Other minerals apart from gold

Bugger the gold, they are bloody beautiful rocks U308. I would have been very happy to bring them home. Most of mine end up under the garden taps or in my fish pond, but there seems to be no cure for my rock collecting.

Cheers,
Jig.

I hear you Jig...been getting some funny looks from the boss when i open up the back of the ute after a trip

Here is another down sized a bit....look (Don't know if you will see it) it has 2 clear Quartz veins one thru the centre and one at the top.

I should have put something up as a comparison the rocks weigh approx a kilo

U308 ,
Could that be Chrysoprase ?
Jig

Wikapedia
"Chrysoprase or chrysophrase is a gemstone variety of chalcedony (a cryptocrystalline form of silica) that contains small quantities of nickel. Its color is normally apple-green, but varies to deep green. The darker varieties of chrysoprase are also referred to as prase. (However, the term prase is also used to describe chlorite-included quartz, and to a certain extent is a color-descriptor, rather than a rigorously defined mineral variety.)"

Nope diffenatetly not Chrysoprase.

It's turquoise

Regards
John

VERY beautiful! Eye-catching as well!

Cheers,

Marco

Tui
Chrysoprase classic Australian bright green gem (Google)
Edit - Oops meant to add this Tui the face is a bit powdery when wet it is maybe a Spring green colour
Was posting when you posted Tui

Jig
I have no idea now, I picked up a smaller stone for a young lady of 5 that wants to be a Geo loves her rocks. looking at the rock it has a green quartz colour almost like nickel sulfate crystals as per Wikipedia.

Thanks for the interest too

Also read that jasper is involved in the process which would explain the red in the picture, I really have no idea .There is an ex geo that lives not far away i will pay him a visit and see what he can come up with.

Maybe i did find gold just not the colour i thought it was going to be, I will keep you informed as to the outcome

cheers people

I have samples of both Chrysoprase and Turquiose.

Your sample is definately Turquiose (Copper)

Regards
John

Just had it soaking in water for 10 minutes TUI and you are quite correct in your observations.

Thanks
U308

Afternoon people went out for another stroll today...start well at 35 degrees but as soon as the clouds left whoosh 43

Took the camera this time some pics

A ridge with a Quartz blow that runs for approx 1 kilometer this pic shows about 500mtrs



Looking out onto the flats



Some of the ground detected in the next few







Feel free to pass on some of your experience on this type of ground, as one has come home with zip again..to me this ground looks OK but some of you may know different

Cheers

looks good to me, i'd be happy on ground that looked like that.
good pics..thanks
cheers fencejumper

The second last photo sparked my interest.

Hi U308,
Where's the contact area, I would follow the quartz ridge until it ran into an ironstone ridge and this contact area should produce especially if the ridges are at 90 deg. to each other, other than that, imagine the hill you are on was a lot higher and as it erodes away the soil and leaves the quartz ridge exposed you have to imagine where the original surface was and drop perpendicular down from where the quartz ridge would have been exposed on the surface and you might find your pot of gold.
Most outcroppings project out of a hill at an angle, line that up with where you think the original surface was, once you find a source it can be up to 2km from there, usually downhill, and if you find gold on one side of a hill look on the other side as well.
If you are on the oldtimers ground just extend the runs and if it's new ground just keep walkin
Regards Ron

U308,

The ground looks so good for gold. Maybe you were in CANCEL . Sorry, just kidding.

Thanks for the photos,

Jig.

Thanks for your thoughts authere, I get the picture now ?? As the ridge could have been 500mtrs higher...the veining would have been placed as erosion had taken place all relative to the angle and projection of the vein, hence the could be displaced up to 2 km's from where the ridge is at present.

This is exactly what i was looking for, appreciate you sharing your knowledge

Edit= There is no iron outcropping predominant now authere only greenstone rock so one would surmise that erosion has displaced it many years ago.

Jig; (Maybe you were in cancel) Starting to think it has been locked in cancel for the last 4 months LOL

It's working picks up bullets, small pieces of tin no problems. picked up a hot rock a month ago 2 inches down would have been not much bigger than a match head.

