No Drooling

[geoscash1]

May be a little off topic but its what we build our detectors for. They finally released the pics and a little more info. This was found right here
in butte county nor cal. Bob (digger bob) who owns Comstock metal detectors is where I buy most of my gear
and he was deligated to do the promotion for this nugget..

This stuff is still here boys, its been nice since the water is way down, we can get to places that haven't seen the light of day
for over 40 years and its payin off for some.. Another reason to always dig everything...

Enjoy...

[Chet]

Fantastic! Thank you!

[geoscash1]

Your welcome Chet

[Funfinder]

If it really leads to wealth and fortune no problem....

Personally I prefer other stuff than gold, always just natural gold can become quite boring.
The whole treasure-hunting always should remain exciting and not just monetary profitable.

btw. does somebody knows why gold "splits" up in such fine flitters?
Seems it was already from the beginning most of the time such extremly fine-spreaded.

[bklein]

Any advice for someone like me - live in So. CA and can only spend a few days at most prospecting N. CA? I've been up there a few times but more around Auburn-Coloma, but seems much of the area is private property and you take your chances going off on small roads or trails. A lot of gun lovers up there too that don't expect some guy walking around with a metal detector. I think it is safety in numbers for many areas there, and nice to have an offroad vehicle like in the video - which I don't have. A guided trip for serious detectorists would be nice.

[Funfinder]

Please can you use the whole names,
most people here have no idea what means So. (Sausolito ???) or N. CA (northern California ???)

California is full of gold but the most of it will be hard to find with metal-detectors even with mini coils, its just too small stuff.
Better register at a gold-prospecting forum or ask those directly who can lead you to promising places
like creeks or wild rivers. The more down the river the finer the gold usually is.

You also may ask mineralogists for signs on the rocks or mountains like quartz that can lead you to good spots.
And first of course you need a gold-washing-pan to check out if the soil or the river-gravel contains gold at all.

Good luck.

[bklein]

Umm... Northern vs Southern CA.
I know where gold should be in northern California. I know how to pan, sluice, dredge, dig, etc. The thing is that much of the hot prospect areas for gold in Northern California are on private property and most of those property owners don't want you on their property. I've been up there several times, different areas, and it has always been the same - No Trespassing signs everywhere. The video shows this vast wonderland of forest and the guy with his quad. Like it is Australia bush or something. Well, I haven't found such areas. Most recently I was up in the Coloma area when that meteorite fell a couple years ago. People were going all over private land and the owners were pissed. It really takes knowing someone - maybe like Bob in the video - to show where you can and can't go and I don't hear of guided trips up there like there are for places in Arizona for example. I also am aware of GPAA claims etc. - but can't really tell accessibility and chances of finding anything/popularity etc. so not going to drive 12 hours. So I'm suggesting to those up there - hey, guys in Arizona have one or two day guided excursions, how about you?

[Davor]

You can as well plan your trip by means of a GIS tool. Install QGIS, and learn how to put various WMS layers there, and seek the cadastre data. Once you have a layer that indicates private land boundaries, you may as well seek for the land cover, elevation etc.
It also exchanges KML-s with Google Earth.

[bklein]

Wow now there are a lot of acronyms that probably many people don't know! But sounds like a great help. Problem is that with GPS mapping related stuff I use it too infrequently to remember and then have to spend days relearning it. The things you mention probably work but would be a full time effort for me to accomplish. I'll look into it but I have low expectations of my capabilities to succeed as I have trouble just getting topo maps on my ipad/iphone... I don't even fully understand the GPS functions on my CTX yet.
Even after figuring it out it may not be enough. I go to prospecting club meetings where guys are saying that the BLM/forestry guys are blocking access roads with fallen trees. I lot of controversy here in California with the environmentalists vs goldseekers. This is why it is just better to go with someone who knows the area.

[Davor]

QGIS is quite friendly, and learning how to get various layers is easy with all the tutorials just laying aroind. Check this one: http://qgis.spatialthoughts.com/2012...ia-wms-in.html

I'm not in California, and I don't know all the resources you may find for your area. Judging from what I found when searching WMS sources for Croatia, I'd say you may have it all. Croatia is a decade behind USA in matters of public domain geodesy resources, and I got it working in a professional environment. And I'm just a poor electrician here.

GIS tool will not tell you about fallen trees, but it will show you roads that will get you near some interesting areas that are not privately owned. The tech savvy folks will use an Android version of QGIS on a tablet and use detailed cartography on spot, and perhaps mark their findings directly in GIS.
Just a thought.