2010, 07:23 PM

so ive been told there are some smaller nuggets here in colorado and im itching to find one(or two or three).
got the little DD coil for the mxt and been around some mine dumps but no gold. not that i was really expecting to find any but hey ya never know right?
found coins and lots o junk but i want to dig nuggets.
i know people generally wont give away their locations and i kinda chuckle when people on here ask where to go but here i am asking.
where can i find nuggets in colorado?
walking along the gold bearing rivers would seem a no brainer. but where to start? ive heard idaho springs area is good.
what about dry gulches? the ones that were worked back in the day. though most are private property now.
anyone point me in one of the right directions?
in the meantime i'll try to find more info online.
thanks!

Posted by: colo_heff Dec 28 2010, 09:06 AM

Here is my two cents on where to find nuggets...

Paleoglacial deposits (moraines, outwash stream channels, whirlpool holes, etc) that cut through the Colorado Mineral Belt and it's metal bearing intrusives. I believe the last glacial ages were the Bull Lake (~160-40 Ka) and Pinedale (30-10 Ka) and extended from Leadville to Rocky Mtn. National park, including the Gore Range. Cache Creek is one area where they mined paleoglacial and stream deposits using hydro-mining and nuggets are still found. You can still prospect there but lots of regulations...

Areas like Tin Cup (Taylor Park) where gold and silver bearing veins of volcanic intrusives ( Laramide and younger) are strewn throughout an older limestone/dolomite formation. Weathering of the veins has formed placer deposits in the creeks emptying into Taylor Park. You will need to check the regs concerning prospecting here, it's becoming harder to find areas thanks to our beloved Dept. of the Interior...

Probably not the answers you were looking for... Colorado is more of a lode gold/gold dust bearing state, there are nuggets but finding one around the Idaho Sprgs/Central City/Black Hawk area would be pretty unique these days... the mine tailings you've been hitting are a good idea for float gold and I've even heard of stories of people finding old cartridge casings that where crimped at the top that are filled with gold dust... good luck on your hunt...

Posted by: Coalbunny Dec 30 2010, 09:07 AM

In the Central Rockies, yes, including the post-Laramide uplifts around 35 million years.

In the western edge of the Rockies, areas not usually viewed as part of the Rockies though they really are (such as Uncompahgre Plateau, the San Juans, the La Sals & Abajos and Henrys of eastern Utah, those were initially impacted by the Sevier Orogeny (140 to 50 million years ago). Of course the are more ranges involved, and other events such as the Berthoud Orogeny (in Colorado).

Posted by: golden_journey Jan 7 2011, 12:10 PM

QUOTE (colo_heff @ Dec 28 2010, 08:06 AM) *
Here is my two cents on where to find nuggets...

Paleoglacial deposits (moraines, outwash stream channels, whirlpool holes, etc) that cut through the Colorado Mineral Belt and it's metal bearing intrusives. I believe the last glacial ages were the Bull Lake (~160-40 Ka) and Pinedale (30-10 Ka) and extended from Leadville to Rocky Mtn. National park, including the Gore Range. Cache Creek is one area where they mined paleoglacial and stream deposits using hydro-mining and nuggets are still found. You can still prospect there but lots of regulations...

Areas like Tin Cup (Taylor Park) where gold and silver bearing veins of volcanic intrusives ( Laramide and younger) are strewn throughout an older limestone/dolomite formation. Weathering of the veins has formed placer deposits in the creeks emptying into Taylor Park. You will need to check the regs concerning prospecting here, it's becoming harder to find areas thanks to our beloved Dept. of the Interior...

Probably not the answers you were looking for... Colorado is more of a lode gold/gold dust bearing state, there are nuggets but finding one around the Idaho Sprgs/Central City/Black Hawk area would be pretty unique these days... the mine tailings you've been hitting are a good idea for float gold and I've even heard of stories of people finding old cartridge casings that where crimped at the top that are filled with gold dust... good luck on your hunt...

thanks for the info.
i had been hearing different things regarding nuggets in colorado. in fact bill chapman from gold n detectors in golden claims he found an ounce of small nuggets in the idaho springs area before he stopped just to prove a point i guess. whether this is true or just a sales pitch im not sure. he has the nuggets on display in his store. i tend to trust him but who knows.
any tips on what ore types to look for when metal detecting for gold at mine dumps????
that would be helpful since around here(boulder county) it seems to be mostly oxidized ore(i think?). tan/white/brown.
still brand new at detecting but have read a ton on it and have logged maybe close to 30 hours on my whites mxt.
care to explain what float gold is? i mean i have my guesses but...
im also starting to think that most of the dumps have been gone over time and time again since the invention of the metal detector.
while i love 4x4'ing my way to remote mine dumps with the dog...it'd be nice to actually find something someday smiley-chores016.gif
happy new year folks!

Posted by: golden_journey Jan 7 2011, 12:13 PM

QUOTE (Coalbunny @ Dec 30 2010, 08:07 AM) *
In the Central Rockies, yes, including the post-Laramide uplifts around 35 million years.

In the western edge of the Rockies, areas not usually viewed as part of the Rockies though they really are (such as Uncompahgre Plateau, the San Juans, the La Sals & Abajos and Henrys of eastern Utah, those were initially impacted by the Sevier Orogeny (140 to 50 million years ago). Of course the are more ranges involved, and other events such as the Berthoud Orogeny (in Colorado).

thank you this is great information!
i can see that i need to do more research on the geological aspects of gold deposits etc.
good news is that its winter and what better time?

