I posted a question on why is gold found in quartz and nuggets found loose in dirt http://forums.silverstackers.com/viewtopic.php?pid=294786 that attracted an unhelpful response, seemingly based more on personal prejudices, than a willingness to help and share information. So i decided to created a separate thread. I do not see the point in just spending money on equipment and not learning a thing or two about the nature of the geology of the area, and where and why it exists. a good reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vein_(geology) 1 Research potential gold-laden sites and decide on one to visit. A simple online search will give you some leads as to where you're most likely to find gold. 2 Visit the site you picked in step 1, bringing your hammer, chisel, water bottle, toothbrush and optional metal detector with you. 3 Look around for solid stretches of rock. These might be directly under your feet, or they may be in nearby hills or cliffs. If your prospecting site is near a gold-rich river or stream, keep in mind that gold is heavy and may have eroded out of the banks or any nearby high places. 4 Look for quartz in the rock veins you've found. It is a very heavy and strong crystalline-looking mineral that usually occurs in white, though it may also be clear, pink or gray. 5 Set your metal detector to find gold and slowly wave it back and forth over the veins of quartz. While this step is optional, it can help you determine where the most gold is and also provide encouragement that gold is actually there. 6 Visually examine the quartz looking for gold. If the quartz is muddy, you may wish to pour some of your water over it and use the toothbrush to clean off the mud so you'll have a clearer view. 7 Use your hammer and chisel to remove the gold-laden quartz from the surrounding rock. Read more: How to Find Gold Veins in Rock Formations | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5894648_gold-veins-rock-formations.html#ixzz1llUP1nIj I have no idea about geology or how to identify quartz bearing areas but i thought this would be a good place to start and draw productive discussion rather than wander around aimlessly not knowing how to "read" the land.
http://www.nqminersden.com/dolly_pot.htm (pics at website) How to use a dolly pot to recover gold from quartz specimens Introduction When metal detecting on the gold fields it is possible to find gold still encased or attached to quartz. Often a piece of quartz will give off a positive signal on the metal detector, indicating the possible presence of gold. At times the gold will be clearly visible as specks, seams or veins. At other times it will be hidden inside the rock or present as very small gold flecks. A good quality 10x folding loupe will help greatly. The decision to smash up a gold specimen in order to extract the gold will depend on the size and beauty of such a piece. The reason we want to separate the gold from the quartz is that we may want to sell the gold. The gold buyer does not want the worthless quartz component. What not to smash up A piece of quartz with lots of gold showing and interesting shape would have to be preserved intact as a valuable collectors piece. Specially if it is snow white quartz, clear or crystal quartz, get advice as it could be quite valuable. The amount of quartz maybe of little importance but sometimes it may even increase its geological collector value. What to smash in the dolly pot All suspect quartz pieces with very little gold showing of no interesting shape and colour. What you need Safety glasses protect your eyes from flying rock chips Dolly pot (mortar and pestle) can be home made but the old cast iron variety with the rounded bottom are the best Sieves a kitchen sieve would just be fine Gold pans to place your fine powdered quartz in Gold specimens what you found last trip and cannot sell Quartz specimen showing colouration How to do it WEAR SAFETY GLASSES Break up your larger rocks into manageable smaller pieces about (20mm) on a hard surface like a concrete path. On large chunks use a sledge hammer or a smaller heavy crack hammer on the smaller pieces. It helps to cover your rock with a piece of old cloth or hessian bag to contain any flying rock chips. By studying the quartz beforehand look for a weak spot where it might crack more easily. Sweep up your rocks and select suitable pieces for the dolly pot. After breaking into smaller pieces, richest piece shown Place one or two pieces in your dolly pot and start pounding to a small enough grain size to free up the gold from the quartz. Sieve all your fines into a gold pan. Any material left in the sieve must be dollied again. If the gold is very small you will have to pound it even smaller to fit through a smaller sieve. This may require a second pass. If the gold is larger or in seams just pound enough to free from the quartz and pick out by hand. The consistency of your fines would vary between powder and the minimum mesh size of your sieve (about 1mm). Dolly pot with sieve and gold pan Pan off normally into a tub to separate your gold from your quartz material. After panning off, beautiful gold Mercury was used in the old days to trap the finest gold that was too difficult to pan. In modern times the use of mercury is frowned upon on environmental and health grounds and not recommended.
Well done buddy. There are particular trees that also give tell signs of what is going on underneath - I shall leave it there.
Geology in prospecting should be looked at very carefully for someone that wishes to indulge in detecting in a serious way. Gold in its nugget form has been moving for many thousands of million years, depleting its common host quarts through dynamics of movement / heat /cold. Gold with quarts (Known as specimens) has only been on the travel from it shedding vein for only a few million years to a few thousand years, a person that has a good eye for specimens can pick sponge gold with its fine sharp lattice look in quarts known as late shed. To long traveled specimens that have flat worn looking areas in both gold and quarts . It is this late shed specimens that have rewarded me with some great finds! Finding sponge gold means that there might be old diggings from the 1800's. Look at your surroundings like hill tops , any ground movement! then detect the slopes slowly into the gullies that have the river bed/ weathered side. Detecting is not a race. Once you find a patch, detect it, and dont forget to scan all the bases of trees.
Thanks for the cool thread, I think most people here will be more than happy to answer questions. Just remember to have fun with looking for gold, dont expect too much at first but if you are persistant you will find it and always start with a good area where it has been found before. There are alot of good books and references out there .One book I would really reccomend for the beginner (and the experienced because there is always something to learn) is " Gold Mining in The 21st century" by Dave McCracken.
After mapping i use vegetative Geology as my second most important tool. As an example, We get a lot of old glaciation deposits here. scree and moraines, etc. I have noticed button grass and cutting grass grow profusely on it and that means the bed rock is buried under it all from a few meters to scores of meters so it saves me lots of drilling / digging for nothing. Coming out of Tullah South up to Mount Black is a prime example of a glacial deposit here and the wall of rainforest once it slopes out of the overburden. Opal miners look for straight line trees that can sometimes signify a fault line. But may also indicate a fallen tree that has regrown in several places. Not sure if its true? but, i find more good opal around blow holes than fault lines Limestone that has been hit by volcanic's is a great place to start looking for gold specifically. An exposed pluton is great if you look 1km or so away from the edge, then again 5km out. Broken hill is one of the best examples of zonal mineral deposits in the world. Interestingly, new world wine regions of the world inc, Barossa valley, Napa valley, Marlborough NZ, Pipers river Tas , Mudgee etc are all old gold fields. Limestone and basalt work for both gold and wine grapes. Limestone and Granites too. Sometimes the "Mud" In Quartz will be decomposed Iron Pyrite (rust) and may contain very good fine gold. Im into a patch of it at the moment and the highest assay (stream Sediments) is 300 grams 9.5oz Au per ton. The field was only discovered in 1974 and is totally un-worked. So there are still virgin deposits that can be yours if you want to look where others have not.
Tip: When entering your local gold fields, take notice of any workings! Like if you see that a bulldozer has moved overburden. This is a good indication that someone has found a good hit. The idea is to keep cutting the overburden down in layers after each period of detecting. always go over these areas again as not all the gold has been found....I have found some very nice nuggets doing just this. Also the dozer's will leave ridges of dirt from the sides of their blades as they move along, called windrows! Always detect these as some great finds can be gained detecting them. windrows can also be cut down in layers, then detected again,and again. It save a whole heap of walking, just to find nothing Works for me.
