Newbie starting up in old mine

[Ziggyv27]

Hey guys i have just recently decided to take up mining for gold as a hobby as i have found an old shaft near my house. It has filled up with spring water and i suspect there to be gold flakes throughout the entrance of the mine!! What would you experienced miners advise me to do as i have no idea how i can extract the flakes from the quartz and soft mineral rocks when panning? ( mind you i used an old frying pan )!!

 

[Goldpick]

Sure the flakes aren't just mica? Best to do some research and find out exactly what was mined there, was it exclusively a gold mine, or were other minerals mined as well? If there were gold flakes in the quartz, you would require a dolly pot to crush the quartz into a fine powder to release the gold (dolly pot is like a larger metal version of a mortar and pestle.

 

[Ziggyv27]

Ive done reaserch on the mine and it was closed in the early 1900s.. It was mined for gold from what i have read. Do you suggest i buy an actual pan and take a photo of my findings? When you look at the entrance of the mine you can see the sparkle throughout the soil and under the water.

 

[EternalChase]

Hi Ziggy,

I would definitely go and buy a pan, they are very cheap and worth the cost in the fun you will have panning even if you get nothing...
So where are you located, interesting a mine shaft is so close to your home and you've never discovered it before. Be careful not to get in a position where you could sustain injury, if there is water collecting it means the ground could become unstable from the moisture!

Let us know how you get along.

 

[Goldpick]

Yes, be careful around the shaft. We had a case here in SA where a woman fell down a shaft in her back yard due to unstable ground around the edges. This was caused by water running into the shaft, and undermining the surrounding ground. If you pan some of the tailings around the shaft, it may produce something, could be mica (will float in water), but could also be associated minerals or sulphides like pyrite or chalcopyrite (will crumble if smashed up, gold won't as it is malleable, and gold will be the heaviest mineral in the pan).

 

[Ziggyv27]

Well i was talking to an old local today and he told me where to go.. Its very well hidden and about a 20 minute treck into a gully! It has been blocked off about 2 metres into the entrance with a brick wall and it just seems that the water flowing through it has pushed with what looks like gold flakes.. I think i will go and buy one tomorrow and see what i can do!

 

[Ziggyv27]

I think there was some mica in there as there were bits that looked like gold but crumbled when i applied pressure with my finger nails

 

[madtuna]

hi mate, what ever you do, do it with caution. It was obviously blocked off for a reason.

 

[EternalChase]

Might be an idea to have someone with you too, or at least tell someone where you are going before hand

 

[Ziggyv27]

It was blocked because it got full of water due to the spring they dug into. I dont intend on going deep into the mine, just the entrance area

 

[Goldpick]

Sounds like just mica, but still, probably no need to go anywhere near the mine, just look for some tailings piles around the place that you could sort through and maybe pan some off in nearby water.

 

[Marked]

I think there was some mica in there as there were bits that looked like gold but crumbled when i applied pressure with my finger nails

Certainly sounds like mica.

 

[Ziggyv27]

Could there also be gold where mica is found?

 

[HeadsUp]

Take some close up photos of what you're looking at , if there is sparkly stuff sitting on top of clay / dirt it's probably mica as gold would go to the bottom

if its mica that doesn't mean there is no gold

Spend 20 bucks on a gold pan and watch YouTube videos to see how panning is done , dig out the layer of dirt / gravel you mentioned and pan that , then pan other spots , you will know when you have found gold

Show us photos

 

[Goldpick]

Certainly, the mica would weathered out from the rocks in the area, and is common Australia wide. But it can also be related to faulting or shearing of the rocks, where fluids from deep down travel into these areas, and deposit as quartz veining, infilling some voids in the fault zone The gold may be related to any resultant quartz veining found in the mine, and the mica could be from inside the mine itself. Just one s
basic scenario, but not necessarily the correct one without knowing the specifics or history of the area.

 

[Ziggyv27]

 

[Ziggyv27]

these are the flakes (mica??) all throughout the area

 

[Ziggyv27]

This is the brick wall that has been built to block the entrance deep within the mine, according to the mine reports I have found this is very deep

 

[HeadsUp]

i cant tell from the photo if its gold , not clear enough and digital photos can produce funny colour shifts when being viewed on internet browsers too

if you get a bit like that thing stuck to the end of your finger , and a bit of gravel the same size , drop them both into a tall glass jar and watch how fast they both sink

if the goldy coloured thing sinks twice as fast then it may be gold , if it sinks at the same speed as gravel then it might be pyrite , if it sinks way slower then its mica

when you used your mums pie dish to do that panning , did the goldy stuff stay right in the lowest corner of the pan or did it mix itself evenly with gravel and sand when you sloshed it around ?

show us more photos ?

 

[Goldpick]

Might be pyrite, still a bit hard to tell from the photo. The mine looks interesting though.