In what rock can gold be found? Where to get gold in the Moscow region - map

Not only legends, but also historical facts claim that in the old days gold mining was quite active in the Moscow region: maps of deposits, preserved since then in various versions, still attract the darlings of fortune and gambling adventurers.

The gold rush at different times alternately covered the vast expanses of Russia. Gold panning began in a variety of regions, and often such enterprises achieved very significant success. And this is not surprising, because the Russian subsoil contains almost the entire periodic table, including precious metals. From time immemorial, miners in Rus' washed gold, which was more than enough for jewelry for the royal families, for precious church utensils and frames for icons, for minting coins and even for trade with close and distant neighbors.

Today, there are several hundred large and small deposits of this noble metal in the country. The Krasnoyarsk Territory, Chukotka, Yakutia and the Magadan Region have held the championship in its production for many years.

Statistics do not mention information about the mining of precious metals in the central part of the country, and therefore not every resident of the areas adjacent to the capital knows that gold mining is possible in the Moscow region. To this day, enterprises that actively mined placer gold in Soviet times have been preserved in mothballed form, producing up to 4 tons of precious metal per year.

Many of the deposits near Moscow are highly profitable from the point of view of gold mining, since they contain over 17 milligrams of gold per ton of processed rock. For comparison, we can say that in world practice a deposit is considered promising if its gold reserves are 10 milligrams per ton of rock.

From ancient times to the present day, gold can most often be found in the rivers of the Moscow region. If you believe the surviving maps, which indicate the most promising places for prospectors, the bulk of them are in the northern part of the Moscow region.

For example, in the area of the village of Iksha, a network of small rivers originating at the tops of the Klinsko-Dmitrovskaya ridge erode layers of glaciers with their flow. In the thickness of these ice masses formed over centuries, a lot of precious metal has accumulated, which enriches the river sand.

And today one of these small rivers in the Iksha region tirelessly delights fans of the gold rush with the alluring shine of precious grains. The old-timers of these places tell the miners a legend according to which one of the rivers once turned into a real golden stream, from which miners washed not fine gold sand, but relatively large precious nuggets.

Legends are legends, but small grains of yellow metal, which are called “signs” in the language of prospectors, are found in rivers near Iksha in our time.

Cartography to help

Persistent rumors that there is gold in the Moscow region and that it is not so difficult to find it received unexpected confirmation from cartographers. Not long ago, a modern map of attractions located in the Moscow region was published. The attentive eyes of fortune hunters saw on it the symbol Au between two villages of the Dmitrov region.

One of them is Protasovo, and the second is Ignatovo. Any high school student knows that a similar sign denotes an element of the periodic table, which has atomic number 79 and is a noble metal, or, more simply, gold.

For gold mining in the Moscow region, a map indicating deposits where there is at least any significant amount of gold sand is simply necessary for the prospector. It helps to weed out rumors and legends that have no basis, and direct your energy to finding truly promising places for mining the precious metal.

A little history

Gold from the Moscow region has been mentioned in historical references since the beginning of the 19th century. The soldiers of Napoleon's army, having occupied Moscow, first of all began to inquire from the local residents where the extraordinary “golden” river was located, in which, instead of fish, gold nuggets await their catchers.

After the expulsion of Napoleon and the end of hostilities, envoys from the Russian imperial court came to Moscow. The purpose of their visit to Moscow was the same as that of the French: to learn about large gold deposits near Moscow. However, the residents of the Moscow province did not reveal their secret, and the royal envoys returned to the court with nothing.

Another outbreak of the “gold rush” occurred in the lands near Moscow before the October Revolution. The reason for it was an incident that helped a peasant from the Dmitrov region find two rather large nuggets on the banks of a small nameless river. The lucky plowman resold the find to a capital merchant. Soon after this, “top secret” maps with the designation of a gold-bearing place began to circulate around Moscow.

In response, many Moscow residents succumbed to the excitement and decided to try their luck with a prospecting tray in their hands. Even the famous master of reporting, Vladimir Gilyarovsky, succumbed to the general excitement, and went along with everyone else to catch their luck. Moscow guidebooks responded to the increased demand and began to publish data that there really are gold deposits near the village of Iksha, and they can be found in:

gold placers;
alluvial boulders of glacial origin.

