Secrets of the rich and mysterious gold tellurides - what they are, and the gold they contain
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- čas přidán 23. 09. 2022
- Lets take a look at the secrets of the rich and mysterious gold tellurides. They have huge amounts of gold and are highly valuable but also easily missed. Many prospectors don't know much about them, but they are well worth knowing about.
For those who want to learn more about Prospecting and finding gold check out my book, Fists full of Gold. It’s an encyclopedia of everything on the topic of prospecting. It’s available on from High Plans Prospectors. (Affiliate) You can find it at:
highplainsprospectors.com/pro...
For even more information on prospecting, minerals, gems and other related information you can also check out my website at:
nevada-outback-gems.com/prospe...
The Prospecting and Mining Journal magazine can be found at:
www.icmj.com - Jak na to + styl
Thanks Chris, I enjoyed this interesting and informative episode.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Great gold show! Thank You! Chris. Best knowledge movie going on Tellurides.
Wow, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you for sharing your immense knowledge with us Chris!! It is greatly appreciated!!
My pleasure! Glad it was helpful!
Great knowledge thanks for sharing !!!!!
My pleasure
Have been watching and learning from your videos for sometime and happy to get new updates on mineralogy, geology to geography.
I started to be curious about gold when I noticed from my flower vase shiny yellowish particles from the fern i uprooted from a spring source. Then your channel came up with educational videos. Thanks Chris! ✌🏽🙏🏽❤️
Glad you like them!
Great detail thank you Chris!
My pleasure! I'm glad it was helpful!
always grateful for your knowledge and overall help to become a better metalurgist,prospector of this land we live chris.I got into geology mid covid and since then i can pretty much id the minerals im looking for following basic understanding of chemical and physical weathering.Your books a great wealth of knowledge too.
Thanks...
Cripple Creek is in my backyard. I have found some samples. Also, Pieplant Mine in the Taylor River valley Colorado. Thanks for this video
Glad you enjoyed it.
You are a great teacher.your time and experience is very appreciated
Glad you enjoyed it.
Chris--I really enjoyed this discussion of gold tellurides
Glad you liked it.
Sir I've been waiting for a video on this subject, very many thanks to the knowledge you share, 👍👍👍
You are most welcome, glad you found it helpful.
I totally appreciate your insights Chris 😃 The area's in Australia that i focus is around Dunolly , Moliagul & Tarnagulla area's 👌 My interest is more hard rock & checking quartz saturation of mineralisation that could one day lead my interest to a workable reef system ! The information that you share is very important & appreciated 👍
Sounds great! Glad I could be of help.
Super Interesting, learn something new every time !
Glad to hear that!
@@ChrisRalph Your Information is top class :)
Thank you Chris I always wondered what Telluride was, I worked with a lady years ago and she was from Colorado and said the Miners would say “To hell you ride “ I prospected today mostly square nails and baby Gold. Can’t wait for the next video! Dan Brent
I'm glad it was helpful.
Thank you very much for your work, your lectures on prospecting are best in CZcams! I wanted to share some knowledge I got from an old field manual for geologists written in 1930-s. I live in Japan, and Japan has 2 very rich telluride producing areas. Old Japanese field manuals for geologists say: "The quickest way to find out if you are dealing with a telluride or just some pyrite ore, is to burn the ore with a gas blow torch. If it is a telluride, the crystals will melt and turn to small gold color balls on the surface of the ore, if it is pyrite the crystals will just turn red of black color (as what happens when you roast sulfides before smelting). I haven't tried because tellurides are still very rare and you cannot just find them in mine dumps, but the field manual says it works)
What you say is true, but Tellurium is also pretty toxic, so if you ever try it, be very, very careful not to breathe the fumes.
@@ChrisRalph Thank you very much for the advice! I didn't know tellurides were toxic. If I ever find tellurides, now I know I have to be careful.
Interesting. I've wondered what the tellurium minerals are like.
They are an interesting thing to explore...
