Something shiny in my clay

[Darshevo]

On today's family outing to the hills I stopped crossing back over a creekbed to show my girlfriends daughter an area of exposed bedrock. When I knelt down in the creek and ran my hand across it I found it to actually be clay. I scooped a handful out and noticed that it has shiny's in it. Just for fun I grabbed a bucketful to play with this week while I pan out the test holes I dug elsewhere on our expedition.

I ran a quick test pan with a small bit when I got home and the shiny material seems to be pretty light weight. I am thinking maybe mica?

I know that clay is hard to process and if you are sending it down through a sluice box it will grab ahold of your existing fines and take them with it on the way by. What would be the best way to process it to see if there are any values there?

I checked both upstream and down for some distance to see if there were any more clay areas, but this was the only one. Using my probe I determined it to be about 3 feet from the top of the creek to where it either hits bedrock or a rock large enough to stop my probe (I tried a few different areas)

Regardless on the mineral content outcome on the clay with was a great day with the family. We checked out some abandoned (sealed) mines, had a great hike, and we got some super good quality clay that my girlfriend will fashion up some interesting brick-a-brac out of

-Lance

 

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[strickman]

the shiny stuff is mica. you won't see gold laying on the top . there are exceptions to every rule but for the most part it won't be on top.gold is very heavy it won't act that way.

 

[Tuberale]

Can almost guarantee shiny stuff in clay is mica. Produces tiny sheets, like leaves of a very small book. Clay deposits are nothing more than very fine silt, so generally goes back into solution fairly easily too.

To process, take a handful of clay and allow to set in a bucket of water for at least 2 days, agitating it occasionally to try breaking up the particles. If the shiny stuff floats out of a gold pan quickly, then mica. Mica once called Isenglass, and was used to make early windows. Mica is a very good insulator.

 

[Hoser John]

Just take a knife blade or screwdriver to it and ifn' it cracks,crumbles or goes crunch ya got mica aka leaverite as in leave it right there-John

 

[Darshevo]

Lemme tell you John, this has been a summer of discovering leaverite. On the plus side I have hiked a ton of creeks and spent hours of quality time with the family out in the wilderness, so I guess all is not lost

-Lance

 

[Hoser John]

Thats why it's called prospecting--aka just a lookn'. Problem is all paystreaks play out(mining) and then your back to prospecting. I've know many a miner who loved to prospect and would just sell off the mine/claim/hole in the ground and was more than happy to get back to wandering the hills. Raised all 4 of my kids in the boonies mining and only comfortable out in the hills underwater with a dredge hose in hand, heart a pumpn' like a locomotive,adreneline running high and the excitement is a adreneline junkies way a life-none better--too damn old to change now-cool John