Am I in a good hole or wasting my time?

[Urbanlocke]

In my first shot, the quartz vein is curving from the top down from my backhoe.
In #2 is a sample of rock west of the vein. I'm not to sure of what this sample is of.
In #3 is a piece of the vein. I'm not sure what the blue/green is though, any ideas?
West of the vein is decomposing granite.
In #4 I wanted to show the color of the surrounding material removed from my hole in my first shot.
In #5 this was the first piece that caught my eye, it reminds me of a sandwich. The side in the shadow looks the same as the right side of the picture.
#6 is #5 on its side, I think it shows the mineral colors well.


I would enjoy any feed back, thank you ahead of time.

 

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[Mad Machinist]

Crush and pan or have it assayed. That's the only real way to tell. Pics look like it COULD be interesting.

 

[3xflyfisher]

It is an interesting looking vein/outcrop. What part of the country are you in - has gold been found in you locale before?

 

[augoldminer]

Cut a few samples the across the cut you have to make to mine the ore not just across the vein. this is what you will have to mill.

This will give a true ore grade.

If you have to selective mine just the vein your cost will go up greatly.

also you likely have richer or leaner ore in the oxidized zone you are in.
Ore deposits formed by oxidation and supergene enrichment

 

[Urbanlocke]

I live in the Mother lode of N. California outside of Grass Valley. I live on top of a mountain that did not have water access in the 1850's or the 1930's. The grounds were part of a family cattle ranch. My Grandpa who was a hard rock miner of this area until the mines closed in the 1950's had said there are gold signs here. He has since passed on so my vault of great information has gone and I am walking in his shoes as a $1 a day miner. Yes, gold has been found in this area it is the old Rough and Ready mining district.

 

[Fullpan]

Welcome to the forum, Urban - I would love to hear more from your region of the motherlode. Did your gramps work in the major mines like the Champion, etc.? And Rough and Ready was a hydraulic diggings, right?

 

[3xflyfisher]

Urban,
Since you are in the motherlode, try what Mad Machinist suggested, crush and pan it, or take a representative sample and spend the ~$50 and have it fire assayed.

Good luck!

 

[Urbanlocke]

Welcome to the forum, Urban - I would love to hear more from your region of the motherlode. Did your gramps work in the major mines like the Champion, etc.? And Rough and Ready was a hydraulic diggings, right?

Yes he worked for the 16 to 1, Idaho Maryland, Lava Cap mine, Brunswick, North Star, and he worked the last shift at the Empire mine. But he never work for the Champion, instead he got in bar fights with the owner. Rough and Ready did use hydraulic in some areas, but water was hard to get for non US citizens. In the 1950's Rough and Ready joined the US so that they could get drunk on the 4th of July. A lot of the mainstake here was lode gold form what I have researched. There were a few placer mines along the Deer and Squirrel creek.