The baton of general excitement was picked up by local newspapers, which began publishing articles with tempting, action-inducing headlines:

"Klondike near Moscow";
"Russian California";
"Golden River"

The successful entrepreneur Ponomarev was not at a loss at the right moment. In the wake of popular interest, he created a joint-stock company with the goal of organizing gold mining on an industrial scale. Very respectable people of that time became members of the society. However, their hopes for quick enrichment were not realized.

The gold rush died out as suddenly as it had started. And the reason for this was not at all the absence of the sought-after gold in the rivers near Moscow.

Industrialists did not have the technology to make metal mining economically interesting. At that time it simply did not exist.

Golden river beds

Employees of the Central Scientific Research Geological Prospecting Institute of Non-Ferrous and Precious Metals (TSNIGRI) told Rossiyskaya Gazeta journalists that not only the rivers near Iksha are of interest to prospectors. There is also noble metal in the beds of the Sestra and Volgusha rivers near Moscow.

To prove their words, they organized a real mining expedition for the workers of the pen, leading them to the shores of the Sister. Journalists had to pick up trays and get down to work. Their efforts were not in vain. After several hours of hard work, they lathered 5 milligrams of pure golden sand.

If you look at this catch through a microscope, it looks very impressive. All grains of sand have a smooth, water-polished surface and a bright, inviting shine. Unfortunately, it was difficult to see the microscopic nuggets with the naked eye. But the fact that a certain number of gold signs were found in a short time suggests that this metal still exists in the rivers of the Moscow region.

And not only the northern region of the region can boast of the presence of gold. There is evidence that in the mid-70s, one of the students of the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute managed to wash gold grains in streams in the Podolsk region. To prove the veracity of his words, he willingly showed off his booty to his classmates.

And the impossible is possible

Experts say that gold deposits should be sought in layers of igneous rocks, which include granites and quartz, or in the vicinity of metamorphic rocks transformed under the influence of high pressures and significant temperatures.

Gold from the Moscow region is an exception to the rule. The fact is that the territory of the Moscow region mostly consists of sedimentary rocks. How, in this case, can one explain the presence of gold in the Moscow region?

Scientists have found compelling reasons to explain this phenomenon. According to the presented hypothesis, the reason for the appearance of gold in the Moscow region was a giant glacier, which several thousand years ago slid from the Scandinavian mountains to the Central Russian Upland. During its journey, it accumulated boulders, stones and fragments of various rocks in the ice layer.

As centuries passed, the climate changed and the glacial tongue began to gradually melt. In the places where the rapids formed, a natural enrichment process began to occur, as a result of which heavier minerals settled to the bottom of the glacier, thereby forming mineral deposits. Gold did not escape this fate.

Why mine in the Moscow region?

Despite the fact that gold has been mined in places near Moscow for a long time, its reserves are assessed by experts as insignificant from the point of view of industrial interest. In this case, who is developing these unpromising deposits and why? Scientists know the answer to this question.

Gold from the Moscow region is of interest because it is of the alluvial type, which makes it possible to organize a fairly easy process of its extraction. According to experts, there will only be enough such placer gold in Russia for the next decades.

The reserves of gold that lie along with the bedrock can be mined for more than a century. The problem is that the development of primary deposits requires significant financial investments from gold miners to create:

complex and expensive infrastructure, including the development of mines and quarries, as well as the construction of processing plants;
transport and logistics network designed to serve the enterprise, since most of them are located away from housing.

Placer gold from loose rocks or alluvial deposits that form on river banks cannot boast of significant reserves, but in terms of extraction it is much cheaper for miners. There is one more factor that allows gold deposits near Moscow to become profitable.

In the central regions of the country, including the Moscow region, the main reserves of gold are contained in sand, which is actively used in the construction industry. Taking this factor into account, experts offered gold miners a technology that allows for the accompanying extraction of metal. This method makes gold mining economically interesting.

Private mining

The low profitability of gold mining does not frighten residents of the Moscow region, who in the summer turn into numerous private miners, happily spending time on the banks of large and small rivers.

For their purposes, they use simple, but time-tested and reliable mining technology. Most prospectors only need a few items to get started:

tray;
shovel;
bucket;
scoop.

The main difficulty is the main question: where to dig? Some miners dig river sediments, while others go to quarries where sand and gravel are extracted. Once the location has been determined, you can begin to work.

Here another difficulty awaits the lover of precious metals. The prospector will have to patiently and carefully carry out the same constantly repeated movements for a long time. In general, the proverb applies to prospectors like no other profession: “Persistence and work will grind everything down.”

