Unusual Lab Assays

[bigalk]

Hi all,

I've been looking at some 'exploration work reports' from a company who previously held a claim in an area Im interested in. These reports are published by the government here (Ireland) if the company surrenders the claim, and can be used as am exploration resource by those who come after.

On this claim - the reports show assay results from various rock / soil / stream samples they took.
The reports list pretty much the full spectrum of elements:
Ag Al As Sb Ba Be Bi Ca Cd Ce Co Cr Cu Fe Ga Ge Hg K La Li Mg Mn Mo Na b Ni P Pb Rb Re S Sb Sc Se Sn Sr Ta Te Th Ti Tl U V W Y Zn Zr

But - to the unusual bit - there are no results for gold / platinum / palladium published in any of reports!

Can anyone tell me if there might be a reason to not ask for PM content from the assay lab? The results are signed off by a Spectroscopist, and completed in 2007 if that sheds any light on it.

Would it require a different assay type from the elements listed, meaning a second assay?

thanks,
Al

 

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[arizau]

Hi all,

I've been looking at some 'exploration work reports' from a company who previously held a claim in an area Im interested in. These reports are published by the government here (Ireland) if the company surrenders the claim, and can be used as am exploration resource by those who come after.

On this claim - the reports show assay results from various rock / soil / stream samples they took.
The reports list pretty much the full spectrum of elements:
Ag Al As Sb Ba Be Bi Ca Cd Ce Co Cr Cu Fe Ga Ge Hg K La Li Mg Mn Mo Na b Ni P Pb Rb Re S Sb Sc Se Sn Sr Ta Te Th Ti Tl U V W Y Zn Zr

But - to the unusual bit - there are no results for gold / platinum / palladium published in any of reports!

Can anyone tell me if there might be a reason to not ask for PM content from the assay lab? The results are signed off by a Spectroscopist, and completed in 2007 if that sheds any light on it.

Would it require a different assay type from the elements listed, meaning a second assay?

thanks,
Al

Go towards the bottom of the right hand side of third page of this article for a possible explanation (necessity of separate gold prep and assay). https://analyticalchem.community.ua...ld_Analysis-Fire_Assaying_and_Alt_Methods.pdf
It seems that your government may not be disclosing all the info (cynical thought knowing how the government here in the "good ole U.S.of A." currently operates) or there may be another assay report for the missing elements that you have not found yet. Maybe different search terms or a phone call will solve your mystery.

Good luck.

 

[bobw53]

What is the lower limit for whatever method they used to detect the minerals?

I've seen some reports that will have a little foot notes.. A blank column with a foot note of less than 2ppm (parts per million)...

Now lets do this math thing again... A cubic yard is 764,555 cubic centimeters.. A cc of gold weighs 19.28 grams..

Your gold isn't going to be in a pretty solid cube, so lets just say.. It would take somewhere around a half an ounce of gold in a cubic yard to
hit the 2ppm threshold. If there was that much gold, the claim wouldn't be abandoned..

Take the numbers out a little further.. On Gold Rush, they are shooting for $10 a yard.. a 1/4 gram a yard... That's give or take
1 part in 30 million...

Its also not likely that your precious metals are spread evenly throughout the dirt... Did they send a lackey out there to get random samples, and he picked
the easy places to dig Because we all know the gold usually isn't where its easy to get to.

My numbers may not be all correct, and they might not jive with their methodology.. But what may be "trace" amounts to a soil analyst (if that is even a real job) could
be very valuable to a miner.

 

[kcm]

Ok, time for a wannabe-novice question - Are you certain that the report is saying that all of those elements were "found" on this property? Or is it that these are what was tested for?

 

[winners58]

in electron spectroscopy they can turn off the gold and platinum groups to keep them from overshadowing the other elements?
probably have to look for another report if there is gold and platinum, maybe a look for a fire assay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_spectroscopy

 

[bigalk]

Hi guys,

thanks for all the answers and information (I LOVE Treasurenet!). Ill post a sample of one of the reports there this evening so you can see it. I think that way we can get to discussing the finer points better.

Just for clarity - the previous license holders were a base metal compnay. They had the rights for PMs if they found some, but (as far as I can see) they were not looking for them.

thanks!
Al

 

[russau]

Yep TNet is the place to go for the answers ! there are several other sites BUT this is my favorite If I keep my mouth and tone down to keep from getting booted!

 

[bigalk]

Hi all,


sorry for the delay with this (my internet has been down at home). Here are two pages of the assay report - each page relating to different Elements for the same set of samples

Al

 

[kcm]

Someone took some material in for a general assay. The report isn't saying that every element listed was in the sample. It also isn't showing Au, which means gold was not tested for - at least not in this test.

 

[winners58]

Copper mine... good chrome and nickel values too...
could be the gold values are kept secret...