History & Geology
Gold, Quartz & Chalcedony—Part II
November 2011 by W. Dan Hausel
The specific gravity of chalcedony is 2.58 to 2.64. This is slightly lower than coarsely crystalline quartz because of slight porosity in chalcedony. Being so light, it will easily wash out of a gold pan.
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.
Alaska Gold: Lisianski Inlet's First Bonanza
In 1967, a local resident showed me a pouch of small gold nuggets and flakes. Several years later I asked the same person where that gold was found. He responded, “From the streambed below the old stamp mill at Apex.”
The Ups and Downs of Geologic Faults
Faults are fractures, breaks and broken zones in the Earth’s crust where one side of the break has moved relative to the other, and they come in many different varieties.
What About Palladium?
Palladium may well be an underexplored element and therefore an opportunity for prospectors and geologists. This is because they are often less than obvious and other than the native metals, a chemical analysis of samples is required to identify PGM-enriched rocks.
The Beatty Mining District of Nevada
The Beatty Mining District in south-central Nevada has been one of the most productive Mining Districts in the state, producing millions of ounces of gold together with silver, fluorite, mercury and other valuable minerals.
Mineralized Faults and Contacts in the Search for Gold
Fault zones and rock contacts are important because the vast majority of gold and silver deposits, as well as those of many other metals, are formed by hot, mineralized water solutions.Detector Brings New Life to An Old Lode Mine
…it was immediately evident the previous owner had not been using a detector. During just a few months of working the dumps part-time, he recovered gold in quartz specimens valued in excess of $40,000.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Legislative And Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts—Compensation for closed mining claim?
• Ask The Experts—Inconsistent fire assays
• Gold From Cemented Gravels
• Evolution Of A Gold Prospect
• Alaska to Target Rare-Earths
• Minnesota Delays Decision on Mineral Leases
• Alaska's Cripple Creek Mining District
• The Gold Of Horseshoe Bend
• Tyrie's Roadway Nugget
• Melman on Gold & Silver
Free:
Are Permits Needed For Highbanking In California?
• Prospecting Australia—Part II: There and Back Again