Secrets of mastery

Since gold is heavier than sand, it always settles to the bottom of the sand mixture. The main task of the miner is to wash the soil sample in such a way as not to inadvertently wash away the gold. After thorough washing of the sand, a dark-colored concentrate is formed, containing fragments of heavy minerals, among which gold grains are hidden. To examine the concentrate carefully in a quiet environment, you can pour it into a jar or a special bag and seal it tightly.

This material can be adjusted to the required result at home using a regular garbage scoop. First you need to go over its inner surface with sandpaper to get rid of the gloss and make the scoop less smooth.

Experienced miners warn beginners not to let the concentrate dry out. Because dried grains of gold will become buoyant and can be washed away with water during the first washing of the concentrate.

The prospector's pan also has its own secret. It must be made from a single piece of wood. And not every tree is suitable for this purpose. The highest quality trays are made from linden and cedar. Experts tried to make a tray from modern materials: fiberglass or plastic. But such products could not compete with the traditional wooden tray. Only wood allows the tray to float and has a rough enough surface to trap the gold grains.

To separate gold from dry rock, miners use a magnet because the minerals that accompany the gold contain a lot of iron. But there is a secret here too. Before using the magnet, it must be placed in a plastic bag or plastic container. In this case, adhering particles of ferruginous quartzites or garnets can be easily separated from the magnet by removing the bag. If you do not follow this advice, it can be very difficult to separate particles stuck to the magnet.

In some cases, the catch can only be detected using a microscope. Seeing the signs, as experts call small specks of gold, can be difficult without the help of equipment.

The “Gold Rush” does not let go of adventure lovers even today. Many people dream of becoming the proud owner of a gold nugget, but not everyone knows where to look for a suitable deposit. And, of course, for many it will be a surprise to learn that gold can be mined in the Moscow region, using sand pits or river beds for this purpose.

To become a prospector you do not need to purchase expensive equipment. A shovel and tray will help you take soil samples and wash the sand. And the direction of the search will be suggested by maps on which deposits of the precious metal are marked with the sign Au. But not only maps can become guides for modern gold miners. When setting out on a journey, you should study local legends and tales. Often they indicate traditionally gold-rich places.

Primary gold deposits are associated with intrusive rocks: diorites, quartz diorites and granites. They are called intrusive or intruded because they were formed as a result of the solidification of magma that penetrated from the depths into the upper layers of the earth's crust, but did not reach the surface. Intrusive bodies formed by the solidification of magma that filled vertical or slightly inclined cracks in the earth's crust are called dikes.

The importance of intrusive rocks is enormous because they were formed from the same magma, which at the same time was a source of hot melts and solutions, during the solidification of which gold deposits appeared. In this sense, the presence of intrusive rocks serves as an indicator of the possible location of industrial ore bodies near them.

Gold is usually closely associated with sulfur compounds of non-ferrous metals and related minerals or with their oxidation products. These gold satellites are represented by chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, arsenopyrite, stibnite, brown ironstone, etc.

Widespread satellite - chalcopyrite(copper pyrite) has a golden color with a metallic sheen and is very similar in appearance to gold in the rock. But even an inexperienced scout, without resorting to testing with acid, can easily recognize chalcopyrite by its higher hardness. Even harder than chalcopyrite, also similar to gold, its other companion is p i r i t(sulfur pyrite). They are valuable minerals: chalcopyrite-the main ore for copper, and pyrite used to produce sulfuric acid.

Sphalerite(zinc blende) has a black, brown or brown color, diamond luster. In quartz veins it is found mostly in the form of crystals, faceted with a system of regular planes. Scratched by a knife.

Galena(lead luster) is a silvery-white or gray mineral with a bright metallic luster, soft, heavy, almost twice as heavy as sphalerite. The cleavage is clearly expressed, and when struck with a hammer, the mineral crumbles along the cleavage cracks into regular cubes.

Arsenopyrite(arsenic pyrite) is a silver-white mineral with a metallic luster, hard to brittle. When hit with a hammer it will smell like garlic.

Antimonite(antimony luster) usually forms columnar and needle-shaped crystals or radial, often tangled clusters in quartz. The cyst is lead-gray, metallic luster. Soft and fragile.

