Me and a buddy have been on the hunt for Topaz pockets near Sentinel Rock. We found float but we were just prospecting by taking GPS coordinates. We came across a few areas where there was an obvious red stained area roughly 5'x5'. We poked at it for a few and left.

1. This is my question; is this red stained area of loose granite a possible pocket? I know red clay is a good sign but the reddish areas were not sure about.

2. When noticing Pegmatites in hard granite such as euhedral quartz roughly half of an inch in size, is it a good idea to chip at it to see how far it goes? We are under the assumption that cavities would be loose rather than in hard granite.

Keep in mind, I am a gold prospector and kind of new at this area.

Red areas often lead me to pockets. Sometimes the clay washes out and re-depoisits nearby the original pocket. I have this happen often in Pikes Peak granite that is decomposing and crumbling.

Sometimes, the pockets are in hard rock. But yes, the pocket/pegmatite areas do often crumble first.

The pockets are often collapsed if they had airspace or clay in them. But they are usually more loose than the pegmatite walls around them.

Holy Sh!t!!! TY TY TY IceColdGold for asking that. And thanks for yer answers Dave S.

I/we recently came across something like that, chiseled out some hard rock, a few small smokey terminations, but it's slow going. The area I have in mind, is super red, some might say magenta but it is hard rock, I figured try and go under rather than through... I'm unsure what to do on that.. Dave... Mike...????

Colin

Follow the softer material if possible. I usually go around/under boulders or harder granite.