Both of them have a small but relatively constant income with the right approach.

Those who set their sights on finding gold do not want to be content with little. Their finds will be rare, but much more valuable.

There have always been plenty of romantic gold diggers. And some of them actually got rich.

In order to become a successful gold digger, you need to understand how to look, where to look and what to use for this.

You don't have to open a new mine to find gold. This requires great financial resources, which not everyone has.

But people lose a lot of gold jewelry, jewelry made of precious metal through carelessness or haste.

It is this lost gold that we will look for: in the ground, on the street and on the beach.

Gold can be found wherever a person sets foot, but in some places the probability of finding is significantly higher.

As a rule, these are places for swimming and gathering of people in the city.

On the beach

Searching for gold on the beach is perhaps the most profitable activity among gold seekers.

Beach and coastal strip of the sea, lake or river ─ people often visit here crowd of people.

And it’s hard to find a person who hasn’t lost something on the beach at least once in his life.

It also happens that before going for a swim, a person takes off his gold jewelry and puts it in the pocket of his clothes lying on the sand.

Coming out of the water, he often forgets about it, and before getting dressed, he shakes the sand off his clothes, and with it the jewelry. In addition, some people drink on the beach, which distracts attention.

One way or another, on the sand and under water, as a rule, there is something for the seeker to profit from gold.

It’s more convenient to look for gold on the beach in the evening or at night, when the vacationers had mostly left. When it gets dark, use flashlights.

Experienced searchers find up to 10 grams of gold every day. Taking into account its cost in pawn shops and organizations that accept gold scrap (from 1,300 rubles per gram), it turns out very well.

Underwater

Not all vacationers know that a temperature difference of more than 10 degrees leads to a narrowing of blood vessels, as a result of which the fingers slightly decrease in diameter.

Because of this, when people enter water, which is often much colder than air, losing rings and rings in the water.

They not only swim in the water, but also frolic and play different games. At the same time, it often happens that gold chains with crosses or pendants made of precious metal break. Gold watches are also lost. Because they find more in the water gold than on sand in the coastal zone.

Most valuable finds come across at a depth of about two meters.

How to look for gold in waters? Search rakes with a long handle are suitable, as are metal detectors that can work in water.

Various places on the street

Parking and rest areas for tourists also attract gold seekers.

People on vacation are relaxed, move a lot, play active games.

At the same time, rings, signet rings and other gold jewelry are lost, and here it also makes sense to look for gold.

Squares and gardens, where thousands of people pass every day, can also become places for valuable finds, especially after meetings, holidays and events.

In park areas, where townspeople relax right on the grass, having picnics, someone’s valuable gold jewelry may also remain.

Urban flower beds and flower borders– places where it is easy to lose a ring or chain while working with the ground or bending over it. If people plant or weed flowers while wearing gloves, then removing the gloves increases the likelihood of losing a ring. In the city, large areas in the form of flower beds are planted with flowers. Worth looking.

Increases the likelihood of finding close to jewelry stores and workshops. Here people often lose gold jewelry or small gold parts from damaged chains, broken gold clasps on bracelets or watches. Small grains of gold and gold shavings are carried out on the soles of the master.

Required equipment

To look for gold on the beach or in a recreation area, it is enough to have powerful flashlight, metal scoop and beach rakes.

Special devices will also come in handy if you plan to search for and dig for gold in the ground: a magnet and a detector.

In the sea or lake, at a depth of more than 1.5 meters, you may need diving mask.

Search by rake

They are made from ordinary country rakes. Three parallel grooves are cut into the teeth using a grinder.

Strengthen between the teeth:

• self-tapping screws slightly shorter than the teeth;
• fishing hooks.

This design firmly clings to chains, rings, earrings and other objects in the sand, holding them tightly.

The rake can be used both in the sand and under water, walking along the bottom of the coastal zone.

When raking in water, be prepared clean them after every use, because they will bring a lot of garbage and plants.

It would be good if the device has long handle- this will greatly increase the chances of success.

Using Magnets and Detectors

Search magnets and metal detectors help make your search more effective. Digging for gold in the ground without them is completely impossible, because you need know where to dig. Finding gold in the ground without a metal detector is possible only by accident.

Gold, being a diamagnetic, not detected by an ordinary magnet.

A powerful search magnet detects and holds gold jewelry that contains a ligature─ an admixture of metals that gives strength to gold that is too soft and ductile.

Rings, rings, bracelets, hair clips, cufflinks and other jewelry are made from ligature gold. If the alloy component is nickel, then a neodymium magnet will easily find such gold. A neodymium magnet can be bought in Russian stores at a price of 1000 rubles.

A metal detector is also possible choose in store according to your financial capabilities, starting from two thousand rubles:

1. Dart ─ F100 ─ waterproof metal detector, price ─ 6900 rubles.
2. AQUAmarine 100 ─ underwater metal detector, price ─ 5,000 rubles.
3. Minelab GOLD MONSTER 1000 is a highly efficient, powerful detector, price ─ 59,990 rubles.
4. SHRXY GP-PINPOINTING is a compact detector (pinpointer) for beginners. The search depth is small ─ 5 cm, but it has high accuracy, it easily detects small metal objects in the ground layer, price ─ 2000 rubles.

Search at waste landfills

Russia is exceptionally rich in gold deposits.

Numerous deposits have been discovered from the Moscow region to Kolyma.

