If you take a look at the gold prospecting industry, you will soon notice that some types of gold are getting more attention than others. In particular, gold nuggets tend to draw the attention of both newcomers and experienced miners, which isn’t that hard to understand. Due to its popularity, some people, especially on Youtube, are making it seem like gold nuggets are ubiquitous, and can be found anywhere.
But is this the case? Can gold nuggets really be found anywhere?
Gold nuggets cannot be found anywhere, as most locations have not seen the geological stability required to form gold nuggets. Simply put, gold nuggets are formed by geological processes that need time in order to build up the nugget. Gold nuggets are more likely to be found where coarse gold has been found before.
In this article, you will learn the things you need to know in order to maximize your chances of finding gold nuggets, including where and how to look for them!
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
How Gold Nuggets Form
The gold nuggets you find in creeks and rivers come from gold-bearing veins that have been weathered by wind and water. The gold that manages to break loose from the lode is then transported by heavy winds and rain, typically downhill, until it reaches a waterway that will take it with it.
Now, while this explains how the gold nuggets end up in rivers and streams, it doesn’t tell us anything about how they form. As a matter of fact, the origin of gold nuggets is still debated, and to this day, we yet have to discover all the processes that lie behind the forming of gold nuggets.
However, that doesn’t mean we are completely clueless. For instance, we know that gold nuggets form like crystals when small gold particles are dissolved in water and then rebuilt into gold nuggets…
How Gold Nuggets Form From Dissolved Gold
In some specific conditions, gold can actually dissolve in water if the right acids, including sulfur, are involved.
The hot water will simply dissolve the gold as it flows through the earth’s crust, and then redeposit it as the conditions change. Many times this involves a circulating system, in which the water travels deep down into the earth’s crust, gets heated, and then rises up towards the ground.
On its way, it will dissolve the gold it comes in contact with. This gold will then redeposit as the temperature gets colder closer to the surface. In that way, the gold gets redistributed and concentrated and eventually forms hard rock gold deposits, including gold nuggets.
You could say that the gold will attach to existing gold particles in a process similar to how salt or sugar dissolved in water crystallizes when you put a nail into the solution. This also means that the more stable the geological conditions, the bigger the gold nuggets tend to become, as they can grow for longer periods of time.
Now, for the water to find its way up to the surface, it needs to travel through some form of cracks or faults. This is one of the reasons why one common prospecting tip is to look for gold where two types of bedrock meet, as the water is likely to have found its way up through cracks that are likely to have existed around that spot.
Another interesting point to make here is that once the water cools down and the gold deposits, the sulfur contained in the water is likely to combine with other minerals and form some of the materials we find in our black sand concentrates. Pyrite, often called “fool’s gold” is one such mineral.
Other Theories
In addition to the process above, there are a couple of other theories that describe how gold nuggets could come about. We won’t go into the exact details, as it might not be too relevant to the topic. If you are interested in learning more, then check out my article on how gold nuggets form, where several more theories are covered.
Instead, let’s look at how to know where to look for gold nuggets!
Where Can You Find Gold Nuggets?
In order to know where to look for gold nuggets, you want to find out where gold has been found before. Even if the old adage goes that “gold is where you find it” you are much more likely to find gold in areas that are known to have produced good gold in the past.
If you happen to live in a state where at least some gold has been dug out, it’s very likely that you can find state or district reports over where gold has been found. As this article focuses on gold nuggets, you want to make sure that the area you are visiting is known for coarse gold, and not only the fine stuff.
Top 5 States Known For Gold Nuggets
Although gold nuggets can be found in many more states than those listed below, these are some of the states that have gained a reputation for themselves over the years:
5 Ways To Successfully Mine Gold Nuggets
There are several ways you could go about finding gold nuggets, and the right approach depends on the conditions at the place you’re exploring. For instance, some states like Arizona don’t have many active rivers and creeks, which means that most prospectors will have to resort to metal detecting or dry panning.
Let’s look closer at these three ways of mining gold nuggets!
Gold Panning
Gold panning is always an option, and quite some good nuggets have been found in rivers and creeks around the country. In order to increase your chances of finding gold, you should make sure to learn how to properly read a river, which is covered in my complete guide to reading a river for gold.
For instance, it’s critical to understand that gold tends to concentrate in places where its sheer weight ensures that it gets stuck, such as in bedrock crevices and along inside bends, where the water tends to slow down.
Consider getting a sluice box if you want to process more material. A gold pan is an excellent piece of equipment, but very few use it as a production tool.
Sniping/Crevicing
Sniping, or crevicing, simply is the act of cleaning our crevices and cavities in bedrock to find any gold that has got stuck in there. This is a really effective method that can yield remarkably good results with just a gold pan if you’re at the right spot.
Sniping is based on that the river concentrates the gold for you, with the crevices you clean out functioning as the riffles you find in a sluice box. Even small crevices can hold surprisingly large nuggets, and it isn’t uncommon to be left wondering how on earth that piece of gold managed to get in there in!
Suction Dredging
Suction dredging is the most effective gold recovery method for retail prospectors. In short, it’s a motorized pump that’s connected to a hose, which is operated by somebody on the bottom of the river. The gravels are then sucked into the hose and transported to a floating sluice box, which quickly separates the materials, including the gold nuggets.
Suction dredges can process loads of material, and there are true stories of gold miners who are able to recover ounces of gold every day, operation a suction dredge all by themselves. It’s certainly a pity that many states have come to either heavily restrict or completely ban the use of suction dredges in rivers and creeks!
Metal Detectors: Perhaps the best choice
With a metal detector you are no longer limited to prospecting in active waterways, and can expand your search area to new places.
In fact, you are given the opportunity of finding a whole new type of gold, namely residual deposits. Here is how!
When gold gets eroded from the main lode it usually travels downhill until it reaches a river. The river then carries the gold with it, in turn concentrating it in various locations along its course. Placer miners then retrieve it using gold pans, sluice boxes, and other similar tools.
Now, with a metal detector, you can catch the gold BEFORE it has made it into the river, just after it has broken loose from the main lode. These types of deposits are called residual deposits and can be really rich. And since the old-timers didn’t have metal detectors, they have often gone unnoticed in the past!
Another tip is to search the surrounding areas of old gold mines where you know that good, coarse gold has been found in the past. Especially look downhill, as gold tends to get washed down by heavy rains.
You may also want to search through the old tailings. The methods used by the old-timers weren’t as effective as those we have today, and as a result, a lot of gold was missed. Just make sure to stay safe, and don’t enter the mine yourself without expert help!
Our metal detecting guide is the perfect resource if you’re looking to get started!
Dry Washing
This is another technique that’s used when water is scarce, and although it isn’t effective when it comes to catching the tiny gold, it can be used to recover gold nuggets and larger pieces of gold.
Just like in panning, dry washing uses the superior weight of gold to separate it from other materials. The difference lies in that vibrations and air pressure are used rather than water, to achieve separation.
Pickers vs Nuggets: What’s the Difference?
Have you ever heard about pickers and gold nuggets and wondered what the real difference is? Well, while there isn’t an official definition, you could say that a picker is a somewhat larger piece of gold that’s still small enough to be picked up with one wet finger. A gold nugget, on the other hand, requires more effort to be picked up. That’s at least our take on it!
Final Words
Gold nuggets cannot be found anywhere, and that’s not too strange considering how much they are worth. However, if you just know where to look and use the right equipment, you can maximize your chances of finding gold nuggets, be it in rivers and creeks, in the desert, or around old mining areas.