Can anyone offer some advice?

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I live on the side of a massive granite hill. I know that there is little gold to be found on granite protrusions, however I just discovered a large quartz reef running through the hill. My question is... can there be gold in this reef? I've got no sound from my GPX5000, just wondering if I went down a bit maybe I could find something. How did the old timers find gold in reefs? Surely they just didn't start digging. There appears to be some old diggings as well on this hill but no shafts or mines. Any suggestions?
I can post pics if anyone interested.
 
Dolly up some stone. Look for a tale in your pan. If there is a visible tale of gold the ore is rich, if not it either means there is no gold or it is locked up in pyrites or something else. That's all I know, others here will have better advice on how to ascertain values.
 
Goldfreak said:
Dolly up some stone. Look for a tale in your pan. If there is a visible tale of gold the ore is rich, if not it either means there is no gold or it is locked up in pyrites or something else. That's all I know, others here will have better advice on how to ascertain values.

Thanks for that advice, I'll dolly up several pieces from various parts of the reef and then pan it. It's only walking distance from home.It would be great if it had colour.
 
If possible try to sample an area below the vain where material has been shedding. Should give u some idea if there is gold and far easier than crushing.
 
Look for areas in the reef that are rust stained or where the quartz has a lattice work appearance. also where there is any faulting or crushing of the vein material. You are looking for pathways that could have carried mineral bearing fluids up the vein. If the vein is wider than a few inches concentrate your initial search on the contact between the granite and the quartz. good luck :Y: and send pics or it didnt happen. :)
 
Also be aware that if the quartz has been exposed for a long time then there is likely nothing to be found in it, they refer it as bull quartz. If you want to find out if there is gold in it you should chip off enough that you get down to fresh unweathered material and as Jethro pointed out, look for other types of mineralisation as gold travels with iron, copper, platinum and silver. Also if you find pyrites then it's a good sign your in the right track.
 

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