I am a part time prospector, and agree with what is being said here. A quick summary would be: know the land, go where gold has been found, explore, and test test test. There is no set rule of where you will find gold. Gold is where gold is. And even then, and with decades of experience, there are times where you will be wrong. There is a massive multitude of tools at your disposal so you can start prospecting an area days, weeks, or even months before you ever set a single boot on the ground. But the most important thing is to test continually. Even if you are in a high grade hot spot, keep testing. And keep everything. When I first started prospecting I would dump the little bits of “fly poop” flour gold if there wasn’t a lot of it. I focused on the flakes and pickers. A friend of mine would collect everything. After a year of 2-3 days a week, 5-6 hours a day of panning and sluicing he had almost 2 ounces of just flour gold saved up. Since we invariably worked the same areas all I could think after that was “I dumped 2 ounces of gold out of my pans, on purpose.”
After three months watching RUclips videos on gold prospecting I have concluded.....You are the best channel for information coming from a educated, experienced and intelligent point of view. The second channel to watch is Dan Hurd And the only other channel I student needs is....Jeff Williams. Excellent job Chris 👍
@Prisoner Six: another good channel to check out is D’Arcy Cooper’s. He has whole seasons just showing his sampling on one to three claims where he really gets into how ancient channels, landslides and (if applicable) glaciers shape the modern valley you see today. I binged his whole channel in a few days and still feel like I need to go back and watch parts of it again, as he even does end-of-season cumulative and explanative episodes with detailed illustrations that can help a n00b immensely. Good luck out there, I am just getting started doing heavy-duty research and am quite daunted but also have always had an interest in geology since taking it my first semester in college for a phy-sci elective. The only other class I felt was more important in everyday use was nutrition (which should be taught as mandatory curriculum in high school!!!). Cheers!
Dude, you are awesome! Love it how real you are about this whole deal! You’re a breath of fresh air , sir! Learning from you things I didn’t know, even with 20+years of experience(about half of yours) I’m learning something new from each video you make. Thank you, Ralph. Seriously. True Knowledge is very precious but when you give it out for FREE, it becomes priceless and invaluable and you sir, have and give it in spades!
Great video Dont forget streams and rivers are alway changing paths and moving tons of rocks and dirt especially during storms, revealing areas of earth that has never been touched or prospected by anyone
I spent 5 hours today panning some material I dug years ago I got 8 flakes so small you almost have to have a magnifying glass to see it but I'm thrilled I haven't found anything going out with the GPA this summer
Great solid realistic advice from an honest working prospector. This was like a tutorial from a professor drawing from vast experience and knowledge, excellent list of tips and clear explanation!
I have your book and love it. Also happened across Handbook For Prospectors, Von Bernewitz, circa 1943. It's cool to read about accepted methods used before MSHA, as well as other info. We don't realize how much easier, and likely to succeed because of the available tools at our disposal than they had. But they were pretty abvanced for their time. So much work went into those old publications. The glossary of terms with page refs is over 50 pages long.
I have lived in the gold country of California for 32 years. This man is telling the truth. Gold mining is really hard work. Its fun and a great hobby, but i make a lot more money at my day job. lot more.
Great video! Im 17 years old, started about 3months ago and find prospecting very addictive. This is the first time in my life that i put that much time and effort into research. Last 2 times i went to a gold bearing area i had no luck, horrible luck but i cannot give up.
Great video...looks like malakoff in part of this..and siggi & cheri's dump truck. I can relate to gold not being in the inner bend. Several places on North fork near colfax like that...
You have motivated my interest. Not very far from where I live is where gold was found in the Blue Ridge mountains (Georgia and North Carolina). Obtaining the beginners gear is now what I need. Oddly, the folks looking for gold found copper, a tiny amount of silver, and all kinds of gem stones. You can go to any creek in north Georgia and find small gannets and rubies, and what looked to be flakes of oxidized copper (green) with out even trying. I've done it with my camping mess kit and a garden trowel. Now, I think I want to find some gold. I know several places where there just might be some too. Additionally, I would imagine that the tailings in an old wash plant pond would be a place to find some nice gold chunks that wash out due to size. Sorry I'm just a bit excited and talk too much. ;-)
I just moved out here near Amicalola falls and man I’ve found some beautiful rivers and streams I want to check out. Don’t seem to be high traffic areas either. Hell, just looking around on my property I’ve found tons of quartzite.
I have learned so much from this guy about all I need to know about prospecting. Im glad he doesn't keep his knowledge to himself. This is a very useful video here
On the gold shows - one of the main differences of the mainstream ones like gold rush vs real prospecting is that the studio pays for all the mining crew's fuel... which is their biggest cost and a huge subsidy. On the bends - another thing I thought of when you were speaking is that you can't actually see many of the bends except the modern flow. There are countless cross channels and high bank deposits that were part of various gold bearing flows and ancient low pressure zones. So you could be standing on something that was a bend in river originally but now bears little resemblance to one. So just going to the obvious bend ignores where the bends may have been at one time. Thanks for the video! My family is pulling lots of gold from a "played out river" where the "old timers got all the big stuff" according the many of the locals. Got the claim for almost nothing too when others let it lapse.
Enjoyed your talk. I bought a claim and are now learning about gems and gold, and am enjoying every minute of it . I have dug a shaft 3+ meters deep nothin g yet but I will.
I wish you the best of luck, but you should dig where you are getting some gold not a place where you are not getting any gold. And 3 meters is deep for a hand dug hole!
@@ChrisRalph may can i asking you via email probably i can get ferdback from you, im just beginer, and dont have tools yet and didnt doing to search yet, thats why im not doing rush even im sure in our country we had alot, but i dont want get mess areas or doing spread without knowledge. so please on which link i can get advice from you even late feedback. regard Almas
@@almasseven5665 it’s my experience that you have to “pan” and “mine” these types of videos for nuggets of wisdom. You can’t really ask people to do the leg work for you, we all wanna see you succeed tho and we’re cheering for you. Heavy pans!
Man, do I know my country! When I saw that shot from my home state - Western Australia and before I knew where it was, I thought to myself that it looked a lot like the eastern goldfields! And I was right. Most of my family, on both sides, come from the eastern and north eastern and Murchison goldfields, ( they moved around a lot! ) with my mother being born in Meekatharra and spent a lot of time in Mt Magnet and my father born in the now ghost town of Nannine. After my grandmother died, my grandfather bought a small caravan and spent a lot of his time back in the gold fields, with his picks and shovels and trusty old dry blower, stopping and prospecting where ever he wanted to. As a young teenager, I thought he was just a cranky, anti-social old fart, but now that I'm closer to his age now and have lived in three state capitol cities and numerous provincial ones, the urge to just "go bush" and get away to the deafening silence of the outback is becoming too strong to resist in recent times. And win, lose or draw, doing a bit of prospecting along the way won't do me any harm either. It's hard, harsh country out there, but for some odd reason, it holds no fear for me. Just look for the little cloud of red dust from my dry blower! Thanks for your very informative video.
im a telecommunications tech of 30yrs & nothing else existed. but after binge watching your vids for the last 4hrs ive now at least got a less than basic idea (lol) of geology, how to, what to & what not to.. great learning experience. i better get this book of yours as well. thankyou.
