Hobbies And Interests
Prospecting
After all visible quartz veins had been discovered by early prospectors, mining companies had to develop deep shafts connecting to horizontal tunnels to identify potential gold-bearing quartz veins below the surface.
Excavation
When quartz veins are being removed from below the surface, all rock, water and other materials potentially contain gold and must be hoisted to the surface. Poppet heads or pit heads are used at the surface of the mine to power the pulleys.
History
The Prussian engineer Jacob Brache was the first to attempt quartz vein reef mining in the mid 1800s because he suspected it held more gold than surface alluvial fields.
Petrography
Polarized light microscopy, or petrography, is the best way to identify micro-crystalline grains of sulfide minerals, like gold.
Processing
Once a quartz vein is excavated and identified to have gold, it is ground into a fine mixture and separated.