Quartz on the beach

[kemjak57]

I went to the Daintree today for work. We went to the beach while we were waiting for materials to arrive. On the beach there was a lot of different coloured quartz rocks, some yellow, pinkish, white with black infusion and some snow white. Some stones were tumbled smooth and some more like they were crushed. The beach has a number of freshwater creeks feeding onto it. Is Quartz an indicator of gold on it's own or should there be some indication of past discoveries? Thanks, Rick

 

[axeman]

Hi Kemjak57, I think it would unlikely if you'll find to much gold on the beach, if it was there it'd fine. Your only a couple of hours (I think) away from good gold fields to the west. If you have a gold pan do a bit of testing in the creeks. Mick

 

[kemjak57]

Thanks Mick, we were going to have a scratch around in the creek after work tomorrow and see what comes up.

 

[WalnLiz]

Hi Rick....Quartz on its own is not necessarily a good indicator as quartz is about the most prolific mineral on the planet. Even within a rich gold bearing area the presence of quartz doesn't mean gold is associated with it.. when the supper heated gasses containing the gold element find their way to the surface, either volcanically or through fissures they solidify usually along a fault line between quartz and shale. You may have 100 quartz reefs in the same area and only a few were part of the fissure that reached the surface and produced gold. A quick check of any gully's near that beach with a gold pan would soon tell you it's secrets....generally.... no black mineralized sand nearly always means check for quartz crystals and gemstones instead.... Cheers Wal.

 

[kemjak57]

One of my boys picked up a piece with some crystals in so we will do a bit of panning and a fossick around and if we don't have any luck we will just have to chuck a line in. Thanks very much for the info Wal. Appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share. Cheers, Rick.

 

[WalnLiz]

Be great to get some feedback from the beach...you never know just what may show up.. If i was there with you I'd already have my barra line in the water....best of luck up there and take care Cheers Wal.

 

[Greg]

Keep a eye out up that way for Australian Amber too. Apparently it is on a beach up in the cape from a now extinct cowrie pine forest that was off the mainland somewhere.
http:// wwwdotaustralian-amberdotcomdotau/
Have to do it this way as I haven't got enough posts up yet to post a link.
if you do find the beach, can you let me know where it is too
Greg.

 

[Diggerdude]

As the other guys said quartz is extremely common, about 60% of all rock is quartz from memory. But it is possible, you can gold on the beach at Narooma and Bermagui on the NSW south coast, you can also get it on the beach at low tide near ulverston in tassie. Search the trove online newspapers to see if anything pops up for your area.

DD

 

[kemjak57]

Thanks guys, we did some testing around there and nothing came up. The next time we go up we will do a bit more and if nothing comes to light we will leave it and try the next spot that comes up.