Hi All,
Ever walked along and noticed a lot of quartz and you immediately think gold, How many times have you said these words "Oh quartz there's gotta be gold, doesnt there" or "How can there be all of this quartz and no gold" remember not all gold is found with quartz but often is. There is not one indicator that immediately gives us the sign of gold, how cool would that be though, if there was one indication then no doubt we wouldnt be finding any at all these days - gold is found almost every where, in sea water, igneous volcanic hydro-thermal veins, alluvial creeks riverbeds, mountains, many different host rock types. Its found almost everywhere
but at what depth Could be a sunbaker on the surface or it could even be 3km under your feet
What does this tell us - all this information and no clear indication - I will tell you a good way to start - look at it like a round of golf. Golf he says, yeah right we arent playing golf here mate we are prospecting keep your golf stories to yourself
Home ground advantage - when your playing at your home ground you know all the slopes, contours, hills, waterways, sand traps - your game should be better than someone traveling in - well at least you should have a
better advantage
Much like the goldfields lets say you live in the gold town of Maryborough - you have been prospecting for many years and had exceptional finds, you then travel to another district and seems that others have found some good gold but you are struggling to make sense of the grounds and you leave the area disappointed - its because gold is almost found everywhere but in different host rocks for that particular area, what works well in your district may not in another. In saying this also remember all the days you didnt find Gold at your home town and then when you only take a 1 day search in another district dont think that its was worthless and never go back - lets say you spent 6 hours in another town - thats not much at all, this is where psychology plays a big parts in the search
Gold deposits vary in many area's - if your on a mountain and there is a quartz reef and has gold, then if you also find a quartz reef say 2km away in another mountain range then the possibilities are great, If you travel a far distance away then not always does quartz reef have gold, most quartz has microns but we need the ounces in the reef
Get to know the area that you are traveling to, lets say you want to take a trip to Maryborough Vic - you have no understanding of the main indicators, are there any main indicators YES Most definitely - again go back to the district you are going to not from, there are many types of host rocks associated with gold the main term is "
favorable Host Rock" not all host rock. Keeping in mind the difference between free gold alluvial which has been deposited in flats lower lying areas gullies rivers and river beds from waves and currents, where as gold in host rock is the primary gold, large alluvial deposits are almost always found in the gully type lower lying area's with scattered deposits near these area's
Some area's around Maryborough consists of sedimentary mudstone, slates and sandstone. Harder metamorphic rocks and sandstones also protrude as clusters with flat surrounding landscape. Granite intrusions also occur and often appear as clusters of huge boulders, Gold-bearing quartz reefs lie within the ancient sediments
Soils of the region are generally shallow and derived from the Ordovician era 500 million years ago when ocean covered the area, the base rock lies close to the ground surface - fair to say that we have a basic understanding of the geological makeup of this area, now compare this with your local geological makeup - wow some similarities but not many
This next section I will try to explain in a very easy to understand terminology so when your in the field you can understand when all these waves and current were going on with stream flowing crazy - how things would have moved
Its also fair to say Gold weighs a lot and has a density of 19.32 or 19,320kg/m3 - not the heaviest but right up there, and Water is 1000 kg/m3 - so gold is close to 19 times more dense than water, alluvial gold over a lot of time under water currents would have worked its way down to a solid bottom or bedrock its that dense it would have remained there for millions of years - still there in many places today for us to find
When you think of the amount of water that was covering the earth and moving large amounts of material heaviest to the lowest spots and lightest material just kept going until sea levels dropped - now look at this chart and compare these materials which we all know of its existence - possibly most of us have handled this material or will do when you take your first prospecting trip
Wow Gold is way heavier or dense I should say than these materials and water - Gold will find a very hard platform to rest when exposed in water
When we try to picture this massive event sea levels dropping and then we get extreme rivers take the widest river and multiply it by 10, that is large volumes of water. Looking at the bigger picture when you think about tectonic plates the earth breaking apart and over millions of years continents slowly moving, volcanic eruptions covering parts of the land with different minerals wowo
Fault lines, lineaments etc - geological studies have shown and the miners finding gold near these fault lines, big mining companies drilling down near these lineaments where 2 lineaments meet - so 90% of the gold is still in the ground after the big gold rush days in the mid 1800's - whats a measly 1.9million kg's of gold recorded from the Vic Gold fields from 1851 to 1896 - thats recorded Gold just to think all the extra that wasnt recorded
Now the Geologist say that even up until this current date that there is still 90% of the current recorded gold still in the grounds - Mmmm thanks Geologist's just what we all need to know that those rich gullies are still obtainable - big mining companies still have more hope, easy for geologist to say this based on their findings, just how deep is this 90%
What keeps us going is the informative knowledge advice and inspirational stories, like the pair of amateur prospectors in 2008 who discovered a Gold reef and dug out over 1million in gold then sold the reef, or the guy who unearthed the 4.1kg Nugget recently and another near wedderburn weighing 87 ounces - brings a smile to your face - of course we all say things after reading these recent finds - but it brings hope to all
We all know they are still obtainable its just a matter of finding that 1 foot x 1 foot patch of ground with your name on it screaming eureka. Or maybe many 1 foot x 1 foot pieces of ground to hear that sound in your ears humming away with the the sound of minerals to be unearthed - that being GOLD Mineral
So in a nutshell on this earlier post - dont just think if you see quartz ironstone red clays mineralized ground pyrites slates sandstones granites gravel auriferous wash in one location that it is the same in others - study each area then go hit it
If you have someone in that area that can share their knowledge of the area and take you out to some spots they found gold, then thats a big step forward - if you have to do it on your own then study up on the geological formations of the area, look at the gold maps, in each gully or worked area make notes of your own on the ground and geological makeup - pickup rocks study them
Go to different gullies and workings in the area to get an understanding of the geology - its all good to talk with someone in the area if the knowledge is sound. Like the old days just think that if you asked a miner where the gold is what do you think he would tell you Hah yeah like I am going to walk 100 miles when you are right here standing in front of me. In more modern times who knows if the trust is sure???
Its easy for me to tell you go look in the Enfield State Park - Look how big this place is, much like if someone said Go to W.A, thats a big place and what a start I have yeah lets go to W.A - unless you have specific knowledge of the area or area's of interest then it will take much more time in search - If I am 51% sure on the probability then I am in for sure - you can't tell me that you know someone who can tell you where an exact spot is in the ground which has a high probability of gold - I am talking the probability being 100%
Can you?? Makes you think
Dont swing blind - try to increase your probability - gain knowledge, explore then prospect
Again its all good if someone shows you various spots but there is no better feeling than digging out Gold while prospecting - thats why we are out there in the search - everything else is just a bonus
