# Panning for Gold............



## sags (May 15, 2010)

Anyone on the forum ever pan for gold?


----------



## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

sags said:


> Anyone on the forum ever pan for gold?


I did some time ago while I was working gold exploration in N Ont. We would pan in some streams. Most of the streams there tho aren't mature enough to hold much gold - apparently, you want a "mature" river to pan in - one that has been transporting gold from source rocks for a long time - not just the last 10,000 yrs or so (as is the case with most streams in N. Ont) The fraser river has some good sites I'm told - many gravel bars near tell-tale places like "Gold River" etc etc
Why? Are you interested in it? They have a great demonstration by an expert panner at the BC Minies and Minerals Symposiuce rocks m "Roundup" Convention here in Vancouver - I think his name is "Yukon Dan". It's a real art - and you have to be patient, keeping trying, and work hard to make it pay. There are probably video tutorials on Youtube that would show you how to do it.


----------



## sags (May 15, 2010)

I became interested in it, during an atv trip into the backwoods of Northern Ontario.

I didn't realize that Northern Ontario rivers aren't that old.........geologically speaking.

I was in the North Magnetewan river area (north of Parry Sound) and there was a place where some of the river trickled down to a stream leading into a small lake.

I thought it might be interesting, and have been watching the reality television gold mining shows lately.

I might be getting too old for the work though............


----------



## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

sags said:


> I didn't realize that Northern Ontario rivers aren't that old.........geologically speaking.
> I might be getting too old for the work though............


Hey Sags - wonderful that you are doing this. Most of N. Ontario was under 1 km of ice 40000 yrs ago, ice receded about 20K yrs ago. Weathering & erosions are needed to free up the gold, then you need gravity (a downslope) to move it to a river bend, and a high stream flow helps to move more gold to a point bar (mother nature concentraets the gold for you). You nover know whether you have a player or not - maybe your river draws from a hemlo type deposit - I dunno. Do your homework, but don't claim jump - I might read about you in the paper if'n you end up on the wrong side of Yosemite Sam's blunderbust!
PS - You're never too old for this kinda stuff. Good on you for lookin' fer colour in them thar hills! :tongue-new:
PSS: galciers are another reason why we don't have all kinds of poisonous snakes etc here in canada. They couldn't tolerate the glaciation and we started with a clean slate. We are also still in an interglacial period - a time between glacial advnces -there were 4 in the last ice age!


----------



## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Look for culverts as you drive along. The ones made of corrugated steel are natural riffle boxes. Clean the gravel out and pan it.


----------



## Retired Peasant (Apr 22, 2013)

sags said:


> ... atv trip into the backwoods of Northern Ontario.
> 
> I was in the North Magnetewan river area (north of Parry Sound)...


I always considered 'northern Ontario' as north of the French.


----------



## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

Charles Fipke, whose company discovered one of the first big diamond mines (Etaki deposit, I think) in NWT used his knowledge and intuition to discover that mine. Fipke knew that diamonds were closely affiliated with a chromium-containing mineral. If you find the chromium rich mineral, then you may find diamonds. Fipke looked for evidence of these Cr-minerals in the glacial till left behind from the last glacial advance - then - when he found some, he walked in the direction from which the ice advanced (north!), and ....Bingo! He drilled a geophysical anomaly that resemebled a kimberlite pipe (like the ones in S. Africa). That was the start of the big diamond rush, and we owe it all to Chucky and his bloodhound sense for following glaciers! He was a dogged, persistent prospector - he is very rich now.


----------



## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

Talking about Charles Fipke, years ago I purchased 2000 shares of Dia Met at 55 cents. Held it for about 2 years or so and sold it for 65 or 75 cents. Not too long after that it was trading somewhere around $50.00. Had to be my worst play ever!


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Gold has corrected by 25% during the quarter, and that has not happened since 1920! Sounds like a fool's bet for anyone who missed the start of the recent bull run.


----------

