VIRGINIA DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES
GOLD
Virginia
Department of
Mines Minerals
and Energy
Virginia was one of the first gold-producing states in HISTORY OF GOLD MINING IN VIRGINIA
the nation. The earliest printed reference to gold in the The first lode deposit was discovered in Virginia in
State was in 1782, when Thomas Jefferson reported 1806 at the Whitehall mine, located 1.5 miles (2.4
on a gold-bearing rock, weighing 4 pounds, that was km) northwest of Shady Grove Church in the western
found on the north side of the Rappahannock River part of Spotsylvania County. The first gold-mining
about 4 miles below the falls. As of May, 1995, the company incorporated in Virginia was the Virginia
Division of Mineral Resources has documented 301 Mining Company of New York. This company
gold and silver mines, prospects and occurrences in intermittently operated a lode deposit in the Grasty
Virginia, with the majority of them in the gold-pyrite tract along Mine Run in Orange County from 1831
belt (see map 1). About 100,000 troy ounces of gold until 1934. From 1831 until 1910, no less than five
were produced in Virginia from 1804 through 1947, companies conducted mining operations in this
when gold was last produced in the State. general area during several periods of substantial
activity.
GOLD’S NATURAL PROPERTIES
Gold is a soft metal (2.5 on the Moh’s hardness scale)
and has a specific
gravity of 19.3. Pure
gold is 24 carats (24K);
10 carat gold (usually
found in rings) is 10/24 Gold-pyrite
Belt
or about 42 percent
Gold mines and prospects
gold. A 10K yellow gold
ring contains 40 percent
copper, 12 percent
silver, and 6 percent
zinc while in white gold
the percentages are
33 percent copper, 17
percent nickel, and 8
percent zinc.
Early in the 1800s gold in Virginia was extracted from
Gold, which is very malleable, is usually golden shallow saprolites (deeply weathered near surface
yellow in color and has a metallic luster. It is found as lode deposits) and from placer deposits; recovery
free gold in quartz veins, it may occur in pyrite (FeS2) was mechanically simple and labor was inexpensive.
or “fool’s gold” and it may occur alloyed with other Handshoveling, panning, sluicing, and dredging were
base metals in massive sulfide deposits. When these utilized without any further processing to recover the
gold deposits are weathered, they sometimes produce gold. It was estimated that in 1837 a profit-making
grains, flakes, and even nuggets of free gold that upon gold mine had to yield a dollar for every bushel (about
erosion may accumulate as placer deposits in stream 100 pounds) of rock processed; the cost of mining
beds. 100 pounds of rock in 1837 was about 30 to 35 cents.
As the more accessible deposits were exhausted,
deeper lode or vein deposits were investigated. Gold County. Government restrictions on the price of
mined by underground methods was costly to produce gold were lifted and the price of gold was allowed
because shafts and drifts had to be constructed and to fluctuate on the open market beginning in the late
since the ore was generally in hard rock, it had to be 1960s. As a result, worldwide gold production rose
pulverized before recovery processing began. From slightly.
1830 until the beginning of the Civil War, lodes in
quartz veins were actively mined. Production averaged MINING METHODS
nearly 3,000 ounces annually in the decade 1840- In the late 1970s and early 1980s gold production
1849. in the United States began to escalate due to the
refinement of cyanide leaching technology developed
The California Gold Rush of 1849 had a negative by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in the 1950s. The Bureau
effect on gold mining in Virginia as miners moved investigated the use of activated carbon instead of zinc
to precipitate gold and silver from clay-contaminated
cyanide solutions. This method of cyanide leaching
requires an ore grade of 0.08 ounce per ton or more to
justify construction of a plant.
Another technique to decrease the cost included
crushing the ore to approximately 1-inch size. The ore
is then heaped in a pile and a leach solution is sprayed
over the top of it. The solution permeates the pile and
dissolves the gold and silver. The solution, collected at
the base of the pile is stripped of precious metals with
activated carbon. This new technology allowed more
ore to be processed at less cost and thus ore of lower
grade could be worked economically. Heap leaching
technology has led to the working of some waste piles,
tailings, and working of some ores, which are as low
Dragline in operation in the early 1930s, Collins as 0.03 ounce of gold-silver per ton. Many of the new
placer gold mine, Goochland County. operations are lower grade deposits that have been
unsuccessfully mined in the past. Recent innovations
west, gold production in Virginia declined. The has led to the use of large mobile conveyors (1500
downward trend in production continued through feet) with the ability to produce heap leach piles 3000
the Civil War years and no production is reported for feet in diameter and 60 feet high. Silver production
1864. Production was low, but steady, from 1870 to has also increased as a by-product of increased gold
1910. From 1912 to 1934 only a few tens of ounces production.
were mined annually and active gold mining almost
ceased because of higher production costs and gradual
depletion of known reserves. Because of the development of these new gold
extraction techniques, interest continues in the Gold-
In January, 1934, the fixed-price of gold was pyrite belt in the Virginia Piedmont province and
established by Executive order at 35 dollars per troy the mineralized areas in the Blue Ridge province;
ounce, up from its previous price of $20.67 per troy metal-mining companies are evaluating various
ounce. The higher price resulted in the reopening properties. A recent geologic and precious-metal study
of several of the larger gold mines, but these were in Rockbridge County contains new analytical data
closed again between the late 1930s and early 1940s. to guide detailed exploration. An old gold mine near
This was due to the ruling during World War II that Kentucky, in eastern Pittsylvania County in southern
mines producing only gold would be closed because Virginia has recently been permitted. At this mine,
of the war effort. Gold was last produced in 1947 as free gold is present in quartz veins which intrude
a by-product at a lead and zinc mine in Spotsylvania metamorphosed volcanic-sedimentary rocks.