Among them there are mines that have been mined industrially and lost interest for the owner enterprises. For this reason they are closed.

Here, in small areas that were inaccessible to the bulldozer, there's still a lot left gold. At such sites, called technogenic placers, you can search for gold.

Until 2016, private individuals were not issued a license to search for gold at waste landfills. Those who arbitrarily searched for gold in abandoned mines were prosecuted.

Now, any citizen of Russia has the right to obtain a special license and, as a private prospector, look for gold in technogenic placers. According to the new regulation, gold can be searched only by the surface method, exclusively using hand tools. The use of explosives is prohibited.

The initial license fee is 7500 rubles, it is valid for five years. License renewal – 750 rubles.

It is important to choose the right search area. There is a greater likelihood of finding gold in places where there were nugget placers, where bars weighing more than 50 grams were found. Otherwise, you may waste time and labor in vain.

It is known that in the Urals, Chukotka, and Amur region they found nuggets weighing from 3.5 to 16 kg. So, it makes sense to look for gold in these places. But perhaps there are nugget placers located closer to your place of residence.

The reports of the territorial geological fund include information on geological developments, in which you can find the details of interest, it is available for review.

On waste dumps, judging by the experience of private gold miners, one search engine using a metal detector can find up to 20 grams gold per day.

Nuggets are more common on the formation surface, once lifted by a bulldozer during technological development.

After excavating the rock using an industrial method, rock with gold placer appears on the surface.

In the small basins located here, there is a chance of finding large pieces of gold. But it happens that such areas are littered with rocks, and you can’t get close to gold.

The bulldozer does not pick up small cracks; they can also contain nuggets weighing more than five grams. In short, you need to be patient to find your first nugget.

Where should I send what I find?

At first glance, the most difficult thing seems to be finding gold. But no less simple task ─ find a buyer and properly sell the gold found. At the same time, lose as little money and time as possible.

Ligature scrap and decorations

Handing over scrap gold in Russia is not a problem; in any city there are pawn shops that accept gold from the population. To successfully return the found jewelry, you will need an ID card.

If the found jewelry is still is valuable as a product or historical object, it can be found buyer who will take it at a higher price scrap

Pure metal

Many private miners are in a hurry to get money for nuggets and sell gold to the owner of the enterprise, which previously selected the main gold from the site, at a price of 1500-2000 rubles per gram.

This is extremely unprofitable for a private gold miner. After all, this is the price of buying scrap gold alloyed (broken chains, bracelets, earrings, etc.), and not pure gold.

Even popular gold 585 samples, from which jewelry is made, contains only 58.5% pure precious metal.

One can imagine how much money a private miner loses after spending a lot of time and effort searching for pure gold and selling it at the price of scrap gold.

The same applies to refined gold extracted from radio components and instruments.

To profitably sell pure gold, you need to know this:

1. Market value gold at the time of sale.
2. The price will be affected beautiful view nuggets. They are often bought by collectors for whom this is important. The highest prices will be paid for pure nuggets without foreign inclusions. Collectors buy beautiful, bright nuggets at a price above the market price.
3. Nugget cost depends on the place where it was found. This is an important point for collectors. They will pay more for something found in a little-known deposit.
4. Pawnshops, buying ─ this not the best way sell gold nuggets; in the best case scenario, only half of their real value will be paid for them. Handing over gold to a refinery, where it is purified from impurities ─ also means losing 20% ​​of its value.
5. You can't rush to sell. We must calmly and carefully look for the right buyer, be it a collector or a reseller.

Useful video

A beach rake is the first tool in the arsenal of a novice searcher. The video shows how to make them yourself:

Conclusion

It is unlikely that private gold prospecting can become the main source of income and the main activity in life. But with the right approach, this fishery can bring significant financial assistance, especially for those who have a penchant for searching for lost jewelry and are not embarrassed by others.

While searching, remember ethical behavior in public places, do not cause inconvenience to vacationers with your excessive zeal.

How to find gold in a river, where to look for nuggets, what mining method to use to extract precious metal from rock or placers?

Where is the gold?

On Earth, the main sources of the precious metal are quartz veins containing gold and placers. Therefore, there are 2 types of deposits: primary and secondary. Primary veins are veins containing noble metal and located directly in the rock. Secondary deposits arose as a result of destruction under the influence of temperature changes and washed into rivers by water currents.

Under the influence of strong water flows during heavy rainfall, turbulent and laminar movement of stone material occurs, which is subjected to mechanical processing and sorting in river beds. Gold in rivers tends to be deposited in alluvial sediments of riverbeds in favorable places for the accumulation of heavy material.

Moving precious metal, unlike stone blocks, requires more effort. Even during periods of heavy rains when the water level in the rivers rises, when sedimentary formations are eroded, the gold nuggets located on the raft remain almost motionless.

Gold in crystalline form is extremely rare. This metal is characterized by intergrowths and twins. Most often in nature it is observed in the form of grains. Nuggets are sometimes found in weathering zones.

The largest gold nugget found at the Hill End mine in Australia weighed 90 kg and was smelted. Its appearance was slab-shaped, 66 cm wide, 144 cm long and 10 cm thick.

Typically, vein gold is found in the form of crystals. When it enters a water stream, the metal separates from the quartz and takes on a rounded shape. Based on the degree of processing of the material, it is possible to determine the path of the vein fragment and the location of the rocks in the bedrock.