Great advice Ralph ! All excellent points ! Best concentration of gold on my desert claim is near the surface, like you said. Bedrock yields little, however, on occasion will find a nice nugget down there, which makes up for finer specimens near the top ! Also find an occasional picker on the surface ! Thanks for sharing ! Watching your subscriber list grow. Excellent ! 🤠
Hello Mr. Chris, I just ordered your book, fist full of dollars today. It should arrive Friday, June 2023. I’m sure you will cover this in your book, but I want to ask you, what strength of magnification do you recommend for the average gold fanatic. I would like to know what your favorite magnification is for the jewelers loop please.
Thankyou Chris for your wonderful vids Chris! The real nuggets of gold, I think, are your wisdom, truth , seemingly an altruistic person! I think of you as a very trustworthy college professor perhaps, or just a heck of a nice guy! Anyhow, you are very helpful., perhaps it isn’t the gold we all are seekingbut something non material such as knowledge?
I’ve never prospected nor found a single flake of gold yet but I’m tickled to death to have found ur channel. I totally agree with ur logic and advice, thank you for sharing. I’m only interested in finding a small amount for my personal satisfaction and the sense of adventure. Thanks again
Thanks for the video Chris ...... My first nugget felt like holding a piece of lead (fishing type lead) like a lead sinker...... It's nice to hold a nice piece of gold....... I have a small (5) gram nugget that I always hold.... It simply just feels good ...... and it's my largest found ...... Keep it up .... You motivate me ! Let us know if you ever speak in the Arizona (Phoenix) area, I would love to go see you share experiences ....... I have read your book, I'm still reading Part III- Basic Geology for Prospectors .....
@@ChrisRalph The 5 gram nugget is from Rio Verde AZ and it's solid 20K no rocks or dirt and smooth like a baby's ass... it's rolled all it's life in water.....
You are educating more geologists all across the globe by your informative and practical videos. These videos have a serious economic implications when it comes to mineral exploration.
Great video man. Glad I discovered this as I'am a 25 yr old hobby prospector from Sweden looking for any advice that's out there about gold prospecting. Good tips!
i am come from poor family and i am trying to do my best for my family, what ever it take just go on, and now i started gold prospecting in rocks, rever and other places using only hand tools.. thanks for this video, i love to hear professional speaker, and a lots of experience about this journey God bls..
One of the best videos I seen in decades with useable information 😀👍🏜 I would watch it now and before you go out next time to dig.Im really guilty of #1 just getting more equipment to move more useless material thinking this time a hugh random hole will pay off..That's why when we drywash I do many often cleanouts to see if we are following a streak unless your stripping the entire thing.Thanks Chris 😀😀
@@ChrisRalph I do have a 24k metal detector and it has that feature guess I should give it a try but our claim has alot of old miners boot tacks and tin, It could lead me to a stroonfield of junk to lol congrats on over 11k subs my friend 😀👍
Great video Chris! One prospecting strategy which is never really addressed is, how do you prospect where the dredges went through in the 1900's? Typically the bedrock is >10' below the creek bed, so it is not really an option to get down there. Also the fine gold was spread out as it escaped the dredge sluices as opposed to being in typical alluvial pockets. So any tips? An example is at Arapaho Bar, in Denver CO where two large dredges (Eleanor 1& 2) processed the entire area.
Its a very tough thing to do. It only works the dredges tossed out really big nuggets and specimen quartz in the trommel oversize. If you dont have that big stuff its almost impossible. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I have been non-stop for months, I haven't been digging at all. But being guided by spirits . Storm wash outs on a north Carolina mountain. Built a sleuth and a miller table, and several foundry type things. Everything looks like beautiful diamonds and gold to me, so I might be mining dopamine within myself. Also I see 2 extra colors after violet on the rainbow. My eyes percieve things differently at any given time. Every time I think I have something substantial, I destroy it trying to process it. But I'm not losing motivation, and your videos are very helpful, thank you
Starting to get into prospecting, this was a very useful video, got my basic tools, but need the knowledge to start hunting them lil nugs, haven’t found anything, yet. I think a detector would greatly help out in this Az dry wash area.
what part of AZ you located? better have a portable AC for day and heater for night. temperature changed drastically fast. don't get lost and have plenty of water for dehydration. i live in glendale for 19 years. like Chris mentioned, study your geo area before hitting the stone wall.
Hi Chris. Just got your book. Thank you for your hard work. Looking forward to getting a proper education. As for my detecting goes, I have become a master in finding every caliber of bullet know to man... you would think that I found battle fields in Southern California. The BLM areas that I prospect have way to much trash. I'm looking forward to relocating to the Sierra Nevada area. Again, thank you. Happy holidays. Daniel.
Met an old guy a couple months back, mid-late 2019, Old fella Pete. He was just leaving as I was walking to the stream, with us two being the only humans there. This guy had just finished digging 3 Oz in less than 2 hours, yes he showed me, yes I got a hard-on, yes I asked him for his location, no he didn't give it but he walked me in to the creek, told me "be a good idea to move this rock and dig over here boy", walked out with just over a gram in about 3 buckets dropped in the sluice before I was forced out, it was raining and getting heavy enough for the flow of the river to become a hazard and the rain drops were destroying my sluice's catching ability. A week later they discovered the largest/purist reef in NZ. Couple months before that the largest nugget ever found in NZ was dug up by mistake! It's still out there, in good quantities if you know where to look.
your enthusiasm is refreshing, I can tell you are sensible, hopefully I have some good finds over the next couple years, I would love to pick your brain someday. I hope that I am not wasting much time here in Michigan, long story, I have studied for a summer by the find, wish me luck, thank you sir.
Motto: if your not 100% sure it's gold then 99% of the time it won't be! Great video, but lm sure you could think of another 100+ tips to go with these. I think the best advice is always do lots of test pans and research. Work out exactly where the gold is and the area you want to target before really getting stuck into the hard work.
That’s such a very good point I had one guy explain that he was a prospector, not a minor his main focus was prospecting and finding places to mine secondary he was a minor two different things for sure
Thank you Chris. Great reality check. I found illustrative examples very much more helpful to enable a context understanding. Going after that book too!
Thanks for the kind words on your recent video.... Hope you are staying dry, we are blanketed in snow. I'll not be at the at the Phoenix GPAA show (I'll be on vacation with my wife elsewhere) so likely I wont see you until this summer, but stay in touch....
