Found some shine

[jog]

Hit Quartzville creek for a little while this week. Got a few pickers, two that had traveled a ways and two that were pretty course still. Also a few other flakes that are not gold or led. There is silver and platinum in this river but not sure how to identify them.

 

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[eureka77]

Nice!

 

[strickman]

nice color !

 

[Tuberale]

The silvery sting-like piece looks to be platinum, although it is quite rare in Quartzville area. It should also be significantly heavier than the gold. It looks like at least some of the gold has been blended with mercury to form an amalgam: be careful if storing this! Significant amounts of mercury in the Santiam to this day from discarded mercury from gold extraction. I'd be worried about eating too many trout from Quartzville Creek.

Were you above Green Peter Reservoir? I would guess so, as some of the gold does look more angular, a sign it hasn't been long out of the vein.

 

[TAKODA]

Fine shine Jog . Nice work .

 

[jog]

The silvery sting-like piece looks to be platinum, although it is quite rare in Quartzville area. It should also be significantly heavier than the gold. It looks like at least some of the gold has been blended with mercury to form an amalgam: be careful if storing this! Significant amounts of mercury in the Santiam to this day from discarded mercury from gold extraction. I'd be worried about eating too many trout from Quartzville Creek.

Were you above Green Peter Reservoir? I would guess so, as some of the gold does look more angular, a sign it hasn't been long out of the vein.

The non gold looking pieces seemed to do and act just the same as the gold in my pan. Doesn't appear to be heavier. I have been to Quartzville quit a bit but haven't noticed this while panning before.

 

[Goldwasher]

nice pickers dude.. . I was just doing some finish panning yesterday, had some of that tiny steel looking stuff too, i kept it with the black sands. platinum can be weakly magnetic. there was alot of mercury with in these cons, so some of the stuff that i saw that looked like that stuff ended up in the amalglam must have been dirty gold.

 

[Astrobouncer]

Very nice! 8)

 

[Tuberale]

The non gold looking pieces seemed to do and act just the same as the gold in my pan. Doesn't appear to be heavier. I have been to Quartzville quit a bit but haven't noticed this while panning before.

I personally know the owner of one of the gold mines up there, the Albany mine, adit next to the road in Dry Gulch Road.

You may just be getting down toward auriferous gravel more. Often the fall floods put a lot of overburden on them. Depends where you go, though.

Platinum not reported in Oregon Geological Department notes on the area, although some platinum will be found nearly everywhere, as it is meteoric in origin, along with the other platinum group metals. If you haven't already gotten it, the State of Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries "Gold and Silver in Oregon", Bulletin 61, is a must read for any serious gold searcher in Oregon. (Albany Mine on p. 294).

 

[highdesertranger]

nice color wish i would find that spot. were you dredging? i was there on one of the gpaa claims in the beginning of august its not were i wanted to be but the place was packed no were to camp i didn't do very well. but i did find a lot of lead and fishing lures i even found some lead mesh i assumed it came out of a lead acid battery. btw i was dreding, next year i will go there earlier in the year when its not so crowded. highdesertranger

 

[jog]

nice color wish i would find that spot. were you dredging? i was there on one of the gpaa claims in the beginning of august its not were i wanted to be but the place was packed no were to camp i didn't do very well. but i did find a lot of lead and fishing lures i even found some lead mesh i assumed it came out of a lead acid battery. btw i was dreding, next year i will go there earlier in the year when its not so crowded. highdesertranger

Yes, I was dredging, 4" Keene. The best time to hit Quartzville that I have noticed is on non Holiday weekends and show up in the middle or the first of the week. I showed up on a Sun, night and didn't see anyone really until Thur, morning when I left.
It seems that the gold is cleaner further up river and also less junk.
Depending on the spot that you want to dredge, water could be to high if your there to early or to low later.