I own claims in the Phoenix district north of Central City Colorado. This information is very useful. I've collected samples which are similar to those you've highlighted. I'm ordering your book today.
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Chris, really enjoy you content. Im in Colorado and have around 5lbs of calverite crushed powder i've panned the heck of it, no visable gold. Would you recommend smelting it?
Roasting can convert telluride minerals to gold but the process gives off poisonous, highly toxic fumes. Five pounds is enough fumes to kill many people.
WOW! now I want to find this stuff
Best of luck to you.
Hi Chris you look very familiar. I just came back from a mineral and gem show in Roseville. We're you there? It was in August I believe. Thx for sharing jenn
Nope, I was not there. I think I was last at the Roseville mineral show about 15 years ago.
You're Awesome!
Thanks, so much, wish we'd have been able to get together more. Hope you had a great visit.
Your right on time with this video! Is there a way to send a sample of what I've just recently found? I'm actually right here in Jackson CA on Butte Mountain and I would really appreciate your expertise on this ore, or at least recommend a good assay because I can't locate one that will do private party assay.
I'm sorry, I do not offer a chemical analysis service and I also do not offer a mineral ID service. I get many such requests every day. There are assay labs that will test you samples for you - as I noted in the video.
'have a nice day sir im always watching your vedio and really appreciated.your books are interesting but for now it's hard for me to have it.god bless.
Glad you enjoy the videos.
How tf did i miss this episode. Thank you for this. A long time ago i suggested this topic and it was a little bit specific for the audience at the time. Winter is my prospecting time (az) and i get up to the la platas in colorado in the summer monthes. Have found so many different sulfide/telluride specimens over the yrs there. Nothing crazy i doubt id get rich off my collection. But ive always been so curious to hear your take on them. Such a INTERESTING class of ores. Thank you Chris ill share this one with some friends
Glad to hear that it was helpful.
@@ChrisRalph oh i loved the video yes helpful. And one thing you said is so TRUE, if you want to know what you have ASSAY is the way to go. So many sulfides run with it and theres like 100+ crystal structures these different tellurides form. Identification can be nearly impossible to a layman.
Glad I found your CZcams Chris.
I live in the Historic Cripple Creek Mining District.
I have been collecting some great samples up here. Cannot wait to process them.
Look forward to your videos.
This Saturday's video is about gold in Colorado.
Fantastic!! Cannot wait!
Its up and public now.
Speaking of Cripple Creek, my father and grandfather at one time has a lease at the Molly Kathleen Mine in Cripple Creek - so my interest in prospecting may just involve genetics
According to US government geologists who examined the area, the telluride minerals are present around Telluride, but are rare. From their report: "Although the name of the principal town of this area is Telluride, gold tellurides are extremely rare in the area. One specimen, given to the author by Mr. Isaac Partenan, appears to be calaverite"
I have a question. Do you have a video of gold in mica?
No, I dont.
It is said that to test for telluride, you just add sulfuric acid to the sample .. if it turned purple in few minutes … then its telluride..
Perhaps, but to know how much gold or silver you have, you need an assay.
Hi Chris, since we are speaking about rare or uncommon minerals I have another one to add! Arquerite. Do you have any knowledge or information on this? Cheers!
Arquerite is a naturally occurring alloy of silver with mercury. You are right, it is a very, very rare mineral.
Interestimg🙂
Glad you found it interesting.
What can I be hopeful to find here in the central valley Fresno, Ca
Up in the foothills to the east of you is gold.
That was a really good presentation. A bit verbose but still very informative. Now, for the big one. You definitely should check out the State of Virginia's Geologic Map. We have a GOLD/TELLURIDE BELT that is also sometimes labeled SULFIDE BELT that runs nearly the whole length of the state's Piedmont area from the town of Virgilina at the North Carolina/Virginia line all the way up to Great Falls just west of Washington DC. The odd thing that I've noticed as a Rockhound is that most of the good gold is found in Garnet Schist.
sounds interesting.
