Pilbara clunker

Well there are definitely still bigger bits out there. Had a few hours free so headed down to my favorite little spot whereI can normally pick up a few sub grammers, and got the shock of my life.
Picked up a 2.5 grammer and then a tiny 0.1 grammer and was happy but decided to try perserver on some very noisy ground. What started out as a dubious signal/possible ground noise turned into a 1.7 ounce clunker about 2 ft down. Has a little bit of quartz and ironstone in it but who cares.
I have been told by so many locals that area has been flogged and there's nothing left, well I reckon they're wrong.
Patience and perserverance paid off and only 15 min from home.
Time to clean her up and have a nice cold celebratory beer I think

WAY TO MATE
Nothing nicer than to go over some old ground a get that sweet little murmur where you go , "hang on I'll re check that signal again".
You do a little scrape and it get's that little bit better, that's the thrill of the chase.


cheers moredeep

I know by the time I got down about a foot there was no pinpointing, detector was just screaming. that was when I started getting a little bit excited.
Have given her a good scrub and is now sitting in salt and vinegar

Excellent piece there Fred. You don't see many large nuggets and that is a beauty.

Regards Axtyr.

Got my nice speci semi cleaned up, but have a quick question for the brains trust.
Trying to clean up the quartz to get the iron staining off it but keep nice white quartz. Hydrochloric acid seems to dull the gold somewhat and Alibrite turns the quartz almost chalky. Does anyone have any way of cleaning it up to keep nice bright gold without the iron staining on the quartz.
I really don't want to ruin what could be a nice display piece
Cheers

I have only ever used hydrochloric acid. It usually cleans up the gold nicely without affecting the quartz. It certainly shouldn't dull the gold. Maybe you need to leave it in a lot longer and change the acid twice a day.

Regards Axtyr.

Axtyr wrote:I have only ever used hydrochloric acid. It usually cleans up the gold nicely without affecting the quartz. It certainly shouldn't dull the gold. Maybe you need to leave it in a lot longer and change the acid twice a day.

Regards Axtyr.

Not sure why the gold looked dull, but it was mainly nuggets that were encrusted in ironstone, particularly the watermelon seed nuggets I found. Most of these had a very dimpled looking surface once clean and haven't tried to clean them up any more.
I cant find my hydrochloric acid and cant get into town for a week or so, so have decided to give it a short bath in Alibrite and see how it goes. I left a few quartz crystals I had that were badly stained with iron for about 12 hrs in Alibrite and they have come out like glass, so will give it a go.

Went out for another look today and knock me over with a feather, found another nice speci. Specific gravity test says just over 15g of gold. That makes over 50g of gold for my break, about 8 hours of detecting and all only 15minutes down the road from home.
I have never been this lucky in the last 30 years of looking for the elusive yellow stuff, not sure I want to go back to work tomorrow

Way to go Fred ,congratulation is in order
Keep going mate


cheers moredeep

Yeah, take a sickie.

Regards Axtyr.

"Got my nice speci semi cleaned up, but have a quick question for the brains trust.
Trying to clean up the quartz to get the iron staining off it but keep nice white quartz. Hydrochloric acid seems to dull the gold somewhat and Alibrite turns the quartz almost chalky. Does anyone have any way of cleaning it up to keep nice bright gold without the iron staining on the quartz.
I really don't want to ruin what could be a nice display piece
Cheers"

I have used both of the above with no problems, how ever "phosphoric acid" also has an effect on Iron and rust stains.

You could try this stuff....Have never used it myself but might work?

G'day. First neutralise acid by putting in a paste made from bicarb and water. When it stops bubbling rinse off with water then soak in White King household bleach for a while should come out nice.

Cheers everyone, did go back to work(unfortunately) but I guess it pays the bills . Haven't ever tried the bleach once cleaned off so will give it a go. With VB as your Avatar you cant be wrong.
hopefully get back out there next week when I finish my swing and see if any other nice little surprises turn up.
There has got to be more out there

Well the little speci patch keeps giving. They are getting smaller but still nice gold.
Had the heart racing though for a bit with a nice deep signal only about 20m from where the ounce slug came from. Unfortunately it was an old beer can down a long way. how the hell it got down there is beyond me but once I was down 2 foot i was getting hopeful. Ah well time to head back out and listen for them deep faint signals

Its was probably someone's test hole?
I've buried objects in the bush over the years to get my "ear in" and on a few occasions have gone back to them only to have found them dug up
Apart from that fred nice going on the gold, and a mate of mine is in WA at the moment, he just pinged a 12 gmer so he's happy



cheers moredeep

moredeep wrote:Its was probably someone's test hole?
I've buried objects in the bush over the years to get my "ear in" and on a few occasions have gone back to them only to have found them dug up
Apart from that fred nice going on the gold, and a mate of mine is in WA at the moment, he just pinged a 12 gmer so he's happy



cheers    moredeep

Never thought of doing that, least they could have done was bury a full beer. At least then I could have quenched the thirst after the dig lol

Finally got all the gold from my little speci patch cleaned up and specific gravity done. For such a small little area in pending ground that is easily accessible I still cant believe what came out of it. I have been over it with a variety of coils and settings and reckon I have cleaned it out for now.
Maybe after our next cyclone and floods it might be worth going back to. 74.5 grams out of an area not much bigger than a footy field in supposedly flogged ground.
I don't think I will ever find a spot like it again, but it wont stop me looking

That's your beer money for the year
Well done fredsnugget or is that now fredsnugget'S



Cheers moredeep