Question about Crushing/Panning

[princepts]

Hello Everyone! I am BRAND NEW to this forum and am a BRAND NEW prospector as well. I have found this site to be a wealth of great information. I have a question - which may appear remedial, for that I apologize in advance. I have attached pictures of what I believe are quartz rocks. I dug these up from an area behind my house. I live around High Point, North Carolina. The soil is a red clay and there are so, many of these "boulders" in my yard. Would anyone suggest crushing these rocks to pan or is this not such a good idea? Any insight or information is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

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[chris rizin]

Can you visually see any gold or other mineralization other than quartz? Is the area known to produce gold? I think just about every miner/prospector etc I know has the bug to smash on the quartz in hopes of finding the gold rich vein.. Honestly just dig around the edges find old pieces of naturally eroded material and give it a look and or twirl in the pan.. Or just get to hammering and see what you find! Good hunting!

 

[princepts]

Thanks Chris!

 

[Fullpan]

welcome to tnet, princepts - I suggest you find TAKODA's posts and look at all his quartz rocks. He's got quartz he finds in Alabama, you've got quartz in your
pics. He's got beautiful gold in his quartz. You will only know about gold in your quartz, if you crush and pan at least 50 or so sample rocks. Keep us posted GL!

Keep in mind quartz is one of the most common minerals on earth.

 

[KevinInColorado]

...also keep in mind that a sample of gold in/on quartz is often worth more than the value of the gold due to collectors wanting such things. So if you do find visible gold, STOP!

 

[TerryC]

Quartz is THE MOST COMMON mineral on the earth's surface. Virtually every type of rock has some form of quartz in it. Study up on the sulfides. Pyrite (iron sulfide) Chalcocite (copper sulfide) Galena (lead sulfide) Arsenopyrite (arsenic-iron sulfide). Look where gold is known to have been found before. And... welcome to The Net! TTC