Mystery rocks found in NE Victoria while panning for gold.

[Seldomsean]

G'day folks, i am new on here today & after searching on the internet i can not find any images of these rocks i have dug up while out digging on rock bar in local river looking for gold. A little history on the area is that is known for Tin mining as well as gold, getting a lot of black sand in the pan. Also the thing about these what i think could be mix of quartz, gold & maybe tin, is that they stay in the pan until only gold & black sand left in the pan. When dry they have a waxy look about them & when wet like in the photo's they are like they have been polished. The biggest i have is about the size of the lighter & there is no distinctive patterns nor shapes in them & very heavy even with just touch of gold colour in the white, what i can only assume is quartz. Also in same river i get a very fine flour coloured sand which is same as tin & cold left behind that i believe is gold with high content of silver mixed in with it, is this possible. I also get samples of the normal coloured gold, some chunky pickers. I have learnt bits & pieces since being a child about prospecting & fossicking & been chronically ill over last 20 years & hoping this may help me recover physically being only 53 & an oldman now, just pottering in the new part of Aus i have moved to recently, but understanding the old mining history here, some i learnt from my father as a teen living in this area.
Cheers Sean.

 

[user 4485]

Hard to tell from pics - could be Jasper?

 

[Seldomsean]

mbasko

Not sure whether this pic helps, but i am pretty sure that is not Jasper as had tonnes of where i lived in QLD. Jasper does not get waxy look about it like this does. I will try to get good pic of them dry & see how it looks. Cheers m8..

 

[AtomRat]

If its waxy its probably a agate. Similar to landscape agate actually possibly. If you have a wet tile saw, gently cut one in half and post a pic of its insides

 

[Seldomsean]

Thanks AtomRat. could quite possibly be as you say. Yeah don't have any gem equipment at all. I am getting a lot of small stuff in my concentrates, so i may just smash it up down to a powder to eliminate the possibility of tin & gold being in it. Then i may chase down someone who is into lapidary or a forum on here if one i guess. I had a look at pics on google, but still hard to tell. Much appreciated for your response m8.. Cheers.

 

[AtomRat]

Unless it looks super cool or rare, crushing always tells what's in a rock. The biggest rock and others in there show a lot of metamorphism with a big mixture of all kinds. The dark colors within may be a basalt or even mangnetite / manganese or granite. Hard to also say what the white flour is. Could be silver, platinum or even paladium.. gold with a coating of mercury etc.

With a bit of google on your general area and keywords like 'geology map' you should be able to find what the majority of the ground is in your area with this. The agate at Agate Creek QLD is very waxy

 

[Heatho]

Heavy White Sand is often Zircon sand, it's pretty heavy stuff and generally stays with the black sands.

 

[shivan]

If it has a waxy feel and is semitransparent or translucent, probably looking at chalcedony or agate. Good luck with the hunting.

 

[Parko]

Welcome to the you beaut North East. Not anywhere near Eldorado or Beechworth are you Seldomsean? Eldorado is known for its tin. What you get will depend on the location and the source of the gold. Mostly it was shed from shallow reefs as in Yackandandah, Stanley, Happy Valley, Buckland, Bright, Harrietville, Myrtleford, Wandiligong blah blah blah. Gold in the Woolshed Valley came from glacial gravels and has no reef source except maybe the Aussie Alps. The gold in the NE is as a rule remarkably pure at about 98% on average which is a bit better than 24K gold jewellery so you can rule out electrum. It is also as a rule very fine as in flour gold. The fine blonde sand is probably zircon, I get a lot of it and it washes off pretty easily when you (carefully) pan off. I have no idea what those pebbles are but they look like some kind of metamorphic rock to me. Grab yourself a copy of "The Victorian Prospector's Guide and Handbook" and if you can find it "Gold in the North East", both very valuable sources of prospecting information.

