The Biggest Gold discovery ever made - Earth's most productive gold district, how it was found
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- Опубліковано 29 бер 2024
- I’m going to tell you about by far the greatest gold discovery ever made on planet Earth. There is no other mining district that even comes close. From not long after its discovery in the 1880s, it led the world in annual gold production every single year for over a century. It wasn’t until 2006 that another district overtook it and produced more in a year. Of all the gold ever dug by man, this gold district has produced 1/3rd of it! It’s a story of intrigue and suspicion, war, strange government officials who didn’t want gold to be found, and geologists to this day still disagree on how they were formed. It’s a story pretty much like no other. So let me tell you about the largest gold deposit in the world, the famous Witwatersrand deposits of South Africa. Even if you don’t live in South Africa, there are a number of important lessons for prospectors everywhere in this story.
For those who want to learn more about Prospecting and finding gold check out my book, Fists full of Gold. It’s an encyclopedia of everything on the topic of prospecting. It’s available on from High Plans Prospectors. (Affiliate) You can find it at:
highplainsprospectors.com/pro...
For even more information on prospecting, minerals, gems and other related information you can also check out my website at:
nevada-outback-gems.com/prospe... - Навчання та стиль
In 1982 I was involved in a gold rush in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia. There was a 60 y.o lady next to me from Malta who dug a 3 meter deep hole and washed the gravel and got one ounce from it. The sinking took 3 days. Her husband could not do it as he was an invalid. The ground was very hard being compacted gravel in a long gully of 3 kilometres length and my pick produced sparks at every strike. I was young but only managed to get down 4 feet. The 80 y.o man who had previously worked the gully had sunk about 50 holes though the years and extracted a fortune in gold. He used to take the pay dirt home in a trailer a ton at a time and wash the dirt out. A 30 ounce nugget was found by a friend with a metal detector on the edge of a surfaced area in the same gully the previous year, with some one ounce nuggets next to it. The gully had been worked in the 1860,s but there was plenty of virgin ground between the old holes.
Interesting story, thanks for sharing.
Dont lie
@@Friedolays Do a google search about Bendigo, not far away for Maryborough, today it is a rich open cut gold mine and only few feet deep when it was discovered.
@@Friedolays Maryborough has had several gold rushes. I think 7 out of 10 of the largest gold nuggets ever found came from Australia and I'm pretty sure the top 3 all come from Victoria the state that Maryborough is in. People are still finding large and occasionally very large gold nuggets in Maryborough and the rest of Victoria. Someone found a 4.6kg quartz rock with 2.6kg of gold in it recently in central Victoria.
South Afican here. Thank you, sir. Great history lesson. Im 46 and the irony of learning this from you is not lost.
Thanks for listening, glad you enjoyed the video.
Some fascinating history and geology there Chris! Thanks again.
Glad you enjoyed it.
This was awesome. I would love to see you hire an editor and make a documentary and match your stories to faces, places, maps, and data visualizations. Awesome work.
I've done some work with the History channel in the past, so maybe there is a chance.
Thanks Chris. Great story!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very Interesting. I'm a new enthusiast and enjoy all the history. I can't buy your book yet, but I eventually will because I find your youtubes so refreshing (no stupid yelling, professional, and you don't waste your viewer's time saying stupid things-oh thank you for that!), and I learn so much from them, especially from the pictures-showing those of us who lack experience what an experienced eye sees without thinking. If you are ever up in the Leechtown area and want to do some exploring, let me know. Cheers
I've been to Vancouver Island - but its been maybe 10 years since I was there.
Thank You Chris, Very Good knowledge to add to our knowing.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for a very interesting video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Very interesting, thanks Chris.
Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent presentation! And yes, I do have your book 👌
Cool, thanks! Glad you liked the video.
Good video Chris. Pertinent even to my nevada backyard. Kinda knew the South African story. Boar wars made Churchill famous. Warm weather coming. Another season of exploration.