Hey Chris love your videos I think I found some garnet filled tellurides
Perhaps you would want to find an assay lab to test it for you.
Yes I was wondering about that could you recommend on for me
And I was wondering how do I do that do I send in the whole peice or how would I go about that
Oh and what kind of assay lab I looked online and there's a bunch of different kind
The one I use is:
ALS Minerals
4977 Energy Way
Reno NV 89502
Office: 775-356-5395
Fax: 775-355-0179
www.alsglobal.com
Excellent topic. Not often discussed.
Folks best be listening. Might change your life!
Thanks for listening
which book of your is the best .there one with 29 dollar and 79
They are all the same, buy the cheaper one.
@@ChrisRalph thanks sir .waiting for it I have ordered today
I think I found a 17th century old bar. It has nix and deep scratches but its kinda hard like steel. I put a neodymium magnet to it. It barely stuck and it was only in certain spots. I will get you true measurements of it. Its very heavy. My gold monster pick it up as gold.
When I dug it up I thought I found a gold bar. But I quickly realized that was not the case. Its 2"w×6"L×1/2Thick. I will make a video of it. I'm going to do some more testing on it later if I have the time. I hit it with a 4 pound hammer trying to bend it but no luck.
Its a crazy metal I have never seen before. Its not steel, stainless steel, brass,silver,gold,led. The only other thing I think it could be is Tungsten.
Thank you so much for all you do! God Bless you and thank you again from the bottom of my heart!🙏
There are lots of possibilities and alloys can also have unique properties.
I think i have found montbrayite a rare gold telluride in the abandoned mine tailing of the montbray mine in quebec they were mining for a really rich copper seam but came across a pocket i think the old miner from 1925 threw a lot away
Perhaps, get some assays.
I was in Cripple Creek a few days ago and the calaverite is not hard to find at all. Its everywhere really. I shipped myself a big box of it which arrived today, I'm about to put some in a furnace to "roast" it, fingers crossed!
I hope it is gold - but there are a lot of minerals that look sort of like Calaverite.
Hey Mr. Ralph,
An idea for a video! If you could possibly cover chemical field testing.
A lot of metals have specific chemical identifiers out there, like for silver, gold and whatnot. Possibly even telluride.
Thank hope you’re doing well!
I wish there were simple chemical field testing. Metals in minerals come in all sorts of chemical configurations, and reducing them for analysis is not necessarily easy. The only one geologists commonly use is a test for carbonate minerals - but you are not looking for the presence of carbonates, you are looking for the presence of metals. Again, I would suggest that you look at my videos on how to identify minerals. I think it would be helpful. Start with part 1 and go through all three. See: czcams.com/video/MpkW58ZeQlc/video.html
@@ChrisRalph: Oh I’m certain, that I’ve seen those videos by you? But, I do like rewatching videos. To pick out new thoughts & ideas.
Thanks Chris!
How do you process finds like that?
Usually by heating but there is potential danger in that from the fumes.
was out on a gpaa claim. saw grey mica schist and float all around. would the deposit be way down. it might be cause it washed there. ,but was on a service road for high power lines. on a hill. will email you clip. could be washed there. just fines in the area. have a good day.
Honestly, I have no idea. My eyes cant see any farther into the ground than your eyes can. Mica schist covers a huge area around Randsburg and there are many small quartz veins all over the area.
@@ChrisRalph watching one of your presentations (gold show). you have schist. quarts schist. some times gold. cant seem to find email. but not a big thing go. back and see if you can dig pieces of schist up this would be a good sign. water washed it there. have a good day.
Hi Chris, I find these ores in Colorado. I have various samples from all around the state. My most fascinating find is muthmanite, very tiny stuff. I have some large samples though filled with tiny, where the pyrites rust out and the ? Calaverite remains. I can send you some places from Boulder, Georgetown, a few honorable mentions from the town ships. They cut and polish beautiful gem quality, but honest think it's iridium in some of the finds.