Types of precious metal deposits

As a result of the destruction of quartz veins and weathering of rocks under the influence of air and water flows, migration and sorting of material occurs. There are several types of gold deposits:

• residual - formed as a result of chemical and physical effects on the veins during the weathering process and can be located in close proximity to it;
• eluvial deposits - they contain pieces of vein rock, sometimes nuggets, moved under the influence of gravitational forces;
• terrace deposits – found on the banks of river channels. Over time, under the influence of natural processes, the river, paving its way, cuts deeper into the earth. As a result of this impact, the bottom drops to a lower level, forming ledges called terraces. It is on them that the first signs of the presence of gold in the riverbed are discovered;
• the presence of gold in bottom sediments located under water at the bottom of rivers or in ancient riverbeds indicates that the deposit has not yet been mined and the metal is found in the natural environment.

To characterize the formation of bottom sediments, it is necessary to determine the meaning of the terms raft and sediment. Raft is the bedrock on which placers rest, and sediment is the accumulated material formed by transport, deposition, or deposition.

Most surface mining is associated with benches and ancient river beds that flowed before new channels were formed. Ancient ledges are distinguished by their high content of noble metal and the accessibility of mining. Often these deposits are colored red or blue.

At the very bottom of such deposits, deposits with a high concentration of noble metal can be found. Some rock layers are so hard and dense that they can resemble bedrock.

Signs of the presence of gold in the riverbed should be looked for after a preliminary check of ledges in the sides of the river valley, located far from the main water level.

Natural gold traps

The river bottom is formed as a result of the leaching of loose rock. As a result of the action of water, irregularities are formed, which contribute to the accumulation of noble metal. Depending on the types of rocks and the strength of the water flow, irregularities, cracks and protrusions are formed, providing traps for the metal.

In the path of the flow, obstacles in the form of stones contribute to the deposition of gold directly next to it. In places where the flow rate slows down or a waterfall forms, a metal trap may be present, provided there are no turbulent flows.

A favorable condition for the deposition of gold is a place where the nature of the river changes and it passes from a mountain stream to a plain. Where it is located in the river depends on the distance between the bends of the riverbed and the presence of large boulders.

Metal, which has density and heaviness, moves along a path in which there are no visible obstacles to move in the direction of least resistance. It tends to be deposited on the spits of the inner part of the bends of the river. As a result of a sharp expansion of the channel, the water speed sharply decreases, which contributes to the settling of heavy metal.

Prospecting equipment for gold detection

Throughout history, there have been outbreaks of gold rushes due to social, political and economic conditions. In the 70s of the last century, after the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement and the abolition of the dollar backing with metallic gold, there was a record price increase from 35 to 850 dollars per ounce.

The highest price for the precious metal was recorded in 2011 at $1,920 per weight unit. Therefore, starting from the 70s, under the influence of the factor of increasing the cost of gold abroad, it became fashionable to search for and mine the noble 79th using metal detectors and portable dredges.

Conventional metal detecting equipment has difficulty detecting nuggets. Therefore, to identify the presence of gold, special instruments have been developed for searching for metal, with which you can detect large and small nuggets at a depth of 8 cm to 1 m. The advantage of the equipment is its insensitivity to the ground.

The operating principle of a gold probe is different from a metal detector. It is a probe with a sensor device that reacts to the presence of gold in the soil. To provide a positive signal about the presence of gold, direct contact of the sensitive part of the device with a particle of the noble metal is necessary. With its help, you can determine the presence of signs of gold content.

Methods for extracting gold from river beds

Gold is panned in riverbeds using portable small dredges and pans. The tray comes in rectangular and round shapes. Usually a certain type of wood material is used to make it.

For effective operation, a washing tray made of plastic or metal is used. Special grooves improve the result and help catch the smallest particles of yellow metal.

With its help, a site is searched for to effectively work with available equipment. In addition, for those new to mining, it is the main equipment through which one can mine the precious metal.

The sizes of trays vary and range from 15 cm to 40 cm. About 10 kg of sample can be loaded onto a round tray, designed to separate gold from waste rock. Trays can be used to enrich (increase the content or concentration in a material) of noble metal in dry climates on old river beds and in the desert, where washing with water is not available.

Using a device that operates on the principle of a vacuum cleaner, you can pan for gold located at the bottom of the riverbed. A portable dredge allows you to suck up sand and pebble material from the bottom of the river, followed by separating the metal from the rock containing it. The dredge weighs from 24 kg to 90 kg.

The work of a prospector requires not only certain skills and special equipment, but also requires practical experience and fundamental knowledge in the mining industry of the noble chemical element No. 79.

Finding gold is hard work. Sometimes months of fruitless efforts and research pass in search. Russia is far from being the last among the countries that have deposits of this precious metal. Moreover, in recent years it has ranked 5th among gold-mining countries.

Geologists advise looking for precious metal only where it can be found, and for this there are a large number of ways to find metal in the form of flakes, nuggets, gold sand and placer gold. Precious metal may be found in areas where mining companies have operated.

It can be on the surface layer, in the middle of mountain streams or on a raft, in bedrock, or rock cracks. But you shouldn’t look where searches have never been carried out; the likelihood of finding precious metal there is almost zero. When a person finds even a small pebble of gold, he understands that his labors were not in vain, so he should not be discouraged. Great luck, geological knowledge and a good tool will increase the likelihood of a find many times over.