@@ChrisRalph still same province our country south east asia. they had mining gold but goverment closed view years ago, so till maximum around how many miles from that mining areas still cover contain Gold? thank
Ha ha religious folk around here through coins in the river for good luck and yes it is good luck for me if I find them couse there wil be a barbeqeu free meet to eet found two hundred bucks worth in one spot
At my parents property I dredge in one spot where the fals bedrock is and the fisher men loose their weights when the lake is high and in winter the watter drops as far as 150 meters buckets ful of lead if I have a detector I
That last lesson is one of the most important! As a newcomer, I wish I would have focused on becoming good at panning first. Then, level-up my ability to locate gold deposits and join a local club too. Forget about all that expensive gear and just focus on the basics first!
No, not even close. The conclusion (clearly mentioned in the video) is that finding gold is a skill like a trade and your success depends on what you know. If you know nothing and dont understand, then it might well seem random, but if you know what you are doing you can go right to it.
Thank you! I retired from the Army and Gold mining is bucket list #1. I'm leaving tomorrow from Iowa. I'm gonna spend the next month hunting Gold. Panning and Sluicing. June 17th the wife and 2 sixteen-year-old boys will be flying out to join me for our family vacation. Cant wait!
Wait, you mean we can't find pounds of gold around our tomato plants with a $40 metal detector that nobody has ever heard of? Crap, so much for quitting my job :)
@@ChrisRalph Lol.. You mean i can't take my harbour freight metal detector and find enough gold to quit my job and retire like MEL FISHER ? 😕 Lol ... Glad i saved my change ..lol
Great information and I believe you are right on target. I really like the prospecting for precious metals and gems. The truth is, it is very difficult and hard work requiring compassion and the willingness to venture beyond my own boundaries. I have found that it is the adventure and journey of discovery that brought me to this new experience in life. I haven’t found a great deal of gold but I did fine the passion to enjoy the adventures of being one with the wilderness of life and enjoy the challenges that prospecting provides me. You are a great resource of well rounded experiences. I will be out there in late spring through early fall on my claim in central Idaho. Do you know of any assayers in Idaho?.
Very down to earth info. Lots of knowledge and lots of honesty in your info. Thank you. For all the work you do. I think sometimes I spend more time researching a place than gold panning. My biggest fear is finding myself intruding in someone else's claim.
Great video, I really enjoyed it. I am glad you called out the phony videos. The clip you showed with painted rock in loamy soil is from a site I recognised straight away as being phony. I hate them fake RUclips channels like Gold Beard they make a mockery out of what the real guys like yourself do. All the hard work to get a few grams then these guys make videos that portray prospecting as being easy and gets hundreds of thousands of views for doing so, totally unfair. They should have to label them as entertainment only or staged or something
I totally agree with you. Stay tuned as I will do a whole video on the phony guys in a few weeks. I am collecting ideas on it now and plan to have some fun with it and hopefully attract enough attention with it to open the eyes of some of the folks who think these guys are "for real". I have ideas of my own but I am open to suggestions if you have any. Glad you enjoyed the video.
@@ChrisRalph great stuff, I am delighted folks like yourself are highlighting these scam artists. Actually I just remembered something. It is even worse than the fake "reveals"!There is a dude out there selling what I am sure is fake platinum and using this channel to do so. I came across it after looking at your video on platinum. I think what he is selling is melted down alloy cans. He even says they are hollow to explain the lack of weight. Also says the were tumbled to cover up the fairly smooth surfaces on the 😂 nuggets. Al's Platinum Nuggets is this Channels name
Thank you for your down to earth, honest words of wisdom. I can't figure out where you grew up or where you're from because you say some southern terms that is mixed in with a little yankee-ness! Ha Ha. I'm from North Georgia living in SC & when I heard you say "gob" I knew you had to be southern. I'm proud to be southern & have southern traits because all we know is to be honest, straight to the point and tell it like it is & that's the way you are. I really appreciate all your offerings & that you care enough to share your knowledge, time & effort to total strangers just out of the kindness of your heart. keep on keeping on. Cindy Moss
Hey Chris! I'm in Ohio, right at the divide between the glaciated and unglaciated regions, and I plan on taking my son out to prospect for the first time this weekend. We have several rivers in the area we can kayak. I'm sure you're very busy, but if you have a moment and have any general advice for this region, I would be very grateful to hear it. I do plan on buying your book in the next couple weeks, but until then, any advice would be great. And by the way, thank you for these videos. I've spent all day trying to find somebody with a scientific, honest, and well-presented series about prospecting on here, and you have been by far the best resource.
Not knowing anything other than it's a stream in Ohio, I can't offer anything specific, and I am not personally familiar with every stream in the US. Focus in streams that cut through the glacial gravels, and focus on inside bends. Places where there are accumulations of larger rocks, like a foot or bigger show heavier materials were dropped there.
@@ChrisRalph Thank you so much for your response! That's certainly helpful! To be clear, I wasn't assuming you had any experiential knowledge about the area. I was just curious if you had any theoretical knowledge specific to these sorts of environments in general. Most information I can find is focused on western states, and their geography, but very little of that is applicable here, so I'm left with very little actionable information. All I can find that's specific to the geography of the Great Lakes region has to do with glaciated zones, and even that is quite limited in scope. I suppose this is to be expected in an area that isn't rich in gold. Thank you for your response, and thank you for these videos! They've been a great resource.
I don't know if you are a GPAA member or not but I just signed up last month in September sometime next year in 2022 I will be out prospecting on GPAA property everything I can learn is very valuable to me thank you
Good video Chris and thanks for sharing! One of my biggest regrets was hammering the same old areas too long...should have put more time in searching surrounding fringe areas...prospecting for greener pastures.
I am fortunate enough to live in B.C. Canada and thus a lot of the terrain is very unforgiving, but I know my province is rich in gold and your videos inspire me to follow the leads I got on places the old timers used to go, along with brushing up on some geology.. I’ll be buying that book lol! Thanks for the great advice, I’m off to watch more of your videos
The book is in the process of getting reprinted. The printer has all the files, I'm just waiting my turn. In a few weeks it will again be on sale with Amazon for $29.95 as it was in the past. They have a setup where you can get on a list where they will notify you when it is back in stock.
Just had one of those black sand days. Here in Texas buckets of black sand and only a couple specs! Practice ground. They all come with me one day not many come back for a second day. Great advice.
Hey mate from Australia, you forget to say enjoy the adventure, for me personally it's more about enjoying the outdoors and figuring this out, I'm as green as they come prospecting wise, but even managed to find some
Hello sir Chris Ralph... Good day... I'm from the Philippines and i love to see gold which i got myself.. Sadly i spent a lot of time just to get a small amount of gold just recently because i didn't watched this video first... But now thanks to you.. I realised that i did some mistakes looking for gold.. One example is that when i see gold even a small or powder gold.. I start digging and stay there... Next time I'm out chasing gold in my area.. I'm gonna do a lot of test panning and prospecting... Thanks a lot... GoldchaserPH...
