Loaming for Gold information and questions

[Village]

On the topic of loaming or more finding gold bearing ore has anyone tried using a ph tester to locate the ore?
I have done some research and there is some information that seems to relate CO2 rich acid sulfate water to ore bodies and changes in the ph in surrounding soil.

Hare

Their are a number of methods that can be used to identify mineral "Halo's" in a specific area, those being "Geochemical Prospecting" which is used on a large scale very similar to that of which Village described, ph testing can also identify anomalies to follow up further, the use of an XRF device IMHO should not be considered as a "Prospecting" tool as the cost alone is Prohibitive & there are some questionable reports on its accuracy in sampling ore.

In "Loaming" there is no substitute for the humble "Gold Pan" remember you are using a tried & proven method developed along time ago & should be using the tools that it was designed to use, nothing saying it cant be improved with modern tech, but fundamentally the "pan" is king for "Loaming", in some way it is paying homage to the old boy's & something we should try to preserve as a part of our culture, IMHO.
cheers
Lee

Hare, I agree with Lee on the issue, xrf despite the reports you may read, lets put it this way, I would never engage the technique or the equipment. And as for assay's mate they come so far down the process queue, I think a large scale drilling program would have to come first, I'm not sure if we are on the same page, but the assay for basic will take a gorilla out of your wallet, it's based on lab time.

 

[Hare_Twigga]

I was once told to watch out for these type of labs and that some of them give you elevated results till you go broke...

 

[Hare_Twigga]

I'm not sure exactly how much a gorilla is but is sounds scary!

 

[rc62burke]

Hi Lee, The reason I mention other techniques is because I believe there's gold deposits within reach of the amateur prospector that can't be found by the loaming process. 1. Reasons being large amounts of clay capping and covering reefs,float,gravels. Around this area there's a lot of areas that if you go loaming you will only be panning clay with virtually no gravel or sand at all but if you 2. dig 2 or 3 ft down you find float gravel etc. Any ideas about this?

Hare
1. Does this mean you are working in a low lying area in in a silted valley type area??
2. What type of float are you re-fearing to is it alluvial gravel etc ? or decomposed reef material??

The area you are working ? if you could give a more detailed description of the make up & rock types, country rock, contact zone faults in the area I am sure we could all assist you in a plan of attack.
Like I said earlier there is no substitute for time & hard work when it comes to this stuff, the big boys take short cuts due to money they have to spend but then again I think they miss some stuff that would pay quite well for the small operator, don't forget the big boy's are looking for massive ore bodies.
cheers
Lee

 

[Goldtarget]

Just back from the feild....had the strangest day. Turns out one hillside I'm examining defies the general trend, like its the opposite to everything else. About to conduct some further examinations and testing but i see from historic workings they must have been a puzzled as i was. I'm no expert but my gut feeling at this point is they may have missed a big opportunity. I took many a photo and will review in the morn when my brains not so fried, but i want to ask has anyone else had this same thing occur, an anomoly that's isolated to its surrounds? The surfacing bed rock runs the opposite direction to the surrounding hillsides but in a uniformed and consistent pattern...if that helps.

 

[Hare_Twigga]

Lee, I'm talking about the side of a hill, the float is broke quartz,there is very little quartz on the surface in places.There is older riverbeds on the ridges which occasionally you can get samples contaminated with alluvial gold.

 

[rc62burke]

Hi All
Here is a link that shows some testing procedures to determine what you have in a sample.
http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=10932
cheers
Lee

 

[SWright]

Thanks Araluen, I'm in Victoria so somewhere in Melbourne would be good! I don't mind spending a few bucks here and there on my hobby and you never know it might pay off. I have read that quartzite can be rich in invisible size gold and the old timers couldn't see it.

G'Day Hare_Twigga

Probably the best plce to try is to ask Gekko (http://www.gekkos.com/lab-testwork). they are located in Ballarat and I have had quite a lot to do with them in recent years. They specialise in coarse gold. By that I mean any gold assaying for the type of reef gold generally found in some parts of victoria. If they cannot help you then they will be able to direct you to a lab that can.

Araluen

 

[Village]

Hare

I suppose, a Monkey = $100.00, Gorilla = $1000.00. Had two mines mate, my only saying Grace, is that cause of stuff I do for the uni, I get access to the lab, and know the chemistry rats. But like I said assaying samples comes with drilling, your trying to ascertain the approximate on a reserve, skin samples, rock chips etc just build evidence to support an assay, and to be honest before you even spend that sort of coin, you would want an EL over the area, theres another $1100.00 plus compliance costs, Labs leak.

Even with an EL, you have negotiate access with the registered owns if it's not yours. The point in the process your talking about is three quarters of the way down the yard stick for one, and your initial start up costs, compliance costs, solicitors, etc is going to siphon the best part of twenty gorillas, and to be honest? what will you have, no real idea on the reserve as such, only an idea of surface area of the deposit.

Based on your two photos of the intrusive gold in the quartz, at the moment I would say you would be getting back a result of <5ppm Aug per ton. I could be wrong don't take that as gospel.

