RSMITH
Greenie
Stubborn / "wirey" rocks that sit in the bottom of the pan with black sand...
Hey Everyone,
I am a beginner in the art of panning and treasure hunting so please excuse my naivety and/or ridiculous questions.. But everyone has to start somewhere right?
I have been out panning only a few times so far and have not made any significant precious metal discoveries. I have definitely found decent amounts of flour gold but I am still aspiring for that first nugget... Even if it's the size of a BB, I can't wait.
My question is about the few items that remain in the pan once your concentrate has been reduced to nothing but black sands. I have been saving a lot of these little rocks and pebbles in a jar, not knowing if it is worth it or not. The reason I have been saving a lot of them, is because when viewed under 10-15x magnification (some even to the naked eye), I can see distinct wires in a lot of these specimens. I have seen silvery wires, gold wires, copper hued wires etc... The problem that my novice attempts have been running into, is that these wires are obviously very small. I have tried to figure out a way to do a test of the malleability of these object without success. This is because the wires are too small to break off and hit with a hammer, and when I smash the whole specimen, there are usually very tiny shards amongst the powder from the host mineral (usually now waaay too small to try any sort of tests with).
I live in Colorado and my first few attempts at panning have been in Breckenridge. I usually try to collect bits and pieces of concentrate from strategic locations, i.e. crevices, behind large rocks (as far down as I can dig) in the river, dirt and cobble from banks that have eroded during high water, gravel bars, etc... and I know that the rocky mountains have been known to produce "wirey" precious metal formations (hence why I have hung on to these pan loiterers)
So my question is, is it worth saving these rocks and possibly giving them to a local surveyor? Is it more worth my efforts to crush all of these and pan them? Or should I just hurl them out of my pan in frustration once I don't see any decent pieces of precious metal?
Thanks for any/all advice. Happy Hunting
Hey Everyone,
I am a beginner in the art of panning and treasure hunting so please excuse my naivety and/or ridiculous questions.. But everyone has to start somewhere right?
I have been out panning only a few times so far and have not made any significant precious metal discoveries. I have definitely found decent amounts of flour gold but I am still aspiring for that first nugget... Even if it's the size of a BB, I can't wait.
My question is about the few items that remain in the pan once your concentrate has been reduced to nothing but black sands. I have been saving a lot of these little rocks and pebbles in a jar, not knowing if it is worth it or not. The reason I have been saving a lot of them, is because when viewed under 10-15x magnification (some even to the naked eye), I can see distinct wires in a lot of these specimens. I have seen silvery wires, gold wires, copper hued wires etc... The problem that my novice attempts have been running into, is that these wires are obviously very small. I have tried to figure out a way to do a test of the malleability of these object without success. This is because the wires are too small to break off and hit with a hammer, and when I smash the whole specimen, there are usually very tiny shards amongst the powder from the host mineral (usually now waaay too small to try any sort of tests with).
I live in Colorado and my first few attempts at panning have been in Breckenridge. I usually try to collect bits and pieces of concentrate from strategic locations, i.e. crevices, behind large rocks (as far down as I can dig) in the river, dirt and cobble from banks that have eroded during high water, gravel bars, etc... and I know that the rocky mountains have been known to produce "wirey" precious metal formations (hence why I have hung on to these pan loiterers)
So my question is, is it worth saving these rocks and possibly giving them to a local surveyor? Is it more worth my efforts to crush all of these and pan them? Or should I just hurl them out of my pan in frustration once I don't see any decent pieces of precious metal?
Thanks for any/all advice. Happy Hunting
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