4) Metal detecting patterns. We all have things we relate to gold and these tell-tell signs are the first indicator of gold.

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4) Metal detecting patterns. We all have things we relate to gold and these tell-tell signs are the first indicator of gold. 

This is a great topic because we know many pieces of gold are found by prospectors noticing the indicators. 

Quartz is an indicator but not always the key. Gold can travel far from where it was born. The color and content of the quartz is very important. The look of the quartz also plays into the history of the deposit. For me, Hydrothermal evidence is always something that indicates the possibility I have walked into a gold-bearing area. This can change from one end of a gulch to the other. There may have been a vein that crossed the gulch at a point downstream some distance and there was no gold above. Where I hunt Red Andesite and gray granite that seems to act like a dam where the quartz attaches to the side of it are something that will make me slow down. But only one indicator can be misleading so if there are larger pieces of iron and hematite these are indicators that complete the picture. 
When you find something swing low and slow.