Glacial Gold Placers

Prospectors that are beginners and do not have a great deal of knowledge as far as basic geology is concerned many times are under the impression that gold has been deposited in streams by glaciers. In some cases there are professional miners that attribute the source of an obscure placer to the action of glaciers. While it is true that there are glacier placers most professional miners will not work in these areas and the amateurs should definitely avoid them as well.

Years ago as glaciers moved, they scrapped off other debris and soil that were loose and carried it along with the ice. However, since a glacier is made up of ice, and not water, it was totally ineffective in concentrating the heavier minerals.

A lot of experts agree that a glacier that carried gold or any other mineral for this matter would have most likely scattered the heavier materials in an indiscriminate way. Besides this, a surface that was gold bearing could have been scrapped off and carried hundreds of miles away.

It has been shown that this occurrence could cause a rich deposit to develop, however it would never replenish itself and would provide very little evidence as to where it originally came from. This consequence might also account for some of the rich float material that has found in isolated areas and of which there were no scientific explanations that could be given for it.

There is an exception to what has been previously mentioned though and this has to do with a placer that has been deposited by the water of a glacier that is melting. These would be able to remove and carry gold to a stream in which it would be able to become re-concentrated.

Glacier deposits that are known to have existed in the United States were worked on many years ago and some of them are barren these days. due to the fact that the did not replenish themselves, they are not suggested for people and amateurs that are just starting out.