I just subscribed!! Love how down to earth and truthful and knowledgeable you are..... Thank you!! I live in Central Georgia and where there is a huge ridge of granite quarries. In the early 1900s there was lots of gold found in my county..... Assayed at 23k and higher.... What I wouldn't give to have you out here for a week to come teach me a little as I'm just now really coming to the realization of what I'm sitting on here POTENTIALLY!! One question...... Do you think following the granite quarries along this ridge (all Creeks adjacent) would be a good strategy? Thanks again for your open honest videos and informative free advice..... Keep up the good work!!
I enjoyed your professional insight on finding gold. Two things stood out for me was the part about black sand and that it isn't always on the bedrock. I want to know what you think about finding gold inside of culverts on roadways. I'm in north Mississippi hills country no black sand and as far as i know bedrock is pretty deep. I spent time in north Georgia in 2005 with friends on the Tallapoosa river when gold prices was around 200.00 oz. and had the best time. Thanks again.
You have really great info Ralph.. You are saying only things that a true prospector would know... your tips are all good info that comes directly from experience . I can tell because I learned all these thing over a period of years and an uncounted amount of failures in the field... In fact I used to think a lot like your saying... As an amateur I thought about all these things the way your describing and I realize those were all levels of growth dedicated prospector goes through.... I now have years of experience and can really relate to all your tips. You are awesome and I’d love to share a pan with you someday...
Thank you for this video! I'm in SOUth Dakota and knowing nothing I do know at least there are clubs and claims out west so it's time I get started after waiting and working on other stuff!!
Chris, you said it right, it takes skill and determination even if no pay dirt. the one made off during the gold rush in 1900 was the guy selling the tools while others got robbed after sweat and hunger took their toll.
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I am a part time prospector, and agree with what is being said here. A quick summary would be: know the land, go where gold has been found, explore, and test test test. There is no set rule of where you will find gold. Gold is where gold is. And even then, and with decades of experience, there are times where you will be wrong. There is a massive multitude of tools at your disposal so you can start prospecting an area days, weeks, or even months before you ever set a single boot on the ground. But the most important thing is to test continually. Even if you are in a high grade hot spot, keep testing. And keep everything.
When I first started prospecting I would dump the little bits of “fly poop” flour gold if there wasn’t a lot of it. I focused on the flakes and pickers. A friend of mine would collect everything. After a year of 2-3 days a week, 5-6 hours a day of panning and sluicing he had almost 2 ounces of just flour gold saved up. Since we invariably worked the same areas all I could think after that was “I dumped 2 ounces of gold out of my pans, on purpose.”
Figuring out where the gold is can be a head scratching experience.
It all adds up
"EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A COPY OF CHRIS'S BOOK"FIST'S FULL OF GOLD, HE'S TRUELY HELPED ME FIND A FIST'S FULL OF GOLD LITERALLY 👍
Thanks for the kind words.
@@ChrisRalph67⁷⁶7777777777777777776777776677777677777777776777777777777⁷⁷⁷77⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷⁷
I believe I that if it's meant it will happen. Now do you have any ideas for me
How much have you made over the years? Fairly curious
After three months watching RUclips videos on gold prospecting I have concluded.....You are the best channel for information coming from a educated, experienced and intelligent point of view.
The second channel to watch is Dan Hurd
And the only other channel I student needs is....Jeff Williams.
Excellent job Chris 👍
Thanks for the kind words.
@Prisoner Six: another good channel to check out is D’Arcy Cooper’s. He has whole seasons just showing his sampling on one to three claims where he really gets into how ancient channels, landslides and (if applicable) glaciers shape the modern valley you see today. I binged his whole channel in a few days and still feel like I need to go back and watch parts of it again, as he even does end-of-season cumulative and explanative episodes with detailed illustrations that can help a n00b immensely.
Good luck out there, I am just getting started doing heavy-duty research and am quite daunted but also have always had an interest in geology since taking it my first semester in college for a phy-sci elective. The only other class I felt was more important in everyday use was nutrition (which should be taught as mandatory curriculum in high school!!!). Cheers!
Dude, you are awesome! Love it how real you are about this whole deal! You’re a breath of fresh air , sir! Learning from you things I didn’t know, even with 20+years of experience(about half of yours) I’m learning something new from each video you make. Thank you, Ralph. Seriously. True Knowledge is very precious but when you give it out for FREE, it becomes priceless and invaluable and you sir, have and give it in spades!
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad you enjoyed the video.
I agree with this statement! Lol
Is it better for your Dragon in the middle of the river or closer to the banks looking for pockets of plaster on the lode
Is it good to move big boulders that are in the river for graduation for Gold a response back from you would be very helpful thank you John
And can you tell me what rivers that we can go dredge in I’m asking you because you sound very experience in this field
Thank you for guiding us. You're too kind and spent a lot of time on this video to give us something honest and genuine.
My pleasure 😊
This is great advice. I used to walk all over the place and found nothing. Thanks to people like you, I don't do that anymore. I learned the hard way.
Glad to help, I have loads of videos and many more are coming.
Great video Dont forget streams and rivers are alway changing paths and moving tons of rocks and dirt especially during storms, revealing areas of earth that has never been touched or prospected by anyone
Glad you enjoyed the video.
I'm
@@felixbertomacasarte1732 ...a man of few words? 😅
I spent 5 hours today panning some material I dug years ago I got 8 flakes so small you almost have to have a magnifying glass to see it but I'm thrilled I haven't found anything going out with the GPA this summer
I didnt find anything the first time I went prospecting -way back when. It takes time to learn.
You are the best teacher in the world. Thank you! Greetings from Australia.
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Yes So much wisdom 🌺love listening to U🌼new sub✨from Australia too ✌🏼
Great solid realistic advice from an honest working prospector. This was like a tutorial from a professor drawing from vast experience and knowledge, excellent list of tips and clear explanation!
Thanks! Glad it was helpful!
I have your book and love it. Also happened across Handbook For Prospectors, Von Bernewitz, circa 1943. It's cool to read about accepted methods used before MSHA, as well as other info. We don't realize how much easier, and likely to succeed because of the available tools at our disposal than they had. But they were pretty abvanced for their time. So much work went into those old publications. The glossary of terms with page refs is over 50 pages long.
Very cool! I have old mining and milling books also. So much is available on line too.
Hello chris,can you helpe figure out if there is a possible gold on streams here in my place..i will send some pictures to you..
I have lived in the gold country of California for 32 years.
This man is telling the truth. Gold mining is really hard work. Its fun and a great hobby, but i make a lot more money at my day job. lot more.
Its not a get rich quick scheme.
What county you reside in? Im in Calaveras
You are honest , you deserve a lot of thanks
Thank for the kind words.
Great video! Im 17 years old, started about 3months ago and find prospecting very addictive. This is the first time in my life that i put that much time and effort into research. Last 2 times i went to a gold bearing area i had no luck, horrible luck but i cannot give up.
