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

[NovaScotiaGold]

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?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[NovaScotiaGold]

Sheet harbour is like a hour or a bit more away. Same geology / outcrop path I believe. Thank you for the pic, its given me another piece of of puzzle. What I see is a bunch of the stone in the background of your picture as an outcrop on the surface. It's huge. I am finding various white stones like at the foot of the background rock in your photo. Looking at the few samples I drug home this is most similar to that white stone with "rusty" appearance:



(Wow that looks way more yellow under flash)

Didn't get out today ... 2 kids starting school tomorrow. Managed to get impatient again and crushed the first stone from post 79 by wrapping it in a shirt and beating it with a hammer until dust. Panned it, got this:



Other golden stuff chipped away with tweezers. This is solid and heavy here's hopeing!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[Assembler]

Sheet harbour is like a hour or a bit more away. Same geology / outcrop path I believe. Thank you for the pic, its given me another piece of of puzzle. What I see is a bunch of the stone in the background of your picture as an outcrop on the surface. It's huge. I am finding various white stones like at the foot of the background rock in your photo. Looking at the few samples I drug home this is most similar to that white stone with "rusty" appearance:

View attachment 1491446

(Wow that looks way more yellow under flash)

Didn't get out today ... 2 kids starting school tomorrow. Managed to get impatient again and crushed the first stone from post 79 by wrapping it in a shirt and beating it with a hammer until dust. Panned it, got this:

View attachment 1491442


Other golden stuff chipped away with tweezers. This is solid and heavy here's hopeing!

If this is gold you found your first float rock with values. This size value should respond to a metal detector by itself or in the rock as it is reduced in size. Thanks for the update.

 

[bobw53]

This is solid and heavy here's hopeing!

Tap it with a hammer.. If it breaks its not gold...

I'm voting for some form of pyrite.. Click the pick, click it again, and then when the magnifying glass comes up, click it again.. you can get up pretty tight..

Its not "buttery", I'm seeing too many reflections that you just don't see come off of GOLD..

I may be wrong... I hope I'm WRONG, and you hit the mother load...


Hit it with a hammer...


I also suggest buying some pay dirt, or some gold on e-bay or whatnot.. Maybe even a small piece of quartz with some visible gold in it..

I got fooled by pyrite when I was green... But when you SEE GOLD in your pan for the first time... You NEVER EVER forget it...
When you learn how gold BEHAVES in your pan.. You NEVER EVER forget it.



Back to your specimen.. When I'm being a "gold nerd" and looking at rocks through a scope and I think I've got GOLD!!!! I look at
it from at least 3 different angles.. That'll usually tell you quick.. If it changes color at all, its not gold, Some pyrite from certain angles will
essentially disappear and turn black, move over a bit, and it turns back to pretty gold.. Gold never changes color, it never sparkles, looks the
same from EVERY angle, the color will stay the same in a bright light or a moderate light. If you are out in the sun, go from shade to sun and
it WILL NOT look any different (less light, but you WILL NOT lose it).. It will still be staring back at you saying "I'm GOLD!!!! M'fer."..

One of the best things I did as a Noob, was to get my hands on some real gold, that I knew was gold.. Even if you only buy a half a gram or a
quarter gram... Just so you know.. I suggest buying the smallest stuff you can find... Because if you can identify SMALL gold.. Big gold
is a no brainer.

I am in no way saying this to be discouraging.. I too went through the early phases of "gold fever"....

Here is my first pan of what I *thought* was real gold..

I don't think it was....

Here is the first piece I *BELIEVE* was real gold.. In my excited state, I snapped a pic, grabbed some tweezers and it went *SPROING* never to be
seen again.

Here is my first verified gold.. Gold I got to stare at for more than 10 seconds before I lost it.

And this is from last Friday.. Nice and buttery.. Pretty..

Keep at it... You'll get there... The FEVER only gets worse.. The only good thing is that you become more educated, and you'll
be able to home in on the good stuff much quicker, and leave the crap laying out in the desert/woods where it belongs.

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

Tap it with a hammer.. If it breaks its not gold...

I'm voting for some form of pyrite.. Click the pick, click it again, and then when the magnifying glass comes up, click it again.. you can get up pretty tight..

Its not "buttery", I'm seeing too many reflections that you just don't see come off of GOLD..

I may be wrong... I hope I'm WRONG, and you hit the mother load...


Hit it with a hammer...


I also suggest buying some pay dirt, or some gold on e-bay or whatnot.. Maybe even a small piece of quartz with some visible gold in it..

I got fooled by pyrite when I was green... But when you SEE GOLD in your pan for the first time... You NEVER EVER forget it...
When you learn how gold BEHAVES in your pan.. You NEVER EVER forget it.