Limonite(brown iron ore) - yellow-brown and dark brown in color. It is represented by a loose ocher mass or a lumpy sinter variety, often forming cubes along the pyrite. The most widely distributed mineral. Almost all quartz veins that come to the surface are mottled in color due to limonite. Often the ocher mass fills voids in quartz formed in place of decomposed pyrite and chalcopyrite. Large masses of brown iron ore are observed at the outcrops of quartz veins rich in pyrite, chalcopyrite and other sulfides or on sulfide ore bodies.

Accumulations of brown iron ores on sulfide bodies are called iron hats And. They are of interest because they themselves may contain large quantities of gold.

Quartz is the main mineral with which gold is associated. Therefore, gold can most often be found in quartz veins.

Quartz can be very diverse in color: white, gray, milky white, smoky, yellowish, etc. It also varies in structure: fine-grained, coarse-grained, confluent, banded, concentrically layered (typical of chalcedony), sometimes with voids on the walls which can be observed crystals (druze) of transparent rock crystal. Visible gold can often be found in yellow-brown quartz with ocher inclusions.

Primary (ore) gold deposits are the primary sources of numerous gold-bearing placers. The composition of gold placers is determined by the composition of the primary deposits as a result of the destruction of which they were formed.

Often in gold placers there are found in the form of impurities latina, osmic iridium, tin stone - cassiterite, wolframite, titanium ore - ilmenite, diamond, rubin. These minerals also have a high specific gravity (except for the last two), and they resist abrasion and other types of destruction well when carried in a stream of water.

Most of the gold placers belong to alluvial, i.e., river ones, formed by the transfer and deposition of fragmentary material by channel flows and confined to the valleys of small and medium-sized mountain rivers.

There are placers where the bedrock ore bodies were not eroded after destruction and remained in the form of crushed stone, sand and clay at the site of their formation. Such placers are called eluvial: They usually occur on the wide, flat watersheds of modern rivers.

Placers are also found on mountain slopes, where gold-containing destroyed rocks accumulated, sliding down the slope from the bedrock deposit located above. Such placers are called deluvial: in terms of their industrial importance, they are much inferior to alluvial and even eluvial ones. It should also be noted coastal-sea and lake placers, common on the coasts of seas and large lakes.

Other types of placers are known in nature, but they are of secondary importance.

Alluvial gold placers have the greatest value for industry. Depending on the conditions and location of placers, they are divided into channel, spit, valley, terrace and spoon.

Channel placers lie in the beds of modern rivers. These placers are characterized by a relatively small thickness of gravel-pebble sands and often a complete absence peat- deposits in which gold is almost never found.

Spit placers lie on spits, islands and shallows of modern large rivers. There is no peat on most spits. On spits, a significant proportion of gold is represented by very thin “floating” particles. A slight increase in gold is observed in the head part of the spit.

Valley placers are characterized by a greater thickness of sand and the presence of peat compared to channel placers. The total thickness is 5-10, and sometimes more, meters. Placers of this type occur in the floodplain and mostly on the first terrace of the river valley.

Terrace placers lie on longitudinal terrace-like ledges of bedrock that make up the slopes of river valleys. These placers are usually located above river level. At the same time, “high terraces are poorly preserved and are represented by narrow fragments on the slopes of valleys.

Spoon placers They lie in the valleys of ravines and small springs and rivers with intermittent water flow. Along with gravel and pebbles, the bedrock composition contains crushed stone and boulders. Many spoon placers start directly from bedrock deposits. Placers of this type are characterized by a high concentration of metal, which must be kept in mind when searching.

The sizes of placers are different. The largest number of them (about 60%) are no more than 3 km long; placers 3-10 km long account for 20-30%, and over 10 km - no more than 10%. Thus, the bulk of placers are usually located within the development of primary gold deposits or close to them in ravines, valleys or on terraces.

The age of placers varies greatly - from ancient to modern. The most ancient placers, as a rule, are composed of strong, firmly cemented rocks; deposits of young placers, the age of which does not exceed 60-70 million years, are usually represented by loose rocks.

For placers of all ages, the maximum concentration of gold is observed in the lowest layers of clastic (sand-pebble, often with boulders) deposits that lie directly on bedrock. In practice, the surface of bedrock underlying placers is called raft, and the gold-bearing layer is sands. Above the sands there is a practically non-gold-bearing layer called “peat”

The highest concentration of gold is observed at the very border of the sands and the raft. Particularly favorable places for the accumulation of gold are the uneven surfaces of the raft; protrusions of bedrock, cracks, depressions - pockets, funnels, etc. Along with gold, its satellites and other heavy minerals, such as magnetite, ilmenite, etc. accumulate here.