Good luck! Stay persistant, keep learning and you will find some nice gold. It takes time to learn.
Thankyou Chris, some excellent, straight talking advice. Cheers from Michael. Australia.
I spent six weeks in WA a few years back and someday I will return. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Great video...looks like malakoff in part of this..and siggi & cheri's dump truck. I can relate to gold not being in the inner bend. Several places on North fork near colfax like that...
Thanks 👍 Glad you enjoyed the video.
You have motivated my interest. Not very far from where I live is where gold was found in the Blue Ridge mountains (Georgia and North Carolina).
Obtaining the beginners gear is now what I need. Oddly, the folks looking for gold found copper, a tiny amount of silver, and all kinds of gem stones.
You can go to any creek in north Georgia and find small gannets and rubies, and what looked to be flakes of oxidized copper (green) with out even trying. I've done it with my camping mess kit and a garden trowel.
Now, I think I want to find some gold. I know several places where there just might be some too.
Additionally, I would imagine that the tailings in an old wash plant pond would be a place to find some nice gold chunks that wash out due to size. Sorry I'm just a bit excited and talk too much. ;-)
Sounds great, good luck to you in your efforts.
I just moved out here near Amicalola falls and man I’ve found some beautiful rivers and streams I want to check out. Don’t seem to be high traffic areas either. Hell, just looking around on my property I’ve found tons of quartzite.
I have learned so much from this guy about all I need to know about prospecting. Im glad he doesn't keep his knowledge to himself. This is a very useful video here
Thanks. Glad to help.
On the gold shows - one of the main differences of the mainstream ones like gold rush vs real prospecting is that the studio pays for all the mining crew's fuel... which is their biggest cost and a huge subsidy.
On the bends - another thing I thought of when you were speaking is that you can't actually see many of the bends except the modern flow. There are countless cross channels and high bank deposits that were part of various gold bearing flows and ancient low pressure zones. So you could be standing on something that was a bend in river originally but now bears little resemblance to one. So just going to the obvious bend ignores where the bends may have been at one time.
Thanks for the video! My family is pulling lots of gold from a "played out river" where the "old timers got all the big stuff" according the many of the locals. Got the claim for almost nothing too when others let it lapse.
They pay the guys who own the operations too. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Enjoyed your talk. I bought a claim and are now learning about gems and gold, and am enjoying every minute of it . I have dug a shaft 3+ meters deep nothin g yet but I will.
I wish you the best of luck, but you should dig where you are getting some gold not a place where you are not getting any gold. And 3 meters is deep for a hand dug hole!
hello
How you making out on that hole bud
Love this video, just started on the hunt for gold and Chris you saved me a lot of time and effort to be successful. Thank you very much
Glad to help, check out my other videos too, I am sure you will find them just as valuable. and I have more to come in the future.
@@ChrisRalph 99ü7m
@@ChrisRalph may can i asking you via email probably i can get ferdback from you, im just beginer, and dont have tools yet and didnt doing to search yet, thats why im not doing rush even im sure in our country we had alot, but i dont want get mess areas or doing spread without knowledge. so please on which link i can get advice from you even late feedback. regard Almas
@@almasseven5665 it’s my experience that you have to “pan” and “mine” these types of videos for nuggets of wisdom. You can’t really ask people to do the leg work for you, we all wanna see you succeed tho and we’re cheering for you. Heavy pans!
By far and away the best prospecting channel out there, all fact no fluff.
Thanks for the kind words and I wish you the best of luck in your prospecting.
Thanks Chris for calling out the fakers! Frustrating how many people thing those yellow painted rocks with the top soil sticking to it is real gold.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
I ordered my book today. I am anxious to get it. And to learn as much as I can. To increase my chances of finding gold. Thank you!
I'm sure the book will be helpful.
Man, do I know my country! When I saw that shot from my home state - Western Australia and before I knew where it was, I thought to myself that it looked a lot like the eastern goldfields! And I was right. Most of my family, on both sides, come from the eastern and north eastern and Murchison goldfields, ( they moved around a lot! ) with my mother being born in Meekatharra and spent a lot of time in Mt Magnet and my father born in the now ghost town of Nannine.
After my grandmother died, my grandfather bought a small caravan and spent a lot of his time back in the gold fields, with his picks and shovels and trusty old dry blower, stopping and prospecting where ever he wanted to. As a young teenager, I thought he was just a cranky, anti-social old fart, but now that I'm closer to his age now and have lived in three state capitol cities and numerous provincial ones, the urge to just "go bush" and get away to the deafening silence of the outback is becoming too strong to resist in recent times. And win, lose or draw, doing a bit of prospecting along the way won't do me any harm either. It's hard, harsh country out there, but for some odd reason, it holds no fear for me. Just look for the little cloud of red dust from my dry blower!
Thanks for your very informative video.
It is beautiful country, one of these days I have to go back.
im a telecommunications tech of 30yrs & nothing else existed. but after binge watching your vids for the last 4hrs ive now at least got a less than basic idea (lol) of geology, how to, what to & what not to.. great learning experience. i better get this book of yours as well. thankyou.
Glad you are enjoying the videos - I think you will like the book too.
Great advice Ralph ! All excellent points ! Best concentration of gold on my desert claim is near the surface, like you said. Bedrock yields little, however, on occasion will find a nice nugget down there, which makes up for finer specimens near the top ! Also find an occasional picker on the surface ! Thanks for sharing ! Watching your subscriber list grow. Excellent ! 🤠
Thanks! Hope you are still planning to be at the Pomona GPAA show...
Yes, I plan to be there !
I wonder if maybe we can shoot a short bit of video together - perhaps one for your channel and one for mine? Nothing fancy, just a short chat.
That sounds good. I'm debating whether to do a video of the show. If not, we can at least do it as part of yours.
Hello Mr. Chris, I just ordered your book, fist full of dollars today. It should arrive Friday, June 2023. I’m sure you will cover this in your book, but I want to ask you, what strength of magnification do you recommend for the average gold fanatic. I would like to know what your favorite magnification is for the jewelers loop please.
For a loupe I use 10X
@@ChrisRalph thank you for the quick response. 👍👍😌😌
Thankyou Chris for your wonderful vids Chris! The real nuggets of gold, I think, are your wisdom, truth , seemingly an altruistic person! I think of you as a very trustworthy college professor perhaps, or just a heck of a nice guy! Anyhow, you are very helpful., perhaps it isn’t the gold we all are seekingbut something non material such as knowledge?
Knowledge is power! Thanks for the very kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I’ve never prospected nor found a single flake of gold yet but I’m tickled to death to have found ur channel. I totally agree with ur logic and advice, thank you for sharing. I’m only interested in finding a small amount for my personal satisfaction and the sense of adventure. Thanks again
Best of luck to you and let the adventure begin!
