Found old gold mine - can anyone help?

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m@ttACT

Matt
Joined
Jun 24, 2014
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Location
Canberra, ACT
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Anyone have any idea what these could be?

Found with a 4500 around an old mine shaft on reefs.

Picture 1 - Largest bit same width as a 20c coin for perspective. Really heavy, no free gold that I can see, however these hit hard on the detector.

Picture 2 - Largest bit same width as a 10c coin. I assume these are melted somethings?? Scratched looks like Lead as its metallic. Just checking this isnt mercury???

Thanks and appreciate the help!
 
Update: Had a quick look under jewellers loop and can see free gold throughout so def not rusty iron. HoudiniHarry I found what I thought was a square looking bit of iron down in Talbot but under a jewellers loop you could see the gold running in veins sandwiched in between.

Im pretty sure this was the stuff the miners were chasing however they prob had found better grades in that reef.
 
Pic 1 is quite unusual but looks processed and aged and oxydised... interesting find mate
 
Its worth hanging onto just for specimen value/ interest alone. Have you tried to research the mining records in the area, it may give you a clue to the mineralization style. Hopefully one of the Geos will chime in and solve the mystery, Good Pics too. :perfect:
 
Hey mate,

Crush the one you cracked open. Pan the crushings with some other dirt and see what heavies are there.

Something doesnt look quite right with the gold coloured picture. Looks minerally/crystally???

I hope it is gold cause there will be more where that come from. Dont rely on the detector only. There could be fine gold that is not detectable by the 4500. Any rocks that look like that, gather up and test by crushing and panning. Looks like ancient conglomerate from an old river bed. Maybe there was no reef, there were chasing the ancient river bed????

Cheers and good luck!!!

RS
 
Thanks guys Ive sampled a bit and yep small and large flakes of gold throughout the crushings. Ill weigh the rest and gravity test it then Jethro probably sell them as they look great and good for a collection.

RS Im sure its reef they were chasing as ive scoped out a 2 km line of these workings where you can still see the untouched saddle reefs they bypassed most likely as they didnt have enough mineralization Id assume.

If Im honest Ive seen heaps of different specimens and nuggets over the years, along with some other reef specimens Ive found only lately in my area a lot of gold bearing rock that literally looks like headland reef on a coastline. Only comparison I can make.

I recently found a section of the ancient Shoalhaven River high on the cap of a hill siding a conglomerate deposit. This section was about a foot wide, waterworn into square sections crisscrossed by heavy dark quartz veins.

The area with the above finds was known for reefs, small nuggets and alluvial. Im heading back out next week for 4 days gonna smack it hard!
 
This is an interesting one as 2 of those species contained gold and the others a super sparkly silver something?

Ill get some pics and post them.

I had a quick look at finding someone local to test mineral content...no luck so if anyone can point me in the right direction I have shit loads of samples from other sites
 
m@ttACT said:
This is an interesting one as 2 of those species contained gold and the others a super sparkly silver something?

Ill get some pics and post them.

I had a quick look at finding someone local to test mineral content...no luck so if anyone can point me in the right direction I have shite loads of samples from other sites
ALS Orange
 
The super sparkly silver something is most probably Arsenopyrite, a sulphide of arsenic and iron. If you can isolate a nice crystal of it and strike it or heat it the fume will smell like garlic. Just dont concentrate the fumes and inhale deeply. Arsenopyrite is a common mineral found in gold ore deposits.
 
If you heat it arsenic fumes will be released the cool thing is it becomes magnetic when heated so if it sticks to a magnet only when heated it's definitely arsenopyrite.
 
That cross section sure looks like some form of crystalline gold. I drop of acid might tell the story.
 
I've come across the odd patch of gravel where there must of been a decent temp of a fire place once. Where rocks have fused themselves together.
With like a glaze has leeches out and fused .
 

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