Rock / Creek / Help

[oregonmp03]

So I've poked around two separate creeks on a river that's nearby. The first creek is just a trickle of a creek but has a lode mine above it. I haven't had a chance to pan it because of lack of water but I detected it today and found 4 solid black rocks with rust/iron looking deposits on them. My detector and pinpointer picked them up. They are not hotrocks, they just give out a really strong signal and certain parts of the rock hit harder with the pinpointer than others. They produce no gold when ground down.

The other creek is right next door and while walking through the forest with my detector on to get to the creek boom, I get the same type of hit. Dig down 1 inch and find the same type of rock, just rougher. No idea what it is solid hit, not a hotrock, my detector overloads when it's a hotrock.

I go sluice in the creek and don't get a single thing. But the walls to the creek are just loaded with rust and my detector hits on them hard, even with iron completely masked out. This is the second trip to the creek with no luck in the sluice but I always grab a couple samples on my way out and both times I've been there I've grabbed quartz pieces that when crushed down produced a piece or two of gold.

I'm just at a loss of what to think/do with the area. Detecting only hits on those black rust stained rocks, in both creeks. No gold in the sluice, but gold in the quartz rocks every time it's crushed.. I've posted a picture of the rocks that I'm getting hits on with my detector. I'm just not sure if I should focus on sluicing and hitting bedrock or concentrate on the quartz or what. Not even sure what the black rocks are.

 

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[kcm]

Most likely what you've found are sulfide ores. Sulfides cannot simply be ground down and panned out, but must be roasted THEN ground and panned, or leached by chemical means.

As ores can be quite different from spot to spot, and even from within the same vein, your rocks may ring up at various readings on the detector. Some rocks may also have silver, lead, copper, or any variation of many other minerals and metals.

As you know the exact location, I would do some research into the mine(s) there and see what could be found out about the ores they were pulling out; PM content, oxide/sulfide, how long ago, etc.

 

[goldenIrishman]

If what you're finding is a sulfide ore, the exact extraction method can vary quite a bit depending on the makeup of the ore. There's been several threads that discuss this topic here on the forum. Might be a good idea to track them down and do a little research on things to try when it come to extracting the gold from the ore.

 

[oregonmp03]

Ahh thanks, never even thought of it being sulfide ores. I'll do some checking to see what the old mine was.

 

[oregonmp03]

So I believe you guys are right I found the following... ""The ore occurs as gold-bearing massive sulfides in a siliceous matrix." "deposit is similar to volcanogenic massive sulfides", "the high surface gold values make it an excellent exploration target." "The ore is a massive sulfide type...the ore body itself represents a fairly gold/arsenopyrite siliceous breccia with some higher grade massive arsenopyrite bodies accompanied by minor chalcoprite and a sooty black sulfide."

in addition: "The unweighted average of six samples obtained is 1.12 ounces of gold per ton with sample values ranging from 0.49 to 3.5 ounces au/ton."

Guess that makes sense as that's what I found. Thanks for your help. Not much I can do with sulfided ore as I don't have any of that gear.

 

[johnedoe]

Claim it and sell it...............

 

[meMiner]

I am not an expert in hardrock, but stumbled across this video the other day. The gold baring rocks (black and ugly) that this fellow demonstrates look somewhat like what you have. Might be worth a look:

 

[winners58]

those rocks are the host rocks (greenstone?) with some stringers keep looking for the main ore body. fracture zones, fault lines
or along the edges where the host rock changes to granite, basalt or other types of rock, as in the quartz the gold migrates
to these rocks as free gold or where the main ore body come to the surface, weathering and oxidation will also leave free gold.
follow them up hill, the gold will be mostly in-place and not travel much at all, keep checking the quartz.
if you do find some high grade arsenopyrite, (they look a lot like other pyrite). please have an assay done so you know what your dealing with.
arsenic can accumulate in your system, you might be fine the first time you try to get the gold out but the second exposure may kill you.

Oregon Metal Mines Handbook 1940, Coos, Curry & Douglas county's

more old mine records http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/milo/ohmi-Coos.htm

 

[Golden_Crab]

Hydrated iron by the looks of it... I'd look for quartz / brecciated rock near the highest adjacent elevations. What you have is of volcanic origin within close proximity.