Jig went to my fav spot to check for rocks (as you do when you collect)

Picked up this one has small crystals formed only very narrow veining but looks very nice

U308,
Beautiful. There is no other word better word to describe that. It is a rock among rocks. I would put that one on a table in my TV room next to my piece of orange iron ore with silver manganese running through it.
Forget the gold, get more of "green stuff".
Willie (Jigalong)

Hi U308,
You said it but didn't realize it, contact means contact with any form of gold bearing minerals,quartz coming in contact with greenstone is perfect, if you can't pick up any trace of nuggets give the pan a go.
Sometimes we find something and don't realize what we have in front of us, if you have found these copper bearing rocks in the same area the contact area we were talking about produced another mineral like COPPER and not gold as you were looking for, this could be a mother load and maybe you need to do more research.
Regards Ron
PS: I collect rocks myself and have a fair collection, which can be seen on GPOZ in the photo section
Another tip is to look around the hill and pick the lowest point in the surrounding area that would be the drain off area from the hill, this could be a likely source for any gold to collect, the other thing you would have to do is ascertain how deep the ground is in your area ie most ground has a top layer of alluvial soil but how deep is the bedrock if any.
Regards Ron

Thanks for the reply authere, I understand what you are saying Re gold contact....there has been many gazetted case's where greenstone copper quartz contact does not produce au


The copper bearing rocks are many km's away, as i do not know about the contact if any one can only guess...a drill rig would answer the story as you know.

Bedrock nothing visable once again drill rod, i may take a couple of likely looking rocks and crush them then pan and see what comes about. Yes agree more research..motherlode i wish.

I have written about tree occurrences in areas that look like they may produce as yet no replys, so here is the pic of said tree trunk with the red bark...Acacia i believe
Hope nobody recognises the tree....don't want them going over me ground LMAO



600 odd hits and only replies from 3 or 4 people must be all readers and not writers?? (participation)

Hi U308
you said ----must be all readers and not writers??-----I must say I'm reading and learning from your posting thanks heaps for putting in the effort.
cheers
John

Gday U308
That tree is called a "Minnerichee", not sure about the spelling but phonetically it's right. Beautiful timber. Once saw a rifle butt made out of it by an old guy in Cue back in the 70's. It's widespread throughout the Murchison.
Keep flogging those leads!!!
cheers
Brett

johnshares, thanks for the kind words but one must admit that i am very new to prospecting and still a virgin in the gold stakes.

Much to learn..theory into practice so to speak, I don't know if i would be reading to much into my postings until theory is proven.

Thanks mulgadansa.....Will do

Gday U308



From the photos the area seems to have the potential to produce gold, but because it looks as though it should it does not mean that it is going to, some of the best ground I have ever seen has never produced a speck of gold for me so in some cases " the right look" does not apply, and the gold will and can be anywhere it wants to be, some of the best gold producing ground I have worked would not rate a second look and has been overlooked exactly for that reason.

I hate to dissapoint you but the truth is that only a very low percentage of quartz blows produce gold and the gold may be present in the greenstone, coffee rock, ironstone, slate or any other predominant rock thats in the area, its by trial and error and covering all the bases that you will find out eventually where it is, if it is there at all.

The first thing I would be looking for is signs of old timers workings, dont fool yourself into thinking that no one has been there as there is a really good chance that if you found it so have the old timers and if the have been there they would have sampled about the place either knapping the quartz outcropping or by small areas of testing by dryblowing, if there has been any payable gold found then there will be signs of working and of course this could mean scraping by machinery in the later years.

If you have found signs of workings then you should start your searching at that spot and try and find out where the gold has come from, in the early days the old timers worked with hand tools and would not have expended the energy to break the quartz or to dig shafts and costines unless they were on to something, sometimes they would have just loamed an area to find out if it was producing anything.

The obvious areas to detect are the downslopes from the quartz and on the flats below them, as you do not know where the gold is if there is any you have to do this slowly and methodically, as the gold may be deep or some distance away from the original source, you can only do this by spending the time to cover all the more obvious spots, for instance if you see some parts of the downslopes that plateau then these areas are worth a detect as the gold may have slowed and remained there, as is the ground at the immediate base of the slope, the photo of the ground that you showed with the dark looking soil and minimal stones on the surface has the look of being deep and loamy, in this sort of spot you could try and use a small coil and look for floaters, or put on a bigger coil and look for deep stuff, personally I would be using a small mono coil for most of your investigations of this spot and then if that does not produce something then put a bigger coil on and give it another going over.

If one side of the hill does not produce anything then move to the other side, then if the immediate area does not produce anything then move further away from it and try out on the flats, or the next likely looking hill, it may not have any obvious quartz or rock but look anyway, especially if you find signs of the are being previously worked as they almost always miss something, sometimes you just have to stand in an area and try to visualise what it may have looked like a billion years ago, and if the gold was shed from the rock and looking at the lay of the land try to visualise where it may have moved to from there.

Its all trial and error but given that you spend enough time and that there is gold there then you should get something, if not put it down to experience and move on, in later years when you have some gold up your sleeve and have a better idea of how to read the ground then you can always go back for another look, there have been many times I have approached an area from a different direction and found gold that I have missed on previous visits.

cheers


stayyerAU

Minnerichie (Tobacco tree) - Acacia
Small tree (< 15m) with fine, flakey bark, curls on shedding, fresh pink/red bark
Wood - dark brown/black with yellow sap wood, very dense

U308,

That Minnerichie in your photo, has the thickest trunk I have ever seen. They are more a bush than a tree and have incredibly dense, heavy, hard, wood. I made a walking staff out of a straight 5.5 ft length - never use it, but it's a "treasure". Instantlly recognisable by the curling "celery" bark.

