Biggest Gold discovery ever made - Earth's most productive gold district, how it was found 

In 1982 I was involved in a gold rush in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia. There was a 60 y.o lady next to me from Malta who dug a 3 meter deep hole and washed the gravel and got one ounce from it. The sinking took 3 days. Her husband could not do it as he was an invalid. The ground was very hard being compacted gravel in a long gully of 3 kilometres length and my pick produced sparks at every strike. I was young but only managed to get down 4 feet. The 80 y.o man who had previously worked the gully had sunk about 50 holes though the years and extracted a fortune in gold. He used to take the pay dirt home in a trailer a ton at a time and wash the dirt out. A 30 ounce nugget was found by a friend with a metal detector on the edge of a surfaced area in the same gully the previous year, with some one ounce nuggets next to it. The gully had been worked in the 1860,s but there was plenty of virgin ground between the old holes.

South Afican here. Thank you, sir. Great history lesson. Im 46 and the irony of learning this from you is not lost.

Great video as always chris. I'm live in the pyrite belt in Virginia. I have found beautiful specimens over the last 3 years. Back from like 1890 to i wanna say 1942 Virginia produced the third most gold in the United States. Mining stopped in the 1940'S due to the war starting and the gold rush of the west coast was beginning and it was the beginning of the mass gold rush to the west coast. It was way easier to mine the gold on the west coast than in Virginia where it was hard rock mining. It was way more work in Virginia to get the gold out of the rock. Back then in the early days You needed stamp mills to crush the rock or horses pulling concrete balls to crush ore. Essentially it was 100 times harder to get the gold in Va so that was the last of the big time mining in Virginia. Now the laws in Virginia are tough to get permits to mine due to the run off pollution of the harsh minerals that are broken down from mining. The land here is very expensive as well so there are still mines around and let me tell you i have some amazing specimens. I would love to post them to show what we are pulling out over here on northern va. It would be awesome if you did a video on mining in Virginia. The history that ties into John Smith exploration in gold mining and trade with the Indians. It's an amazing history tying into the colonial times. If anyone was interested in reading about it, the geologist department of Virginia had an amazing history on its site. It would be awesome if Chris could do one of his very detailed videos on it. I have been here watching and learning for years to his videos but not many know about the Virginia gold mining history. No one in Virginia that I know knew the history of gold mining including myself until about 12 years ago and i have lived right in the mining hot spot my whole entire life and many fire assayers I've used have told me I'm the only Virginia samples they have ever done. They originally said there is no gold in Virginia, gold mining is out on the west coast, Alaska Arizona Colorado

Very Interesting. I'm a new enthusiast and enjoy all the history. I can't buy your book yet, but I eventually will because I find your youtubes so refreshing (no stupid yelling, professional, and you don't waste your viewer's time saying stupid things-oh thank you for that!), and I learn so much from them, especially from the pictures-showing those of us who lack experience what an experienced eye sees without thinking. If you are ever up in the Leechtown area and want to do some exploring, let me know. Cheers

This was awesome. I would love to see you hire an editor and make a documentary and match your stories to faces, places, maps, and data visualizations. Awesome work.

It’s like getting a Master class in Gold geological formations! Great work Chris! Dan Brent

Thanks Chris. Great story!

My ex-wife when we used to go out to places in the desert. I would give her a bucket and a shovel. And she would walk off and come back and pan out the dirt in a tub, and she would find gold all the time. I had never seen anything like. It was so funny. She was Asian, a magnet to gold.

Some fascinating history and geology there Chris! Thanks again.

Fascinating Chris ! Great presentation ⛏👍 So I looked it up on mindat, and there a lot of pictures and stuff regarding the district. Really neat !

Thanks for a very interesting video.

One thing that keeps America behind on production is environmental regulation and permitting

George Harrison? That guy was talented, later became lead guitar of the Beetles! 😂 Interesting formation.

Hi, I did a PhD on hydrothermal gold deposits in Western Australia 30 years ago. I also worked on placer deposits in Ecuador. I liked your video and your knowledge of it is appreciated. Thanks.

