History & Geology
Exploring A Historic Lode Mine
August 2016 by James Erhart
Climbing up the debris, I pointed my flashlight up a shaft ascending straight up as far as my light would shine. It was the stope of the pay shoot leading to the old tunnel above!Prospecting for Pegmatites
…in some cases pegmatites have produced individual mineral crystals that are enormous, attaining lengths of over 40 feet long, and many of the world’s largest mineral crystals are examples that were found within pegmatite deposits.Sulfides and Intergrain Gold Wire Nuggets
...these nuggets have not traveled far from the lode because the golden wire lattices would have been torn apart or flattened during weathering of rock and deposition by violent stream action.
All About Minerals
There are several common ways that new mineral crystals form and grow. Perhaps the simplest is when minerals form through the cooling of molten rock and the atoms bond together into mineral crystals.
Critical Minerals: Gold
A few quick calculations show that approximately 11 tons of gold are lost each year just in the manufacture of new cell phones.
Gemstones to Die For
Some gems can potentially poison you, make you sterile and even make you forget who you are.
SS Central America Gives Up Millions in Gold Rush Era Gold
A treasure-seeking young man whose name will forever remain anonymous made the months-long journey either over land or by sailing ship to California after word spread about the gold strike in 1849.
Large Gold Deposit Types
It is not necessary to have a PhD in geology, but you need to know the basics, so that’s what I am going to try to dig into here—the understandable basics of these gigantic gold deposits.
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