how do they locate gold?

Evo

We just prefer to have actual references, in this case to see how it's done would've been nice. You stated it was from your own experience, so that's fine, I was just hoping you had more, I've been searching with little results.

Straw_Cat

To sample deeper than one can with gold panning and bio-prospecting methods, one uses core drills. These are basically highly specialized 'hole saws'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_drill

See also the core drill illustration about half-way down this page:

http://atropos.as.arizona.edu/aiz/te.../lecture9.html

These hollow drills provide one with rock samples that can be split and resplit. One part of the core- the ones that show interesting looking mineral samples- is sent to an independent lab for analysis, using either acids or a spectrum analysis machine. Half the samples are kept "on file" by the exploration company. In some cases a second quarter of the samples is sent to another lab for a second opinion. The one half is kept in case the deposit needs to be re-sampled at some point.

Drill holes are laid out on a grid pattern, with parallel rows of these holes spaced a distance apart on the property. These drill holes can be quite deep, 2,000 meters and more, depending on how much the exploration company wants to pay for.

This sampling allows a geologist to now create an approximate 3d profile of the deposit on a computer, which in turn gives an approximate volume. That in turn can lead to an estimate of how much ore is in the deposit.

I have been asked to help a geologist put together a series of study guides about core drilling and the tasks associated with this kind of job. Previous to this, I did some work reading through 3,500 pages of a particular copper and precious metals mine proposal to find out what the deposit contained but the mining company wasn't publicizing. I found worrisome pockets of mercury, and some radioactive minerals. This job was a real learning experience since I had to look up a lot of geological terms and mineral names.

I now have a much deeper understanding of the geology almost literally under my feet, and it's fascinating stuff. [Vaguely, just a bit west of Kamloops, B.C., and south of the Thompson River.]

So hopefully this helps explain more about how to find minerals (gold) below 10 meters. My apologies for not quite understanding the question in the first place!

Straw_Cat

Add: It's irrelevant, but I have some core samples sitting right next to me. They look for all the world like long 2" diameter granite rolling pins, and I AM tempted to try one for making cookies.
At least I'm pretty certain they're granite....