Cheers,

Willie.

PS Quote I Googled on Minnerichie "Some of tthe prospecters that I have met consider it a pointer to auriferous (gold bearing) country". If this is the case, I know where there is gold country - all through the Pilbara and Little and Great Sandy Deserts !

Hi, The tree is also known as'' SNAKE WOOD", it grows thruout most of WA in the Gold Fields.Near Peak Hill there is a large water hole
and these trees would be twice the size as the one shown, I guess that all that extra water would account for it. The ground in your
photos looks great, but as has been said not all hold gold.
Cheers Greg.

Thank you for the input guys.

Stayyer great post; Opened up a world of possibilities, similar thoughts as authere in some respects, I see in my crystal ball someone on top of a ridge with the makings out putting together a picture.

Jig "Pay back time",

[I made a walking staff out of a straight 5.5 ft length - never use it] Yet

Thanks for the research Jig

Out for a stroll today....at the usual patch, had just started walking when a landcruiser ute pulls up( those utes that the geo's use ) What are you up to mate.... just going for some exercise...well don't get back in your car and F@#*k off this is not an exploration lease any more it is a mining lease, no entry...but hang on you guys are Iron ore this is au country....we know about the au but we are an iron ore company and we are not interested in au.....what happens with the au when crushed with the fe and sent to where ever....dont know dont care get in your car and ???? and tell any of your mates this is now a mining lease we have your rego and vehicle type if we see you again you will be in deep sh^t.

So I did what all brave men do hit the road ( Discretion is always the better part of valour )Time to look for new ground Damn.

What does happen to au when dug up and crushed with fe loaded on a ship destined for some far off land???

Gday U308


For starters you should have asked this tool for his details and made note of his vehicle registration, if I had someone stop and talk to me in that tone I would have made sure he knew that I would be talking to his superiors about his attitude.

The other thing is that I have had people stop and try the same thing on me before and after some questioning I have found that they are prospectors and they are simply trying to frighten you away from the area, so you need to be aware of that possibility, and thats exactly why you should know where you are and the status of the area as far as whether its an el or ml etc.

As far as I know you can still cross over any lease as long as you are not prospecting you have every right to do so, as long as you are not interfering with any of their activities or you are in sensitive areas then I cant see where there should be any problem.

The first thing is a soon as they start with the aggressive attitude and verbal threats then I am suspicious of them, some of these types need to be taught that they dont own everything and that we prospectors have rights too, I have encountered some of these types that think that because thay have a lease they have the god given right to control all the areas around it as well, and there has been times when I have caught them out as they themselves are in fact prospecting on a neighbors lease and not there own.


cheers

stayyerAU

As a beginner, who's looking to find somewhere to have ago and be out there with the family, this sure paints a ugly picture.
Definitely not the picture i had painted.....now i have concerns for my family and should i take them, do i take a chance of exposing
them to this crap, maybe go by myself....i mean i could make a honest mistake and be in the wrong spot.
I'm really trying to understand all the info available to me thru G/Earth, Ozi, Topos, Live and Dead Tenegraphs
but im sure that peeps have walk onto other leases with their head down, talking to themselves while detecting.

A kind gesture to move on should suffice, not this bulling attitude , I tend to agree with stayyerau

The first thing is a soon as they start with the aggressive attitude and verbal threats then I am suspicious of them,

Has anyone thought maybe compiling a list of the so call mining utes by placing their rego on here and town for everyone to see.
It wont take long before you see a pattern of the real deals and the not so real deals.
A couple of noted rego's from the area you are in placed on the back of your sun visor or in your wallet and you could have a quick
check while your writting down their rego and it may help in your decision to move on or not.

Maybe that fishing spot down south isn't so bad after all.

Gday sleepr


For the most part leaseholders and station owners are a reasonable lot and will normally ask you if you know where you are and if your in the wrong place they will ask you to move on, you have to remember that these people pay out money to hold these leases and plundering by others does two things it takes away the gold they are paying the rights to access and some people leave a lot of damage that they as leaseholders are responsible for, so in some instances you may run across someone who has had all these things done to them, it does not give them the right to behave that way but you could understand their frustration.

This is not the norm so dont be put off by this, you just have to be aware of where you are and aware that there are rules and regulations that go along with the hobby, and venturing into our bush is not without other hazards so I guess it is a calculated risk no matter where you go, you just have to be aware of what goes on about the place and be prepared for it if it does, I can tell you for sure that I feel more secure in the bush at night than I would walking the streets of Northbridge.

cheers


stayyerAU