Main Types of Placers

From all the diverse kinds of placers that exist, the one to draw attention to the most is the stream placer. Stream placers have been the best source of just about all the placer gold mined in California. Stream placers have sand and gravel that takes place by the action of running water. When there are diverse times of wearing down and the stream then goes back to its normal state, frequently a heavier concentration of minerals can be found in this area. Stream placers can be appropriately compared as a way in which nature does its own mining. The original sources of gold would most likely be in ancient stream beds through which newer stream cut through such as lodes, mountain deposits as well as other sources out of which rain and running water erodes small amounts, and then carry the material to the stream. The gold is then carried down the stream where it becomes concentrated in sand bars, underneath the rocks as well as in other locations. Stream placers differ a lot as far as their distribution is concerned and in types. It takes a good amount of experience to be able to really see the difference between them however, in most cases they can be divided into four main types, which are gulch and creek placers, and river and gravel plain deposits.

Gulch placers are another type of stream placer that is normally a little well-defined area that can be as short as a few hundred yards along a stream bed. Gulch placers usually have a steep hill immediately adjacent to the area and a good amount of the gold is concentrated from the drainage area from the hills.

It is easy to recognize them, as they are often times located in areas that contain big boulders that prelude large-scale placer mining. In the past these were often times first located by the pioneers and they were worked on a great amount by the Chinese miners who were known as the most patient miners and who would simply not leave an area until they got every single flake of gold out.

There are still placers that can be reworked on today with the help of modern portable dredges but there is not usually enough gold re-concentrated in them that would pay out well.

Creek placers start to stretch out and are long strips of the creek coarse where there are only some boulders and a few sand bars. These can sometimes extend for many miles and a lot of them have been worked on commercially. These days most creek placers remain idle because of the amount it costs to work on them. However, they are perfect for amateur prospectors who have bigger dredges and patience time to work on them. In most cases these types of operations require tow or more people as well as at least one six-inch dredge. Although there might be some rich deposits in these types of placers, make sure you extensively sample it before doing any sort of long-term investment on them.