My best suggestion for you at the moment is survey and sample your area, plot your results, do your research, when you sample take two at each location, you process one of each sample and see what results you get. See if the same locations are yielding.

Got more chance at this stage with twenty gorillas down the casino, well at least with that money they will supply a hostess and the drinks for free.

 

[rc62burke]

1. Up to you Lee, I suppose, a Monkey = $100.00, Gorilla = $1000.00. Had two mines mate, 2. my only saying Grace, is that cause of stuff I do for the uni, I get access to the lab, and know the chemistry rats. But like I said assaying samples comes with drilling, your trying to ascertain the approximate on a reserve, skin samples, rock chips etc just build evidence to support an assay, and to be honest before you even spent that sort of coin, you would want an EL over the area, theres another $1100.00 plus compliance costs, Labs leak.

Even with an EL, you have negotiate access with the registered owns if it's not yours. The point in the process your talking about is three quarters of the way down the yard stick for one, and your initial start up costs, compliance costs, solicitors, etc is going to siphon the best part of twenty gorillas, and to be honest what will you have, no real idea on the reserve as such, only an idea of surface area of the deposit.

Based on your two photos of the intrusive gold in the quartz, at the moment I would say you would be getting back a result of <5ppm Aug per ton.

My best suggestion for you at the moment is survey and sample your area, plot your results, do your research, when you sample take two at each location, you process one of each sample and see what results you get. See if the same locations are yielding.

Got more chance at this stage with twenty gorillas down the casino, well at least with that money they will supply a hostess and the drinks for free.

Hey Village
Mate did you put my name at the top by accident, not really following this one mate 1. Hare Twigga, asked about the Gorilla. 2. Is this referring to the link I put up? I only put it up as an option so folks know what else is out there.
cheers
Lee

 

[charlie123]

good to see someone on top of things

 

[rc62burke]

good to see someone on top of things

HMMM Please explain??

 

[charlie123]

Is this code langunage , it just doesnt seem that complicated

 

[charlie123]

the information given is not conmparible to the knowledge of memebers on this forum

 

[Village]

oh maybe, does it matter, really, ooh wrong name, jesus we got to turn this into a rubrics cube, surely theres more to life gentleman. Unbelievable. There happy now, every bodies world turning a pace they stand.

 

[rc62burke]

oh maybe, does it matter, really, ooh wrong name, jesus we got to turn this into a rubrics cube, surely theres more to life gentleman. Unbelievable. There happy now, every bodies world turning a pace they stand.

Hey Village
Mate no big deal really, the only thing is it really helps to know who someone is referring to when replying due to the amount of info being put up here & so one can answer ??? promptly, that is all not getting all bent out of shape over it
cheers
Lee

 

[Hunting the yellow]

keep at it m8 ive only just started loaming and have found it rewarding because you get small nuggetty like flakes and at the same time your getting closer to the source so far all I have been doing is digging a 2ft long by about 1ft deep trenchers into a reddish ironstone type of clay. digging my trenchers across/horizontally on a low ridge line so far I have traced it over 80 meters up this low hill and have found that the pieces im getting in the pan are getting rougher as I get closer to the source my small trenchers are about 4 to 6 meters apart and just from loaming I have found just under quarter of a gram of gold just by loaming

but as ru2burke said keep at it because once you start to get rough bits your close to the mother load or reef

a simple way to explain what loaming is its pretty much digging small hole down about 1ft down to gritty sandy/clay like soil then sieving it in a course sive and breaking up the clay with your hands then panning with water for small pin head or smaller flakes/small nuggets until you go so far up a hill that you don't find anymore gold then you go back to the last point/hole/trench that you have dug and dig a long T like trench and detect or pan or crush up in a dolly pot your rock/soil that you think may be gold baring example you struck a quartz reef under 2feet of top soil you crush up the quartz to check for gold in it

good luck HTY

 

[Tassie Daz]

KD, I found this UTUbe vid. Might help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBs8k8MitAE

 

[Hunting the yellow]

heres a map that I've made up that explains how to loam



the last point where you don't find anymore gold loaming you dig a trench like this in green to strike the gold baring quartz reef I usually dig small 2ft long by 1ft deep trenchers 3 or 6 meters apart in a row strait up the middle of the ridge line you can do a grid type pattern up the hill but I tend to just keep loaming/digging my holes in a strait line up the hill until the gold runs out then I dig a long trench about 6 m long down to bedrock and detect the bottom of the bedrock or look for a quartz reef and take a sample out of the quartz and crush it in a dolly pot or wash it to see visible gold

hope this helps a bit better

cheers HTY

please after finishing/digging your holes fill them in

 

[user 5415]

Hi All,

I've read Loamer's tips for new comers, very good and for those newbies like me a must read and this may sound silly, when detecting do you actually go to a slope below a reef and dig test holes across it looking for bearing gravel first or use the existing old timers diggings or both?

Or do you take a read of the slope pick a spot and work across it?

Being a newbie myself and having been out 3 times and found gold once that was in a yellow loam\gravel layer, is that what to look for every time? 8)