 Miner's LunchboxFine Mineral Specimens - Direct from the Source 5655 Riggins Court, Suite 15, Reno, Nevada 89502 - 775-829-6881 Fax: 775-829-6882 info@minerslunchbox.com |
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GOLD SPECIMENS - THE YELLOW PAGES
To my knowledge, there are only four places in the world where we find gold associated with palladium. They are the Roraima area in Venezuela, two localities in Brazil, and the Hopes Nose mine in the UK. On my recent trip to Venezuela, I was fortunate to buy a batch of super sharp crystals of palladium-rich gold. I do not know exactly how much palladium is contained in this material, as I only ran them on an SEM which gives qualitative, not quantitative data. This material is not new to the collecting world, but I have not previously seen such sharp crystals. They were placer mined by small time operators, and must have been found right at the source. They are so incredibly sharp that they do not look as though they moved at all in the stream. In fact, I would venture to guess that the crystals actually grew in situ in the stream gravels. The metals were probably complexed by humic acids and precipitated at some point in the stream where the chemistry changed. It would make a great Masters Thesis or PhD topic should any of you have interest. In fact, I might be coerced to help fund the research for some graduate student....
Now for a change of pace, lets look at some Round Mountain Mine golds!
After long discussions and many false starts, I finally went down to Venezuela to buy golds. I have purchased Venezuelan golds from the same contact in the past, but never in such quality and quantity (and never at the source). I was amazed at the sharpness and aesthetics of these pieces. I had thought the price to be a bit high from the source, but the quality made it worth buying. All of golds are fantastic, and I think you will be surprised by the quality. I was able to buy golds from 4 different areas with distinct and unique attributes. Here are pieces from the first of the areas. I will be putting the other golds up as soon as I can, hopefully in the next few days. As a note of interest, Caracas is a large and modern city much like Los Angeles. The hills are steep, and vegetated like Southern California. The only significant difference between the two cities is the price of gasoline. President Chavez has subsidized gas prices to help the poor, resulting in $.15/gallon traffic jams. The morning and evening commutes generate terrific smog, which is fortunately blown away by the prevailing winds. I think I would prefer living in Caracas over LA any day.
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