Hello Richard,

I might have a sollution for testing some of those large tailing piles. For starters I have seen alot of large specimens come from mine dumps. So don't think like some people and say that the oldtimers didn't miss anything. They threw alot of values into these dumps because sometimes the ore was covered with dirt that they could not see the values on the rocks. Sometimes the values were not exposed on the outer surface of the rock. I've seen specimens as large as 1.5-2 ounces come from a dump never Wickenburg, Arizona. I heard of one about 3.5 ounces but didn't see this one. When you go to these sites where the large dumps are. You can sometimes find the glory pile or pride pile. These are the piles that the miners knew had good values to them. I have found just a few pieces of quartz that I think could have been the remains of a pride pile. Sometimes these piles are gone and you have to hope they threw some values away in the dump. The composition of veins and other subsequent deposits is exceedingly varied. Among the most common are quartz, calcite, epidote, pyrite, chalcopyrite, hematite, barite, and prehnite. The ore bearing veins generally consist of one or more minerals which have a commercial value associated with other substances, known as what they call gangue minerals. Most of the dump consist of these types with have no mineral value whatsoever. Within the gangue the ore minerals may be disseminated as fine particles, or distributed in threads, or segregated in masses, or otherwise arranged. Although ore minerals are sometimes native, as gold, copper, platinum, and mercury, they are usually sulphides, oxides, carbonates, sulphates, chorides, or other compounds. So what you need to do is hand sort out associated minerals. Make a pile of the ore that has just quartz and iron, another that is just some bull quartz. Maybe another that has some copper carbonate staining on the ore. Another pile that has vugs and cavities in the ore, and so on. This will sometimes let you know what the gold could be associated with. Most of the time I seen to find it with the red iron(hematite) and quartz. And with a little copper staining on some of them. This can be a long process, but it is better than just crushing any ol rock from the pile. Hope this might help you on your next trip to the piles. Good luck and have a happy Fourth of July weekend.

• Re: glory pile or pride pile Richard ( Key West, Fl ) 11:14:45 7/04/98 (0)