Mountain streams are known to be excellent places to search for gold. After all, gold placer is washed out of the rock and settles on pebbles due to its high density.

Choosing the best place to search

Many people are concerned about how to look for gold in streams. First of all, you need to choose the right body of water. It is desirable that its channel be no more than 15 kilometers long. It is preferable to choose small streams for the reason that you can find nests in them, that is, small areas rich in nuggets and gold deposits. It happened that gold miners found more than one pound of precious sand in them. In addition, the depth at the search location must be more than 15 cm.

For effective searching, it is recommended to use very sensitive metal detectors. If a nugget is found, it must be measured, photographed and the coordinates of its location recorded. With this useful information, geologists can determine the location of a gold-bearing vein or nest.

Searching for precious metal in a body of water

You can find gold in streams by following these recommendations:

Take a small black basin with small grooves at the bottom in which gold scales will accumulate.
¾ of the tray is filled with gravel and immersed in water. You should periodically shake the vessel back and forth, then to the right and left.
After this, you should make circular movements with the tray so that the dirt and clay dissolve. In this case, the light rock will float, and the gold, if there is any, along with the heavy rock will settle to the bottom.
Large stones need to be removed from the vessel.
Then the rock, which consists of black sand, must be separated from the gold. The basin needs to be pulled out, leaving a few centimeters of water in it.
After these steps, you should tilt the pan a little and start rotating it again and shaking it a little.
If the bowl is plastic, you can use a magnet and move it along the bottom of the bowl. The black sand will separate from the grains of precious metal.

This delicate task must be carried out very carefully so as not to confuse gold placer and nuggets with pyrite or mica.

It is reliably known that there are large reserves of gold in the rivers of Russia. Anyone can receive them. However, to do this you need to learn how to look for gold in reservoirs.

In ancient times, the Russian people often hunted for gold in streams or rivers. People caught the valuable metal weighing more than one kilogram, as can be seen from historical records. To do this, they had to work with a sieve for several hours.

Today, searching for gold in reservoirs requires special knowledge and effective equipment.

Choosing a promising location

For the search to be successful, the treasure hunter must choose the right search location. Experts believe that mountain streams are the most promising. Those whose length is only about 15 km are worthy of special attention.

Gold has a high density, so it is not washed out like rocks and is not transported from place to place by currents. The precious metal seeps through the pebble and sand layer, forming a scattering or, as experts say, “nests”. These are the areas that are attractive to search engines. “Nests” indicate that there are precious rocks underneath.

Pay attention to quartz

When looking for gold, you can’t focus solely on “nests.” They are not easy to find. Signs that can lead to a large catch play an important role. For example, quartz pebbles. It is not difficult to recognize quartz. These are white and light gray rocks.

If a jewel hunter manages to find quartz, then this is a sure sign that there is a gold source somewhere nearby. The fact is that the source of the precious metal is a quartz vein. Over time, it breaks down due to being in water for a long time. Thus, the gold particles are released and end up at the bottom. Then all that remains is to find them and the most trained search engine will be able to do this.

Washing with a sieve

Using a sieve, gold was searched for in ancient times, but this method is still relevant today. To ensure the presence of gold particles, washing with a sieve is necessary. This must be done away from the source of the reservoir. Preferably at a distance of about 200 m. The presence of gold particles, at least one, is a sign to continue your search.

Should you use a metal detector?

A metal detector is a standard tool for detecting valuable metals. However, it is worth considering that it is completely useless at depth. This obliges us to search only for those “nests” that are close to the surface. For example, on the banks of mountain rivers.

This happens because streams often change their course and precious sands and rocks underneath can remain on the banks that were previously part of the river. You should also pay attention to mountain crevices. In this case, a metal detector is indispensable.

Of course, this tool can be used underwater, but it is ineffective. Even if you manage to find nuggets, it will be very, very difficult to get them.

How to look for gold?

Yes, a metal detector is not the most effective tool with which you can search for gold deposits under water. However, this does not mean that there are no other ways at all.

Minidrags

Many experienced detectors argue that it is more rational to use minidrags than metal detectors. These are devices whose operation resembles a vacuum cleaner. Minidrags draw in water, sand and pebbles, and then the gold particles are separated.

Minidrags are different. They differ in size and technical characteristics, but have almost the same structure from:

flushing chute;
buoyancy systems;
injector;
motor;
breathing systems under water.

