Lilnuggett
I had agood day today, eventually got on to a good spot that produced
The key is to avoid the usual hot spots as they have already been done over
I concentrated on the shallow crevices in the bedrock & got some chunky colour
I experienced an unusual thing today, i watched 2 pieces of gold in the pan turn silver
Turns out that mercury was to blame turning the gold to amalgam
I have seen mercury in the pan here rolling around before but had no idea it would would attatch to gold so quickly
The old timers must have used a lot of mercury in the old days
I now need to reavaluate every piece of heavy silver in the pan
Apparently you use nitric acid, palm oil or a potatoe to remove the mercury
Looking forward to another dig tomorrow
Regards
Dirty Harry