Back to your specimen.. When I'm being a "gold nerd" and looking at rocks through a scope and I think I've got GOLD!!!! I look at
it from at least 3 different angles.. That'll usually tell you quick.. If it changes color at all, its not gold, Some pyrite from certain angles will
essentially disappear and turn black, move over a bit, and it turns back to pretty gold.. Gold never changes color, it never sparkles, looks the
same from EVERY angle, the color will stay the same in a bright light or a moderate light. If you are out in the sun, go from shade to sun and
it WILL NOT look any different (less light, but you WILL NOT lose it).. It will still be staring back at you saying "I'm GOLD!!!! M'fer."..

One of the best things I did as a Noob, was to get my hands on some real gold, that I knew was gold.. Even if you only buy a half a gram or a
quarter gram... Just so you know.. I suggest buying the smallest stuff you can find... Because if you can identify SMALL gold.. Big gold
is a no brainer.

I am in no way saying this to be discouraging.. I too went through the early phases of "gold fever"....

Here is my first pan of what I *thought* was real gold..

I don't think it was....

Here is the first piece I *BELIEVE* was real gold.. In my excited state, I snapped a pic, grabbed some tweezers and it went *SPROING* never to be
seen again.

Here is my first verified gold.. Gold I got to stare at for more than 10 seconds before I lost it.

And this is from last Friday.. Nice and buttery.. Pretty..

Keep at it... You'll get there... The FEVER only gets worse.. The only good thing is that you become more educated, and you'll
be able to home in on the good stuff much quicker, and leave the crap laying out in the desert/woods where it belongs.

My heart dropped to read your post concerning all angles being gold ... the backside was black. Until I beat it With a hammer as you suggested... beat the black off it ... its solid gold now, slightly smaller at 5mm and squished shape. Reworked the pan sludge after seeing your pics ... found 1 more fleck. ... flour but its there too .... oh ... and I just bit it .... thats metal lol

The influence of the ring in lord of the rings makes total sense now .... this little gold stone has eyes and has been looking at me making me feel awkward for fifteen minutes .... it wants its friends to join it in the jar ... non compliance seems unjust ... it shall have friends ... many

Trying not to go crazy thinking the stone I crushed to find this I could wrap my fingers around. Weighed 1lb ... cracked it off 30lbs chunk stone. I have pretty much 1000lbs of this stuff I cherry picked and stored / buried ... going to be a long but fun winter I hope lol

I asked my wife to look at something and tell me what she thinks about it .... Wife looked at it and asked "where did you get the gold from?" I thought that was a good sign lol She'd know

 

[bobw53]

Until I beat it With a hammer as you suggested... beat the black off it ... its solid gold now, slightly smaller at 5mm and squished shape.

Pics, or it didn't happen.. Those are the rules.. i didn't write 'em (or at least that's what my better half tells me, and according to her, she's always right)..

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

Pics, or it didn't happen.. Those are the rules.. i didn't write 'em (or at least that's what my better half tells me, and according to her, she's always right)..

I hear ya lol, and fair:

Front:


Back:


If you mean pics of site or didn't happen ... see next post by me

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

A little look around:

#1 Where quartz spills over bedrock. Really soft white like clay material. Material I found nugget in that I am collecting on bottom right.

View attachment 1491903

#2 more clay like material next to quartz stone at lowest point.
View attachment 1491904

#3 lowest point of accessible bedrock. Pic 1 & 2 taken on top of this rock face
View attachment 1491905
(Notice colors in bedrock)

#4 down towards feet. Absolute bottom without digging.
View attachment 1491906

#5 nearby interesting rock sample:
View attachment 1491907
(The green is weak / wet like the white clay like stuff mentioned in #1 & #2)

#6 looking up spillage field / hill on left of bedrock more clay like runoff.
View attachment 1491911

#7 Bedrock on other side of quartz spill off:
View attachment 1491915
View attachment 1491917
View attachment 1491919
(Not sure how to rotate)

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

#8 quartz left. Chunk of bedrock right:
View attachment 1491920

#9 Bottom of spillage looking uphill towards main outcrop
View attachment 1491921

#10 center of pic 9 hand size chunk of "ore" comming out of the hillside:
View attachment 1491922
(1/2 way up photo 9)

#11 Reached top of 9, pic from that point up towards main outcrops View attachment 1491923

#12 top of 11, upwards again View attachment 1491924

#13 straight up from that point:
View attachment 1491926

#14 following ridge to right instead of climbing up #13:
View attachment 1491927

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

#15 standing on top of #14 showing more incline
View attachment 1491930

#16 largest exposed boulder ... referred to as granite boulder in previous posts in thread.
View attachment 1491931

#17 looking at peak of outcrop from "granite boulder"
View attachment 1491933

#18 transitions from right of #17 to shattered section where I find the hole with the tree limbed and stuffed in thin to thick to "fill the hole" or cork it:
View attachment 1491935

 

[Alex Burke]

Fracture zone?: View attachment 1491138

Went exploring on the top of that ridge and found:
View attachment 1491140

It is a hole that had a tree placed in it and filled around with the bottom sticking straight up. All filled in carefully with stones. Seems to go down 6 -8 feet. Definatly an old marker or old shaft / work site of someone's.

