New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

It would be interesting to know who finds and keeps other minerals as a bye product of their gold fossicking trips.

In many of the well known fossicking spots other interesting minerals do occur and I for one keep and collect them - In Otago - Scheelite, Antimony, Copper ore, Rhodonite an ore of manganese and Cinnabar all occur.

It could be of interest if anyone knows of minerals to make a list of what they are and where they are found - eg Scheelite at Macraes, Scheelite at Glenorchy and Scheelite at Waipori.

If enough interest is shown in the different minerals and their locations I shall list more.

Basically this means that any such list can be accessed not only by forum members but also by the 'guests' an dwhen ever anyone is in these localities if they find no gold or want to spend some time looking for something else (Time out from gold mining which most do when camped in various places) then they can have a look for samples of other minerals. As a rock collector I have come across many interesting rock specimens while goldmining including most of the above, Spessartite, Limonite and various gems stones, especially Garnet.

Edited by user Thursday, 7 July 2011 10:08:41 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I dont have too much skill when it comes to using computers and dont have a camera of my own so I guess the answer is no to that question - Why for do you ask?

I do have samples of them all and if people really wanted photos to look at as an aid to identification then I would get my son to do something about it but this thread didnt take off so I dont see any point as it has dawned on me that todays gold seekers probably have one tracked minds and that is the track related to gold and profits only.

When I first went out we all seemed to be interested in collecting the other minerals we found and indeed would spend time off from gold mining to visit other sites of geological interest, especially in Otago and the 'Top of the South' (Nelson - Takaka) where some great commercially interesting minerals specimens were to be found.

Just curiosity really. I suppose I am a casual fossicker as well as a coil swinger. Only been to the west coast once with my family a few years back. Road trip Chch, Greymth, Westport, Nelson. Picked up a few rocks on the way. Got to go back sometime.

Chris.

Lots to find on the West Coast - A person can also collect Greenstone while over there and also keep a look out for the highly desirable and very much sought after and valuable rock called Goodletite - no one has yet found the source of it despite trying hard to do so over the years.

Edited by user Wednesday, 13 July 2011 2:21:09 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

We should never destroy the dream but...are they reading this? I have never seen any Goodletite with any other coloured rock part of the specimen but that doesnt mean to say that there are no pieces there which are partly Goodletite plus the parent rock, part of the formation from which it originally came from. I have only ever seen Goodletite with the rubies and nothing else part of the specimen...just Goodletite.
Now I want to see this rock you kids found after all you never know. I do not think that it would be Goodeltite from that location though. I did find a very interesting rock away in behind Ross in the Mikonui River. When I broke it in half I am quite certain that it had gold in it but due to the debris, junk, paraphernalia, caste off, treasures and rubbish in general I have here I cannot find it!
How did two young kids manage to carry 35kg rock that far - I had trouble carrying four 25lbr projectiles fifty metres the other day!

Edited by user Wednesday, 13 July 2011 2:39:45 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Anything that goes bang appeals to my sense of humour - I collect grenades, guns, artillery projectiles etc and got a few the other day but being slightly mad decided to carry four at once and I dont seem to be able to lift what I once could as four 25 pounder projectiles seems to be an awfully heavy weight to me nowadays!

Pyrite in cubic form is just that, a cube - some of the pyrite cubes are really quite spectacular being quite large in size. Pyrite can also be small and in angular masses. That is Iron Pyrite. Copper pyrites is often just masses of pyrites and not in any specific form and to the uninitiated Iron pyrites often is hard to differentiate from Copper pyrites unless the Copper Pyrites is in the form known as Peacock ore.
The difference between Iron Pyrites and Copper pyrites is that Iron pyrites is Fe (Iron) and S (Sulphur) while Copper Pyrites has the addition of Cu (Copper)
Gold can have what some might consider a sparkle and pyrites can sparkle or be quite dull. Pyrites can also have a rusty brown patina on the outer surface if exposed to the air for a few years.
In some cases the only definitive field test is to scratch the sample - if you scratch gold with the sharp end of a knife, nail or similar then it will take the scratch without shedding any dust or fragments whereas pyrites will shed scratchings in the form of tiny pieces, dust etc. If Gold is hit with a heavy object it will flatten but not break whereas pyrite will shatter in all directions.

That book about the lost ruby mine on the west coast is pretty interesting....it mentioned that goodletite quite a bit. Do you think that the ruby mine existed Lammerlaw? Seems like you been up that way.

I've seen a small specimen and would love to find a piece myself. There may not be a deposit any more if the original outcrop had long eroded away - if I remember correctly it is only found in a single river? But on the other hand there could still be deposits still to be exposed to erosion.

What's the name of the book and author? Sounds like an interesting read!

Heard stories myself from a friend who lives down Haast about the guys who are supposed to have found it and how they were starving. One goes off looking for food and returns in time to see one of the other guys about to kill the other and shoots him. They then head off with there haul and never come back. Something along those lines anyway.