Shout out from south Africa, love your videos

Thank You Chris, Very Good knowledge to add to our knowing.

Awsome content and in perfect timing. Iv stumble apon a similar deposit of gold in a alluvial fan here in the basin and range of north eastern nevada. I would guess it would be similar to the rypatch deposit. With Google earth and feet on the ground, I found an Awsome prospect. Now just waiting for the snow to Melt to make it up there. Im going be able to quit my day job with this discovery P.S i love your book so far. Just got it recently

Been down the gold mine in South Africa nuts how much gold is down there. Good pronounciation by the way!

Excellent presentation! And yes, I do have your book 👌

Great video! One of the theories of formation involves the huge meteorite impact near Vredefort. The Witwatersrand is basically the outer ripples around the impact site, and some would say that the gold deposits were forced from the greater depths of the earth's crust to shallower depths by the huge force of the impact. It is worth noting that most of the area was swampland at the time, with only protozoic life forms. I guess many more books will be written by geologists studying the Witwatersrand complex.

Thanks... as a South African, I have enjoyed this episode just a tad more!!

Thank you Chris for being a proud American and not afraid to let people know this is America we donit American over here .

South african here. 100% correct, The worlds 2nd Largest mass oxide deposit was also discovered in 2015 btw. Saldanha Bay. I stay 1400km downstream from the main gold region in an ancient riverbed, and I find so much super fine gold in the sand, sadly our laws are not in favor of mining gold, and I just dump the gold dust with my trash. South africa can easily be the world's biggest producer, if the government wakes up. No pun on the pronunciations, we enjoy it😂

Most of Alaska has not been checked very well for gold .

Excellent History and discussion with no script - I'm not so into prospecting but it looks exciting and a lot of physical work - hiking and digging and processing tons of material

My great grandfather discovered the gold, George Robert Walker. His statue is outside Anglo Vaal building, Gauteng. Check your history, George Harrison was his Australian prospecting partner.

Very good video! I worked for many years for some of the companies you mentioned, mining the reef. Deepest I mined was only 8000 feet, and I have big respect for the miners working past 10000 feet.

Great video. Thanks Ralph. I have your book and it is an excellent resource. Any tips for prospecting an area that has deep overburden?

Hello there. Mate you are a wealth of knowledge and thanks for passing it on. I’m moving to a small place in New Zealand next year and hope to do some professional fishing and part time gold panning. Could you give me any advice on finding gold on the west coast on the South Island? Thanks for your time

Thank you for another great video. I enjoyed the history lesson, interesting about the political turmoil involved.

You and Jeff Williams are my two favourite geologists

A great program I was born in the heart of it all. Had a wonderful childhood in Springs surrounded by about 7 mines with multiple shafts. We even had a Uranium plant at Daggafontein. Every mine a Recreational center pool courts etc.. Kids could commute by push bike and only stipulation be home before dark it was so safe.

Good Morning !!!!!!!

Did the ruling ANC mess this headstart up too?

There is gold everywhere! Grand Canyon, Chocolate mountain, Alaska... Thats why I invest in Silver!

This story sounds eerily familiar to all other finds around the world.

This was a great video 💪🏻🫡

Thank you again Chris for a great video. Do you think that both of the theory’s could both be correct? A combination of placer and replacement?

That is why the US and UK didn't let South Africa get freedom until few decades ago.

Wow, I should get your book! Oh wait, I already have it - let me know when you revise it!

Watching this from a town on the Witwatersrand district....I can see some of the mine dumps from my office widow.

Mr Chris. I have a question. First and foremost I went out and found some flour and flake gold today. Not much but I was happy to get it. I'm curious about that I know you had said in the past, miners Moss is miner's moss. I am a little curious though. I'm curious about the dream matt. Have you ever tried this Matt? And if you have can you give me your opinion of it. I have a vevor sluice. It looks like yours. It came up white miners moss and a blue mat. Could you give me your opinion on the mat and the Moss. Before I spend money on the dream Matt I'm trying to get as many opinions as I can. Both from people I know, and the very few prospectors I have met. Unfortunately it seems that other prospectors are not willing to talk pretty much about anything. So those are my questions. Have a great day love the video.