Time to pick up your book.
You are probably experiencing the same crummy Nevada weather that I am today. Warmer weather is coming!
A good friend in Reno said same.
Shout out from south Africa, love your videos
Thanks you.
Fascinating Chris ! Great presentation ⛏👍 So I looked it up on mindat, and there a lot of pictures and stuff regarding the district. Really neat !
Glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to the season here - snow in my yard right now.
Great video. Thanks Ralph. I have your book and it is an excellent resource.
Any tips for prospecting an area that has deep overburden?
That is a tough one. Earth moving equipment?
Unfortunately not. The big mining conglomerates have the mining rites in south africa. Even private property rights do not include mineral wealth that may be on their property. It's listed on the property title deeds.
Good presentation. I gave you a thumbs up!
Much appreciated! Glad you liked it.
Wow! Nicely displayed history of South African gold mining. I did not know any of this.
I'm glad you found it interesting.
It’s like getting a Master class in Gold geological formations! Great work Chris! Dan Brent
Glad you enjoyed it.
Excellent History and discussion with no script - I'm not so into prospecting but it looks exciting and a lot of physical work - hiking and digging and processing tons of material
Give it a try, you might like it.
@@ChrisRalph I have much respect for all the hard work - real work digging in the ground - how to identify good prospective areas with quite a bit of geological science - but no - I grew up in a yard in Northern Ohio where a foot below the surface is hard rock - it amazes me the efforts of humanity to dig into it and all the pry out vital elements we need a national thankyou day and it should not be taken for granted prospectors remind me of those soldierly ants out far away checking this and moving that - looking and thinking and again moving and digging non stop
@@ChrisRalph Thank you for putting up with the off topic cultural / political issues I know this channel is targeted towards more practical level aspects of actually how to find and process Gold and Minerals
Thank you for another great video. I enjoyed the history lesson, interesting about the political turmoil involved.
I'm glad it was helpful.
@@ChrisRalph
i
Awsome content and in perfect timing. Iv stumble apon a similar deposit of gold in a alluvial fan here in the basin and range of north eastern nevada. I would guess it would be similar to the rypatch deposit. With Google earth and feet on the ground, I found an Awsome prospect. Now just waiting for the snow to Melt to make it up there. Im going be able to quit my day job with this discovery
P.S i love your book so far. Just got it recently
Sounds like a very cool discovery.
Don't quit your day job.
@ThadiousThorthane-mx3kn lol luckily my lifes passion is my day job. Gold i just a fun adrenaline rush 👊
Great video! One of the theories of formation involves the huge meteorite impact near Vredefort. The Witwatersrand is basically the outer ripples around the impact site, and some would say that the gold deposits were forced from the greater depths of the earth's crust to shallower depths by the huge force of the impact. It is worth noting that most of the area was swampland at the time, with only protozoic life forms. I guess many more books will be written by geologists studying the Witwatersrand complex.
Not many geologists think this because the Witwatersrand gold deposits and Vredefort impact have both been dated, and it turns out the Witwatersrand gold deposits are a couple hundred million years older than the Vredefort impact.
You and Jeff Williams are my two favourite geologists
Thanks!
I enjoy your videos😊
Glad you like them!
Awesome. Thank you! From Traer, Iowa
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for the info I love videos that have history in them it was a great video..
🎋😬👌🎋
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks Chris, I did not know this. Very helpful.
Glad it was helpful.
