History & Geology
The Verde Copper-Gold-Silver-Zinc District, Jerome, Arizona
October 2012 by W. Dan Hausel
When I was a student in the College of Mines at the University of Utah, the Verde district was used as an exploration model for “submarine volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits.” So I looked forward to visiting this district and the town of Jerome in central Arizona in the spring of 2012.
The Pedro Gold Dredge
The decision was made to move the dredge intact, a massive undertaking indeed. The goal was to move it only one mile to the Busby’s Chicken Gold Camp, but what a mile that was to be.
Green Valley Gold District, Payson, Arizona
Most gold-bearing quartz veins found in the district were fracture fillings in faults enclosed by crushed quartz zones along their margins. Since the host rocks were often extensively weathered, portions of the veins stood out as positive, resistant outcrops. The gold-bearing veins ranged from a few inches wide to the vein at the Gowan mine that was as much as 12 feet wide. Natural Gold Alloys
Natural gold is never 100% pure; all natural nuggets contain at least some impurities. We're going to take a look at just what some of those impurities might be.
California's Mother Lode Quartz Veins
The actions of the hot, ore-bearing solutions are not limited only to the deposition of material within the walls of the fissures.
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.
Rock and Formations of the Mother Lode Gold Belt
The faulting, folding and shearing that occurred in the Mother Lode belt has created zones of structurally weak rocks or contacts between different types of rock, which has been favorable for the deposition of gold bearing ores.
The Heavy Minerals in Your Concentrates
The fact that mineral deposits can contribute specific types of heavy minerals is why the analysis of the heavy mineral concentrates in the streams of an area can be an important prospecting technique for finding undiscovered mineral deposits.
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