I enjoy your videos😊

Very educational and fascinating story. You hinted on robotics and underground mining. I think that is going to play a central role in future of industrial scale mining operations, armies of Ai machines, or VR controlled androids mining deep underground and under sea or on the Moon, Antarctica, or Alaska where it's too cold, anywhere it's too dangerous for people to go.

Yes you are correct,

Interesting, never knew the how's and why's of the Boer war. Usual greed behind the violence. Thank you

Your formation of Gold example has the Hills and Mountains looking like veritable sluice boxes which effectively they were right ?- the gold finally settling in the streams tumbled over rocks - it is interesting stuff - lots of big boy science to know where it is and how to get it out

Wow sir! Very informative.I have a couple of questions for you if you will,and I know you will because you said you would and I thank you for that.In 84 I was rebellious and living in the Ozarks of Missouri.Actually Ozark Mo.Well after myself and my mom had had enough of the overbearing discipline of the Bible belt in regards to my basic rebellions,we decided it would probably be a good idea to get the hell out of Dodge.Or Ozark if you will.So she sends me to my Father's in Placerville Calif.But that's where I went to school,I actually lived in Coloma where old man Sutter discovered gold in 1849 and as you well know now the 49ers have their mascot for their team.That being said,my pa and i lived right on the american river and would pan and dredge for a pretty cool way of bonding as i had never even met this man until this time and i was 14.We would watch and wave at the kayakers almost killing themselves floating down this raging American river and it's freezing giant rapids due to the 30 ft of snowpack the Sierra Nevada mnts.would get every year.My dad always said that one day we would figure out a way to get to the downstream side of these boulders in the river that these guys were floating,that there had to be handfuls of nuggets just sitting there because over the millenniums there's been no way to get to them without diverting the whole river.Do you know of a way short of a scuba and a teacher that this coild be done? Is there any tools that have been invented or any other reasonable way to get to these treasures?They say if those mountains were an apple,that we've only taken equal to a bite out of that apple of gold out of those mountains.Question #2, my cousin Paul William back before I made my way out to northern Calif.was on the cover of Fortune magazine for finding the biggest gold nugget ever found with a metal detector.He has long been deceased,but I was wondering where the best place may be for this kind of treasure hunting for gold nuggets,and what detector would be your go to for that kind of prospecting? Sorry so long and thank you for your videos I really learn a lot from you.

Thanks for the info I love videos that have history in them it was a great video.. 🎋😬👌🎋

Good video Chris. Pertinent even to my nevada backyard. Kinda knew the South African story. Boar wars made Churchill famous. Warm weather coming. Another season of exploration. Time to pick up your book.

We have to realise that the geological history of earth is billions of years in the making and what the gold areas look like now was nothing like what they looked like when the gold was formed in them. The gold being conglomerate was probably deposited by glacial action or extreme water flows when that layer was basically flat and later movement of the crust pushed the layer up and turned it on its side. The deposits in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia were washed off of tall mountains that no longer exist and deposited as fine alluvial deposits in a shallow sea that was later pushed up and erosion and weathering brought it to the surface. Many of the continents we know now were once joined and in some cases the gold areas that exist in each of them would have been close to each other. One thing is common though, the gold came up in the same process. Where I am from the quartz was pushed up into soft sedimentary sandstone and was not a volcanic situation but only twenty kilometers away the quartz is in hard granite that was likely part of vulcanism. Another 40 or so kilometers away the quartz is in a very hard sedimentary rock that was under very high pressure and pushed up into fold mountains. All interesting stuff.

My prospecting dream is to find this type of deposit - an old riverbed which has since been buried and is no longer a river. A lot of the biggest not-yer discovered deposits are probably of that type - because if an area isn't known for gold and nobody knows about an old buried streambed, then there wouldn't have been a reason to sample it.

Good presentation. I gave you a thumbs up!

I'm with you, placer.

I worked in some of those deep level gold mines - hellish hot down there! There is still plenty of gold down there but it is at ultra deep levels. Gold mining was killed by an investment unfriendly government and it is just too deep to start afresh.

