FINDING GOLD III (Gold & Sapphires)

Extremely hard to do in the field. All of us who dredge gold have left behind thousands in gemstones . . . That said: with the book"Gem Identification Made Easy" a 10X triplet loupe, a UV light, and a dichroscope you can probably ID 95% of them. Even England's Crown Jewels had a piece that turned out to be spinel instead of ruby, so you can see — it's not easy. #1 tip – if something looks "different" "pretty" or has a defined (octagonal, etc) shape — take it home where you have time to ID.

was this taken in montana????

Yes it was, on the W. Fork of Rock Creek near Phillipsburg.

omg thanks man, u lived in montana for 2 years. have you ever done gold hunting in ohio?

Didn't live there, but appreciate your enthusiasm for the state – a beautiful place for sure. Have not tried in Ohio, but if you plug Ohio Placer Gold into your search engine one of the links is to Geofact 09 Gold In Ohio and that gives a map of locations. Good luck!

have u ever searched any feeder streams of allatoona lake ga i've found large amounts of quartz and iron pyrite but have never heard of gold or gem finds

I was going to check that with a boat, but due to the water being so low, couldn't find a way into it. I have not either (heard of finds) but the Etowah is loaded with it and I was going to check the N end where it feeds in. Bound to have garnets in it, they practically all do in those N. foothills. I did find two small (very) diamonds in Holcombe Creek (W of Buchannan) so they may be around too but are very hard to separate at normal dredge speeds for gold. Good luck – much to find in Ga.

thanks for the reply and info

it is beautaful, u should go back by conrad montana and talk to ppl there

Yesterday i found a huge place of black sands, and some of the black sand areas has alot of gold flakes, amazing find. By the way i collect black sands, so when ever you or anyone you know close to california whats to sell there sands i will buy it. I learn alot from your videos, keep up the great work. I will have to show u a trick i know if you ever come to california. Have a happy new years

Where were the finished stones found/filmed?

They were at the Gem Mountain mine, also on the West Fork of Rock Creek, Montana.

I love your videos. Thank you!

Supposedly, there is placer gold in Connecticut, too. But I hear there is more in Vermont.

holy cows!!!! i went there and found like 20 saphires….

arent sapphires blue?

Sapphires are any color but red (ruby), and both are corundum (scientific name). Corundum is naturally colorless but the impurities of chromium or aluminum will make colored stones (a ruby, or sapphire). The one grey area is a pink (pinkish) sapphire – one person's pink sapphire is another's ruby . . . Rubies glow brilliant red under ultraviolet light, the same for pink sapphires (so the same impurity is present (but not the amount).

so, simply the color can determine a ruby or a sapphire?

also thanks for your videos, alot of the places you went were very beautifull, wish there were some nice gold panning/whatnot sites near me =P

That is the determinate factor between the two. Lush red = ruby, all other colors (including colorless) = sapphire.

Thanks for producing these great videos Matt. I am just getting into propecting and I think I have gained more "book knowledge" from your videos that from anywhere else. I hope you do a "Finding Gold XII". What is the best advice that you could give somebody just getting into propecting? Keep up the the good work!

Start slow, learn to research on the net and in the library before setting foot in the field. Try to find the gold locations before you ever get there and save much time and money from historical accounts and reading the gps server maps (topo maps from google, teraserver and elsewhere). Most important, be patient, and realize there's more gold in the adventure than in the gold itself. Best of luck and thank you for the kind comments.

Simply wonderful and informative videos.
Each and every one of them…
Thank you.

@PeaceChannel711

I will be starting to pan in a river in Windham county very soon i will post a vid if there are any findings

I like to think of the pink ones as not quite "ripe" Rubies. Great video series, Keep up the awesome work.

@flagold i went mining for gold and sapphire and i found alot i dont tell anyone where i find them