Thanks for the video Chris ...... My first nugget felt like holding a piece of lead (fishing type lead) like a lead sinker...... It's nice to hold a nice piece of gold....... I have a small (5) gram nugget that I always hold.... It simply just feels good ...... and it's my largest found ...... Keep it up .... You motivate me !
Let us know if you ever speak in the Arizona (Phoenix) area, I would love to go see you share experiences ....... I have read your book, I'm still reading Part III- Basic Geology for Prospectors .....
A five gram nugget is a very nice piece. Gold is actually denser than lead! Glad you enjoyed the video.
@@ChrisRalph The 5 gram nugget is from Rio Verde AZ and it's solid 20K no rocks or dirt and smooth like a baby's ass... it's rolled all it's life in water.....
You are educating more geologists all across the globe by your informative and practical videos. These videos have a serious economic implications when it comes to mineral exploration.
I hope it will help you in your search.
@@ChrisRalph Thank you very much Chris. I would love to have your email address for some business interest, if all set in .
Great video man. Glad I discovered this as I'am a 25 yr old hobby prospector from Sweden looking for any advice that's out there about gold prospecting. Good tips!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
i am come from poor family and i am trying to do my best for my family, what ever it take just go on, and now i started gold prospecting in rocks, rever and other places using only hand tools.. thanks for this video, i love to hear professional speaker, and a lots of experience about this journey God bls..
Best of luck to you in your efforts!
One of the best videos I seen in decades with useable information 😀👍🏜 I would watch it now and before you go out next time to dig.Im really guilty of #1 just getting more equipment to move more useless material thinking this time a hugh random hole will pay off..That's why when we drywash I do many often cleanouts to see if we are following a streak unless your stripping the entire thing.Thanks Chris 😀😀
I sometimes use a metal detector to follow a pay streak when drywashing - that's another way of doing it. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@ChrisRalph I do have a 24k metal detector and it has that feature guess I should give it a try but our claim has alot of old miners boot tacks and tin, It could lead me to a stroonfield of junk to lol congrats on over 11k subs my friend 😀👍
Thank you Mr Ralph for all of your experience put into this and other videos. Always to watch and learn from. Thank You.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Great video Chris! One prospecting strategy which is never really addressed is, how do you prospect where the dredges went through in the 1900's? Typically the bedrock is >10' below the creek bed, so it is not really an option to get down there. Also the fine gold was spread out as it escaped the dredge sluices as opposed to being in typical alluvial pockets. So any tips? An example is at Arapaho Bar, in Denver CO where two large dredges (Eleanor 1& 2) processed the entire area.
Its a very tough thing to do. It only works the dredges tossed out really big nuggets and specimen quartz in the trommel oversize. If you dont have that big stuff its almost impossible.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I have been non-stop for months, I haven't been digging at all. But being guided by spirits . Storm wash outs on a north Carolina mountain. Built a sleuth and a miller table, and several foundry type things. Everything looks like beautiful diamonds and gold to me, so I might be mining dopamine within myself. Also I see 2 extra colors after violet on the rainbow. My eyes percieve things differently at any given time. Every time I think I have something substantial, I destroy it trying to process it. But I'm not losing motivation, and your videos are very helpful, thank you
Don't know what to say....
@@ChrisRalph haha, you really do respond, even to my weirdo chatter.. and promptly😀. That's really cool, thank you.
Starting to get into prospecting, this was a very useful video, got my basic tools, but need the knowledge to start hunting them lil nugs, haven’t found anything, yet. I think a detector would greatly help out in this Az dry wash area.
Its a skill you have to learn like a trade. Whether you are an electrician or a plumber or a prospector- its all about what you know.
what part of AZ you located? better have a portable AC for day and heater for night. temperature changed drastically fast. don't get lost and have plenty of water for dehydration. i live in glendale for 19 years. like Chris mentioned, study your geo area before hitting the stone wall.
It's guys like you, did the work and dig deep recovery at best.. Keep on keeping on Brother. Hope to see you out there..
Thanks for the kind words. Lots more videos to come in the weeks ahead.
Hi Chris. Just got your book. Thank you for your hard work. Looking forward to getting a proper education. As for my detecting goes, I have become a master in finding every caliber of bullet know to man... you would think that I found battle fields in Southern California. The BLM areas that I prospect have way to much trash. I'm looking forward to relocating to the Sierra Nevada area. Again, thank you. Happy holidays. Daniel.
Oh the Sierra goldfields can be plenty trashy in places. Southern California has so many folks that trash seems everywhere. Good luck to you.
Aluminum foil
Good info to learn 😊
Thanks.
Been saving this video for when I could sit and watch it straight through. 👍👍
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hope you are staying dry.
@@ChrisRalphI'm trying to but I've had Basketball games everyday this week which mean the chores got to get done early even in the rain !!!!
Same.
I needed this reminder to help reset my whole attitude towards prospecting.
Very helpful indeed.
Thankyou from Melbourne, Australia. 💪😎🇭🇲
Glad it was helpful!
Met an old guy a couple months back, mid-late 2019, Old fella Pete. He was just leaving as I was walking to the stream, with us two being the only humans there. This guy had just finished digging 3 Oz in less than 2 hours, yes he showed me, yes I got a hard-on, yes I asked him for his location, no he didn't give it but he walked me in to the creek, told me "be a good idea to move this rock and dig over here boy", walked out with just over a gram in about 3 buckets dropped in the sluice before I was forced out, it was raining and getting heavy enough for the flow of the river to become a hazard and the rain drops were destroying my sluice's catching ability. A week later they discovered the largest/purist reef in NZ. Couple months before that the largest nugget ever found in NZ was dug up by mistake! It's still out there, in good quantities if you know where to look.
Yep. Its still out there to be found.
your enthusiasm is refreshing, I can tell you are sensible, hopefully I have some good finds over the next couple years, I would love to pick your brain someday. I hope that I am not wasting much time here in Michigan, long story, I have studied for a summer by the find, wish me luck, thank you sir.
Best of luck!
Motto: if your not 100% sure it's gold then 99% of the time it won't be!
Great video, but lm sure you could think of another 100+ tips to go with these.
I think the best advice is always do lots of test pans and research. Work out exactly where the gold is and the area you want to target before really getting stuck into the hard work.
Sampling is super important. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
That’s such a very good point I had one guy explain that he was a prospector, not a minor his main focus was prospecting and finding places to mine secondary he was a minor two different things for sure
Glad you liked the video.
Loved the vid ...thank you .
Do you have a prospecting group or club?
I'm part of a local prospecting club in Nevada, but I do not run or operate a club. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Thank you Chris. Great reality check. I found illustrative examples very much more helpful to enable a context understanding. Going after that book too!
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Great stuff Chris, always enjoy and learn from you. I remember the day we met so long ago....
Thanks for the kind words on your recent video....
