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GOLD QUARTZ SPECIMEN from COLORADO, USA
Ruler is 1/4" wide (6 mm). U.S. 10 cent coin is 17 mm in diameter. Specimen weight: .58 Gram - 9.1 Grains
Sizes: 9+ mm long (each piece) Here's two small specimens recovered from a Rocky Mtn. mine east of Leadville, Colorado. The grey-white-black mineral host is a silicate-carbonate mix. High purity Oro is visible in both rocks. XRF analysis indicates 7.8 parts Au with high iron, zinc, and manganese content. Two major mines along the Mosquito Pass road, the Monarch and Diamond, produced a wealth of mineral riches from this district. These two small samples come from estate rocks found back in the 1960s. For those who've kept track of my store these past several years, you'll know I don't sell low-grade or simulated (man-made) specimens. If it shows genuine VG (visible gold), it can't be low grade. FYI- Made specimens sold as natural gold quartz specimens is just one more form of counterfeiting. I say nix on such practices. Collectors looking for authentic, naturally-occurring gold specimens deserve the real deal, not fakes. My prices aren't based on the amount of gold content, but on their authenticity, rarity, and the fact that gold is visible in these unique samples. 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 you're on the hunt for redeposits or snooping out virgin ground, it takes testing. The
onis is on you, the prospector, to make that happen. To be successful, it's necessary you sample all the loose, and at times, consolidated sediments of the area. Overburden rarely contains minable quantities of gold, but one never knows for sure without sampling them to some extent. Whether it's sand, gravel, plain dirt, caliche, clay, or whatever manner of loose (or hard-packed aggregate), your purpose is to discover if any gold's in it. For that reason, a gold pan remains one of a prospector's most important tools. Testing a pan of dirt now and then won't cut it. In creeks, drywashes, canyons, etc., pay-streaks tend to be irregular. They
meander. Some lie hidden in ancient terraces stranded high above the valley floor. Others are entombed amongst tightly-packed boulder mobs. In certain regions around the planet, paystreaks are buried at intermediate depths within distinct layers of bedded alluvium. Despite best guesses on where to dig, it's easy to miss these pay-zones entirely. On many claims, one proven prospecting technique is to cut a trench, or a series of them, all the way across the drainage. In this way, sedimentary rock formations within that drainage and where they interface with bedrock will be exposed. If paystreaks exist, thorough sampling at those interfaces should reveal them. Incomplete
sampling is the bane of the impatient prospector. Placer deposits can hide almost anywhere in the surrounding terrain. Sometimes, the best ground is high up the hillside or along first-level benches overhanging some creek or riverbed. Several creeks I've worked yielded gold chiefly from 1st tier terraces running alongside hydrologically-active drainages. Mr. Gold could also be moving downhill in transit from upper elevations. At times like these, clip zones become attractive areas for MDers and all-around placer miners to focus their searches on. Uprooted from it's original resting place, gold may once again have reached an active watershed. Re-mobilized, it washes further downstream looking for a new honey hole. Check out the massive, surficial gold deposits of Australia and Alaska. In the flat outback country Down Under, nuggets seem randomly scattered about the landscape. What rhyme or reason would cause so much gold to be buried this close to the surface? Much the same could be said for the enormous Bering Sea gold deposit spread over hundreds of square miles of seabed. In some regions, intermediate level alluvial deposits carry fabulous amounts of gold. Research the famous blue leads of Canada's western provinces. I've seen stratified blue clays in the Monashee and the Cariboo goldfields give up impressive amounts of oro. In desert country, including here in the states, expect to find eluvial surface placer as well as deeper gold deposits. It just depends on how much gold was released from local lodes in the first place and how hard those deposits were hammered in subsequent years. Millenial climate change causes irregular flows of water, gold's chief mobilizing agent. Water and time play the most important transportation roles as it conveys and lays down gold during a watershed's changing hydrological and sedimentary cycles. Moving northward into Canada and the western states, one encounters lengthy river systems where seasonal
flooding leaves behind rich surface redeposits on gravel bars. One wonders, if the ground pays this well up close to the surface, what
would a prospector find on bedrock at those sites? There's no set cut and dried rules about gold's haunts. Mining districts tend to be highly nuanced. Only sampling can tell where the gold is. Problem is, at many locations, there's no way to reach bedrock for testing. I worked beneath a
six inch suction dredge for many years. Only rarely were attempts made to mine deeper alluvial deposits containing more than five feet of overburden. Dredgers in the Bering Sea only mine the top two or three feet. If gold's in the area, they don't need to go any deeper. What a luxury, mate. In mountainous terrain containing canyon systems, comprehensive sampling is a tall order. Most of the time, it's virtually impossible. Only operators outfitted with monster excavators,
cats, front-end loaders, and such can open up such deep alluvial masses to test the ground effectively. I'm referring, of course, to dry-land, above-water gravel
deposits. If ground as side pay lies adjacent to active watersheds and sits at the same elevation as the running water, good luck keeping it out of your excavation pit. In geoexploration, little is certain without analysis and nothing comes easy in this gold-finding business. Generally, the best
pay-dirt will be concentrated on, in, and just above bedrock of rivers and creek
channels. In other regions, excellent
flood gold re-deposits exist in the uppermost strata of the most
recently-deposited stream/river gravels. Anything goes in desert and
pediment-type deposits. In drier climes and areas where shallow-seated lode
deposits continue to shed gold, placer gold is found lying very close to the
surface. These present readily-available targets to MDers hunting the many dry
regions of the world.
Thanks for checking out our digs. Gold of Eldorado 1-14-13
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