Admin nuggethunting Posted December 9, 2015 Admin Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Hello All, Recently a partner and I got to camp out overnight here in Arizona. We have been eye-balling a few new zones just outside of some very well known placer goldfields. Luck just happened to be on my side that day as I ended up scoring over 1/4 ounce of nice nuggets and one huge quartz specimen that is 50+ pounds in weight. The quartz specimen is a real screamer, but hardly any visible gold showing on the outside. On one side, where the target response is the loudest on the GPZ 7000, there are 4 vugs (cavities) in the quartz. After cleaning all the clay out of the vugs, we were able to see visible gold. Trying to decide if I should just leave it alone and allow others to listen to the response, or crack it open and see what is hiding inside .....Why couldn't I just find a big specimen like that "spider-webbed" with gold veins! I was using the Minelab GPZ 7000 mostly in High Yield and Difficult Soil. The ground in this area was very red and mineralized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Nice find Rob!Use a multi-meter to see if the gold is connected internally. If not, crush it or slab it. Maybe take any of the smaller pieces if broken up and have them cut and slabbed for jewelry if they appear to contain some good amounts of gold. I have found numerous specimens and unless it looks good from the outside, crushed them or cut them. Then the value is visible. A piece that size would be way to hard to do a specific gravity test on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 well done Rob...Drop that big rock in some Hydrofluoric or whatever that stuff is that eats away quartz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Be cautious! First thing I would do is analyze carefully with a Gold Bug 2 and small coil to see where hot spots are.Great find no matter what. A few ounces or more can hide pretty easy inside of 50 pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldbilly Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Great Find! Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in the mountains Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Yahoo Rob. I use my Falcon to really check what could be hidden. Just think of what is out there waiting for all. Kind of cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldfind Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Smash it and cash it in. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyy Posted December 10, 2015 Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 x2 what Steve said. If you break it right, you may still have some good chunks! Nice find, though!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortuga Posted December 10, 2015 Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 Take a pic of the visible gold in the vugs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulder dash Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 Lucky!!!! Love the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsterguppy Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 find someone with a rock saw and tile your counter tops with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roo Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 You could put it in your fish tank. Knew a guy once who kept a 20 oz nugget in his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted December 14, 2015 Author Admin Report Share Posted December 14, 2015 Hey Guys, I had a friend that now lives in my area come over with his GoldBug Pro and GoldBug. We scanned the quartz rock pretty well and found two hot spots. One is concentrated around the "vugs," but another hot spot on the other end of the piece. Still debating to break it open, or just leave it as more of a conversation piece. Customer seem to like the fact they can't see much visible gold, but can scan a detector over it and hear it scream! Speaking of fish tanks ..... We have a small 10 gallon fish tank. I tossed a nugget in the bottom on the white sand. It was only about 3-4 hours when my Daughter went to feed them, she yelled out "Dad, you put a gold nugget in the fish tank!" Hahaha .... She caught it right away. She said it might make them sick .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldbilly Posted December 14, 2015 Report Share Posted December 14, 2015 all fish might get gold plating, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOC Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Got any friends that are chiropractors? They usually have xray machines. I would get it xrayed so you know what you are working with.Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted December 15, 2015 Author Admin Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Hey Doc, No, don't have anyone off hand that has access to the X-Ray machine. I'm not sure there is that much gold to worry too much about it. I'm thinking a few ounces at the most, but then again you never know due to the size of the piece. I was trying to judge on the size of the gold inside by measuring the distance from the piece. The Goldbug Pro screams when you're close, but when you get about 6-8 inches away, the signal is very faint. With the GPZ, I can hear the target at a foot away, much more than that the signal really drops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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