Recently I got a couple samples of London mine gold ore from Astrobleme which I finally got soaked and rinsed through a muriatic or hydrochloric cleaning dip.

Two different samples one of which is slabbed and the other is still uncut or raw as would be found.
First, here is a before cleaning pic of the raw sample that is not slabbed yet
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After the cleaning dip. I think it showed a big difference after the iron/rusting stains were removed......Looks like it has several metals involved with this teluride veining....gold, silver, pyrite/galena and or lead? Johnny can confirm more on that too...... Looks good though, I may have to slice this one up to see what can be done with it also.
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Sample 2 which I did slab was very heavy with metal veining..... however I didn't get a before pic on these so after cleaning this is what they look like.
Actually not as much difference on these since that sample had what seemed like much more of the silver, pyrite veins. Solid looking though and hopefully I can work something out of one or two that's stable.
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Thank you for the samples Johnny, very interesting pieces and associated history of origin!

CP,

Those specimens look great with the cleaning and cutting your doing.

A little bit of history...the London Mine Group was developed on pollymetallic quartz veins associated with the Great London Fault. According to documentation by Singewald and Butler (1941) the ore mined between 1895 and 1910 averaged 2.895 opt gold, 2.858 opt silver, 4.13 % lead, 2.66 % zinc, 4.85 % iron, 6.11 % sulfur, and 76.8 % silicon. The most recent reports published by the Colorado Geological Survey state that remaining reserves of ore range from 0.10 to 0.41 opt gold having a weighted average of 0.19 opt gold. There is an October 2017 report of a Canadian Company's interests in processing ore in Nevada only having an average (Scorpio Gold Corporation at Mineral Ridge, 0.017 opt Au and and 0. 016 opt Ag) that is 11 times less gold per ton than the remaining resources at London Mountain. I've collected specimens from my family's claims that have gold leaves, gold wires and nuggets trapped within the quartz vein material. London Mountain gold can be recovered as "free milling" but substantial gold is also contained within the pyrite requiring special treatment. All pyrite is not to be considered as "Fool's Gold" as evidenced here!

Of great interest to me are the old references to a gold laden dinosaur fossil named Genevieve that was found by the miners. I posted information several years ago at this link Genevieve Fossil

Parts of the fossil may still be present in my family's ore stockpile. I have recovered some possible fragments of it but can't be sure since I've only seen black & white photos of the prepared fossil as it was on display. Since the original fossil find is still missing, I've never had an opportunity to compare my finds with the real thing. If you have any knowledge of this fossil, please pass it along.

Thanks CP. Your skills are amazing my friend!

ASTROBLEME

This is fascinating! I would love to see pictures of that!

Good luck on the hunt!

Here's a video that depicts the current work and geology at the London Mine.

MineWater Project at London Mine

ASTROBLEME

Very cool video. Makes me wish I could actually explore through those tunnels.

Dan and Denise have been such a blessing in getting my raw rock discoveries processed into beautiful jewelry over the past several years. The recent passing of Dan has weighed heavily on my soul. Being of the same age group, I'm now realizing that I should be making some drastic changes in my plans for the future for my family and all of my mineral discoveries.

I don't know what else to post here...

ASTROBLEME

Life is so fragile and precious at any age Johnny! It was so sudden but something that could happen to anyone. He didn't suffer so that helps some with trying to process all that has happened.