As I understand it, the Witwatersrand was part of the Kaapvaal Craton, which was the first island of land in the Archaeon sea, nearly 3 billion years ago. It predates the the time when oxygen made up a significant part of the atmosphere.

The Gold Reef City, Johannesburg is my home town, I grew up in the lowveld near Barberton and Pilgrimsrest where the first gold rush started, I've always had an interest in the history and the geography around! Another interesting subject is the Bushveld complex where a lot of the worlds platinum comes from, it lies just north of the Witswatersrand.

I used to work in the Western Basin of the Witwatersrand Goldfields, not far from the Vredefort Dome which is the epicenter of the meteor strike that created the tectonics exposing the reef to the surface.

Thanks Chris, I did not know this. Very helpful.

SOUTH AFRICA. THX

Add to that in Kimberly, just next to the Witwatersrand is where the largest diamond (3100ct) ever was found. Also that almost all the world’s platinum still comes from this area and that it is the largest producer of uranium. Now they’ve struck oil and gas off the coast too… huge oil and gas. The coast being about 1500km away but still part of South Africa - that is until independence which is being sought.

Awesome presentation Chris! I live near Lake Superior in Michigans “Copper Country” and am interested in prospecting in this area.

Good presentation…I’ve kicked off a couple of land rushes myself. I do porphyry coppers now. You never mentioned the vredeford dome at the center of the Witwatersrand. Connection? Those quartz clasts look suspicious. Diamicton? The Matrix looks like chlorite. What depositional system produces an argyllaceous matrix supported conglomerate like that? Glacial outwash? The “mud” matrix suggests very poor sorting. So few gold reefs. High gradient…little channeling?

Beautiful ❤❤❤❤ video

The South African mining industry is a drop in the bucket of what it was.

Where’s the best place to sluice in Souther California? I usually go up to East Fork, San Gabriel River but I’d like to try someplace new. Any information or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Awesome. Thank you! From Traer, Iowa

Good Vid MrRalph! .,🦌.,.⛏

We also have lot's of gold here in Florida ! But you need scuba tanks and flippers to go find it ! And a lot of luck ! Happy hunting !

South Africa also have the worlds deepest mines due to all the digging for all types of minerals, not only gold.

Yeah i worked on a mine on toro Lhds , we used to load a 120000 tons a month . We call that conglomerate the basil reef. Its so rich , we blasted one day and we found gold(not pyrite)everywhere. Security came down and that section of the mine was sealed off. We literally got double wages that month. Since i left i heard they found a new richer reef 2/3 kms from the shaft we worked.This was 150km South from Johannesburg. This reef is much bigger than what they know. I can say if i had the capital i know where to find the same basil reef not near Jhb. I need to go and do some sampling ! Problem for small fry like me ...its deeep !

Theres arroyos in New Mexico that has gravel layers that contain 1/2 oz to the ton, sandwiched between coarse sand that's downhill from known gold mines. They just dont contain near the same volume and haven't solidified into conglomerate yet. But it sounds to me like this is exactly how it forms.

I've learned that all the gold and jade found near Monterey, CA was deposited by alluvial float (from lava pushing jade and gold to the surface). People still recover ocean polish jade there from the beach and shallows. Are there other places where alluvial float jade and gold can be found? Maybe this could be a future video topic? Thanks

What about the solid walls of gold in Timmins, ON, Canada? $4 billion annually and literally built the TSX.

Not much gold in North Island, New Zealand,

You have probably considered this but i wonder if the deposit confuses geologist is because the material was layed down at a high rate of speed. Maybe a short time of glacial activity laying very course chunks of the gold bearing material as if partially eroded. This may cause placer and vein gold to be present in the conglomerate. Obviously later geological formations came depositing layers on top and even later forcing it back to the serface again. Sorry for the confusion, I tried to sum it up without typing a novel.