My channel kinda makes my case. I've been studying chemistry of gold extraction. Finding lots of competing reactions in the ore, finding the balance to oxidize and bring it back with the redox. Manganese may have been inducing my oxidation. Next experiment is to balance better.
Oil Rig
Oxidation is electron loss
Reduction is electron gain
Let me know? If you want me to send you a pot luck collection of what I'm finding?
Not really, I do not do minerals ID or testing. I get so many, many requests from folks..... I cannot help everyone who asks.
Hey Chris - I emailed you some pictures of some Telluride ore samples that I have from Tuolumne county near Calaveras. I was wondering if you saw the pictures and what you thought of them😊
Sorry - I get quite a few people every day who want me to ID their rock and mineral photos. I do not offer a mineral ID service, mostly because it’s not as easy as you think. Usually, minerals cannot be identified from just a picture. Please watch my videos on how to Identify minerals for yourself. Part 1 can be found here: czcams.com/video/MpkW58ZeQlc/video.html and Part 2 can be found here: czcams.com/video/zOWo49X90gA/video.html and Part 3 can be found here: czcams.com/video/_ab5NngRlVw/video.html
This might explain a problem I have had recently. I found a Pyrite rock with Gold coloured Metallic Crystals.
The rock was about the size of 2 loaves of bread perhaps slightly smaller. However it was EXTREMELY heavy.
It must have been about 40kg and I ended up tearing a bit of muscle in my arm carrying it about 300 meters. (I work heavy construction).
It has been insanely frustrating as I simply cannot Blue Bowl or Pan it apart from gold. It seems to weigh almost the same amount as gold.
I will now check to see if it is a Telluride Mineral. If it is it would explain a lot...and make me some cashola. :D
Hope it turns out to be a great find..
How does electrum fit in?
electrum is a natural silver - gold alloy
Would love to hear you comment about the telluride gold at Osisko Developments Tintic mine in Utah. Fantastic multi ounce grades of AU. Possibly highest grades in the world.
You know its a very small operation that Osisko only acquired a few months ago?
@@ChrisRalph dig a little deeper. Yes, I know the property well.
Are telluride crystals malleable? Or brittle?
brittle.
Is it ever in black color. From Caribbean islands black some white veins w lot of liquid gold veins glows with flash on it and gold looks dripping gold in camera pic. What do I have?
10 lbs
There are maybe 1,000 different minerals that could be black - probably one of them. Gold is not a liquid at normal temperatures. I have no idea what you have.
Looks like liquid but solid Got this from Island - Haiti on my land-
Thank you
How can I extract gold from calaverite?
Which chemicals can I use for extraction?
Tellurium is potentially dangerous. Be sure you have someone who understands the chemistry to help you.
Very interesting and informative
But ive got a feeling that most of us are going to just have to stick to metal detecting and panning/dry washing. I can already see myself say, oh just a rock. 😂 maybe more like 😱😭
The fact hat the tellurides are easily missed are why they are so fascinating....
Hi mr. Ralph , i would love to be able to show you some stones as your eye is keen on seeing things that you can prospect , but i have no clue what I'm looking at but i would love to walk the mountains and look for surprises :) if there is anywhere i could contact you it would be amazing thank you :)
As I say in the video its difficult to look at these minerals an know what they are. This is why I do not offer a photo ID service.
@@ChrisRalph understandable , but i dont want to know if its some kind of precious stone or ore but just to know if the kind of rock can yield something.
Can you roast gold ore/quartz instead of using a machine? I know if you roast quartz it basically falls apart and turns to mush. Would that release the freemill gold/ microscopic gold? I would like to crush and pan some quartz, but I don't feel like crushing it raw, in a iron mortar or something. Lol
Didn't you ask me this before? Maybe it was someone else. No, roasting wont do it. It may fracture it a little, but you need to turn it to powder to extract the gold. Look at my video on extracting gold from quartz - czcams.com/video/rJqFxu0Wko0/video.html
Remember most gold ore has only tiny amounts of gold.