I think that is Colluvium/Talus which is rock that fell down the slope/eroded from above, it is probably from that same hill or mountain further up. If you want to see a fractured zone check out pictures of "Breccia" in a image search. Here's one I found that is a good example of it. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBQQCHdWsAASnt8.jpg

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

I think that is Colluvium/Talus which is rock that fell down the slope/eroded from above, it is probably from that same hill or mountain further up. If you want to see a fractured zone check out pictures of "Breccia" in a image search. Here's one I found that is a good example of it. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBQQCHdWsAASnt8.jpg

Hey, on the backside of this outcrop is an old stream. It still runs during really bad rain (like yesterday) on the other side of that stream is a continuation of this "spine" across the land. That spine section on the other side of the stream is another 60-80 feet in elevation from my point. Definitely possible all this fragmentation either fell from that cliff thousands of years ago or happened when the 2 sides seperated. I believe the water from that stream used to run over all the pics I showed above in a rolling water fall. I have a lake at the bottom of this outcrop .... 500 meters or slightly more away ... I see referance in old maps to a 2nd lake level .... few hundred feet in elevation up from current lake level.

 

[Alex Burke]

Nova I can't see the most recent pics you posted. I thought it might be because I still use the old app but I checked through the browser on my phone and they didn't show up either. Anyways keep looking and posting pics, good luck.

 

[huntsman53]

Nova I can't see the most recent pics you posted. I thought it might be because I still use the old app but I checked through the browser on my phone and they didn't show up either. Anyways keep looking and posting pics, good luck.

Yep, pics in reply #87 thru #89 did not load.


Frank

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

"Trying not to go crazy thinking the stone I crushed to find this I could wrap my fingers around. Weighed 1lb ... cracked it off 30lbs chunk stone. I have pretty much 1000lbs of this stuff I cherry picked and stored / buried ... going to be a long but fun winter I hope lol"

Let me get this straight...You have brought back 1/2 ton of samples based upon the results of crushing a single 1 lb. rock? Then BURIED IT for safe keeping?!
Something smells weird with this thread.

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

"Trying not to go crazy thinking the stone I crushed to find this I could wrap my fingers around. Weighed 1lb ... cracked it off 30lbs chunk stone. I have pretty much 1000lbs of this stuff I cherry picked and stored / buried ... going to be a long but fun winter I hope lol"

Let me get this straight...You have brought back 1/2 ton of samples based upon the results of crushing a single 1 lb. rock? Then BURIED IT for safe keeping?!
Something smells weird with this thread.

Hey, yup except for the buried / hidden part (I am personally stranger then the thread most likely) ... its not really that much work ... 20 or 30 large quartz stones that were at surface level / slightly buried, approx 30lbs each ... some snow white, some blood red, others white quartz with heavy mineralization (metallic / magnetic particles when crushed) not sure on the gold content of the stones. But did get the small peice from a sample I cracked off a larger stone and crushed / panned out.

Right now its hanging out in my back yard. Going to clean up the stones from soils and sort them and can post another pic of that.

I can only guess what happened with the pics in my previous post ... They did show when I clicked on the attachment link, but that is a pain. Perhaps too many pics and the forum limited thier display as some sort of permissions thing? I'll break those posts down to smaller posts and try that way a bit later today. Still have the pics i posted. Having issues posting pics correct orientation. ... seems to default to landscape?

Got info at the local festival, still learning "law of land" as it were, met a few guys with some good info and suggestions going forward. Best info so far is "buy a sledge hammer and saftey goggles" lol Best guess is there is a Billion in gold in these hills alone, the community apparently revolts at the mention of re-opening a mine. Going to get involved with local prospectors society and mineral and gem society in the new year.

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

Area where quartz spills over bedrock. (looks like it was blasted off to make access road, found smooth small bore hole in fragment where explosives were lowered) Really soft clay like marterial with debris mixed inside. Was recently raining. Has since become crusty again. Mineral rich quartz at bottom right.

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

More clay like material next to large boulder of quartz at lowest accessible point.

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

Lowest point of accessible bedrock at foot of rock face where bedrock meets quartz. Pic 1 & 2 taken on top of this point

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

Another near by interesting sample.

 

[NovaScotiaGold]

Looking up spillage over bedrock on left side. More white soft seepage.