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The Tunnels


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The photo above is a good example of the geology I am trying to present in this thread. In my first thread, "Dikes along Turkey Creek", I touched upon the heating and cooling processes that occur during the uplift/intrusion process. Keeping in mind the cooling process that create ore deposits, you can see in the photo that the tunnel is well below the exposed dikes above, the exposed dikes having cooled more quickly eliminating the formation of precious metals and crystals. Also, notice the red soil at the tunnel entrance.

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Above is a close up of another tunnel

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A wider view of the above tunnel

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Here is yet a wider view of the tunnel. About a third of the way up in the photo and slightly left of center is the tunnel entrance. Notice the dikes that are up high and then the lower dikes. Those lower dikes are much more mineralized, due to the slower cooling process. The lower dikes were exposed by the cutting action of the creek (Turkey Creek).

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This photo is a wider view, taking in the river, shot from the upper dike that is seen in the previous photos. The tunnel entrance is just off camera in the lower right corner. This photo demonstrates the cutting action of the creek. Over time, cutting down nearly 3 hundred feet, exposing the ore body where this tunnel is located. (can you imagine being the first person to stumble across this?)

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inside the tunnel - as far as I dared go - notice the "drifts", one to the left and one to the right.

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the photo above is of the side wall in the tunnel - very hot indeed!

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A bar (36 in) and a chisel (8 inch) found while raking thru the tailings. Also, notice how mineralized these tailings are. I found no gold in those tailings but many quartz crystals.

So, the moral of this story is, when you are standing next to an Iron Stone Dike, look below, much further below.

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Fascinating, thanks for sharing.

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lots of invisible gold in good ore I've heard. An old timer in Payson,Az, told me IF you can see visible gold specks with a 10 x Loupe, its good for 3 ounces a ton. Heck, he was 72 and spotted them easy in rusty white quartz. Crush them pieces and pan out the powder 1st, then send for assay.

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An old timer in Payson,Az, told me IF you can see visible gold specks with a 10 x Loupe, its good for 3 ounces a ton. 

 

Your mileage may vary. GREATLY.  :D  I hear this same rule of thumb too in a number of different forms going all the way up to 10 OPT.

 

Hasn't always worked out for me, I've had ores with visible gold that ended up being closer to 0.5 OPT, all the way up to stuff than ran 10 OPT but only if my sample size was a truckload of lucky buckets (to my dismay).

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