@@ChrisRalph I hope not lol if so forgive me lol. I will watch your video most definitely.
czcams.com/video/K2lqsa9KWJE/video.html this is what I was talking about, I wasn't asking if roasting it would make it easier to crush, rather would roasting it like this release the microscopic gold, like when you roast sulphides?
Does the little micro particulars that are emitted from the telephone...poles.??? telluride's....
Still ride on horsey....
Well do they drop out of the air ....ore do they just hang in the air around the poles....
Static electricity.
A thought: While Sulfur, atomic number 16, readily forms compounds with various metals to form metal sulfides, it does not react with gold, platinum, iridium, and the noble gases.
At the tight temperatures and conditions sulfur does react with the noble metals. It does not react with the noble gasses.
I have a big chunk of what looks to me could be Calaverite or Sylvanite .
It fits in the palm of my hand and weighs about 4 .5 lbs
Sounds great. I don't offer any mineral ID service, maybe take it to a local university with a good geology program?
Can test them with a volt meter??
Its not a good test because lots of things are conductive, including pyrite.
What could you do with this type of ore? Crush it and pan it? Then roast it? How would you separate the gold? And what about electrum? Would it be a similar process?
Also, are these gold silver, tellurium considered electrum? And can you tell anything from using a voltmeter on minerals like these? Will metals other than gold/silver/electrum/tellurides etc complete a circuit/show continuity?
There are different ways of treating it, depending on the nature of the ore. Roasting is one way. These minerals are not electrum. There are a few minerals that conduct electricity, but these are not among them.
@@ChrisRalphthanks 🙏!
There's tellurium in trace mineral amounts in my new Mexico shilajit supplement! Did you know indium is used by our bodies in the pineal gland and tin in the ears/hearing? Zinc is the most important mineral for health, it's essential for hundreds of enzyme functions!
A lot of the trace elements, while necessary in traces, if you get too much it can be damaging.
Already made one of those mistakes. Found a beautiful mineralized rock that i was certain would be a great crushable for possible gold contents here on Lake Erie, Pennsylvania. Well I was right! I did get a few specs of gold out of it. Then i started researching what it was and even had photographed it beforehand like all my crushables. Well it was Calaverite. And then found that one of the few places in the world where its located is directly north of me in Canada a couple hundred miles away. It came all the way down to me from the glaciers. And all i could do with one of my greatest finds ever was to crush it into powder. ...I doubt I'll ever find another one ever again. Such a bummer.
That does sound like a bummer.
Hello, I’m a younger prospector that ran into a 57 pound telluride. It’s silver in some spots and golden in other various from sylvanite to Calaverite I found it in bear creek area right below evergreen colorado. It’s never been found there naturally so I believe it was left by a prospector believing it was a sulphide I’d love to send you some pictures to get your thoughts it’s about a foot and 3 inches in length about 7 inches wide and 5 inches tall
It has leaf like encrustations on it
It’s actually really funny I found this when you published this video
Sorry - I get quite a few people every day who want me to ID their rock and mineral photos. I do not offer a mineral ID service, mostly because it’s not as easy as you think. Usually, minerals cannot be identified from just a picture. Please watch my videos on how to Identify minerals for yourself. Part 1 can be found here: czcams.com/video/MpkW58ZeQlc/video.html and Part 2 can be found here: czcams.com/video/zOWo49X90gA/video.html and Part 3 can be found here: czcams.com/video/_ab5NngRlVw/video.html
It's in wire like Crystal's looks like swiss cheese it's almost solid with a few pieces of granite showing in spots.
It's a specimen so it's not like a assay can be done unless a person can chip off a small piece to have a test.
Find somewhere that an expert can look at it. I don't offer any mineral ID services.
Any weigh high impact atomic rearrangement ....can be as simple as a juggernought aka tractor scraping across some porphery conglomerate....
