Finding the Mother Load!

[360search]

Hi guys, 

I have been pondering over this one since I traveled back from the creek yesterday and all night, and it will be troubling me until I have answers. 
I mainly prospect for gold and occasionally i'll get some platinum flakes. but yesterday I decided to go get some crystals form a new creek, the creek produced some fantastic crystals, on top of the granite and in the decomposing granite. But with about 150 test pans for gold, no gold. Pyrite in flakes and small pickers was everywhere it was impossible to put your hands in the gravels and not have a hand covered in the pyrite. The country is known for gold but the large fields are about 10kms in every direction from the creek I was in.


So with a large deposit of pyrite is there Gold or not? I don't really know...

Please help me out  

[jeffu]

Hi 360search.

Are you sure it is pyrite?
If there is so much of it my guess would have been muscovite (mica). There are many places where it is extremely common, very light and is one of the minerals commonly known as fools gold. It's colour can be almost the same as Iron Pyrite, but is usually very thin flat particles. It will easily float out of the pan.

Jeff

[360search]

Ah yes very easily moved in the water as the lighter gravels did. Very similar colour to brass more then gold.

[shivan]

Sounds like an interesting area. What sort of crystals were you finding?
If it is a mica, it will have a perfect basil cleavage ( it will break into sheets very easily ), will be very soft (can break/scratch it with your fingernail) and you shouldn't be able to see any 'gold' colour in the shade.

[360search]

Yes, well we set out to find smokey crystals which we all did really well in, but rumors among the group going around is that 2 weeks prior blue sapphire was found not far from where we were in the same creek. Next time I go down that way i'll take some pictures and post them on this tread.