New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

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1864hatter		Posted : Monday, 20 August 2012 9:24:58 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 4/08/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,007 Location: Auckland.... Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 566 time(s) in 269 post(s)		http://www.trademe.co.nz...er/auction-505719673.htm
		And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!

5AMP		Posted : Tuesday, 21 August 2012 9:18:32 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 3/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 57 Location: wellington Thanks: 105 times Was thanked: 16 time(s) in 11 post(s)		Thank you for pointing that out-there could be some pyrite there as gold rarely has that cube shape (though I ave seen some)

Lammerlaw		Posted : Tuesday, 21 August 2012 9:43:43 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		It most certainly looks as though it has iron pyrites in it as you pointed out by the cubic crystal structure - I would just love to see this specimen first hand and to be able to judge for myself. If it is Gold then I have a funny suspicion that anyone who wanted it would have fun rying to outbid me as I could easily go gaa gaa over a specimen stone that size. As for the cubic structure - I tried to take a photograph of a sharp angular edged nugget that I got in the hills to place here but cant get it clear enough for my purpose - it has sharp angles and many people would call it a crystal but in truth the sharp angles were caused by the sharp angular crystalline form of the quartz that broke out of it so the angular form is more or less a natural caste of the quartz.

NiN		Posted : Tuesday, 21 August 2012 10:07:56 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 10/08/2011(UTC) Posts: 31 Location: dunedin Thanks: 7 times Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 2 post(s)		looks a bit dodgy to me cant see any gold just fools gold?

1864hatter		Posted : Tuesday, 21 August 2012 11:14:52 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 4/08/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,007 Location: Auckland.... Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 566 time(s) in 269 post(s)		Yeah Im doubtfull but would be happy to be proved wrong
		And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!

LepreSean		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 1:31:02 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 8/12/2011(UTC) Posts: 171 Location: Wherever I may roam Thanks: 187 times Was thanked: 130 time(s) in 78 post(s)		Had a wee look at it too and it does look a bit suss...a bit hard to tell... the light used in the pic does not give very good contrast, if it is .. then it was some very rich ore rock.. I know of plenty of fellas that have worked at Macrae's and bring out chunks of ore rock with "gold", I usually don't try correcting them as they have their minds set on it being gold, and they 'know best' as they work in a gold mine and that must mean something!
		auri sacra fames (accursed hunger for gold)

oroplata		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 2:10:02 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 16/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,040 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 23 times Was thanked: 211 time(s) in 152 post(s)		Yeah. Looking at photo 3 right in the middle of the rock is a big cubic piece sticking out. That screams pyrites.
		WWW

simon		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 2:29:50 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 7/01/2011(UTC) Posts: 789 Location: Central Otago Thanks: 33 times Was thanked: 239 time(s) in 150 post(s)		i've spent nearly every day for years looking for gold and am always looking for gold in the rocks. I've never seen any. to the untrained eye every rock has potential. I don't know how many people have come up to me to show me their gold in a rock. Always hard to keep a straight face. It can fool anyone. i had a huge quartz boulder once that had crystals of pyrites. looked impressive. still have it. i had whacked the boulder with a bar while talking to someone and knocked a chunk off and saw "gold". turned out to still be a good find just not actaul gold. this trade me rock is doubtful. most hard rock gold is hard to see at all. and that crystal looking bit adds to my suspicion. it looks like a seam of pyrites in it too in one shot. either a seam of pyrites or its got a solid seam of gold, making this a great buy is this is indeed gold!
		WWW

LepreSean		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 6:02:42 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 8/12/2011(UTC) Posts: 171 Location: Wherever I may roam Thanks: 187 times Was thanked: 130 time(s) in 78 post(s)		At a jewelers in Ballarat, I was shown several cut pieces of ore rock with beautiful streaks of Au through out. Any ore samples I have found myself in NZ has mm size gold shot with plenty Arsenopyrite. Lammerlaw posted some good pics of gold in quartz, the best example I have seen for NZ. As for the trademe listing, I notice in the questions and answers, that the seller can not give an estimate of the quantity of gold in the rock...well I remember a method that you could work out the gold value in ore other than crushing it.. maybe others on the forum may remember how to do it, but I think it involved working out the volume of the ore by measuring amount of water it displaces, then weighing it and doing an equation that gave you the density and from that somehow working out amount of Au???? I will do some 5th form science revision and get back to that :)
		auri sacra fames (accursed hunger for gold)

