anyone know what this is in an old mine about 60ms down

found in slate

Just a guess, but seeing as slate is a sedimentary rock type
Just maybe it's a Tektite that landed in the silty soup
prior to solidification

J

Hi gold finding. If the rock is slate/shale it is formed from fine sediments deposited usually in oceans (but maybe a lagoon). Commonly you find rounded and angular stones in shales that were originally stuck in ice flows and icebergs and then fell to the bottom of the ocean/lake (known as drop stones) and they lodged in the unconsolidated sediments. (which were then consolidated into slate or heated/pressured into shale. I believe there is a better then money chance your odd pebble is a dropstone.

If you ID the rock unit name off a local geological map and look up the rock unit on the "geoscience stratigraphic database" you should find references that give detailed descriptions of the rock unit and it should mention if dropstones are present.

Many times detecting you will find areas of eroding bedrock that has released tonnes of dropstones (that are erosion resistant) and they are laying around scattered on the surface. Many prospectors mistakenly think that they have found an old river bed on the surface and get excited. However in east OZ none of these dropstones bear gold that I am know of. (although the ground they are on might have gold on it).

PS a classic deposit showing big dropstones (with mud trails where they sunk down through the sediments) is in the big road cutting on the great western highway in NSW 10km west of Lithgow where you go under the mudgee road overpass....If you happen to pass that way and are interested

(also chert/silica nodules that precipitate around larger grains in the sediment as it consolidates is a possibility for your pebble They can often have a black coating.-You would need a close up look at the fresh broken inside of the pebble to know)........enough....shut up Tributer.


Cheers

mmmmm very interesting

Going off topic gold finding but was wondering do you use a detector as part of your toolkit for U/G exploring? - sorry found this on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2V7SAZjKhc&list=PLlp28BxrMsdjSNRHSvLh6ifihkjnJzT16

mbasko wrote:Going off topic gold finding but was wondering do you use a detector as part of your toolkit for U/G exploring? - sorry found this on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2V7SAZjKhc&list=PLlp28BxrMsdjSNRHSvLh6ifihkjnJzT16

lol nope not yet getting one in two years maybe

gold finding wrote:

mbasko wrote:Going off topic gold finding but was wondering do you use a detector as part of your toolkit for U/G exploring? - sorry found this on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2V7SAZjKhc&list=PLlp28BxrMsdjSNRHSvLh6ifihkjnJzT16

lol nope not yet getting one in two years maybe

2 years that would be the ML 7000 . cheers Mick

Hi gf
that is an old hand.
laney

laney wrote:Hi gf
that is an old hand.
laney

lol its my hand it looks like that cos I got farmers hands lol old man hand