⭐ Gold Detecting Show'n Tell

Prospecting Australia

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1 of the little species I found I thought was ironstone but after a soak in hcl acid for 24 hrs didn't touch it so not ironstone. Now looks a bit more like a solidified clay? . I have no idea really but would be interested in thoughts as it came of the side of a reef with the other species in quarts .
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Good one Bjay,

Looks to be sedimentary - when I first looked at the image looked to be a compressed sediment with an above medium concentration or iron oxide. But that should have broken down in the HCl

Appears to be a claystone from the image. Pretty sure HCl doesnt attack or destroy the clay structure depending on concentration/minerals etc.

Is the rock brittle? Shale is also a fine grained compacted clay silt or mud sedimentary rock - is there any layering?

Nice find by the way
 
Not brittle at at all , can scrape it with fingernail so pretty soft. No visible layering so don't think it's shale. Only very small gold wise but surprised to find it amongst other quarts species . All found roughly 20 meters from the originally reef working.
 
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