Desert Hermit
Jr. Member
- Feb 1, 2014
- 86
- 75
- Detector(s) used
- MineLab GPX 5000
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
Hello fellow prospectors, I originally posted this in the treasure hunting forum, oops.
I have a few issues with my latest find that has me doubting and would love to get your opinions.
The first issue is the old saying; "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't." Finding gold deposits in small or microscopic amounts is common, but when faced with what I am looking at here all alarms go off. So here's the story!
First, the find does come from a well known gold producing area that has produced millions of ounces including many 50 oz. and one 160 oz. nugget.
The large quartz outcropping I have located has just recently been uncovered by the summer floods in the desert and has never been worked. The area is not claimed.
I grabbed a few 5 gallon buckets of the ore and covered the area with dirt.
As I said earlier, I'm having a hard time believing this is true because of the size of the find, so I am trying to confirm its' validity in any way possible. I took a few samples to pawn shops to have them test it, the first shop was ran by a very rude man that I had to argue with just to get the test. He applied acid and the acid did not eat the sample. I asked what the acid strength was and the guy said it doesn't matter! OK, jerk! Off to the next one.
At the next shop the attendant was very friendly, the first thing he told me was they do not buy gold in ore form but he would help me out and run the test. He returned and said that it is definitely gold.
The next event that took place has helped to fuel my doubts, this man that just tested the samples told me to go over to another counter and speak with their professional. I told this man about the positive acid test and the first words out of his mouth when he looked at the samples was, "I disagree." After a long conversation I left even more confused than ever.
I have to tell you the truth, I have never doubted the acid test in the past, but now I just have to ask all you old timers and fellow prospectors; "Have you ever seen a case where the acid test was positive but was wrong?"
Some of the veins are heavily mineralized as seen in the samples on the right, while many of the veins as seen in the samples on the left of the image are filled with very small veins of iron. The heaviest gold? deposits are found in the veins of the left sample.
And here is another image of what one of the ores looks like, no gold in this image, just the clearest image I have of the ore.
Please feel free to slap me, hit me, or whatever. I'm stuck here and would appreciate any slap, push, poke or joke.
I have a few issues with my latest find that has me doubting and would love to get your opinions.
The first issue is the old saying; "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't." Finding gold deposits in small or microscopic amounts is common, but when faced with what I am looking at here all alarms go off. So here's the story!
First, the find does come from a well known gold producing area that has produced millions of ounces including many 50 oz. and one 160 oz. nugget.
The large quartz outcropping I have located has just recently been uncovered by the summer floods in the desert and has never been worked. The area is not claimed.
I grabbed a few 5 gallon buckets of the ore and covered the area with dirt.
As I said earlier, I'm having a hard time believing this is true because of the size of the find, so I am trying to confirm its' validity in any way possible. I took a few samples to pawn shops to have them test it, the first shop was ran by a very rude man that I had to argue with just to get the test. He applied acid and the acid did not eat the sample. I asked what the acid strength was and the guy said it doesn't matter! OK, jerk! Off to the next one.
At the next shop the attendant was very friendly, the first thing he told me was they do not buy gold in ore form but he would help me out and run the test. He returned and said that it is definitely gold.
The next event that took place has helped to fuel my doubts, this man that just tested the samples told me to go over to another counter and speak with their professional. I told this man about the positive acid test and the first words out of his mouth when he looked at the samples was, "I disagree." After a long conversation I left even more confused than ever.
I have to tell you the truth, I have never doubted the acid test in the past, but now I just have to ask all you old timers and fellow prospectors; "Have you ever seen a case where the acid test was positive but was wrong?"
Some of the veins are heavily mineralized as seen in the samples on the right, while many of the veins as seen in the samples on the left of the image are filled with very small veins of iron. The heaviest gold? deposits are found in the veins of the left sample.
And here is another image of what one of the ores looks like, no gold in this image, just the clearest image I have of the ore.
Please feel free to slap me, hit me, or whatever. I'm stuck here and would appreciate any slap, push, poke or joke.
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by the time I've completed this task, finding the real stuff should be easier. It was no easy task getting all of the stuff in that last photo down near the bottom of the pan! It never really made it all the way down but boy was it close! Lesson learned. There were a couple real ones in the pan but not enough to mess with at this point. For the time being I think I'll look for greener pastures.
