Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if there is any gold in West Virginia? I'm very interested in panning and metal detecting. Thanks!

Re: Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

You can search for gold coins falling out of the pockets of bungee jumpers on the New River bridge.
:yippee:

Re: Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

We have several WV residents in our Tri-States Chapter here in southern Ohio. Good way to learn about the GPAA would be to contact the chapter president and get an invite.

The chapter meets on the 1st Sat of the month. Kind of reminds me, I need to contact the president and see if all is a go for this weekend.

If you're off on the other side of the state from Ohio then you might look for a chapter closer to home.

Re: Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

Thanks for the info. I check it out!!

Re: Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

Oh, man, goldminer, I am so curious how much one person can find goldmining on the weekends.

But I know how well questions like "Hey, how much you find/got/bought/sold" go over around here...

LikeGreen :smokin:

Re: Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

In the geographic areas where gold has been found in the past, it can still readily be found today. How much a guy can separate out depends on how rich the dirt is that he's washing, and how much of the dirt he washes in a given period of time. As I said earlier, colors are easy to find, it's finding the good concentrations we call "pay pockets" and "pay streaks" that is a challenge.

A guy just needs to learn something about how gold was formed, how & where it is located, how it distributes and redistributies over tens of millions of years, how to "read the creek", prospect which is "sampling" with a gold pan to find the best paying spot in the area, and then working the dirt, sands, and gravels to separate out and recover the much heavier colors.

Re: Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

Got any good books you recomend? I think Elijha is a prospector and I was going to ask him some things, my kids want to stake a claim and spend the summer on it. I am game, it would be a great adventure for them.

Re: Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

Got any good books you recomend?

The best one I've seen other than the one I was working on for over a year and have quit because I don't know anything about publishing, is written by Dave McCracken. It's a large size (maybe 8" x 10") yellow & red collored paperback titled "Gold Mining in the 21st Century. There are a lot of books out there but a lot of them aren't worth purchasing. I wish you lived down the block; I would certainly tell your kids everything I know that they might want to listen to.

One of the big mistakes many folks new to prospecting make is to go out and buy a lot of stuff they don't need. All that's required is a good long-handled shovel (short ones will break the back & ruin a guy's knees...plus it is a mighty fine tool to keep 2 & 4 legged critters at bay if ever need be), a 3-gallon plastic carry pail (5 gallon if you're young and tough) to tote some stuff in and use as a seat (mucho better than a cold or wet hard rock or the ground), and a gold pan. Depending on the size & strength of your kids I would recommend a 10-12" wide-bottom plastic pan with concave riffles.
An older teen and an average adult wants a pan that's 14" in diameter. Proline sells a great one; GPAA also offers a great one. Make sure it is colored either green or blue so it is easy on the eyes and lets you easily distinguish black sands and colors (every piece of gold regardless of size is called a "color". 2 or more pieces are "colors".

Good forum resources are GPAA (Gold Prspector's of America) and The New 49'ers.

Hope this helps.

Re: Is there any gold in West Virginia?
 

Got any good books you recomend?

The best one I've seen other than the one I was working on for over a year and have quit because I don't know anything about publishing, is written by Dave McCracken. It's a large size (maybe 8" x 10") yellow & red collored paperback titled "Gold Mining in the 21st Century. There are a lot of books out there but a lot of them aren't worth purchasing. I wish you lived down the block; I would certainly tell your kids everything I know that they might want to listen to.

One of the big mistakes many folks new to prospecting make is to go out and buy a lot of stuff they don't need. All that's required is a good long-handled shovel (short ones will break the back & ruin a guy's knees...plus it is a mighty fine tool to keep 2 & 4 legged critters at bay if ever need be), a 3-gallon plastic carry pail (5 gallon if you're young and tough) to tote some stuff in and use as a seat (mucho better than a cold or wet hard rock or the ground), and a gold pan. Depending on the size & strength of your kids I would recommend a 10-12" wide-bottom plastic pan with concave riffles.
An older teen and an average adult wants a pan that's 14" in diameter. Proline sells a great one; GPAA also offers a great one. Make sure it is colored either green or blue so it is easy on the eyes and lets you easily distinguish black sands and colors (every piece of gold regardless of size is called a "color". 2 or more pieces are "colors".

A gold pan is a prospector's microscope. It is also the most labor intensive device a miner can use, but it is also necessary to become proficient in it's use because down the road if you want to work more dirt in a given period of time and so go to a hand sluice box, a highbanker, or a dredge, you will be able to separate out the colors from all the heavy elements that are "concentrates" that increasingly accumulate in a box as more and more
dirt is washed.

Good forum resources are GPAA (Gold Prspector's of America) and The New 49'ers.

Hope this helps.