Assayer

[Lucky Gator]

Can anyone recommend a decent Assayer? I live in Montana. I am a newbie and have no plans to be a full time prospector, but do want to spend a fair amount of time in the field. I have found some promising looking quartz in an area I plan to work. It looks to me to have pyrite, copper, and possibly gold in it. I am not looking to sell what I have, just get it looked at and evaluated.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Minelab PRO-FIND 35 Waterproof Pinpointer Metal Detector for Experts with Tone ID & Adjustable Sensitivity - Grab it through Amazon!

[Fullpan]

Since no one else has chimed in yet, here's my take on assays/assayers. Most are too expensive. Most give a newbie "false" readings for practical info.
Say your complex mineralization (say copper, gold, silver rock sample) gets assayed and the info comes back 20oz/tn - copper; 1/2oz/tn - gold; and 12oz/tn -silver, what can a hobbyist do with that info? Now you're into ore processing which is ungodly expensive. Its better and cheaper to hand crush your quartz rock
looking for "free" gold and if its not there, forget it and move on.

 

[Lucky Gator]

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it, and since I am just more curious if there is gold in it than anything, crushing and panning would work just as well I suppose. I don't really care what the per ton info is, since I don't plan on investing too much in mining it. In all honesty, what we have already found, gold or not, is enough to get my 8 year old excited and that's what this is all about for me anyway.

Since no one else has chimed in yet, here's my take on assays/assayers. Most are too expensive. Most give a newbie "false" readings for practical info.
Say your complex mineralization (say copper, gold, silver rock sample) gets assayed and the info comes back 20oz/tn - copper; 1/2oz/tn - gold; and 12oz/tn -silver, what can a hobbyist do with that info? Now you're into ore processing which is ungodly expensive. Its better and cheaper to hand crush your quartz rock
looking for "free" gold and if its not there, forget it and move on.