Hope you are staying dry, we are blanketed in snow.
I'll not be at the at the Phoenix GPAA show (I'll be on vacation with my wife elsewhere) so likely I wont see you until this summer, but stay in touch....
Sir! You’re like the master of hold. Thanks for all your teaching methods of how to find gold
Glad you enjoyed the video.
First off look in areas where gold has been found before,
Yep, that a good one.
@@ChrisRalph still same province our country south east asia. they had mining gold but goverment closed view years ago, so till maximum around how many miles from that mining areas still cover contain Gold? thank
Thank you Chris! It was a pleasure watching this video. You are very knowledgeable. Good video for beginners .
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Those last year I have gotten more money from the lead and the aluminum cans that I found
I know that tune. I am soon going to do a video on cleaning and recycling the brass that I find.
Ha ha religious folk around here through coins in the river for good luck and yes it is good luck for me if I find them couse there wil be a barbeqeu free meet to eet found two hundred bucks worth in one spot
At my parents property I dredge in one spot where the fals bedrock is and the fisher men loose their weights when the lake is high and in winter the watter drops as far as 150 meters buckets ful of lead if I have a detector I
That last lesson is one of the most important! As a newcomer, I wish I would have focused on becoming good at panning first. Then, level-up my ability to locate gold deposits and join a local club too. Forget about all that expensive gear and just focus on the basics first!
Glad it was helpful!
So in conclusion after 45 minutes: gold could be anywhere or it could be nowhere.
No, not even close. The conclusion (clearly mentioned in the video) is that finding gold is a skill like a trade and your success depends on what you know. If you know nothing and dont understand, then it might well seem random, but if you know what you are doing you can go right to it.
Jim Garrett did say, gold is where you find it. He is right. A glacier could have carried it, dropped it off, melted, & its there now. Ya?
Agreed. I love this guy's videos, but most could be much shorter and still get all the info across.
Thank you! I retired from the Army and Gold mining is bucket list #1. I'm leaving tomorrow from Iowa. I'm gonna spend the next month hunting Gold. Panning and Sluicing. June 17th the wife and 2 sixteen-year-old boys will be flying out to join me for our family vacation. Cant wait!
Best of luck to you. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
How did your hunting go?
You mean that you tube video showing nuggets everywhere on top of the stream bed wasn't reality?!?
Its as real as flying elephants with wings. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@ChrisRalph
I did! Thanks!
I really appreciate your presentation I am a prospect from Nigeria thanks professor
You are welcome.
Wait, you mean we can't find pounds of gold around our tomato plants with a $40 metal detector that nobody has ever heard of? Crap, so much for quitting my job :)
A $40 metal detector is fine when its just a stage prop and it doesn't need to work. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@ChrisRalph
Lol.. You mean i can't take my harbour freight metal detector and find enough gold to quit my job and retire like MEL FISHER ?
😕
Lol ...
Glad i saved my change ..lol
The book is great with more information than any other I've read thank you so much Mr Ralph
Thanks, much.
Hi, it's Alvin.
I will keep trying here while in Missouri to learn the technievs you teach and I listen soend my spare time taking notes.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Thank you for your honest advice. I found a lot of useful information in this. Good work.
Glad it was helpful!
Ty Chris very informative, practical, and valuable information. Keep em come’n. You r appreciated vm by many. God Bless…
Thanks, you too!
Great information and I believe you are right on target. I really like the prospecting for precious metals and gems. The truth is, it is very difficult and hard work requiring compassion and the willingness to venture beyond my own boundaries. I have found that it is the adventure and journey of discovery that brought me to this new experience in life.
I haven’t found a great deal of gold but I did fine the passion to enjoy the adventures of being one with the wilderness of life and enjoy the challenges that prospecting provides me. You are a great resource of well rounded experiences. I will be out there in late spring through early fall on my claim in central Idaho.
Do you know of any assayers in Idaho?.
I dont know of any, but I live in Nevada and dont do much in Idaho.
Excellent video Chris - need to be a Prospecting Detective, so true,. Thanks for the fantastic video as always...!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
great information for me since i do like to prospect as hobby in creek and river. those mistakes helped me distinguish what is and not real gold.
Glad it was helpful!
Very down to earth info. Lots of knowledge and lots of honesty in your info. Thank you. For all the work you do. I think sometimes I spend more time researching a place than gold panning. My biggest fear is finding myself intruding in someone else's claim.
Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate that! I think I'll do a video on avoiding trespassing
I find claims are well marked , and there not then how would we know yes , but he's advice is surely worth more than mine
Great video, I really enjoyed it. I am glad you called out the phony videos. The clip you showed with painted rock in loamy soil is from a site I recognised straight away as being phony. I hate them fake RUclips channels like Gold Beard they make a mockery out of what the real guys like yourself do. All the hard work to get a few grams then these guys make videos that portray prospecting as being easy and gets hundreds of thousands of views for doing so, totally unfair. They should have to label them as entertainment only or staged or something
I totally agree with you. Stay tuned as I will do a whole video on the phony guys in a few weeks. I am collecting ideas on it now and plan to have some fun with it and hopefully attract enough attention with it to open the eyes of some of the folks who think these guys are "for real". I have ideas of my own but I am open to suggestions if you have any. Glad you enjoyed the video.
@@ChrisRalph great stuff, I am delighted folks like yourself are highlighting these scam artists. Actually I just remembered something. It is even worse than the fake "reveals"!There is a dude out there selling what I am sure is fake platinum and using this channel to do so. I came across it after looking at your video on platinum. I think what he is selling is melted down alloy cans. He even says they are hollow to explain the lack of weight. Also says the were tumbled to cover up the fairly smooth surfaces on the 😂 nuggets. Al's Platinum Nuggets is this Channels name
I'll take a look at it.
@@ChrisRalph cheers 👍
Chris, I found some today just out in an old mine dump. Two pieces not very big in quartz. In Western South Dakota it's not to hard to find.
Congratulations and good luck in your search for more!
I thing the book you wrote is by far the best book on prospecting that I have rea so far
Glad it was helpful.
A lot of great pointers and knowledge .
😎👍
Enjoyed the video 👍
I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Thank you for your down to earth, honest words of wisdom. I can't figure out where you grew up or where you're from because you say some southern terms that is mixed in with a little yankee-ness! Ha Ha. I'm from North Georgia living in SC & when I heard you say "gob" I knew you had to be southern. I'm proud to be southern & have southern traits because all we know is to be honest, straight to the point and tell it like it is & that's the way you are. I really appreciate all your offerings & that you care enough to share your knowledge, time & effort to total strangers just out of the kindness of your heart. keep on keeping on. Cindy Moss
I'm originally from Southern California. I have lived in Nevada for decades. Not sure why I might sound a little bit Southern.
Thanks much for giving us such great info.
One can never stop learning. Again, thank you educating us.
Ron
Thanks much and there is more to come!