Basic signs of gold

It is very easy to confuse gold with another mineral if you do not know some of its features. Everyone knows that it is yellow and shiny. But, besides gold, pyrite and chalcopyrite have such characteristics. Nuggets can be yellow with red and greenish hues.

The natural material is malleable and can be forged. It does not oxidize, but dissolves in hydrochloric or nitric acids. If you look for gold in ores, you first need to focus on the fact that the metal grows together with other minerals. It will not clearly crystallize like pyrite and chalcopyrite. The noble metal is often found fused with quartz, appearing like a grain or plate.

Alluvial gold is characterized by grains in the form of hooks or wires. In this form, natural material is found in the form of small grains and various kinds of nuggets. If we consider its dimensions, we can distinguish the following categories:

• finely dispersed (up to 10 microns);
• visible (0.01-4 mm);
• nuggets (from 5 g to 10 kg).

To distinguish it from pyrite and chalcopyrite, you need to pay attention to the color. The pebble is viewed from different angles. From any angle, gold will not change its original shade. Pyrite will give itself away by changing its color. Its bright yellow color will fade to gray upon inspection. Gold can be checked with a knife; it will not crumble like pyrite and chalcopyrite, but it will leave grooves or lines on it.

If doubts have not been dispelled after the procedures, you can test the metal using sulfuric acid. Gold's color will not change, but pyrite and chalcopyrite will change it. Pyrite in areas of impact will turn black, and chalcopyrite will turn red.

Precious metal deposits

There are many places where you can find gold. But to a greater extent, gold ores are formed in mountainous and watery places. Near the mountains, in depressions, young gold deposits are found. Gold veins accumulate in places of faults and cracks in mountains, rocks, and are located along the line of mountain rivers. They come from the bowels of the earth through special channels (fault zones and igneous rock dikes). The total length of such veins can reach several hundred meters, and sometimes reach up to 2 km.

In search of gold, prospectors find pure deposits of gold veins and complex places of formation of non-ferrous metals. In the second case, placer deposits of gold are formed due to the properties of the precious metal to dissolve and oxidize under natural conditions. Gold can come into contact with other minerals and form where sulfides and granitoids come into contact with limestone. Vein deposits are located at different depths, so they are divided into 3 categories:

• low temperature;
• medium temperature;
• high temperature.

If there is a placer gold deposit nearby, then there are also vein channels in the area. The precious metal is sometimes an integral part of the gold-polymetallic zone, then silver, zinc and lead are combined with it. In Cretaceous sedimentary formations, in depressions and conglomerates, gold-bearing veins are found in places of faults and large cracks.

In these zones, the metal is found in generations with different types of quartz, sulfides and other minerals. But the largest areas for extracting priceless metal are stockwork areas. Gold, along with sulfides and quartz, is scattered in areas of large cracks in the form of inclusions or veins in the rock. Such deposits can be very long and large. Therefore, in such zones, metal mining is organized industrially, where ordinary miners can search for gold quite effectively after completing all the work.

Types of metal deposits

The most common gold deposits are quartz veins, created by nature over many years. Over time, these veins were destroyed by external factors, and both quartz and gold were washed away by sediments into rivers. At the bottom there was a constant movement of stones, which crushed and rolled around the metal. Due to the fact that the noble metal is heavier than other minerals, it was deposited in certain areas of the ducts. With just one glance at the size and degree of rounding of a sample, specialists can determine its travel history and the location of the main vein.

You can successfully search for gold near a river only if the map has marks on the main places of deposits, which can be both at the bottom of the river and near it. Near the river there are residual deposits formed due to the weathering of the vein. Some pieces of vein and nuggets moved a certain distance from the main location, but did not fall into the reservoir. These formations are called eluvial. When looking for terraced metal deposits, you can find formations above the water level (old bottom) and at a great distance from the current riverbed, sometimes they are found even high in the mountains. The last place where gold is formed is the bottom of the river, where the metal was washed away by water from the main vein.

Gold is several times heavier than other minerals, so its movement along the bottom occurs only under the strong influence of water masses over short distances. The movement occurs in the area of ​​the river that is between the bends. Large stones become an obstacle to gold, so it is better to look for gold under them at the bottom of the river. As the river widens, the flow speed decreases, so gold can settle in such areas.

Gold content of quartz

Quartz is the most common mineral and forms in veins with many metals and minerals. In the search for the noble yellow metal, it plays a major role because the appearance of quartz can reveal the location of the gold. To correctly read quartz, knowledge of the properties of the gold-bearing sample is necessary. This mineral comes in a variety of colors and shades; it can be transparent, black, white, or gray. You can search for gold in quartz in several types:

• corn;
• nest;
• veins;
• germination;
• invisible dispersive.

If ore minerals were in quartz, but were leached, then the quartz has signs of sponginess. When the process of sulfide decomposition occurs in a gold-bearing vein, quartz crystals acquire yellow, cherry-red, or shades similar to them, which indicate that the mineral is fermented. If a prospector in search of yellow metal sees banded quartz with powdery layers or with the inclusion of tourmaline and sulfides, it means that representatives of low-temperature or high-temperature layers are somewhere nearby. Such zones may contain gold.

Yellow metal satellites

Some prospectors, in search of wealth, focus on the companions of gold, and there are many of them. Quartz, adularia, silver, pyrite, galena, platinum - all these minerals are found with gold. The only problem is that the presence of one of the gold satellites in the ore does not always indicate the presence of a noble metal in it. Sometimes gold ores consist of fused quartz, lead and gold, sometimes gold, quartz and antimony, and sometimes a combination of gold, silver, quartz and feldspars.

