Thanks Dave,
I already found 2 gold bearing ore bodies on a relatives land. Had a galena crystal assayed and it came back as 0.13 ounces a ton for gold, 2.5 ounces a ton for silver.
In his creek , I noticed greenish /white rock outcroppings and at a distance I saw the greenish rock went up the side of a steep hill a couple hundred feet like a thick blanket.
I was expecting copper, but the assay showed .03 ounces a ton of gold, and .01 of silver and no copper. I made the mistake of taste testing this stuff!!!
Bad news indeed, gave me an instant and nasty panic attack, strong metallic taste as well...I'll never taste test a rock again...
.03 ounces a ton for gold might be good for a mining company but is worthless to this gold seeker who needs free mill gold .
I've seen expensive mineral testing kits for around $100 on Ebay with 6-8 hardened tips for testing for mineral hardness.
dunno if they are worth it or not? I already have rock chisels, several sledges, dowsing rods, dredge, hibankers, 10 detectors
but old age aches and pains hammer me every day and make it hard to get out to explore as much as I would like to.
Have also had some run ins with ghosts and such while out prospecting. I thought they only guarded buried pirate treasure
until I seen/ had my first encounter in the deep woods in Maine while looking for a blue crystal I had left there 30 years ago, just could
not bear to break it off at the time as it was so beautiful with the sun light shining in behind it. It cast a dark blue glow out a couple feet into the creekbed.
This ghost kept asking what I was searching for? I say ghost because when I asked her where my car was at, since I was lost, she pointed to a trail
I had not seen. I turned to look , saw the trail, turned back to keep talking to her and she and her angry white dog had both disappeared.
I was scratching my head after that one? And she and her dog were every bit as real as you and me, not no wispy shadow. And it was daylight out.
Too bad I didn't ask her where my magic blue crystal formation was? She seemed to know I was looking for it, somehow?
-Tom V.