<![CDATA[GoldBay Discussions - Gold panning or prospecting in Washington]]> http://www.goldbay.com/discussions/topic13-gold-panning-or-prospecting-in-washington.html Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:17:51 +0000 PunBB <![CDATA[Re: Gold panning or prospecting in Washington]]> http://www.goldbay.com/discussions/post933.html#p933 I live in Utah where we have one of the largest open pit mines in the world.  It is a COPPER mine, but I have heard that the trace metals (gold, silver, magnesium, etc.) more than pay for the mines operation.  In fact, Tiffany's of New York, buys their annual gold production.

]]> Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:17:51 +0000 http://www.goldbay.com/discussions/post933.html#p933 <![CDATA[Re: Gold panning or prospecting in Washington]]> http://www.goldbay.com/discussions/post879.html#p879 Dave, It would seem to me that any area of active vulcanism would be a great start to begin gathering to[pographical info on. Gold is formed when Magma and water meet. The gold is disolved in the superheated water and then ejected through fissures, forming along the walls of these fishures or "Dikes" as they are commonly called, along with quartz and other lighter material. The largest gold mine in the world is mining pourous limestone that captured gold that was microscopicly dissolved in seawater and left deposited in the limestone/sandstone micture. Another point to know is that companies are now drilling wells to tap into the ground water just above the earths mantle. There they pull samples of the superheated water and look for high concentrations of gold. This is the "New Method" of prospecting for the next open pit mine (Which I absolutely HATE) the largest gold producing mine in the world must destroy 10 tones of sandstone/limestone to obtain ONE ounce of gold and the open pit CAN BE SEEN FROM SPACE! IT is truly destructive mining. Gone are the days of following a gold bearing quartz vein into the rock using tunnels. Gone are the days of dredges sifting through the placer deposits in rivers, replacing the rock, less the gold, right back where it had come from.

To prospect, download USGS maps of your state, then look at bedrock formations. Search for igneous formations that "Pop Out" in areas where there are mostly metaphoric rock formations. These are the dikes and places where the earths magma has thrust up through the earth's crust, bringing with it the gold and other valuable metals like silver, uranium, platinum(In very small doses) and copper. Never forget that Gold is a member of the copper family, so where you see that green tint in the rock, you are most likely going to find "Some" gold deposits.

Hope this helps

Trace

]]> Tue, 30 Mar 2010 04:15:20 +0000 http://www.goldbay.com/discussions/post879.html#p879 <![CDATA[Gold panning or prospecting in Washington]]> http://www.goldbay.com/discussions/post17.html#p17 who does gold prospecting in washington state? what methods do you use? Do you pan, dredge, metal detect other? What part of  the state?

mlgdave

]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:29:31 +0000 http://www.goldbay.com/discussions/post17.html#p17