nice video of a small quartz vein

[HeadsUp]

small quartz vein in a small digging that yielded 600 ounces plus , and another 15 ounces for the author

its nice to see what the geology looks like

[video=480,360]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDhgPM_TVxE[/video]

 

[mdv]

Very interesting, as is his entire series. Warning: watching could cause an abrupt outbreak of gold fever. :/

 

[XIV]

Very interesting, as is his entire series. Warning: watching could cause an abrupt outbreak of gold fever. :/

good luck in finding something like that tho
we can all dream

 

[echidnadigger]

Whilst it would be great to find a spot like this it is unlikely for most detector operators. What I think should be drawn from this informative video is the way gold is formed, how it gets to the surface and why it ends up where we find it. Potentially millions of years before we find it with a metal detector or pan it from a creek it started its journey in a vein pushed up from deep below the Earth. The simplest way of looking at this video and understanding where and why to detect is to imagine the reef still there but running even higher as it once would have. If we imagine it protruding from the ground with all surrounding rock removed and only the quartz vein left standing then its much easier to imagine how the gold falls to the ground as the quartz slowly breaks away, freeing the once trapped gold. Gravity and erosion will do the work to help it on its journey from there. So next time you look at an old mine shaft that was following a quartz vein simply picture what it was doing for millions of years before man found it and dug deeper. Not all gold is formed this way but it is the most common form that we follow. Another way of looking at it is, If left for a few more million years this ground would be eroded and the reef broken down to expose the gold. No digging would be required as nature would do all the work. The Earth when it was formed was much higher and erosion is slowly flattening it out.

 

[HeadsUp]

I am going to keep in mind that detectors can still find gold that was missed in previous mining efforts between 1870 and 1980

They didnt have the electronics we have access to and reefs or veins can be sheared , shifted lifted twisted or inverted by tectonic movement resulting in parts still being down there but invisible to the old timers.

If a detector picks up a patch of surface nuggets dont just pocket those and walk away , sit quietly and consider the geology around you , record the location , take a photo and keep it in a journal

when i say " surface nuggets " i mean in the top two feet of ground , alot of guys out there walking around with detectors might be just removing the evidence of massive gold reefs deeper than a couple of feet when they pocket their little nuggets and walk away.

Consider the experience as a window opening opportunity

look for a bigger picture.

If we put 6 ounces in our pocket and walk away laughing at our brilliant good luck we might be just fools for losing the access to hundreds of ounces that could have been deeper , within reach of a pick and shovel if we had studied a little more.

The video above was a reef within 3 metres of the surface . i dont mind digging down to follow a vein if the detector pings a few speccies at the surface

 

[BumbleB]

Spot on! Good reflection & food for thought Digger & Headsup.
A bit of a grounding in geology would be a very handy tool for this.
Sadly my personal knowledge of such things I could write on the back of a stamp. 8.(
Where was this mine?? WA?

 

[froghoppers]

So in a million years from now, people will be able to just go along the reefs and pick up the gold Lol :/