Even about silver, the most common neighbor of gold, it cannot be said that it always indicates the presence of the yellow metal in ores. But when a nugget is found while searching, it is almost always mixed with silver. In some cases, the share of silver reaches significant figures, but sometimes this part is negligible. The ideal ratio of gold and silver in ores occurs mainly in volcanic zones. They can be in Kamchatka or any other Far Eastern region.

Rich places in Russia

Russia is rich in different types of deposits, so you can search for gold in almost all its regions. Skarn, hydrothermal deposits and gold-quartz formations are scattered in different regions of the Russian Federation. An approximate list of areas and types of gold deposits:

• Siberia (Olkhovskoe) - skarn type;
• Ural (Berezovskoye), Transbaikalia (Darasunskoye) - gold-quartz-sulfide formation;
• Pacific ore belt - volcanogenic hydrothermal deposits;
• Transbaikalia (Baleyskoe, Taseevskoe) - gold-quartz-chalcedony-sulfide formation;
• Northeast Russia (Karamkenskoye) - gold-silver-quartz-adularia formation;
• Yakutia, Magadan, Transbaikalia, eastern Siberia - alluvial placers;
• Chukotka, Ural, Magadan, Bodaibo, Amur and Taximo are golden nuggets.

Many geologists are constantly in search of minerals; they skillfully use geological knowledge and can find gold even in places where an industrial base has been operating for many years, and then also miners. Where, it would seem, everything has already been dug up and dug up, people have almost reached the magma, but still 50 g or 100 g of gold can be found.

How to choose a place?

Before starting to look for gold, experienced trackers study a map of the area. It is necessary to examine the geological composition of the area: what fossils were found, their location and search method. Gold in Russia is found in different forms, but if there are gold placers in the surveyed area, then the place is suitable for survey. This can be either an industrial area or a non-industrial area.

It should be noted those areas where industrial bases have worked or where quartz is present in this area. It is necessary to consider the valleys that form the tributary of the river. The valley is divided into 3 parts: upper, middle and lower. It can be noted with greater confidence that gold will have to be looked for in the upper part of the valley, but there have been cases when gold-bearing places were located both in its middle and lower parts.

It is easier to search for gold based on the characteristics of the deposit when the bedrock is not under sediments and sediments. For example, quartz gold-bearing veins appear as ridges and ridges on the surface of the surveyed area. Quartz can also be in the form of placers, blocks and fragments of a characteristic white or brown-red color. If you look for gold in elongated depressions or clearly defined troughs, you can find stockwork ore deposits. When conducting a survey of a steppe area, the search for gold should be carried out in a place where there are the most thickets, or in a place where there are the least amount of them.

Necessary tool

Attentiveness, geological knowledge and a metal detector can help in the search. This equipment is quite expensive and will quickly pay for itself, but not all models will cope with the task. Moreover, you need to know how to use and set up a metal detector, since it is very sensitive to the soil, which itself will create interference. The metal detector detects large nuggets at shallow depths (up to 1 m), and the smallest ones at a depth of up to 15 cm.

A special feature of working with such products is its excessive sensitivity, which is caused by a large amount of minerals and iron in the soil. The device should not be configured for a specific type of metal; it must be operated in the mode of detecting all metals without exception. Iron, like gold, produces the same sound, so it is better to stop and test the ground rather than continue searching for gold to no avail. It is necessary to listen to the soil using headphones, so you should be extremely attentive to changes in noise.

The number of false signals coming from the ground depends on the sensitivity level setting. When the sensitivity of the metal detector is low, a person hears deeper sounds of ground testing. The result of the work also depends on the ground balance setting. Ideally, the headphones will display background noise as the metal detector probes the soil, the sound may decrease or increase.

To adjust, you need to turn the knob responsible for ground balance. Every 5-7 m you will have to adjust this function, since the mineralization of the soil may be different. To search for large-sized gold on fairly strong mineralized soil, it is necessary to use a negative setting, which will reduce the sensitivity of the metal detector to small nuggets. And, conversely, when searching for small nuggets, the adjustment is made in a positive direction. The best tuning method is a small sample of gold or lead.

When listening to the soil, the metal detector coil should be kept as close to the surface as possible. When a signal occurs, listening is carried out in all directions from the possible location of the nugget. If gold is present, the signal will be heard in all directions, and if the signal is only triggered in a certain direction, then it is not gold. The last step of the test will be to raise the coil above the intended location. If the sound suddenly fades away, it means the signal is false, and this place does not even contain metal.

Tray - equipment for beginners

Washing trays are used for taking samples, but those miners who have not yet mastered all the intricacies of searching use the tray as a means of extracting gold. Professionals work with a metal detector because up to 100 g of gold can be collected in a week of panning. But they are still used today. The choice of tray determines the efficiency and speed of work.

It is inconvenient to look for gold with a metal tray. There are greasy hand marks on it; they can only be removed by annealing the tray. The metal is corrosive and cannot be tested with a metal detector or separated from magnetite and gold. All the negative aspects of a metal tray are completely absent from a plastic product, and a green tray is an ideal product in which gold flecks are very clearly visible.

