Quartz Gold

NuggetN8

Hero Member
Mar 13, 2012
618
416
Northern California
Detector(s) used
SDC 2300
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hello everyone! Don't think I've seen a thread on this before and would like some opinions. Lately I've been finding little pieces that are half gold half quartz while panning/sluicing. I'm just now starting to find this type of gold after 4 years of working the same creek. Most other areas on the creek have rounded smooth gold. How do you think this type of gold got there? A vein in the creek? Mining operation where they crushed quartz and processed their material in the creek and lost a lot? Here's some pics.

IMGP0162.jpgIMGP0186.JPGIMGP0209.jpgIMGP0215.jpg

NOT ACTUAL SIZE! Lol They're pretty tiny.
 

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Sounds like you are pretty close to a vein. Any slides or big weather recently in the area? Look for tributaries nearby also that only produce during late winter early spring.
 

Sounds like you are pretty close to a vein. Any slides or big weather recently in the area? Look for tributaries nearby also that only produce during late winter early spring.

No slides that I know of. But I'm not sure that pieces would come out of a vein that small. At least not all of them. These types of pieces also seem to be spread out through the overburden instead of right on bedrock.
 

Nice gold N8!
 

No slides that I know of. But I'm not sure that pieces would come out of a vein that small. At least not all of them. These types of pieces also seem to be spread out through the overburden instead of right on bedrock.
Big weather in the past stirring things up over a distance. I would keep following it and when you run out you will know that you have passed the source. If they were crushing and processing in the stream you should be able to find the work site fairly nearby. Most wont want to move material too far. Is there plenty of chunky quarts without gold in the overburden?
 

Big weather in the past stirring things up over a distance. I would keep following it and when you run out you will know that you have passed the source. If they were crushing and processing in the stream you should be able to find the work site fairly nearby. Most wont want to move material too far. Is there plenty of chunky quarts without gold in the overburden?

Not a lot of quartz. But I do find a rough looking piece every now and then. Most of the pieces that I see are 1-2 inches across. Some are smaller. I think I brought some pieces home ill post a pic if I can find them.
 

Well I've misplaced the quartz I collected in a day of sluicing. One day I decided to keep whatever quartz I saw while feeding my sluice. I found about 6 pieces after feeding about 15 buckets of classified material. But here's a pic of a rock I found with a quartz vein running through it..

image-1236840764.jpg
 

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