Is it worth crushing all quartz found in a rich gold district?

NovaScotiaGold

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I just got a hint of the gold fever and thought I'd give a quick hunt a try. I probably should have studied up a lot more before beginning this, but as I do ... im into it and don't know what I'm doing lol

I made my way around Waverley, Nova Scotia (a known gold town around here -70,000oz pulled out of the area over the years) for a hunt for gold bearing quartz.

I found a few large stones and a few smaller ones I believe may have gold / silver inside of them and trace amounts on. (Small round flakes found on surface / jammed in surface cracks)

A few quartz stones are light and a few are much heavier than I would have expected.

Wondering if its worth exploring into the stones or if the gold would be on the exterior of the rocks only if it were to have existed. Should I gather the soils from the areas I found the stones instead of smacking the rock with a mallet until it pops?

Anyone want to post the typical link for newbies on how to begin processing samples for viability?
 

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NovaScotiaGold

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If your interesting in learning...what you have there is a collection of mostly granite rocks, with the exception of the rocks circled below, which might possibly be quartz.
I agree - I don't see anything I'd take home to crush.

View attachment 1494214

Gold can be embedded into granite, but it is very uncommon.
More likely, you would find gold in a contact zone where the country rock changes from granite to another type of rock.
Sometimes there are very thin stringers of quartz that run through granite that carry gold and this usually occurs in the vicinity of a contact zone.

Apparently earlier, you crushed a sample and got a piece of gold. You said you packed home 1000 pounds of highly mineralized quartz (and buried it for safe keeping)...What does this material look like? It would seem obvious that you would zero in on that same type of rock.


Where in that photo do you think you have red quartz?

Hey, thanks for the input. I re-arranged the material I see as white quartz which represents best in this photo: 20170914_182639.jpg the quartz stone in the back row is still attached to host rock.

What I saw as red quartz was these:
20170914_182651.jpg

Others that show micro quartz veins in my opinion are these: 20170914_182658.jpg

I believe this is granite:
20170914_182716.jpg
(Largest one not convinced due to how brittle it is)

The mystery material is what I found my metal in. When I cracked a small chunk off of the main stone and crushed it.

I believe you and clay may be right ... the mystery material that I gathered most weight in is no longer granite as I would recognize it but I could see how it could be decomposed granite particles mixed with clay making some sort of granite / clay / sandstone morph ... looking further into it
 

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IMAUDIGGER

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Ok - first photo shows quartz or quartz attached to the country rock.

Second photo - more quartz. on the right side of the picture.
4th (bottom) picture. I can't be sure, but I'd say the larger rock on the top is quartz. The rest being granite.

Which picture shows the type of rock you crushed and got gold? EDIT Ok you got the gold out of the larger rock in the last picture.
That is the only rock that I probably would be interested in crushing.

Why are you messing around with all the rest of these rocks?
 

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NovaScotiaGold

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Ok - first photo shows quartz or quartz attached to the country rock.

Second photo - more quartz. on the right side of the picture.
4th (bottom) picture. I can't be sure, but I'd say the larger rock on the top is quartz. The rest being granite.

Which picture shows the type of rock you crushed and got gold? EDIT Ok you got the gold out of the larger rock in the last picture.
That is the only rock that I probably would be interested in crushing.

Why are you messing around with all the rest of these rocks?

Sorry this has been unclear. The mystery material that I got my metal out of, and the rock I acquired the most mass (closer to 800lbs) of which is all uniformed in appearance and consistency as far as I can tell visually and does not "fit classic granite" would be all this stuff:
20170914_205935.jpg about 40% of what I drug home. The other ones are over 100lbs each and there are 4 of them. I opened the tail of my mini van and rolled them down a ramp out into the side of my driveway.

Here is one of these stones (same size and appearance as stone I crushed previously) shown from all viewable angles: (in photo above the center stone is where this sample and the one I crushed came off of)
20170914_211306.jpg
20170914_211154.jpg
20170914_211140.jpg
20170914_211129.jpg
20170914_211112.jpg

... why am I messing with these other rocks? .... honestly? ... feels like a form of compulsion. ... I don't exactly know why I all of a sudden care about geology ... I was content or so I thought ... a series of media clips, conversations and dreams? I don't know.
 

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Assembler

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Sorry this has been unclear. The mystery material that I got my metal out of, and the rock I acquired the most mass (closer to 800lbs) of which is all uniformed in appearance and consistency as far as I can tell visually and does not "fit classic granite" would be all this stuff:
View attachment 1494396 about 40% of what I drug home. The other ones are over 100lbs each and there are 4 of them. I opened the tail of my mini van and rolled them down a ramp out into the side of my driveway.

Here is one of these stones (same size and appearance as stone I crushed previously) shown from all viewable angles: (in photo above the center stone is where this sample and the one I crushed came off of)
View attachment 1494397
View attachment 1494398
View attachment 1494399
View attachment 1494400
View attachment 1494401

... why am I messing with these other rocks? .... honestly? ... feels like a form of compulsion. ... I don't exactly know why I all of a sudden care about geology ... I was content or so I thought ... a series of media clips, conversations and dreams? I don't know.
Second to the last rock appears to have large grains that may have cooled underground slowly. Try crushing more of this type of rock to see if it has any values.
 

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NovaScotiaGold

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Second to the last rock appears to have large grains that may have cooled underground slowly. Try crushing more of this type of rock to see if it has any values.

All same exact stone, different angle on each. Thank you! The angle you identified is the clean recent break. (Not oxidized)
 

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NovaScotiaGold

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Been a while since I posted. Following directions given so far this is now what I am most interested in:

20180617_121800.jpg

20180617_121824.jpg

Worth hauling out and seeing under it?
 

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