In searches, trays with a diameter of 15-40 cm are used, but a tray with a diameter of 40 cm will weigh approximately 10 kg in use. Therefore, the best option would be a tray with a diameter of 35 cm. In addition to the trays, you need to purchase a plastic sieve (mesh size 12 mm). Rinse should be 300-500 m higher from the river mouth. A good sign would be if at least 1 piece of gold gets into the tray, but if nothing is found during washing, this is not a sign that the stream is hopeless. If there are large nuggets in it, then there will be very few small gold pieces.

And where can you find it? This question still interests gold miners today. The current topic of searching for precious metals and a gold mine, which will solve all material problems in one hour, worries people all over the world. Despite the fact that reserves of the metal in nature have been greatly depleted, this does not stop people from looking for gold and finding it in the form of nuggets or sand. In Russia, with its vast territory and rich mineral resources, finding metal is not so easy; geologists and amateurs are engaged in the search. It is difficult to say which of them will be lucky, but the excitement around gold does not subside, but, on the contrary, is gaining momentum.

What will the story tell?

How to find gold and where to look for it? Ivan III was the first of the kings of Rus' to ask this question. The shortage of metal was constantly felt; even coins were minted from a low-grade alloy, trying to save the gold and silver that was brought from other countries. To solve the problem, the king invited a specialist from Italy, who was supposed to find the precious metal on the territory of a large country. But nothing worked out for him, and all the hopes of Ivan III were unjustified.

Miner's work

Having decided to continue the dynasty, Ivan the Terrible focused his attention on Siberia - in his opinion, the region was rich in minerals and other elements. The king attracted a huge army, conquered Siberia, but never found gold. All searches boiled down to the discovery of a small nugget. From this nugget, Ivan the Terrible made himself a cross.

Peter I decided that gold could be found on Russian territory and he managed to change the situation. Work began in the Urals and other regions, as a result of which the emperor received what he wanted -. During the development of the ore deposit, one of the largest deposits of the precious metal in the Urals was found.

Even a simple worker who decided to build a house on the river bank managed to find gold in the ground. The man was attracted by the landscape, and he began construction immediately after the end of the war. In 1945, a worker found a small nugget in the ground.

Geologists immediately arrived on the scene, they looked for metal, but they could not find anything significant, besides a few more nuggets. The worker was ordered to move the construction of the house. Later, the authorities came to the conclusion that it was necessary to dig a mine at the site where the nuggets were found. This decision was correct - thus one of the largest deposits of the precious metal on the Amur was discovered.

During the Soviet years, they looked for gold in the mountains and on river banks. The work of geologists was so extensive that it led to successes. The metal was found in Siberia, the Urals, as well as in other regions of our country. Even in the Moscow region, a deposit was discovered that was considered promising.

The troubled 90s cooled the ardor of individual seekers, since the deposits were guarded and had connections with the criminal world. But today the situation has changed; the search for gold is carried out by people who have an idea of ​​where it can be found and to whom it can be sold.

Certain skills, knowledge of the area, as well as the study of maps and archival documents - all this will not harm the conduct of search procedures.

How to search and where?

Searching for a precious metal is an amazing experience, but to get the result you need to carry out a number of works:

• study the features of the area;
• collect information about promising deposits;
• communicate with the local population.

The work begins with the study of archival documents, since you need to have an idea of ​​​​the features of the area. It is also worth paying attention to whether the region is considered promising for gold prospecting and what climatic conditions it has.

This is how they wash gold

Information about deposits is the key to success. In many deposits where mining was stopped back in Soviet times, seekers later found gold.

Local residents can help in the search for gold: the indigenous population will tell you about the peculiarities of the climate, and also recall cases of finding the precious metal.

Where to look? This is the next question that may interest prospectors, but gold deposits can be found anywhere. There is no map of such places in Russia. The most promising regions are recognized as:

1. Krasnoyarsk region.
2. Irkutsk
3. Magadan.
4. Ural.
5. Amur.
6. Yakutia.

In these regions, gold is mined on an industrial scale. There are also separate groups of searchers who work autonomously or under contract.

Anyone can engage in precious metal mining in Russia; to do this, it is enough to conclude an agreement with a company or person that has a license. Work is carried out on river banks, in the mountains and on dumps.

Some experts argue that there is no need to reinvent the wheel and look for metal where there is none. It is worth searching for gold in territories that have already been developed; where nuggets were found or precious metals were mined.

A gold-bearing river is a concept that any geologist can talk about. Metal is most often found in river beds. There are several reasons why rivers come to the attention of searchers.

Gold is a heavy, dense metal, surrounded by lighter rocks. If a river erodes a rock layer, the metal settles. Over the years, when studying the river bed, a large deposit of Au can be found. They also study the river bank for the presence of the element in the bowels of the earth.

It is worth noting that geologists study vast territories; they explore the area in search of gold. But often experts lose sight of certain corners of the area - in such places, searchers find Au most often.

There is a possibility of finding the precious metal in places of volcanic activity - gold comes to the surface with magma. In such places, dumps are examined. As a rule, the precious metal can be detected without much difficulty, since gold is not hidden deep underground, but is located close to the surface.

The question of where to look for Au is still open today. Metal can be found anywhere, and it is not difficult to get gold fever - the main thing is that the search is crowned with success. There are several rules that will help coordinate your metal search:

• do not repeat the route of geologists;
• do not take into development unpromising regions;
• explore deposits from the USSR that were previously closed.