Gold samples

These are devices that operate using electricity. They are effective due to their tentacles with sensitive sensory devices. It is with them that they explore the bottom of a river or stream. When “nests” containing jewelry are detected, the device signals this by means of a sound and a lighting lamp.

Gold probes also let you know about false signals by changing the sound and color of the light bulb. This is very convenient, because the tentacles can actually accidentally find magnetite instead of gold.

Trays

Progress has not stood still, and now the trays are equipped with special rectangular or round gutters that catch gold. Today, plastic trays are the most popular because they are easy to use and do not rust. Both novice treasure hunters and veterans of this business turn to them.

Gold is a precious metal, the search for which began many centuries ago. It would seem that this is a completely useless metal, but it is precisely because of it that blood continues to be shed to this day. People are eager to get gold in large quantities, because this is a clear sign of a person’s well-being and prosperity.

A little history

Over the centuries-old history of Ancient and Muscovite Rus', no gold-bearing lands were found, even despite the fact that the territories of our state were quite large at that time. Pursuing the goal of finding this precious metal, the once-ruling Ivan III ordered ore miners from Italy, hoping that they would at least find something. But, unfortunately for Ivan III, according to rumors they found only a small piece of a nugget, which was only enough to make a pectoral cross.

Then Ivan the Terrible began searching for gold deposits. He even gathered an entire army and set out to conquer the territories of Siberia, but nothing was found there either. The rest of the rulers of Ancient Rus' suffered such a collapse. And only with the advent of Perth I on the throne, metal mining began to actively develop. He, as they say, went to great lengths. As history says, during his reign no discoveries occurred in this area. However, it was under Peter I that the first outfits decorated with gold appeared, and the king himself simply presented his close relatives and acquaintances with gold jewelry. Maybe historians missed something? It is not known, and it is not possible to prove now that gold mining began under Peter I.

The first person to mine gold was an Old Believer peasant named Erofey Sidorovich Markov. This happened in the Urals in 1745, when he was building himself a hut on the Pyshma River. To build a hut, he needed to dig a hole, where, in fact, he found golden grains of sand. He immediately went to show his find to the then famous silversmith Dmitriev. He confirmed that these grains of sand were golden, after which mountain experts immediately came to Markov with the hope of finding a gold mine in the same place. But what a disappointment they were when they found nothing. For several years they searched for gold near this place, and only in 1947 did they mutually agree that it was necessary to dig a mine under this place. And they turned out to be right!

At the depths of the mine, a real gold mine was discovered, which served as the beginning of the discovery of gold mining.

Where can you find gold?

The question of where to find gold worries everyone who searches for precious metals. In fact, it can be found in many places, but in small quantities. Real gold mines are extremely rare. But they still exist, and if you start searching for this precious metal on your own, maybe you will be lucky and you will find that very mine. Although the likelihood of this is negligible.

Gold is present in small quantities in sea water. And according to experts, if you separate the metal from salt water, you can get approximately 10,000,000,000 tons of gold! The figure is shocking, especially considering that from one gram of gold you can stretch a wire three kilometers long, but so far no way has been found to do this.

In nature, pure gold is extremely rare; it can mainly be found mixed with other metals. Gold-bearing veins are often found in quartz beds, as well as accumulations of sulfur dioxide. Due to exposure to weather conditions (rain, snow, wind, etc.) they are destroyed. These places become “open doors” where gold can be found. Most often in such places you can find gold-bearing veins, without any impurities.

After some time, under the influence of wind and rain, further destruction of the quartz layers occurs, resulting in the formation of whole pieces of pure gold, which is called a nugget. Such a precious metal, formed by the destruction of quartz layers, can be found both in the form of fine gold dust and in the form of large nuggets, the weight of which can be enormous.

During the weathering process, rocks and veins are subjected to mechanical destruction and chemical attack, due to which they turn into loose clastic material, such as clay or sand, and the gold itself is freed from its enclosing rock. Loose material picks up the water flow and carries it down the slopes into river valleys.

There are several types of gold deposits formed due to weathering of veins:

residual deposits;
eluvial sediments;
terrace deposits;
bottom sediments.

Residual deposits are located directly near the vein that has been subjected to chemical and physical attack. Eluvial deposits consist of pieces of vein and individual nuggets that move under the influence of nature along the mountainside. They are often located near the vein itself at the foot of the mountains.