Posted by: colo_heff Jan 7 2011, 08:51 PM

QUOTE (golden_journey @ Jan 7 2011, 11:10 AM) *
thanks for the info.
i had been hearing different things regarding nuggets in colorado. in fact bill chapman from gold n detectors in golden claims he found an ounce of small nuggets in the idaho springs area before he stopped just to prove a point i guess. whether this is true or just a sales pitch im not sure. he has the nuggets on display in his store. i tend to trust him but who knows.


I have talked with Bill and purchased classifiers and my first basic metal detector from him.... He's a great guy and he does know what he's doing. There are glacial deposits throughout the Central City-Idaho Sprs-Clear Crk area that have developed placer nuggets without a doubt. Unless it's private it is becoming harder to prospect because you need to move some dirt...

QUOTE (golden_journey @ Jan 7 2011, 11:10 AM) *
still brand new at detecting but have read a ton on it and have logged maybe close to 30 hours on my whites mxt.
care to explain what float gold is? i mean i have my guesses but...


I also have a White's detector, DFX, with several different coils and have logged a number of hours using it. The DFX has an actual Prospect mode I can put it in, it reads all base metals though. Gold is hard to pinpoint because the range in purity, I can also use the DFX in Mixed Mode where the readings will give me a bit more definition of what kind of metal it's detecting but when prospecting it's check every beep for me...

Float gold is where either the rock was deemed not worth processing or not detected and dumped into the mine talings or areas termed as tellurides (geothermal areas which bring dissolved metals to the surface).

Studying a bit about the geology will definitely help, there are some good stickies, especially the volcanoes of Colorado... good luck on your serarch...

Posted by: Seeker Nov 29 2014, 09:50 AM

"I have talked with Bill and purchased classifiers and my first basic metal detector from him.... He's a great guy and he does know what he's doing. There are glacial deposits throughout the Central City-Idaho Sprs-Clear Crk area that have developed placer nuggets without a doubt. Unless it's private it is becoming harder to prospect because you need to move some dirt..."

Yea, Bill's a great guy until you try to return a defective detector that you bought the day before. (aargh!)

Posted by: Crusty Jan 1 2015, 02:54 PM

QUOTE (golden_journey @ Jan 7 2011, 11:10 AM) *
i had been hearing different things regarding nuggets in colorado. in fact bill chapman from gold n detectors in golden claims he found an ounce of small nuggets in the idaho springs area before he stopped just to prove a point i guess. whether this is true or just a sales pitch im not sure. he has the nuggets on display in his store. i tend to trust him but who knows.


Stuck bored at work so I'm researching info on a good gold detector.

Hate to question folks, but sounds like quite an exaggeration to me... have a hard time believing any prospector would quickly find an ounce of nuggets and then quite "because he proved his point." I'd keep shooting until I didn't find anymore and then probably 5 or 6 hours past when I found the last one lol

Posted by: fenixsmom Jan 1 2015, 03:11 PM

I can definitely see your side on this. I would be suspicious too.

Posted by: Bandit Jan 3 2015, 02:31 PM

" Bill Chapman from gold n detectors in golden claims he found an ounce of small nuggets in the Idaho Springs area before he stopped just to prove a point "

That statement does make You sort of stop and think . I know it it was Me , I would still be there searching the area. LOL
Bob

Posted by: Coalbunny Jan 3 2015, 03:23 PM

many years ago I found a couple small nuggets on the N fork of clear creek. That site is now unreachable, thanks to a casino they built on top of it. mad.gif

No idea how they got there, but I know what I found....

Posted by: RhodoRose Jan 4 2015, 12:57 PM

Hi Golden, welcome to the forums!

To add to what colo_heff said; the low grad ore which is deemed not worthy of extraction and/or dumped in mine tailings is also referred to as "overburden". Conversely, the word "float" is also used to describe trails of ore-rich pieces of rock that miners follow to try and find the source of the ore.

Good luck!
RhodoRose

Posted by: johnnybravo300 Nov 25 2015, 09:18 PM

I spend time up in the tincup district as much as I can. It's a massive area that could take years to cover it seems. There is gold, but getting to it is the hard part.
I'd recommend a long trip for tincup and the Taylor park area if you came here. It's such a big area with so many possibilities. Just travelling around up there is a job in itself. Alot more work could be done in a day camping for a.week.
Ive barely scratched the surface so to speak hehe.

Posted by: Kansas Prospector Jan 31 2016, 06:01 PM

QUOTE (johnnybravo300 @ Nov 25 2015, 09:18 PM) *
I spend time up in the tincup district as much as I can. It's a massive area that could take years to cover it seems. There is gold, but getting to it is the hard part.
I'd recommend a long trip for tincup and the Taylor park area if you came here. It's such a big area with so many possibilities. Just travelling around up there is a job in itself. Alot more work could be done in a day camping for a.week.
Ive barely scratched the surface so to speak hehe.


Ripper34 here:

I have been prospecting south of Tincup for the last 13 years, this is the first year I have missed, found approx 30 pickers every year. Rode 4 wheelers most of the time.

Posted by: johnnybravo300 Jan 31 2016, 07:28 PM

There are a few places I'd like to detect around taylor park where ground sluicing and hydraulic mining was done. I bet there's some fattys just waiting to be picked up.

Posted by: Coalbunny Feb 7 2016, 03:42 AM

I have always loved panning the Taylor River. Never found much, but somehow I just loved it. Beautiful country.

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