Very much looking forward to more sharing of your knowledge.
Thanks much Chris.
Ron
Hey Chris! I'm in Ohio, right at the divide between the glaciated and unglaciated regions, and I plan on taking my son out to prospect for the first time this weekend. We have several rivers in the area we can kayak.
I'm sure you're very busy, but if you have a moment and have any general advice for this region, I would be very grateful to hear it. I do plan on buying your book in the next couple weeks, but until then, any advice would be great.
And by the way, thank you for these videos. I've spent all day trying to find somebody with a scientific, honest, and well-presented series about prospecting on here, and you have been by far the best resource.
Not knowing anything other than it's a stream in Ohio, I can't offer anything specific, and I am not personally familiar with every stream in the US. Focus in streams that cut through the glacial gravels, and focus on inside bends. Places where there are accumulations of larger rocks, like a foot or bigger show heavier materials were dropped there.
@@ChrisRalph Thank you so much for your response! That's certainly helpful!
To be clear, I wasn't assuming you had any experiential knowledge about the area. I was just curious if you had any theoretical knowledge specific to these sorts of environments in general.
Most information I can find is focused on western states, and their geography, but very little of that is applicable here, so I'm left with very little actionable information. All I can find that's specific to the geography of the Great Lakes region has to do with glaciated zones, and even that is quite limited in scope.
I suppose this is to be expected in an area that isn't rich in gold. Thank you for your response, and thank you for these videos! They've been a great resource.
Awesome video. Thank you. This is priceless info for a guy like me starting out in prospecting.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you for confirming my suspicions about the gold painted rocks from one particular YT channel.
Yep.
Great job on your videos.
Glad you like them!
Thank you for your heart felt honesty and good advice. Rudy
Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate your compliment.
Same with quartz, gold and quartz can thrive together but they do not need each other to survive! Though, they are quite amazing together!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I don't know if you are a GPAA member or not but I just signed up last month in September sometime next year in 2022 I will be out prospecting on GPAA property everything I can learn is very valuable to me thank you
The GPAA has many claims. Lots of information is available on their websites.
Good video Chris and thanks for sharing! One of my biggest regrets was hammering the same old areas too long...should have put more time in searching surrounding fringe areas...prospecting for greener pastures.
Yep. Going to the same old places is a easy bad habit to fall into. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@ChrisRalph I live in the bahamas.and wan to work doing that. How do I go about that?
I am fortunate enough to live in B.C. Canada and thus a lot of the terrain is very unforgiving, but I know my province is rich in gold and your videos inspire me to follow the leads I got on places the old timers used to go, along with brushing up on some geology.. I’ll be buying that book lol! Thanks for the great advice, I’m off to watch more of your videos
Dammit your book is sold out! When will there be more? 😢
The book is in the process of getting reprinted. The printer has all the files, I'm just waiting my turn. In a few weeks it will again be on sale with Amazon for $29.95 as it was in the past. They have a setup where you can get on a list where they will notify you when it is back in stock.
Thankyou chris , for sharing your good helpfull information , on finding gold .
Glad you enjoyed it
Just had one of those black sand days. Here in Texas buckets of black sand and only a couple specs!
Practice ground. They all come with me one day not many come back for a second day.
Great advice.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
sheridan young what part of Texas were you at? I didn’t know there was any gold here in Texas.
Wow super informative, super knowledgeable Thankyou for generously imparting your experience ❤
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for your information. Keep up the good work!
Thanks, will do! I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Hey mate from Australia, you forget to say enjoy the adventure, for me personally it's more about enjoying the outdoors and figuring this out, I'm as green as they come prospecting wise, but even managed to find some
Glad you enjoyed your time and found some too.
Thanks Chris ! Lots of Good Info, As Usual !
Glad to help
This beautiful! I'm not a minner but i learned alot of life lesson
Glad it was helpful!
Fantastic information in your video(s) Chris... BUT... your "Fists Full Of Gold" is really hard to beat, that is one really great book...!
Thanks for the kind words about the book. Glad you enjoyed the video.
I stole it from Dale ....Ha
Hello sir Chris Ralph... Good day... I'm from the Philippines and i love to see gold which i got myself.. Sadly i spent a lot of time just to get a small amount of gold just recently because i didn't watched this video first... But now thanks to you.. I realised that i did some mistakes looking for gold.. One example is that when i see gold even a small or powder gold.. I start digging and stay there... Next time I'm out chasing gold in my area.. I'm gonna do a lot of test panning and prospecting... Thanks a lot...
GoldchaserPH...
Testing is one of the keys to success.
@@ChrisRalph copy that sir..
I just subscribed!! Love how down to earth and truthful and knowledgeable you are..... Thank you!! I live in Central Georgia and where there is a huge ridge of granite quarries. In the early 1900s there was lots of gold found in my county..... Assayed at 23k and higher.... What I wouldn't give to have you out here for a week to come teach me a little as I'm just now really coming to the realization of what I'm sitting on here POTENTIALLY!! One question...... Do you think following the granite quarries along this ridge (all Creeks adjacent) would be a good strategy?
Thanks again for your open honest videos and informative free advice.....
Keep up the good work!!
Not knowing the specific geology and formations of your area, I have no idea. Get out there and test to determine the answer for yourself.
I enjoyed your professional insight on finding gold. Two things stood out for me was the part about black sand and that it isn't always on the bedrock.
I want to know what you think about finding gold inside of culverts on roadways.
I'm in north Mississippi hills country no black sand and as far as i know bedrock is pretty deep. I spent time in north Georgia in 2005 with friends on the Tallapoosa river when gold prices was around 200.00 oz. and had the best time.
Thanks again.
Most culverts are a bust because the corrigation is too smooth and the incline of the pipe is too steep. There are some exceptions but most a a bust.
I
Forgot to mention that I did buy your book. Lots of good info.
Awesome, thank you! I think you will like the book.
You have really great info Ralph..
You are saying only things that a true prospector would know...
your tips are all good info that comes directly from experience . I can tell because I learned all these thing over a period of years and an uncounted amount of failures in the field...
In fact I used to think a lot like your saying...
As an amateur I thought about all these things the way your describing and I realize those were all levels of growth dedicated prospector goes through....
I now have years of experience and can really relate to all your tips.
You are awesome and I’d love to share a pan with you someday...
I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Thank you for this video! I'm in SOUth Dakota and knowing nothing I do know at least there are clubs and claims out west so it's time I get started after waiting and working on other stuff!!
Glad it was helpful! There is certainly gold in the Black Hills!
great video, i usually just watch Australian prospector video's as i live there, but i'm glad i watched this
Glad you enjoyed it, I've got lots more coming.
Chris, you said it right, it takes skill and determination even if no pay dirt. the one made off during the gold rush in 1900 was the guy selling the tools while others got robbed after sweat and hunger took their toll.
Great stuff
Glad you enjoyed it. 😉