Terrace deposits can usually be found on the river bottom. Over time, the river cuts deeper and deeper into the earth, creating a “new” bottom. And the “old” bottom, in turn, often remains high above the water level and is called a “terrace”. It is the old bottom that has large deposits of gold ore, and they are located mainly on mountain tops and in deserts. Ancient terraces, as a rule, have a high gold content.

Sediments are formed in sedimentary formations at the bottom of a river. Strong rain flows in mountainous areas wash away bottom sediments to bedrock, which leads to erosion of the river bottom and a gradual change in the channel, and “supply” new portions of gold.

For example, in Austria, through the destruction of quartz layers, a nugget was found whose weight was 60 kilograms. Just imagine, 60 kilograms of pure gold! This is mind boggling!

Today, the process of extracting precious metals is identical to the methods of extracting other metals. That is, mines are dug, after which the gold ore is taken out in pieces and lifted up. Then the process of separating gold from impurities is carried out through chemical reactions, after first turning the metal into powder.

Searching for gold in Russia

It is almost impossible to give an exact answer about where gold can be found in Russia. Precious metal can be anywhere, even in your garden, if, of course, you have one.

There are more than enough places in Russia where you can find gold. The most promising are the Urals, Magadan, Chukotka, Bodaibo and Amur. Large nuggets weighing from 4 to 16 kilograms were found here.

For example, in 2000, 665 nuggets were found in the Amur region near the Cuttlefish River. The largest of them weighed 6.9 kilograms. And in Chukotka, just a couple of months ago, a nugget weighing 16 kilograms was discovered!

The places where the nuggets were found, and the very fact of their discovery, are remembered for many years. Therefore, before looking for gold in a particular area, it is necessary to find out from geologists or watchmen whether this precious metal was found here or not. If such cases have not occurred, then there is no point in searching in this area. Most likely, there is no gold here, and it is worth taking a closer look at other places.

Very often the whereabouts of large nuggets are published in newspapers, so it’s worth picking up the archive and familiarizing yourself with this information. The best thing to do is contact the geological fund and look at reports there on the search for gold ore. Perhaps this is where you will find out where you can find gold in Russia, and in which nearby cities you should start active searches.

If you learn that nuggets weighing at least 50 grams were found in a particular area, then the chances of finding gold there increase several times. For example, you found out that more than 1000 nuggets were found in a neighboring area, the weight of which, say, reached 6 - 7 kilograms. But this area has very large boundaries and contains placers with large and small gold. This, of course, complicates the work, but the chances of finding metal are much higher than in another area. Since the quality of placer processing is often low, even if this area has already been processed previously, gold can still be found here.

In general, we can conclude that before looking for places where you can find gold in Russia, you should obtain data on the location of gold ore in the geological fund.

How to look for gold correctly?

It can take years to find the precious metal. You should not count on the fact that you will find it in the first days of search work. To speed up the process, you need to study a lot of literature that tells you how to look for gold.

As previously stated, most metal deposits are formed in areas of destruction of quartz formations. Signs of such destruction are pieces of ocher quartz, the presence of cracks and faults on the earth's surface, as well as accumulations of iron hydroxides and many other signs. Gold is washed away along with particles of water, so it should be searched for in the lowlands. An ordinary metal detector, preferably with low frequencies, will help with this.

If you have already found a place where metal deposits are supposed to be located, then you can use the following method to verify the presence of gold:

A qualitative analysis needs to be done. To do this, you will need about 50 grams of mercury and a test tube, or some other glass container. Mercury should be poured into a container and a small amount of sand or earth from the intended location of the gold should be poured into it.
The contents in the container are mixed well, after which the mercury is separated from the sand. This operation must be performed within several hours. Gold dissolves very well in mercury to form an amalgam. If grains of gold are indeed present, then the mercury will gradually begin to change its original color.
Next, you will need a distillation cube, operating on the principle of a moonshine still, to separate gold from mercury. The amalgam is placed in the cube and the heating is turned on. After which the mercury will begin to heat up and evaporate, and the metal itself will remain at its bottom, and it will not be difficult to remove it.

After this procedure, you can begin to carry out search work. There is another way, but it takes a lot of time. You need to take a sheep's skin and place it at the bottom of the river; naturally, it will need to be secured with something so that it does not get carried away by the current. After 4–6 months, the skin must be removed from the river bottom and burned in a vessel. The resulting resin must be treated with mercury in the same way as in the previous version of searching for gold sites.

Now you have learned how and where to look for gold, all that remains is to hope for your luck!