 

[Seldomsean]

This is the Flour gold, which my father who dredged here 30 odd years ago had mentioned fine gold with big content of silver in it. In this pan i got rid of the bulk of the black sand & i am just surprised at the amount of the flour silver/gold there is here.

This next pic shows how much black sand is here, with a bit of chunky gold & the flour gold/silver in amongst it.

 

[Philthy]

What General area in the North East are you? It may help in narrowing down the types of rocks that you found.

Nice gold too.

 

[Seldomsean]

Thanks Parko, for your gr8 info. It is in the Mitta Mitta river system which is all part of the same line of tin that is down that way & i believe may even go further down towards Bendigo, which i read from book written about this area, but not much info in it really. I will be heading that way in the near future & will try to find the books you mentioned thanks. I have found a few small zircon's here & i have just screened some of my concentrates down to sand size & used magnet to get rid of a lot of the black sand ( all i have learnt off Youtube over last month or so. ) Will be attempting to pan it off tomorrow probably if i can get off this comp, so i will try to get better pics of the fine pure gold & the flour sand/gold/silver.. You guy's are all shattering my dreams & theories, but better to find out rather than not know.. Much appreciated to you all for your input Shivan, Heatho & Parko.. Cheers..

 

[user 4485]

Jasper & agate can both have a waxy lustre with jasper ranging from vitreous to waxy. They are also both types of chalcedony. Pretty hard to call from a visual only but best way is if transparent, semi translucent/translucent it would more than likely be named a chalcedony or agate. If opaque it would more than likely be named a type of jasper.

 

[Parko]

No worries Seldomsean. Have a look at the Pioneer Mine site at Mitta Mitta, totally impressive. Eskdale was known for it's tin. There are plenty of prospects on the Mitta including Lightning Creek, Granite Flat, Sandy Creek and Little Snowy Creek. I know a few blokes who live in the district who have paid for motor bikes and cars after shifting a few cubic meters of pay dirt. Not me though, I'm too lazy. Or too old a the ripe old age of 54 har har.

 

[PabloP]

Don't forget to check the Exempt rivers and streams list, as a couple of those mentioned by Parko are on it and I have heard of rangers checking folk working the Mitta. Not that the original reason for the exempt list appears to have much relevance in most of todays locations.

Rob.

 

[Goldtarget]

Beat me to it Rob. Good pickup.

 

[Seldomsean]

This is one of the biggest ones with only touch of gold colour in it, is about 5 mil thick at thickest & has sun behind it giving it the Sapphire salute.

This has sun reflecting off camera to show colour on it as trying to see through it.

Dry on plastic plate after sun gone down.

Dry with last of sunlight to show some colour.

I have had reasonable experience with most gems, including agate from agate creek, zircon, topaz from MT surprise, thunder eggs from Mt hay, peridot & all different types & colours of Jasper in the Sunshine Coast hinterland around Kenilworth & Imbil area. Sapphires all around Anakie in Central Qld & chased gold in between, finding all sorts of different things associated with dredging & detecting over 30 yrs ago. But i have never seen anything quite like these & as heavy as these seem to be.
I do appreciate & understand what has been said or what you have explained or if in doubt i looked it up so i could understand. A couple of things not mentioned is common opal or cassiterite which have come up for minerals or gems in this area, i thought may have been possible. I am still a little confused as to what they are & i will endeavour to crush some smaller bits up tomorrow & pan it off, to eliminate gold or tin. There is a lot of quartz in vains in this area with gold rusty colour in it with other black minerals either side in the slate or granites. cheers for everyone's input once again, you have given me a lot to think about.

 

[shivan]

I think I just had chalcedony on the brain after hunting some today. The stones in the photo above look a lot more opaque than what I thought. Is the dark stuff staining or another mineral in the rock?

 

[Seldomsean]

Shivan they look like they are separate & is pretty much just the 3 colours with variation in the gold through to almost rusty brown. Much like you see in a lot of quartz. Actually a lot of smaller stuff is red with the white & black, like rose quartz.

 

[AtomRat]

Can you crush one up at all?