70 lbs monster hydrothermal gold Quartz specimen

[MorrisTheProspecter]

 

[4metals]

Nice, anyone who can carry that out deserves some respect.

 

[MorrisTheProspecter]

Thanks brotha. It was a beast to carry out for sure . I actually carried out 4 of em. Ranging from 40lbs to 80lbs but the 70 was the coolest looking one so I started cleaning it first. I’ll post pictures of the other 3 in the next day or two when I get them more cleaned off. Definitely very happy with this find!

 

[orvi]

View attachment 51856Not only the rusty surface ? Maybe the photo skew some colours or wiew, but it lack any metallic luster, to say at least. Altough fine mustard gold can be this coloured, that is for sure. If it is like this, what you are going to do with it ?

 

[MorrisTheProspecter]

Definitely hydrothermal gold Quartz. I’ve already cleaned smaller pieces that show incredible gold. Not too mention all the little pieces that are flaking off as I’m cleaning them. I’ll post more pictures tomorrow when they’re a little more etched as I have them in vinegar water. I actually have 4 of them. One that is little bigger then this one then two that are a little smaller. Then I have a bunch of smaller pieces that I might break down and refine but the bigger ones I plan on selling or keeping. I don’t have it in me to destroy these beautiful specimens.

 

[4metals]

I understand the concepts of hydrothermal vents but what is the big clue identifying the area as a hydrothermal vent rather than an exposed vein?

We spend a lot of time instructing others here about the chemistry of refining but little about the geology of actually getting the gold and other values out of the ground. Maybe someone could offer some geology lessons here?

 

[Alondro]

Definitely hydrothermal gold Quartz. I’ve already cleaned smaller pieces that show incredible gold. Not too mention all the little pieces that are flaking off as I’m cleaning them. I’ll post more pictures tomorrow when they’re a little more etched as I have them in vinegar water. I actually have 4 of them. One that is little bigger then this one then two that are a little smaller. Then I have a bunch of smaller pieces that I might break down and refine but the bigger ones I plan on selling or keeping. I don’t have it in me to destroy these beautiful specimens.

This looks very similar indeed to a quartz seam I stumbled upon in the late 80's up in north NJ, near a place where an ancient magma formation abutted metamorphic rock. Once the weather gets cooler and the ticks and flies fizzle out for the year, I'll be checking that mountain again and get a sample. I know exactly where it is.

 

[4metals]

Interesting read.
Science Direct article on hydrothermal vents

Still there is nothing I have found (but not being a geologist I'm surely looking in the wrong places) that details how eons of earth's movements have defined how these ancient vents present themselves in a modern landscape.

Not that I'm running out tomorrow to schlep 80 pound rocks anyway.

 

[Alondro]

Interesting read.
Science Direct article on hydrothermal vents

Still there is nothing I have found (but not being a geologist I'm surely looking in the wrong places) that details how eons of earth's movements have defined how these ancient vents present themselves in a modern landscape.

Not that I'm running out tomorrow to schlep 80 pound rocks anyway.

It's almost certain there are such deposits in the northern Appalachians, where there are a number of known magma sills and ancient volcanic plugs. However, because that landscape is so incredibly weathered, finding them is going to be tricky. Most of the 'mountains' in NJ are actually the heavily-eroded remains of the ancestral plateau. Such is the case with a diabase-magma sill called 'Sourland Mountain' to the west of Princeton. Only the hardest rock has survived.

 

[BlackLabel]

Hi MTMWAHTISWITRHJF
("MorrisTheManWhoAlwaysHopesThereIsSomethingWorthyInTheRockHeJustFound"),

Nice rocks - congrats!

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

We’ll come on Morris. Crush a sample. Let’s see some gold!

 

[MicheleM]

It looks like...

 

[BlackLabel]

@MicheleM:
No, it doesn't. Yours is much smaller. ;-)

 

[galenrog]

I think the point that MicheleM is trying to make is that it looks like iron stained quartz.

Time for more coffee.

 

[orvi]

I think the point that MicheleM is trying to make is that it looks like iron stained quartz.

Time for more coffee.

I know about the story of a guy completely persuaded he panned ounces and ounces of gold in single day on Danube river. He collected the nice and shiny material for weeks, and accumulated like 10 kilos.

Then he revealed the "secret" to the public goldpanning forum... He accumulated 10 kilos of mica I do not want to know how badly he sobered from this...

 

[MicheleM]

@galenrog yep , nice quartz based rock but no gold there. I was in the italian side of the Alps, a very nice place with a discrete quantity of alluvional gold

 

[BlackLabel]

Micheles rock is the mobile version of Morris'.

 

[goldshark]

Well Morris, what does it assay?

 

[MorrisTheProspecter]

 

[MorrisTheProspecter]

Some pure gold powder dissolve and precipitated from safety + bleach + HCL mix + Metabisulfite = Little over 2 ounces.