There is such a trend: deposits that were previously closed and considered unpromising for one reason or another are now being developed again. The reason is that progress does not stand still. In the USSR, they developed mainly alluvial deposits, not wanting to waste time and money on developing primary ones.

The perspective was that geologists would evaluate a found metal mining site by the number of suspected deposits of the element. If the assessment was low, then production was stopped or not started at all, and the field was recognized as unpromising. But technology does not stand still, and today production is carried out where it was previously stopped. Of course, there are other reasons for this, one of which is that they are constantly decreasing, while the demand for this metal is growing.

How can you mine Au?

There are several main methods that searchers use. Some look for deposits of the element using a metal detector; others wash river water using dredges.

1) Searching for gold using a metal detector is very simple. You just need to acquire the appropriate equipment. If we are talking about the metal that is hidden in quartz sheets, then a metal detector is a necessary tool for the job.

You just need to explore the territory using the device, if something interests you, you need to take a soil sample. As a rule, precious metal is not hidden deep in the bowels of the earth; it is not difficult to find it with a metal detector. Another rule for those looking for Au in this way is that if you manage to find one nugget, then you need to examine the soil carefully, since the nuggets are located in pairs or groups. By examining the soil with a metal detector, you can find several more.

2) Another method is to flush water using a dredge. This is a device that allows you to extract metal from water. Previously, Au was extracted from river water using sluice gates. They were made from sheep skins. Today other devices are used.

By the way, the gateways have not gone anywhere, they have been improved. Today, it can also be done using gateways, but unless, of course, we are talking about industrial production.

To extract metal, its properties are used. The element combines with mercury to form an alloy. Therefore, there are gateways that are equipped with plates on the surface of which a small amount of mercury is applied. Washing using such sluices helps to obtain an alloy of mercury and gold - an amalgam.

As for the dredge, this device is quite effective for searching and detecting Au. But the dredge changes the river bed, breaks it up, for this reason the use of such equipment requires special permission.

Attention should be paid to places with erosive terrain. The mouth of the river is also capable of being mined, provided that metal has previously been found in these places.

Types of sediments that will help you find gold:

1. Bottom.
2. Terrace.
3. Residual.
4. Eluvial.

The river bottom is a place where Au can accumulate for years. If the riverbed allows it, the grains can find a recess and accumulate in it for several years or centuries. Because gold is heavy, it quickly settles to fill the hole.

If a river erodes the bank, a double bottom can form; metal deposits are often found between the rock layers. This type of deposit is called terraced. Finding a terrace that took several years to form is the dream of any seeker. The deposit can be large and very profitable.

A residual deposit is one where work had previously been carried out, but then nuggets or gold in the form of sand were discovered. In such places, Au is searched for in dumps. The prospect of detecting metal in such deposits is higher. You can also find gold next to the vein itself, which was previously under development.

Eluvial ones can be found while exploring mountains, especially if they are surrounded by a body of water.

If rivers, mountains and plains are not enough, then you can take into development the territory where gold was found, or the territory that is actively being explored by geologists. Many people find precious metal near industrial enterprises that are focused on ore mining.

There is one more trick. Searchers may be exploring an area that geologists have previously explored but found nothing. Finding metal in such a place is difficult, but anyone can get lucky.

There is no guarantee that when a person goes looking for gold, he will find something. On average, research and development takes at least a year. After this time, it is possible to find Au, but not everyone is lucky. In which places there is gold and in which there is not, one can only guess; sometimes it is possible to find a nugget where gold has never been searched for.

They began searching for gold using metal detectors abroad about 40 years ago, ever since sufficiently sensitive metal detectors appeared that were capable of finding small gold nuggets. In Russia since 1996. Finding a gold nugget is a great pleasure - it is a beautiful and valuable find. The cost of a gram of gold as of 01/01/2013 is 1650 rubles per gram. A nugget, in addition, is an interesting geological object that can indicate a deposit or a rich gold-bearing vein. In addition, hunting for gold nuggets is an unforgettable journey.

I first picked up a metal detector in 1996, while conducting research work on the introduction of metal detectors to geological enterprises in Russia. We, employees of the research institute, needed to evaluate the possibility of using metal detectors in geology. We compared different metal detectors, tested them in different conditions, and carried out experimental work. As a result of the research carried out, it turned out that metal detectors are excellent for exploration, identification and search for rich areas. During three business trips to the north of the Irkutsk region, we found more than a hundred nuggets, and proved that modern metal detectors are excellent for finding nuggets. Our production amounted to more than a kilogram of gold.

On an open surface, nuggets are found mainly in cinema. Over many years of practice, I saw only one small nugget at the bottom of the stream. He was lying in a shallow puddle on the surface of the rock. (see photo) Honestly speaking, without a metal detector I would have passed by without noticing it. Nuggets are more common on the surface of dumps left after the development of industrial deposits. According to geologist V.N. Klepikov, several hundred nuggets were collected (and officially handed over) in Kolyma in the 50s, although at that time even the word “metal detector” was not yet known.

In the surface layer at a depth of up to 20 cm, which can be examined with a simple, relatively inexpensive metal detector for searching for nuggets, for example Eureka Gold, X-Terra 705, CTX3030, there are more nuggets than on the open surface, and in a layer 50 cm thick there are even more of them. But at such a depth they can only be detected by the professional metal detector GPX 4800 and GPX 5000.

The best modern metal detectors of the GPX series provide detection depths of large nuggets up to one meter. This expands the search area, but you still need to be able to calculate the places where nuggets lie at an accessible depth. This is the main condition for success.

