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GOLD QUARTZ SPECIMEN from AUSTRALIA
Ruler is 1/4" wide (6 mm). U.S. 10 cent coin is 17 mm in diameter. Specimen weight: 2.43 Gram - 37.5 Grains
Size: 15.7X12X9 mm Here's an exceptional chunk of Aussie quartz blasted from an underground mine. Check out the filling of Au. The calc-silicate (calcite-quartz) rock also contains a gun-metal-grey wall rock; possibly dolerite. You won't need a pocket lens to see the Au. The specimen's quite rich. This once-productive Queensland lode deposit hides beneath the town of Gympie. It's called the Gympie-Eldorado Mine. For those who've kept track of my store these past several years (23), you'll know I don't sell low-grade or counterfeit simulated (man-made) specimens. Who does that, right? Folks who've discovered they can get away with peddling just about anything online, that's who. Just because a specimen shows gold doesn't mean the gold wasn't 'salted'. I only deal in gold specimens which are naturally-mineralized. My prices aren't based on the amount of gold, but on the authenticity, rarity, and collectability of these rocks. S & H Discounted for combined shipments.
U.S. BUYERS & INTNL.
PAYMENTS Payment must be made within 7 days from close of auction. We ship as soon as funds clear. If you have questions, please ask them before bidding.
REFUNDS
We leave no stones unturned insuring our customers get what they bargained for. If you're not satisfied with this item, contact me. Then, if the problem can't be fixed, return product within 30 days in 'as purchased' condition for a full refund
VIRGIN PAY AND PLACER REDEPOSITS Whether a placer deposit is flood gold or ancient, virgin gold, it takes testing for the deposit size to be determined. The
onis is on you, the prospector, to make that happen. A gold pan remains possibly the most valuable tool you'll ever use unless you're a detectorist only. I see everyone uses plastic scoops nowadays. Having done a fair amount of nugget-shooting myself, I see it as extra, unnecessary effort. I feel that one's hand is a faster, more effortless way of isolating a target. But each to his own. Whatever turns you on. Maybe if all the old 'salts' had told me it was essential I use a scoop, I probably would have followed suit. But moving on, wherever the goldfield, if placer exists in the region, alluvium needs to be tested. A pan
sample taken now and then doesn't cut it. Pay-streaks are erratic. They
meander. Often, they're found deep underground buried beneath countless feet of overburden. In some regions, they're found at intermediate depths between upper stratified gravels and bedrock. Most paystreaks conform to the underlying terrain and rest on bedrock. Basically, this is the basement country rock i.e. the roots of the mountains and valleys themselves. Sediments are always layered on top of these dominant geological formations. In mining lexicon, when in-situ veins inside this country rock are mined, it's called 'hard rock mining'. Unconsolidated (or consolidated) sedimentary material is alluvial in nature. It's comprised of all the sand, silt, gravel, clay, boulders, et al carried by local drainages or, perhaps, has been spread out across an entire intermontaine valley floor. There may only be one paystreak inhabiting whichever watershed or drainage you happen to be in. If it's linear dimensions are narrow, you can easily miss it. If the watershed is broad and expansive, there might be multiple paystreaks located, perhaps, at different elevations. Some are wide, others skinny little things. Incomplete
sampling is the bane of the impatient prospector. Whether the gravel is bedded or loose and unsorted, whatever the elevation, it bears checking out. Gold is not always lodged on the bottom of hydrologically-active drainages/watersheds. Older deposits are often found suspended at higher elevations. Oftimes, placer is in motion. It's in transit; leap-frogging downhill from one elevation to the next. Some refer to this as 'clip zone' gold. Once uprooted and in transit, gold eventually washes into local drainages looking for it's next holding area. Countless types of terrain hold placer gold. Check out the massive, surface deposits of Australia and the Bering Sea. These expanses are generally flat, horizontal plains. In the Australian outback, nuggets seem randomly scattered about the semi-desert landscape. Both deposit archetypes, in a sense, exist in similar terrain. What rhyme or reason could there be for such occurrences? Plenty. I could offer some long-winded explanations, yet almost anything a person might wish to know on the subject could be answered by typing in one's questions and asking The Oracle. To understand intermediate-level deposits, research the famous blue leads of Canada's western provinces. I've seen blue leads mined in the Monashee and B.C.'s Cariboo country where locals were pulling impressive amounts of placer from intermediate level clay layers. In desert country, including the states, expect to find surface placer as well as deep deposits. Moving northward into Canada and the western states, one encounters long, meandering river systems. Sampling the bars, you may be surprised to discover that seasonal
flooding left behind rich redeposits at and just beneath the surface of the gravels. One wonders, if the ground pays this well so close to the top, what
would further prospecting reveal down on bedrock? There's no set cut and dried rules about gold's habitats and haunts. Only sampling can say. Problem is, at most locations, you can't reach bedrock to test it. I know. I worked beneath a
six inch suction dredge for several years. Dredgers in the Bering Sea suck up only the top three feet of gravel and find insanely-rich ground. That's gravy, mate. Easy peazy except for the fact that you're working maybe thirty or forty feet beneath the waves in numbingly-cold water. You're relying heavily upon hooka for air and a hot-water system to keep you from freezing to death. Let me backtrack on that 'easy peazy' part. Back on dry land, those familiar with mountainous terrain and massive canyon systems understand what a tall order sampling is. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Much of the time, attempts to test the ground will be futile. Only operators outfitted with monster excavators,
cats, front-end loaders, and such can open up these deep alluvial masses for effective sampling. Just obtaining the necessary permits is a major obstacle all in itself. If you wish to test gravel adjacent to active creeks or rivers, and those older channels lie at virtually the same level as the water, good luck keeping your operation dry. In geoexploration, little is revealed without analysis. Not much comes easy in this business of finding gold and extracting it from the ground.
Thanks for checking out our digs. Gold of Eldorado 1-14-13
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