Tell me about the minerals

[Clay Diggins]

This is for all the dedicated researchers out there. Tell me about the mineralization in this area.

Your challenge, should you choose to play, is to describe to us what minerals worth mining are where in this map area. I'm hoping those who use "satellite" photos (actually aerial photos from a low flying plane) and other forms of "remote sensing" will put their two cents in, I'd like to hear your results and reasoning.

Here's your map link.

I know this area like the back of my hand so if you think you can use the MRDS or regular geology mapping I'll give you a heads up - they are wrong.

This is a well known and heavily mined area. There are several mineral patents for different mineral deposits in this rough cube just four miles on a side. You might be able to figure out what's going on here from those patents or any other method you like. Just please tell us what research methods you used.

This is not a trick or an invitation for some members to take threads off track. Just make your best guess and put it out there. This is not a contest. There are no winners or losers just folks willing to learn from others - myself included.

Heavy Pans

 

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[Clay Diggins]

Well this thread has been simmering a long time. I tried to give you a heads up about minerals other than gold being valuable to a claimant. Lithium has been discussed on this thread. Now it looks like someone decided to take a bite of the apple I've pointed out. This project is centered around pegmatites we've discussed for this location.

There are more minerals than lithium involved in this mineralization. It's just that Lithium is the hot item on the mining markets today and anyone holding lithium bearing ground is finding it relatively easy to get development funds.

Read about this new project and why Lithium is hot right now.

Fortner Boyd Lithium—100% earn in option, 4,132 acres The company announced it expanded the project by over 600% last week; the project is located in Maricopa County, Arizona, approximately 10 km southwest of the city of Wickenburg. The area is easily accessible through the public road network and favorable to work year round. Geologically, it is a good location at the junction of the Mexican Highland and the Sonora Desert and is part of the Arizona Pegmatite Belt.

The project has seen historic work since the 1950s that gives us a very good indication that there are lithium bearing dykes on the project that could be of size and grade to be economic. From the 1950s to 1980s, there was trenching, 75 shallow drill holes and a 10-meter shaft sunk. Watt, Griffis & McQuad from 1980: "The Vulture Pegmatite is a very large, nearly continuous group of pegmatite bodies which trend north-south for 1,350 feet. The bodies range in width from 10 feet to 50 feet. The Vulture Pegmatite is lithium-rich, containing spodumene, lepidolite, and possibly amblygonite." The historic resource outlined mineral potential of 330,000 to 552,000 tonnes at grades between 0.3 and 2.5% Li2O on just one of the dykes.Note, that these are historical numbers and not 43-101 compliant.

In December 2016, Redzone retained SGS Canada Inc. (SGS) to complete a 43-101 Technical Report on the project. The historical work outlined above was only done on the Lucky Mica dyke. However, in the limited 2017 field exploration program 10 new pegmatite outcrops were identified and 35 samples assayed with better results ranging from 0.69 to 7.5% lithium oxide. This work identified seven more dykes.

In the process of staking additional claims noted above, the company found two additional lithium prospects known as the Ambly and Dove claims. Historical reports from the Arizona Geological Survey indicate that several rail car loads of lithium ore were mined at the Dove Claims (report 1980) and records from the Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) indicate that Ambly was explored historically for lithium (report 1978).

Financial Cash position at Nov. 30 was C$540,000 and since then Redzone closed a C$1.2 million financing. This will give the company ample funds for a first round of exploration that includes mapping and sampling, trenching and a phase 1 drill program.

Summary The project has seen very limited work, but based on historical data, we have very good evidence that the one explored dyke is mineralized and has good odds of being economic. With just a small exploration program the company was able to demonstrate much more potential on the property with several new dykes discovered.The limited amount of sample assays thus far indicates that seven of the dykes are mineralized.

I have no financial interest in these new claims - but you could have had a financial interest if you had moved before Redzone did. A nice exploration lease on your claims would bring you more money just sitting on your derriere than all the gold drywashing you could do in a season.

Heavy Pans

 

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[Reed Lukens]

...

