 The Cane Creek Mountains lie in the Carolina Slate Belt, a belt that consists of heated and deformed volcanic and sedimentary rocks.The belt is best known for old abandoned gold mines.North Carolina led the nation in gold production for 50 years, between the discovery of a 17-pound (7.7 kg) gold nugget at the Reed Gold Mine in Cabarrus County, NC near Charlotte in 1799 and the discovery of gold during the California Gold Rush of 1849.