Interesting quartz I found digging

[Goldenred33]

Found these nice pieces of quartz near 4 metres deep on edge of shale hopefully theres gold in some of it

 

[jethro]

Well... What are you waiting for?? Crush it up man!!! Come on, lets gooooooo

 

[Goldenred33]

I was drying it off a bit before putting in dolly pot tomorrow I will crush it. Hanging to get back to uncover more off the vein only just found the tip protruding in south east side of shaft, not sure on dip of vein yet.

 

[jethro]

Put it in a fire and get it red hot then drop it in a bucket of water. Itll be a lot easier to crush.

 

[Goldenred33]

Ok thanks Jethro Ill give a try

 

[DrDuck]

Beat me to it Jethro!

 

[Goldenred33]

No gold in first dolly pot this evening unless its very hard to see.
This quartz is the very end of stringer, hoping it has gold the further I investigate.

 

[jethro]

No gold in first dolly pot this evening unless its very hard to see.
This quartz is the very end of stringer, hoping it has gold the further I investigate.

It can be micro fine and not readily visible to the naked eye (especially my naked eye/) Get a good large 30X lens and check for a tail of mineralized heavys in the pan. Also a small rare earth magnet to remove any iron filing that will end up in the tail and oxidise and trap gold if left in the pan for a day or so. Heating the quartz to dull red heat will make it much easier to crush, even better if you dunk it in water while still hot. :Y:

 

[Goldenred33]

Ok thanks Jethro, I will do some closer investigating some of the reefs where I am had an ounce per tonne roughly, it sounds like they were not good at recovery though.
Ive found pieces like this with detector

 

[grubstake]

Those lumps with gold in them look to me more like conglomerate than quartz.

 

[jethro]

Whatever it is Its got the right stuff in it.

 

[goldtruck59]

I love Gold. I cant help it. Keep the news coming !!!!! If I dont go for a wave soon I will have to start talking to the cook or Ill go mad !!

GT :goldnugget: :goldnugget: :goldpan: ickshovel:

 

[Goldenred33]

Yes grubstake it was more like very decayed rock I found 50 metres away from quartz Ive come across.

 

[Goldenred33]

I will keep digging and share my finds goldtruck its very addictive the yellow metal

 

[grubstake]

Personally, I wouldn't be spending much time on that quartz stringer, then. The quartz in it looks very different from those rich specimens and your crushed sample was barren, but those specimens look good enough to eat - hound them down!

 

[Goldenred33]

Thanks for the opinion grubstake I will keep digging for the wash dirt as this was the original plan hopefully not to much deeper

 

[Goldenred33]

Did some more digging today the quartz vein is quite bulky looks to be rising from north east upto a south west direction at a 40 degree incline.
Havent found any gold wash yet :|

 

[grubstake]

Years ago (mid-80's), I came upon an old bloke in the bush south-west of Maryborough Victoria, who was sinking his third shaft in an attempt to extend an old-time line of aluvial gully workings. He'd learnt the skills during the Great Depression of the 1930's, from the real old-timers who were still around in those days. From what he told me over the course of an hour-long conversation, there's quite a lot more to it than I'd imagined:

False bottoms lead a lot of new chums astray apparently, although they typically don't carry much gold (if any). They can meander around and then suddenly drop in depth by a foot or two, leaving the inexperienced scratching their heads wondering where the lead they were following has gone. To confuse matters further, there can be repeated false bottoms as you sink deeper.

The key for significant success is persisting with sinking until the shaft bottoms out on bedrock (usually slate, in the Golden Triangle), then it's a matter of finding the actual lead, where the paydirt is concentrated. Bad luck if it's too far off from the side of the shaft and the miner can't figure out which direction is the right one. When located, in that area of the Golden Triangle the gold-bearing lead is typically visible as a narrow but distinct red streak or band in the clay/rocks lying on the bedrock.

The bloke was on his third shaft of about 3 metres depth in the gully where I met him and was still trying to work out where the lead indicated by the line of old pits further up the gully, had gone, as he hadn't dropped straight on to it in his first attempt close to the old pits. The lesson I learned was that even someone with plenty of experience and a good understanding of the area, didn't necessarily find success every time.

So I'm curious as to why you expect to intersect a gold wash layer. Are you in a gully in line above/below old diggings or are you just sinking a shaft 'on spec'?

 

[Goldenred33]

Thanks for the very informative description of the old digger makes sense to me. So I chose this spot to sink shaft just below another old shaft I believe as the area was bulldozed for grazing in the 1930 to 40s, I can see depressions in ground that look to be the old diggings and on the particular one above me I pulled an ounce nugget plus a 2 grammar and few other bits close by then a 6 grammar to my left all left behind from previous diggings one being black gold so hard to tell apart from ironstone rocks.
Im also close to the middle of current gully and creek line, one thing Ive bottomed out on a slate type shale but crowbarred my way thru this and now come across the quartz vein decaying at other end and some nice coloured clays.
Still going deeper havent found bedrock yet.

 

[Danny13]

I love Gold. I cant help it. Keep the news coming !!!!! If I dont go for a wave soon I will have to start talking to the cook or Ill go mad !!

GT :goldnugget: :goldnugget: :goldpan: ickshovel:

You love it, I would roll in it , sniff it like it was a drug