Ore identification please help

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Some more pics of my days living on the Salmon River (California not Idaho)

Spent 7 years basically "camped out" --- 3 of those year I lived in a 12 X 14 wall tent - the kind with a stove hole for a wood stove - one year in the old cabin at the hard rock mine then I up graded to a camper trailer --- then the forest service came in & kicked EVERYBODY out including miners with permits & plans of operations & they burned ALL the cabins

It was so far back in the mountains it still had one of the very last old "crank" phone systems working - NO TV NO electric unless you provided your own & lucky to get a couple radio stations - even the paved road was basiclly a one lane road where if you met on the road (someone going down river & someone going up river) the person going down river would have to back up to a wide spot

Fryday & Saturday nights people would get together with guitars/fiddles/banjos/mandolins/spoons/base wash tub etc. at Snips Resort or Forks of Salmon Community Hall & do what we called the Solmon River Stomp

The pic of my pickup truck upside down in the road was the result of to much moonshine at one of those Salmon River Stomps

Those where some of the best years of my life - I literally got to live (7 years) of a piece of history - it was literally taking a step back in time

Kurt
 

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MicheleM said:
What an incredible adventure, @kurtak thank you for share it
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Yes it was & I still like to live that way as much as possible which is why I live where I do

Grant County Oregon is the 5th largest county in Oregon & is mostly national forest & has a population of only a little over 7,000 people - there is only one stop light in the entire county

I spend much of my free time hiking, hunting, fishing & gold panning - I have a really BIG back yard

When I first moved here & told my friend the nearest Wal-Mart was about a three hour drive away they couldn't believe anybody lives that far away from a Wal-Mart - to which I tell them - it's a good thing - really !!! LOL

Kurt
 
I can attest to the extraordinary number of traffic lights in Grant County. For over 20 years, my wife and I would drive from western Oregon to eastern Idaho. When I had time, I would turn right in Vale, if heading home. If heading to Idaho, I would turn left in Sisters. Much more enjoyable drive than Hwy 20 or I-84. Does take a few hours more than either, however. Absolutely love the area.

Which Walmart do you use when you bother to take the drive? Redmond or Ontario?

Time for more coffee.
 
I have no issue with the participation. As for myself, I am still awaiting a response from Chris so that we all can see how I scored. I know that I want to know.
 
Ok let me play to be the background noise , I have no experience , so practically random choices: 4, 7, 8,10
 
Well, when everybody is playing... So I will also do. I assume these specimens/rocks originated somwhere in the US. We can compare it with my wiew, as I only know and seen ores from Carpathian mountains, Europe :D

1. as I said, here, no gold in hematite ores.
2. this looks to me like some paleobasalt rock with agates, but I could be way off. Just look familiar with egg-like inclusions and overall apearance, compared to locally mined stuff. And here, only minor chalcopyrite/barite/pyrite which are sterile for gold.
3. for the first look, my first guess will be antimonite or kermezite (or other sulfide with needle like crystalline structure). host rock seems to have quartz/chalcedony (??) or some other mineral, here I am clueless. But here, hydrothermall Au-Sb or Au-Sb-As deposits are very common, I will say MAYBE some values in this one.
4. contain probably some sulfides on the right side of sample. Plus quartz... For me it´s MAYBE for hidden values. As typical samples of invisible gold here, originating in classic epithermal deposits could look like this.
5. this resemble me breccia what was mined in one site here. It filled the faults, and was mix of various chips and bits of host rock, quartz and clay minerals sticked together by carbonate cement. Contained good gold, and also pyrite and arsenopyrite. So on basis of my observations here - yes, I would vote for this one to contain Au.
6. looking at this rock, I have no clue. No obvious minerals, from the photo I am unable to make any guess.
7. sulfidic looking, like antimony/tetraedrite/galena ore or maybe specularite (??). Looking metallic, host rock also seems like it undergone some altereration (maybe a good sign)...Visible quartz... I will say MAYBE also for this one for values, but more likely for silver than gold.
8. this is tough guess. Most probably weathered pyrite or other well-crystallized sulfide in quartz. But the quartz looks quite coarse-grained, much more like quartz from metamorphic rocks (phyllite/schist) seen here. And they are sterile for gold and any other values here. So, no for this one.
9. this resemble some sedimentary volcanic rock like tuff for the first look for me. Nothing obvious to notice, from the photo I cannot conclude anything.
10. look like some well crystallized sulfide, but from majority of the crystals being "tetrahedral-like" in shape, maybe not pyrite. Tetrahedrite ? I dont know. Some sulfide is present, but here, ore with no visible gold never look like this (well crystalline sulfidic ore), so no for this one.