Lammerlaw		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 8:40:01 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		I have no doubt that the specimen on trademe is indeed largely Gold but with definite iron pyrites in it - this is by no means unusual so that if we see a cibc crystal of what is quite obviously Iron pyrites then it does not mean to say that the entire specimen is Iron Pyrites. Simon stated that he has been out for years looking at rocks and so have I and the only way in which I had ever found Gold in the rocks is because I knew exactly where to look - in other words I took the risk of the sky and everything between me and the sky, to whit, the hill, falling in on my head when I went into a mine at Macraes just before they began to mine it - in one of the mines it was all hollowed out more or less with one large pillar holding up the roof - the idea here for Mr Muggins was to take sledge hammer then wallop heck out of the quartz reef that ran through the pillar and hope that nothing untoward happened - i still have tiny pieces of the quartz here with Gold clearly visible - in the sun! it is next best thing to microscopic. The first time I saw anything bigger was in a reef near my place and I found pieces of Gold up to three millimetres across in the quartz - but once again it was a worked reef, previously discovered during the late 19th Century. And then out of the blue my son came home - Yes he has discovered a reef with clearly visible gold in it - I have never ever seen anything like it - It does go to prove though that there is specimen gold in quartz yet to be found in New Zealand. The rock below clearly shows gold in it PLUS pyrites - it is so easy to tell them apart - this specimen is from the golden Progress at Oturehua and I believe that it was part of the sample sent to England to raise capital for that mine. Each of the pieces of Gold visible here will be about 1 gramme so it is very rich. The Trademe specimen actually tempts me - I would love to see it as it is cheap at the price at the moment if it is genuine and to be quite honest I think that it could well be despite the pyrite cubes. I also think that there could well be more Pyrites than the cubes for the simple reason the spots of what looks like glitter on this specimen are also Pyrites in my opinion I would still like to know though for certain! Edited by user Wednesday, 22 August 2012 8:52:31 PM(UTC) \| Reason: Not specified Lammerlaw attached the following image(s):

oroplata		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 9:38:55 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 16/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,040 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 23 times Was thanked: 211 time(s) in 152 post(s)		In theory you could calculate approximately ho much gold in it if you weighed the rock and calculated it's specific density, but you would also have to know exactly what the other mineral in the rock was, and it looks like there's more than one other mineral so impossible to calculate. If it was a thick seam of gold in pure quartz, it would be easier.
		WWW

gjj109		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 10:02:00 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 14/03/2011(UTC) Posts: 464 Location: Thames Thanks: 217 times Was thanked: 194 time(s) in 115 post(s)		Here is a bit of rock from a Coromandel mine. I think it is sitting in a museum in Auckland. http://i1225.photobucket...inHandmineCoromandel.jpg

1864hatter		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 10:21:44 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 4/08/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,007 Location: Auckland.... Thanks: 49 times Was thanked: 566 time(s) in 269 post(s)		Oturehua... I have also found gold in quartz from there although it was in drill core and was only barely visible with the naked eye. That sample of gold from the Coromandel is bloody impressive, not just the gold content but the quartz crystals its in. Graham- perhaps you should risk your 500 dollars on the mystery rock and prove/disprove its gold content?
		And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!

NiN		Posted : Wednesday, 22 August 2012 10:27:18 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 10/08/2011(UTC) Posts: 31 Location: dunedin Thanks: 7 times Was thanked: 3 time(s) in 2 post(s)		at least you can see the gold in the other two pics sorry lammerlaw i was ment to post that pm here.

Lammerlaw		Posted : Thursday, 23 August 2012 12:33:27 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		Originally Posted by: NiN at least you can see the gold in the other two pics sorry lammerlaw i was ment to post that pm here. No problems - I was expecting a letter from some gorgeous female with a fantastic figure and hanging out for a nefarious time with me and what happens I get a blasted email from some bloke who wants to discuss Gold - I dont know what the world is coming to.

kiwijw		Posted : Thursday, 23 August 2012 7:27:19 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,152 Thanks: 92 times Was thanked: 658 time(s) in 324 post(s)		Hi guys, MMMMmmm..... Interesting...... Gold in Quartz (specimen gold)...... Coromandel.....Have found a few myself up there slucie boxing. Not big but definatly beautiful. Close up of the piece on the left Others from the Coro Piece to the right of the coin These were found with a detector in the tailings after thay had tumbled right through my dredge sluice box. Close up of the different sides of the wirey piece These were caught in the dredges box These were found in the Coromandel with my crevice sucker Close up Close ups To be continued JW :)

5AMP		Posted : Thursday, 23 August 2012 9:13:21 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 3/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 57 Location: wellington Thanks: 105 times Was thanked: 16 time(s) in 11 post(s)		Wow -JW they are brilliant pieces. Edited by user Thursday, 23 August 2012 4:18:45 PM(UTC) \| Reason: Not specified

peteatpapaaroha		Posted : Thursday, 23 August 2012 7:07:46 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Groups: Registered Joined: 7/01/2012(UTC) Posts: 41 Location: Papa Aroha, Coromandel Thanks: 151 times Was thanked: 25 time(s) in 14 post(s)		Very impressive, Great photography as well, thanks for posting.

gjj109		Posted : Thursday, 23 August 2012 7:55:19 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 14/03/2011(UTC) Posts: 464 Location: Thames Thanks: 217 times Was thanked: 194 time(s) in 115 post(s)		Thanks for those John, bloody inspirational. It hasn't rained here for nearly two days. It must almost be time to go for a wander in the bush again.

GoldnNuggz		Posted : Thursday, 23 August 2012 9:21:12 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 2/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 25 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 4 times Was thanked: 7 time(s) in 5 post(s)		Wow! Fantastic pieces there! Can't wait to find my own to show as well, hopefully after tomorrow, taking the day off to do a day trip to the coast, can't wait!

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