White Quartz??

[1911crazy]

I was watching a show on gold mining (panning) and they showed a vein of gold surrounded by white quartz  does that mean where there is white quartz aruond there maybe more likely gold too in the area?  BigBill

My metal detector when crazy but the bugs were biting so bad they ran me off before I got to dig it out.  I hope to go back soon and dig there.  I also talked to a local who pans for gold to make some extra cash.  I guess there is gold in them there hills still!!!

[Daveinthebush]

Yes quartz and gold go together. Quartz rocks and veins should never be overlooked.  Most of the gold mines in Valdez are hardrock mines when the miners found a quartz vein and followed the vein back into the mountain.

A metal dector may pick up the gold in the quartz depending on the amount of gold.  Don't break it out of small pieces though.  Gold in quartz can bring a higher price to a collect at a gold show.

[Robert]

The geo(whatever) water and gasses come up from down deep in the earth and the residues build up and create quartz.  Traces of gold are also in the water in some places, and the quartz is like a magnet to the gold, so if you follow a vein of quartz you could find deposits imbedded into it, sometimes scattered random, but sometimes in very large pockets.  Hard rock mining usually involves crushing large quantities of quartz to free the gold.

[PA-Joe]

Save some of the quartz and sell it to your local New Age store! It will pay for your gasoline.

[Robert]

Ha Ha, good idea.  In fact if you DO find that kind of quartz it is worth good money.  But it isn't the kind that you find the gold in. The stuff that the gold is in is usually very crude and opaque white and rusty looking.

[brushbustertex]

nasty looking quartz. :-)