So overall based on experience in my area, here are my best guesses for MAYBE: 3, 4, 5, 7
As MicheleM said, this attempt could be also better sorted as "random noise" :D just to underline how difficult is to asses value of something just from photos, with no proof/test/location available.
 
If you can identify minerals and know the associated accessory metals commonly caught up within the crystal lattice of minerals, it vastly improves your chances of finding hidden gold as well as selecting choice specimens to send off for assay; though a representative sample of the vein or outcrop will give a more accurate assay of the deposit in question.
 
Rick & Carrie said:
If you can identify minerals and know the associated accessory metals commonly caught up within the crystal lattice of minerals, it vastly improves your chances of finding hidden gold as well as selecting choice specimens to send off for assay; though a representative sample of the vein or outcrop will give a more accurate assay of the deposit in question.
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Yes, that is the case with obvious "ores", which contain visual indicators, and is the standard procedure for doing it right. In my area, no ore with appreciable gold content has signs of developed sulfide crystals or entrapped values in crystal lattices of the minerals. It is always dispersed through quartz or some carbonate cement, or it is locked inside nearly invisible arsenopyrite crystals inside quartz. Or completely sterile looking white porphyry rock - nothing in there, no grain structure, no other associated minerals, which belong to the biggest deposite to be mined here, containing roughly 40 tons of gold.
It just cannot be said from the first look reliably. It is extremely helpful for professional prospector to roughly know what to get assayed - to save time and money for the customer. From the other side, if you do not know the exact area geology, what to look for, how typical ore samples from productive outcroppings look like, you cannot be certain about it without assay in your hand.
 
Here are examples of typical gold ore with invisible gold in my area. Shiny sulfidic sample is antimony/gold ore, which have also some silver content, but just few grams per ton. No well defined/grown crystals of sulfides. All other samples are ore samples, which were mined or are still mined for gold. Sliced specimen with polished face also contain some gold particles on the borderline of visibility.
 

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Nice sample photos. As for samples without obvious mineralization, high heft (specific gravity) is what should be looked for; as such material will be a good bet when considering possible ore to be assayed.
 
Reno Chris said:
Its so wonderful to have found someone as knowledgeable as you are! Just to confirm your extensive expertise, I have attached 10 pictures of some rock. Can you well me which of these have significant gold? I actually know about all 10, so I know the correct answers from testing and assaying, but I am sure you will get 100% correct! Please let us know your determinations. Just a hint, there is no visible gold in any of them, though some are very rich in gold.
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Hey Chris; are you ever going to post an answer stating which samples contain precious metals?

Your hesitation to post such makes it seem obvious that you just ate a truckload of crow with your snappy reply.

We all want to see the answers.

You should have posted those ore photos with the assay results long ago for the prospecting community to have learned from.

As I said before; "Once The Rockman", Always The Rockman.

As McArthur once said; ..."I have returned."

I am not just "Another Rockman" on this forum, I am "The Rockman" of this forum. Nuff said.
 
Chris pops up from time to time, when he is back from what ever trips he is doing.
He will reply in time.
 
orvi said:
Of course, you can do "educated guess" on any rock you find. Question is if you want to extrapolate few known examples to whole array of different samples from different regions.
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Apparently you have never heard of "Deposit Models".

IOCG deposits.
(Iron ore Copper Gold).



Yes; I can extrapolate based on a few samples.

I was told by a couple of old prospectors as a young child that "The redder, The better" when it comes to Gold Ore. Experience has proven them correct.

Here is a classic photo of hematite, an iron oxide intimately associated with gold deposits.
 

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Rick & Carrie said:
Apparently you have never heard of "Deposit Models".

IOCG deposits.
(Iron ore Copper Gold).



Yes; I can extrapolate based on a few samples.

I was told by a couple of old prospectors as a young child that "The redder, The better" when it comes to Gold Ore. Experience has proven them correct.

Here is a classic photo of hematite, an iron oxide intimately associated with gold deposits.
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Yes I heard about it. My mother is a mineralogist and I was told numerous things as child, too. Lots of time searching the old mine dumps for specimens of various minerals, and later also for gold.

What I meant by extrapolation was that you can extrapolate in your area based on your experience. If I was ever to search for gold somwhere in Arizona or Nevada, I will be probably completely lost.
If you were ever to search for gold here in central Europe, based on experience with US deposits, you will also had hard time based on your previous experience. With deep study of geology and topology it will be much more doable.

Some deposit models could also apply here. But basically said, ore here look greatly different.

Nice sample. I was always amazed by some ore types very common in US in general. Also, here, it is practically impossible to do any mining without some serious stash of money. Staking a claim, or small scale operations here are practically imposible to do, not to mention extreme public oposition and resistance.. I always dream about having some small area where I can get small excavator, drill some holes, process few tons of ore per month, just for relax. Sadly, I am living in wrong country :)
 

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