Pocket Placers

Before we continue on, we would like to put a bit more emphasis on what pocket placers are. As we know there are no longer any placers that have the opportunity of forming for hundreds of years like there was in the past. While it is true that there are areas that are found every year with several ounces in it but in general the days in which gold could be found all over the place are over. Almost all of the gold that is being recovered by weekend prospectors these days are found in pocket placers though.

Ok so what is a pocket placer in the first place? Well, by definition a small deposit is in most cases limited in amount to one ounce or less than this. It is formed by a natural riffle in the stream along the banks.

Pocket placers are somewhat recent in age and a great number of them come to be in just a number of years. Obviously this is not the rule and there are exceptions since there are pocket placers that can be located in bedrock crevices that can be over one hundred years old. Due to the fact that it is in most cases somewhat new though, pocket placers have a tendency of being more susceptible to erosion in the stream when flood times come around and much more so than in the case of other placers.

During flood times there are different things that can occur to a pocket placer. If the flood does not erode down to the bottom of the placer it is retained and everything remains the same. However if the flood just so happens to reach the bottom where the placer is located it is able to be washed away completely and it will either turn into a new pocket placer in another area or will dissipate all together meaning that recovery and discovery of such placer is unlikely. This usually occurs when the natural riffle is damaged or displaced in a storm. This has a tendency of occurring when a big size rock moves a few feet due to saltation.

A natural riffle can be constructed in an unusual way allowing agitation but now the carrying of gold it traps. If new gold has gone into the stream it will most likely become trapped and this can then increase the amount that can be found in a pocket placer. This kind of thing usually occurs in potholes, waterfalls etc.

Finally the whole concentration of gold might be washed out totally to only then be replaced by a new amount of gold from deposits up stream or new gold going into the stream. This type of event occurs with float gold and it often occurs with individual sand bars.