There are some end-of-glaciation linked gravel and sand-deposits in the valley where I live in the Alps. Obviously during full scale glaciation the glaciers would push out all the debris from the central Alps, but by the time the glaciers receded, they left a lot of debris behind. Where would you look in a gravel or sand-pit? Would you the favour the coarser gravel over the finer sand? And how would you go about it? Dry-sieve it, then pan the finest material that falls through the mesh? Do ou know of any placer deposits formed by ice, not by streaming water? Thank you!

Its hard to believe its from a placer deposit because you think you would see bigger pieces of gold in placer form small and larger gold not the uniform small hard to see gold in the ore but could be several depositation formed the load also not just one event. But the quartz is rounded

I had a drilling contract in Savuka mine drilling out the pillar between level. From 5ton of ore we recovered over 1.1kg of gold.

Thank you!!

I knew it had to be from South African 🇿🇦

I worked on the deepest mine at about 3000m below surface back in the day.

Now we have the Zama ,Zama mining and controlling the gold mines in the area.

The Grand canyon it was in the New York times in 1912 they even brought out a steamship ferry to put in the Colorado River and then shut it down and never mentioned again

Watching this reminds me of the book "When the lion feeds" by Wilbur Smith.

There is still huge reserves of Gold in Victoria, Australia…………..Bendigo in the 1850’s was the Richest Town, on Earth.

That gold is older than the solar system, just like water.

Gold, silver, ect,were formed in stars billions of years ago. During the heavy bombardment period.

South African here. In the last few decades, an illegal mining industry has developed where illegal miners mine abandoned gold mines. Safety is very bad and there are regular news reports of illegal miners being killed in accidents. Many of the illegal miners are from neighbouring countries. The operations are run by criminal gangs. It reminds me of the situation in the late 1800s with all the the crime. I can understand why the Boers didn't want the area to be mined. They trekked out of the Cape Colony to escape the British. They were also staunch Calivinists with a love of the land, who wanted to maintain their way of living.

Super ancient impact mega-crater -- no oxygen yet -- the crater walls erode to create an immense placer field. Over eons of time, the cobble over lays -- intermingles -- with the gold fines. Etc. So the process took billions of years. It pre-dated life on Earth. The impact was also the creator of the diamond pipes. It released Deep strata from below the Moho.

What caused it to be there? I'm no expert, but the Vredefort Dome astrobleme may have something to do with it. The reef appears to conform to a ring around the impact epicenter, with more density in the north western parts. Also, there's a similar ring of platinum deposit, also inexplicably vast, that appears to form a ring much further out around the same epicenter, also dense north west. (From Rustenburg through Mokopane to Burgersfort) View it on a topographical map - it is very obvious and extends beyond the Gauteng province. The impact occurred over 2 billion years ago and I'm suggesting it is responsible for more than just creating the basin - the very same asteroid/comet may have contained these precious metals. In this very video, without any mention, the center of some of the diagram maps are Vredefort. I find myself at the peak of a Dunning Kruger curve here - can someone with real expertise please comment on 'my' astrobleme 'hypothesis'?

I have to say it. You look like Commander Data's brother.

I didnt mean teacher,that was supposed to be tether.

Thanks for the video. As more has been learned about the Vredevoort impact, I have been interested that the arc of gold mines radiates in a rough arc with Vredvoort in the center. What may lie on the opposite (southern) side of the impact site on the same arc? I have been over Vredevoort in a microlight low and slow and present day it looks as if the impact may have been at at an angle as the north side has markedly more rocky outcrops than the south.

Thought you were going to tell me.. the smirk on your thumbnail deserves my opinion. Eventually it will be proven you're graverobbers. straight and level hallways with trains in them, aren't following gold veins.

George Harrison holding up a rock, perhaps thinking "Eureka!" But more likely, "Doesn't look like much, but maybe I can flog it to some fool for enough to get to Barter Town".

80% of world Platinum reserves are also found in South Africa.

Geologist here . May I inquire as to why you have two first names (ie a first name for a surname )? I’m envious . The only thing I could do to top this is to change my surname (Santos) to Jay.

In the USA( lower 48) would you choose for large nuggets?

African nations are incredibly rich in resources but unfortunately Africans lack the wherewithal to utilize them for themselves.