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That is it strick.

JW, the specimen was basically on the surface of an old tailing outwash area from an old mining pit. The material is now overgrown with trees and covered with a thick layer of duff (pine needles, bark, branches). It boomed on the GPZ and I honestly thought it was a can. A quick dig with my pick revealed it, and the first sight of the nearly 9 ounce chuck about stunned me. It was not until later that I found it was mostly quartz, but still, a pretty nice find. Picture below shows the excavation.

Rick, in Australia specimens are usually just crushed (dollied) and the gold panned out. We have a better market for specimen gold and so this could be sold as is. Unfortunately the mass of quartz hides most of the contained gold so this is not a prime specimen. It would be better with less quartz showing more of the gold. If the quartz were pure white it also would be more valuable but it has darker mineral inclusions. Still, I have considered slicing it up to see if any good cabochon material can be obtained for jewelry purposes. I have also considered just soaking it in Whink as an experiment to see how many months it would take for very weak hydrofluoric acid to completely dissolve the quartz, leaving loose crystalline gold. For now doing nothing has been the easy option.

steve-herschbach-6-ounce-specimen-found-with-gpz7000.jpg

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Hi Steve

A tip for specimins:

Thermal shock the quartz by heating it with a blowtorch or oxy acetylene torch untill it glows red but do not melt the gold then pick it up with multi grips or tongs and drop it into cold water in a metal bucket. (Wear goggles!)

Repeat until most of the quartz is gone then finish in hydrogen fluoride. 

It is WAY quicker and uses way less acid. 

Hope this helps

P.s.

Nice gold!

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On 10/31/2016 at 4:17 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

I used to be active on many forums and even a bit on Facebook for awhile, but I have slowly withdrawn from locations other than this website. It is safe to say that 99% of my internet activity going forward will be devoted to this website and forum... (snip)

Good move / smart move, Steve..

I totally understand the allure of FateBook from a general user POV, especially as they continue expanding toward their "one platform for all services" goal.. Thing is I also totally understand it from the operator's POV as well.. Which is why I never have nor never will seek admittance to their club: The cost of membership is too high.. The one possible exception could only happen should I ever find myself in a position where I'm able to benefit from them to a greater degree than they immediately and continuously thereafter automatically benefit from my / any-everyone's parsed personal information..

Given what you already have and continue striving for accomplishment-wise, it makes much more sense, to me at least, putting time into your site over theirs..

And yes, I'd definitely first put at least one slice through the specimen to take a peek.. Then you could shock and soak for the crystalline next if what you see doesn't look like it would cab nicely.. At an 1-to-2.6 weight ratio, excepting possibly the top RH knuckle I am having a hard time visualizing anything other than shot-through-with-gold slices though..

Swamp

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