Home sampling finally started

G'day all

the square hols are most definitely after pyrite crystals and the other brown irregular spots and lines are after vein pyrite (copper or arsenic pyrite). As exploration geologists we would have been very pleased with that find as means there were potentially gold bearing fluid in the system altering the country rock. Alteration zones are a lot larger than ore shoots or ore bearing veins etc so it easier to look for alteration zones than the main ore zones which could be deeper or adjacent to the alteration system. I would also be tempted to put one or two in for assay. If there is gold in the system elsewhere or nearby the alteration zone then it will show up as a low grade gold return. there are, like quartz veins, a lot of barren systems.

Have a read up on the geology of the region you are in and particularly any mines and see what other, what we call trace elements, may be in the systems that will also indicate if the area has gold potential - things like arsenic, antimony, copper, lead are common gold associates and assay for them as well. Old exploration reports from your mines department's library are the best places to start research.

Araluen

Thanks for that info Araluen, the surrounding area was well known for gold in the 1860's and most of it is farm land now with pockets of bush remaining, gold is still found in the creeks in the area and the spot where I got these particular samples is quite elevated, it was literally a quick 5 minute stop and grab some samples while I was looking for something else so I didn't take a lot of notice apart from the fact that it looked different from the quartz leads I was chasing elsewhere (I'm a noob at this and learning on the run). Even if these samples don't show colour the fact that they show good indicators warrants a return trip to investigate more thoroughly so when I get the chance I'll camp out and put in 2-3 days surveying and sampling the direct area to see what's there, fingers crosses it'll give up some hidden secrets so I can share the fun with some fellow local prospectors (once they've been driven in blind folded from Narre Warren Sth ) and if it doesn't show any colour at all then at least I've learnt something new about geology which will come in handy for future research trips.

I just went out to the garage and put the TRX pinpointer over my samples and was getting good signals from some individual samples, even samples from other locations that I've got waiting in buckets so I bought the MXT Pro out with 6x10 DD and it showed as hot rocks and 60-70% chance of iron, well my heart rate soon came back to normal and I could identify the pieces that would register a signal after that.
Another geo lesson just learnt but it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm to get them crushed as soon as time permits.

Got home today and it's finally finished, time to look at fitting it out and get some samples crushed finally.

Ahh I remember my shed was like that then the wife and her family started to store all of there stuff in there
Hope it dosent happen here, the shed is a ripper, good one.
Cheers
Brad...

Pete,

Thanks mate now I have a serious case of shed envy

Cheers,

Grant

Awesome man cave there Pete. Now you have to fill it with all the big boys toys

aushunter said:

Ahh I remember my shed was like that then the wife and her family started to store all of there stuff in there
Hope it dosent happen here, the shed is a ripper, good one.
Cheers
Brad...

Click to expand...

No chance of that happening, I made a deal with Tracey when we bought the house in August, she can do what she wants to the inside of the house if I get a big enough shed to do what I want in it. The original plan was for a 8x6m shed the she suggested going bigger with it, I guess that means she has big plans for in the house then

awesome shed Pete.... looks a little clean to me

Thanks Pete, it's a ripper of a shed, i wonder what will be in there in 12 mths time, stretcher, fridge, coffee machine, Harley??
Jaros

Jaros, if I remember to I will take a photo in 12 months and see what's in there, hopefully the workshop will be fully set up and I'll have a recirculating high banker with a fine gold filter of some description and rock crusher in their own spots too.
already got the fridge and furniture to go in.
I've done the Harley thing a few years back, 1973 1200cc shovel, 3" open primary belt drive, 4 speed kick start only with wide glide front, I miss it at times but I prefer to be camped in the bush dodging mozzies than picking flies from my teeth and beard, I must be gettin' old in me young age :lol:
Was a great bike though.

I got this large sample last Friday from near where I'd taken samples in the past (yet to be processed).
Interesting looking inside of it.





I've dollied it up to run it through the Compact Crusher later in the week along with some other samples from the original spot. I washed the samples over the weekend and panned off the dirt and clays to find 1 lonely spec in the pan tonight @ tiny.

G'day ProspectorPete

Some of the iron stained pits in that rock look as if it was calcite rather than pyrite and there looked to be a few little triangular pits weathered out. They may have been arsenopyrite also a reasonable indicator of gold but not always. One speck is not a lot but in mining terms that may well be ore grade. we used to work on the old timer's rule of thumb that if you can see a speck of gold in a rock then the overall grade of the sample would be near enough to one ounce of gold per tonne.

If when you crush a sample and it smell like roasted or bitter almonds then the sulphide in the rock is arsenopyrite - don't sniff it too deeply because arsenopyrite, as the name suggests, is an arsenic-iron sulphide.

Araluen

That makes sense because when I was crushing it I kept looking at the dog then wondered if I'd followed through at some stage. There was a strange smell but put it down to the steel gas main I used for the dolly pot retaining the smell of gas dust.

Following it will be very interesting to see how well your crusher works, when you start using it.

Those samples look nice, hope you get some colour out of it. Wish I had a rock crusher, my small dolly pot is hard work! All I can smell when I crush rock is my dust mask, either I don't have the right rock or I'm doing it wrong Can't wait to see the cleanup, good luck!

Thanks Prospector B, must put dust masks on my list to buy this week (oops).
My dolly is 6" pipe with 8" class 300 flange and 700mm high (think I quoted 4" with 6" flange previously by mistake), it weights a ton and is probably major over kill, good for breaking big stuff but I'm going to make a smaller one for 2nd stage breakup, the 6ft crowbar throws sparks off the quartz and is hard work, still get bits shooting out the top of the pipe.

Always wear a mask when crushing quartz, and not a flimsy paper one. A lot of the very fine "dust" that comes out if the crusher is quartz, aka silica, aka glass. Keep breathing that stuff, and you will be in the big mine in the ground before you know it. OH&S should apply everywhere. I only use a close fitting mask with two replaceable cartridges. I usually replace the filters once a week if doing a lot of work. Its surprising how quick they clog. Your lungs would be the same.

Thanks Puddler Bill, I'll definitely get a decent mask filter before I crush any more material then.
4 bouts of cancer in the neck over 9 years couldn't beat me so I'd hate to be done over by something that I'm enjoying doing for a change.

Also where gloves as mine burnt my hand after a very short time. Burn not bad just stung for about 48 hours. I have Pm Ryan 3 days ago & am waiting for his reply.