Hi everyone, I figure I should introduce myself first. I just recently picked up official "rockhounding" as an active pursuit but have always dug around for fossils and stopped and looked at interesting rocks since I was a kid and wanted to know more and understand what I was looking at. Most of my other hobbies involve being outdoors deep in the mountains and I tend to run around off trail and find alot of interesting things which leads me to a couple questions I have. Ive discovered a couple places a while back that Id like to understand if they are of any significance and what they are.

So first one, I found a symbol for a mine on a topo map here in CO with no roads or trails that led to it so I decided to bushwack my way to it to find out what is was. On the way you could tell there was a road that had become overgrown that used to lead to the mine. There were also big chunks of quartz everywhere like they had fallen off of something moving down the road. When I get to the mine its a big open pit completely made of quartz. The floor and walls 3x as tall as me...all quartz. It seemed all cloudy and "Massive" form....I think thats the term? It seems obvious that they were mining this quartz but why? Is there anything of significance I could find here? I remember some very tight cracks that had something soft in it..but I couldnt tell if it was metallic or dirt. I just remember it was odd enough for me to remember here 3 years later. I think I also remember some of it having a pinkish hue.

Second one, only about a mile from the first location was a small creek that seemed to have substrate that was all black sand. There were also shiny specks in it that would swirl up like glitter if you agitated the water. I know since then that this heavy black sand is associated with gold..dont know why, and that the flakes were most likely pyrite or some other thing I cant remember.

I did a little research of the area today and found that there was one gold mine started in the area there that puttered out eventually and nothing much came of it.

Welcome to the forums! Dig right in and you'll find a wealth of information on here.

I'm not sure about the pit you found; I remember seeing something similar in Saylor Park (by Mount Deception) as a cadet that I always wondered about. My best guess is a gold or silver mine, but defer to the more knowledgeable folks here.

The "glitter" you saw in the water when agitated is very likely mica, and it's quite plentiful. If you agitate the water gently and it moves readily, it's very unlikely to be gold. Gold has a high specific gravity which is why you find it with other high specific gravity (heavy) materials like those black sands.

Thanks for the welcome! Yea, its def not gold. I know gold wouldnt float around like that. Mica-thats the other mineral I was trying to think of. How much of an indicator is black sand?

Hi yak and welcome to CP forums!
There is a strong relationship with black sands and Gold which has much to do with weight and gravity. Black sand is typically composed primarily of heavy metals like Lead and Iron... and sometimes Hematite. If an area of sampling (on a placer or alluvial deposit) shows a lot of black sand, this is an indication that heavy material is collecting in the particular area of sampling. Gold is extremely heavy compared (almost) all minerals found on the planet. It tends to travel and get trapped with the other heavies... and black sand can be a dead giveaway since it is the heaviest sand. Not all black sand contains Gold but it's a great indicator that you are in a location that could 'potentially' hold some.... that is... if the geologic locale even contains Gold.

Ah gotcha, so black sand can just mean the presence of heavy minerals, not necessarily gold, but if there is gold it will collect in the same areas of the black sand.

Any thoughts on the massive quartz pit? I have figured out its in the area of the Pike's peak Batholith.

Thanks for the welcome!

I am not familiar with that area.

I have been to an area that fits your description in the Rampart Range area. May or may not be your spot in question, but I had the same questions but could not quite figure out from poking around what exactly was mined, but it could have been one/many minerals that are or once were profitable to mine. One thought is the pinkish hue may suggest Magnesium. Maybe?

-James

There is rose quartz in that area. It's not uncommon to find prospect pits that are 10 feet deep.
Someone was poking around for something there.

Whats associated with rose quartz? And this thing is more than a pit...its a minor excavation. You can tell on the path there too that they dropped a bunch of ore or whatever they were mining all their way out.

Seeing quartz is a good thing. Rose quartz can be associated with any minerals that are cool, including gold, and it is often found when cool things are found. Rose quartz follows the cool rule. It's just another indicator, but it doesn't really HAVE to mean anything. Quartz does tell you there is mineralization and possibly some cool stuff going on so that's a good place to start.
I can't imagine why they would leave that much ore behind if it was worth hauling out. It might be that those pieces have settled on the road from up above, and the road hasn't been used in so long. Just my guess.

Great info thanks, thsi is all very interesting. So how would one approach a wall of quartz looking for stuff? Just find a crack and start knocking out chunks looking for a pocket?

In that area most of what I've found has been in or near pegmatites, amazonite and smokies. Lots of those there.
The best tool at your disposal to start with is reading material. To learn as much as possible about the area and whatever it is you're looking for can save time, money and much frustration. The most successful prospectors are usually the ones that are most educated in their trade. Luck plays a small part.
Hammering into that quartz will give you an education but probably not much else! Hehe
Watch out for mining claims and read read read.

Yea, Im curretnly mowing through several textbooks and got my hands on the geological map of the area. Not exactly sure what Im looking for though :)

I missed your comment but yes the quartz pit is over in the Rampart Range.

If you can find out the Township, Range and Section go to the General Land Office records (online) and check out the Historical index along with the mineral challenges index if there is one. These indexes go way back and record anything official that happens within the township and has section numbers indexed in the file.