Very large crystals and gems are common in the pegmatites here. Just a few miles to the east of this spot some of the largest crystals in the world are just hanging around for clever rock nuts to see. One of the largest is over 300 foot long and mostly exposed on an easily seen hillside near White Picacho peak. There are Beryls, various Tourmalines and even more exotic gems associated with these pegmatite dikes and sills.

Late to the party
Your not talking about Crystal Hill, I think obviously... Are you? But we would love to see the place that your talking about. We're heading down to Phoenix today to get the free oil change in the truck and do some shopping and then... Some exploring! Maybe we can hit Pichaco Peak state park today.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Pichaco Peak is in another part of the State Reed. I'm talking about Picacho peak.

You can see Red Picacho when you are driving north from Surprise on Hwy 60/Grand Av. It's the big dark mountain at your 1 o'clock. It's got a huge intrusive nipple on top. Look nearer and lower down and you will see it's little sister White Picacho. Same general shape as the big Red Picacho but much lighter and smaller.

To get to the big crystal dikes Take a right at Castle Hot Springs Road in Morristown then cross Hwy 76. Continue up Castle Hot Springs road until it gets rough. Look towards your left and study the ridges there.

Or you could just look at the road cuts on the east side of Hwy 60 after you cross over San Domingo Wash. There are several large crystals exposed in those cuts. They aren't particularly pretty but they do show good crystal structure on a very large scale.

Heavy Pans

 

[Reed Lukens]

Picacho... it's my spelling that's the problem
Thanks Clay!

 

[Nitric]

Ok, After watching video's and I have no clue what jibberish I've already posted. I'll go back and read the thread in case this has already been mentioned.

I have a question about the area and looking at the map. Is it a possibility that the darker circles are Pipes? And would that be a spot to explore on the outer rims? Or a place of interest?

Or are those darker circles of no interest and just different colored soil? There seems to be one with what looks like quartz around it, hard to tell.

If you just grabbed a map and started looking would the different soils indicate what went on, just by looking.

 

[HappyTrails55]

Clay, this probably doesn't mean anything, I don't know anything about Lithium or Spodumene or Lepidolite. I got a old assay I was looking at this morning and amongst all of the mineral/metals listed I noticed it reported Lithium at 6.2 pounds a ton....it's from another Ledge I found, I was only interested in it for gold & silver and maybe platinums, turns out there is No Platinums and the gold & silver is slim pickens or probably minuscule detected. It was a expensive assay (spectrographic)....Disgusted I just went along my way prospecting some more....however, it is very close to my new find....should I pay more attention to this or not ? Darrell

 

[Clay Diggins]

Clay, this probably doesn't mean anything, I don't know anything about Lithium or Spodumene or Lepidolite. I got a old assay I was looking at this morning and amongst all of the mineral/metals listed I noticed it reported Lithium at 6.2 pounds a ton....it's from another Ledge I found, I was only interested in it for gold & silver and maybe platinums, turns out there is No Platinums and the gold & silver is slim pickens or probably minuscule detected. It was a expensive assay (spectrographic)....Disgusted I just went along my way prospecting some more....however, it is very close to my new find....should I pay more attention to this or not ? Darrell

Lithium, when I started this thread in 2016, was just starting to break out in price. Two years later (2018) it topped out at about $170,000 a finished ton. That was the Lithium play. You are about three years too late.

It's been all downhill ever since 2018 and today it's down to about $39,000 a finished ton - less than a quarter the 2018 price. That's proven to be unprofitable for a hardrock mine. Lithium brine salts in the high deserts of Chile are still profitable but the demand is so low now even those deposits are over productive for the market - prices are still going lower.

The expense of drilling and proving hardrock lithium rich pegmatite pods has bankrupted several exploration companies over the last few years. It's not a time to go chasing Lithium hardrock deposits no matter how much lithium they contain.

Much like toilet paper, masks and pet rocks different minerals have different values over time. Gold that was unprofitable to mine at $450 an ounce is now profitable. This same principle of cost/benefit applies even more to industrial minerals. The savvy prospector anticipates market movements and keeps notes about deposits they have found that may have value in the future. For the foreseeable future Lithium is not going to be profitable. Maybe the next thing will be graphite or mercury?

Heavy Pans

 

[HappyTrails55]

Thank You !