I will try to tell you where to look for gold nuggets.

When I went on business trips, first with my father, Boris Konstantinovich Kavchik, candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences, we studied the area using geological reports and selected several promising places in one area. We were not able to find nuggets everywhere; only one of the 3-4 planned sites was successful. If gold was easy to find, it wouldn't cost so much.

Areas promising for nuggets come in different types and, accordingly, you need to look for them in different places.

It is most reliable to search in areas where gold mining has already been or is currently underway. Areas where gold has never been mined are less or completely unpromising. You need to take into account that gold has already been looked for before you and this is a huge plus. Professional geologists walked around all the streams and mountains. They worked for years, in large teams, and if they didn’t find anything, then you won’t find anything either. There are, however, exceptions. Geologists were not interested in small and remote areas, but were looking for areas for industrial gold mining. In geological reports you can find information about small objects, sometimes old-timers can tell you about gold mining. But geologists' reports are more reliable, although they are extremely difficult to obtain.

In gold-bearing areas, small mountain streams are a good place to look for nuggets. Gold falls into them from the slopes. Light rock is carried away by water, and gold, due to its high specific gravity, sinks through sand and pebbles, accumulates and forms gold-bearing placers. Choose places to search where the raft comes close to the surface. Such places in mountain rivers are found quite often in the form of rocks, see photo “Gold-bearing rocks on the Sredny River (Buryatia).” Their surface was once the bottom of a stream. Later, the stream washed out a new, deeper channel, and the former bottom appeared on the surface.

If the surface of the raft is cracked, then the gold remains in the cracks. The entire surface of the raft and the areas adjacent to it must be very carefully examined with a metal detector. It is also advisable to examine the accessible surface of the raft next to the riverbed, even 10-20 meters above the water. These are sections of ancient river valleys called basement terraces, and their surface could once have been the bottom of a river.

In Russia there are more areas where you can look for nuggets than in all other countries of the world combined and stretch from the Urals to the Far East.

It is interesting to examine the underwater part of the channel; there may also be nuggets there. You can search underwater with a metal detector, however, it is very difficult to pull out a nugget from under the water due to the strong current and cold water.

Promising places in the form of bedrock outcrops are the easiest to find, but they are not found in all streams. If there are no visible bedrock outcrops, you have to explore the entire stream blindly, hoping for luck, maybe you’ll be able to “get” a nugget somewhere.

A stream can be preliminarily assessed using additional criteria. If there are quartz pebbles or quartz boulders in the stream, then the stream is more promising for gold. The fact is that gold is most often formed in quartz veins. The quartz is destroyed, the gold is released from it and slides down the slope into the stream. Quartz also ends up in the creek and is easy to see. The presence of quartz in a stream is a good sign, although it is ambiguous. If there is quartz, then there may be gold, but not necessarily. A lot of quartz veins do not contain gold. However, if there is no quartz in the stream bed, then most likely there is no gold in it.

Quartz is a white or light gray rock. With a little experience it is easy to see. The main difference between quartz and other rocks is that it has high hardness and scratches glass. You can take any fragment of a bottle and run a piece of rock over it. If a scratch remains, then the fragment is quartz; if there is no scratch, then it is another mineral.

Another criterion for selecting the most promising streams is washing the rock with a tray, the professional term for spot testing. You can watch how to work with the tray in films on the treasure hunting video website https://www.youtube.com/user/RudolfKavchik in the “Gold Mining” section.

The washing of the rock should not be carried out at the very mouth of the stream, but 200-500 m above the mouth. If at least one piece of gold is caught in the tray, this is a good sign. It is very likely that there may be nuggets in the stream. But if there is no gold in the tray, then the stream cannot be considered unpromising. The fact is that the tray “catches” only small gold. And in nugget streams there is little fine gold and it may not get into the tray. Sometimes in nugget places we washed 10 trays and all without gold. But if gold gets into the tray, then the stream needs to be examined first and very carefully.

It is better to choose streams for examination that are short in length, up to 10-15 km. These may also be the upper reaches of larger rivers. Nuggets are inactive and are not transported over long distances by the river. Usually, the further from the sources, the finer the gold. Small streams are especially interesting because in them you can find rich areas of small size - “nests”. The nests contain not only nuggets, but also gold sand. From history, nests with several pounds of gold are known. We also found small nests, which I will tell you about another time on the website school-prospector.rf

To search for gold in rivers, you need to use the most sensitive metal detectors for small nuggets, EurekaGold, GPX 4800 and GPX 5000. More information about these metal detectors can be found on the manufacturer’s website

Even the smallest nugget indicates that there may be a rich gold-bearing nest in the stream. In addition, the nugget fell into the stream, most likely from quartz veins located on the slopes. The veins can also be quite rich and profitable for mining. The appearance of a nugget carries useful geological information, so it is advisable to measure, photograph and accurately describe each nugget where it was found. This may be useful in the future for searching for a nest or vein.

In addition to river beds, there are also other promising areas for searching for nuggets. The most reliable are pebble dumps of waste placers. It was in them that we found most of the nuggets. I'll try to talk about dumps another time.

Film 1.

Equipment for gold mining that you can easily make with your own hands and, most importantly, completely free. A passage or butara or a sluice, called by different names, is an ancient and effective equipment for gold mining at a price of zero.

Movie 2

The film is about where to look for gold and gold nuggets.