What about vacuuming the desert floor for gold?
You guys are being silly? When it rains really hard in the north Carolina foothills, I get a pretty hardcore river running right outside my door. I have pieces of the outdoor fake grass carpet that traps all kinds of stuff. I call this riders on the storm 🤣. It's silly, but I'm also serious. There's a steady stream of indications that the telluric current is all up in my business. Or the community has nothing better to do but troll and gaslight and plant and bait and switch and run a constant mind warping narrative. There's pastel rainbow rocks with a pearly look also, Vesta pebbles?
If you're a look at the pictures in the book type person go and jump to@10:00 if you're into the info and watch it all the way through
And in English?
@@ChrisRalph
With English Captions 🤠
What about electrim . Nevada gold
A whole video on Electrum and natural gold alloys is coming out in 2 weeks.
Cool. I think I might have a telluride specimen. It has yellow gold and the silver gray metallic material concentrated on the end of the specimen. Thank you for the video.
I live in Kansas I live on the Humboldt fault line. I have all kinds of specimens of different ores. I've seen some of them on your videos someone other videos on the internet. A lot of them I'm from different countries like Brazil. I would like to send you pictures
Sorry - I get quite a few people every day who want me to ID their rock and mineral photos. I do not offer a mineral ID service, mostly because it’s not as easy as you think. Usually, minerals cannot be identified from just a picture. Please watch my videos on how to Identify minerals for yourself. Part 1 can be found here: czcams.com/video/MpkW58ZeQlc/video.html and Part 2 can be found here: czcams.com/video/zOWo49X90gA/video.html and Part 3 can be found here: czcams.com/video/_ab5NngRlVw/video.html
I’m up in halfmoonbay bc just start prospecting
BC has a lot of mineral deposits.
But if you crush it to powder .... classify it....then ....will all the atomic specks be more able to collide.....in your pan....and if you don't get it out right ....will the minerals reparticel-ize....
I collide my atomic particles in the The Large Hadron Collider because it speeds them up more.
❤️💎💎❤️❤️❤️👍
I'm glad it was helpful!
Arcinopyright arss in your phire right
Phrisanotite in a parse phrase.
👍
thanks!
@@ChrisRalph welcome dear sir
Gold combines with silver
Not really. Gold alloys with silver. Its a mix, like mixing chocolate chips and flour. Its not a chemical combination because gold does not react with silver. Gold chemically reacts with tellurium and forms its own compound, the telluride minerals.
And don’t forget about asbestos and silica dust when out on the field
Yes, very true.
how to find gold in rivers and streams
Watch this video: czcams.com/video/iB6VEBJIPAc/video.html
Anyone can tell u ride the knowledge train.
True, but I have a Ford Truck also.
I like your account name.
I wonder how many deposits may be hiding in south africa, around here everything is fools gold if crystaline
Hard to say...
Hi, Chris how are you am not really sure you see the pic/video.am sending you one more pic and if you like you can come on down here, i hope I get 50% right. Thanks Tina
Hi Anit - I do not offer a photo ID service.
Be careful roasting telluride ores. The gold is very finely divided in these tellurium minerals and is very easily lost up in smoke!
The tellurium is also somewhat toxic.
Impact metamorphism....army strikes!!!
More of those sold gold projectiles.
We have here Tellurium and gold. But not dig it out.
Interesting.
I dont kiss and tell,but i can tell you ride.
I got a Ford diesel Truck.....
Silly me. I posted my comment before I read yours.
Gold from the old ....
young too.
Gerrr-a-phite
Peencil.
Amalgum clotting
blood clots too.
Ta lure ume.
Ca va?
Lead from the dead ....
lead from the sled.
Ore...from....your.body....called ore....gans....sorry bout the spelling.....
When you misspell so much, its hard to understand wart ewe rally men.
Untell you ride....
I shall return........
Medical wast of fatty meats on the loneprery....what's in our blood
Too many cheeseburgers.