BASIC PANNING STEPS
1. With a shovel, dig as deep as you can in the bottom of the stream or as close to bedrock as
possible.
2. Fill your pan nearly full of sand and gravel, removing all stones (marble size and larger) by
hand.
3. Place the pan under the water and get all the material wet, mixing it by hand.
4. Begin to shake (rotate) the pan from side to side, giving the heavy minerals, including gold, a
chance to settle to the bottom of the pan.
5. Shaking the pan for several minutes to allow the heavier material to settle to the bottom of
the pan. Place the pan in a slow-moving current and tip the pan to the front, causing the lighter
material to be washed over the front of the pan and carried away by the current.
6. Continue to rotate the contents of the pan and wash the lighter material over the front of the
pan; add water as necessary. After washing a while, only a black sand will remain. This black
sand usually consists of ilimenite, rutile, garnet, magnetite, and possibly gold. Pieces of gold that
are large enough can be removed by tweezers; smaller pieces may be found with the aid of a
microscope.
REMEMBER!! Always get the landowner’s permission BEFORE panning!
PANNING FOR GOLD
Mainly because of the increase in the price of gold It should be stressed to hobbyists and gold-panners
in the late 1970s, there has been a renewed interest that before attempting to collect any material on
in gold panning. Many creeks and tributaries that private property an individual should make himself
drain the old mining areas have yielded small colors or herself known to the landowner and obtain
(approximately 6,000 pieces to an ounce) of gold. permission to proceed.
Byrd Creek and its tributaries in Fluvanna and
Goochland counties are popular choices as are Mine The following companies have assayed for gold and
Run and Wilderness Run in Orange County, Big silver for the Division of Mineral Resources. Other
Mountain Branch in Halifax County, and Gold Mine companies that perform assays are commonly listed
Branch and Tongue Quarter Creek in Buckingham in professional journals such as Geotimes and Mining
County. Mines in and around these branches were Engineering.
productive in the past; a 9-pound nugget and several
1-ounce nuggets have been reported from Tongue Cone Geochemical, Inc.
Quarter Creek, south of the Morrow Mine, in 810 Quail Street, Suite I
Buckingham County. Several small nuggets have been Lakewood, Colorado 80215
found in this vicinity over the last few years. (303) 232-8371
The non-profit group, Central Virginia Gold Jacobs Assay Office
Prospectors, promotes the hobby of gold prospecting 1435 South 10th Avenue
in Virginia. The group is open to all who are Tucson, Arizona 85713
interested and regularly holds meetings in central (520) 622-0813
Virginia. For more information, visit the group’s web
site:
http://www.centralvirginiagoldprospectors.com/
SELECTED GOLD-RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Good, R. S., 1991, Gold mineralization, and tin, base metals, and thorium anomalies at Yankee Horse Ridge,
Irish Creek tin area, Rockbridge County, Virginia: Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication
112 ,41 p.
Good, R. S., Fordhm, 0. M., and Halladay, C. R., 1977, Geochemical reconnaissance for gold in the Caledonia
and Pendleton quadrangles in the Piedmont of Central Virginia: Virginia Minerals, v. 23, n. 2, p. 13-22.
Linden, M. A., Craig, J. R., and Solberg, T. N., 1985a, Mineralogy and chemistry of gold in the Virginia district,
Halifax County, Virginia: Virginia Minerals, v. 31, n. 2, p. 17-22.
Spears, D. B., and Upchurch, M. L., 1997, Metallic mines, prospects, and occurrences in the Gold-pyrite belt of
Virginia: Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication 147, 73 p.
Sweet, P. C., 1971, Gold mines and prospects in Virginia: Virginia Minerals, v. 17, n. 3, p. 25-33.
__________, 1975, Road log to some abandoned gold mines of the Gold-pyrite belt, Northeastern Virginia:
Virginia Minerals, v. 21, n. 1, P. 1-9.
__________, 1980a, Processes of gold recovery in Virginia: Virginia Minerals, v. 26, n. 3, p. 29-33.
__________, 1980b, Gold in Virginia: Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication 19, 77 p.
Sweet, P. C., and Trimble, David, 1982, Gold occurrences in Virginia, an update: Virginia Minerals, v. 28, n. 4,
p. 33-41.
__________, 1983, Virginia gold-resource data: Virginia Division of Mineral Resources Publication 45, 196p.
Sweet, P. C., and Lovett, J. A., 1985b, Additional gold mines, prospects, and occurrences in Virginia: Virginia
Minerals, v. 31, n. 4, p. 41-52.
Sweet, P. C., 1991, Precious-metal mines, prospects, and occurrences in Virginia - An update: Virginia Minerals,
v. 37, n. 1, p. 1-6.
__________, 1992, Exploration for precious metals in Virginia: (Abs.): Geological Society of America, South-
eastern section program, vol. 24, no., 2, p. 69.
__________, 1995, Update on unreported occurrences of gold-silver in Virginia: Virginia Division of Mineral
Resources Virginia Minerals, v. 41, n. 2, p. 9-16.
__________, 1997, Gold in Virginia: Brochure (revised), Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, 2 p.
Prepared by Palmer Sweet; revised 04/2007.
Division of Mineral Resources
900 Natural Resources Drive, Suite 500
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Sales Office: (434) 951-6341 FAX : (434) 951-6365
Sales Hours: 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Mon. - Fri.
Geologic Information: (434) 951-6342
http://www.dmme.virginia.gov/divisionmineralresources.shtml