Great video as always chris. I'm live in the pyrite belt in Virginia. I have found beautiful specimens over the last 3 years. Back from like 1890 to i wanna say 1942 Virginia produced the third most gold in the United States. Mining stopped in the 1940'S due to the war starting and the gold rush of the west coast was beginning and it was the beginning of the mass gold rush to the west coast. It was way easier to mine the gold on the west coast than in Virginia where it was hard rock mining. It was way more work in Virginia to get the gold out of the rock. Back then in the early days You needed stamp mills to crush the rock or horses pulling concrete balls to crush ore. Essentially it was 100 times harder to get the gold in Va so that was the last of the big time mining in Virginia. Now the laws in Virginia are tough to get permits to mine due to the run off pollution of the harsh minerals that are broken down from mining. The land here is very expensive as well so there are still mines around and let me tell you i have some amazing specimens. I would love to post them to show what we are pulling out over here on northern va. It would be awesome if you did a video on mining in Virginia. The history that ties into John Smith exploration in gold mining and trade with the Indians. It's an amazing history tying into the colonial times. If anyone was interested in reading about it, the geologist department of Virginia had an amazing history on its site. It would be awesome if Chris could do one of his very detailed videos on it. I have been here watching and learning for years to his videos but not many know about the Virginia gold mining history. No one in Virginia that I know knew the history of gold mining including myself until about 12 years ago and i have lived right in the mining hot spot my whole entire life and many fire assayers I've used have told me I'm the only Virginia samples they have ever done. They originally said there is no gold in Virginia, gold mining is out on the west coast, Alaska Arizona Colorado
There certainly is gold mining in the Eastern US, including Virginia. It is an amazing history - perhaps I will do a video, I just don't know when.
Thanks... as a South African, I have enjoyed this episode just a tad more!!
Glad you enjoyed it.
Awesome presentation Chris! I live near Lake Superior in Michigans “Copper Country” and am interested in prospecting in this area.
There is some gold in your area. Also, metal detecting for natural copper is popular.
Good Vid MrRalph! .,🦌.,.⛏
Glad you enjoyed it
Been down the gold mine in South Africa nuts how much gold is down there. Good pronounciation by the way!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video.
Thank you again Chris for a great video. Do you think that both of the theory’s could both be correct? A combination of placer and replacement?
My personal opinion is that the replacement hyrothermal is not an important contributor.
Thank you so much Chris for everything you do! Your a great man & I thank you for all your help over the years! One day I hope im blessed enough to shake your hand sir!
God Bless you & Thank you for helping us all!🙏🏆🙏
Thanks for the kind words.
I would really like to know how much time or effort you’ve spent prospecting in Canada 🇨🇦 and most particular British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. Thank you and I look forward to your reply and I will be watching your videos.
@@rexheath Unfortunately I had not had the pleasure of Prospecting British Columbia or Canada. I would love to because the geology suggests big Placer gold deposits along with load gold.. They are are easy to find if you know what current gold models are. Gold can form in so many different ways in the earths crust due to its Electron structure.. There are gold deposits that's modern day science hasn't found yet.. This is due to the gold being stuck in nano particals.. There could be 2 oz per ton ore but because the gold is so microscopic a metal detector won't pick it up. For example, I was in a know gold zone here in New England when I see this black/brown looking stuff in the host rock. At first at figured is was just manganese or Magnetite.. But I got to thinking 🤔 I remember doing a gold recovery on some electronics and the particals looked very similar..
So I brought it home and panned it out.. It didn't work so I tossed in in my furnace and melted it down. I got 1/2 gram out of one 5 gallon bucket! I was all in rock form.. I panned out as much of the light stuff as possible before tossing it in the furnace..
This was my friends property..
Unfortunately my buddy sold the property & now I have no access..
Also, keep a eye out for contact zones.. This is where 2 different bed rocks come together. These areas have a higher potential for gold deposition!
Hi, I did a PhD on hydrothermal gold deposits in Western Australia 30 years ago. I also worked on placer deposits in Ecuador. I liked your video and your knowledge of it is appreciated. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing! Glad you are enjoyed the video.
Very good video! I worked for many years for some of the companies you mentioned, mining the reef. Deepest I mined was only 8000 feet, and I have big respect for the miners working past 10000 feet.
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
My ex-wife when we used to go out to places in the desert. I would give her a bucket and a shovel. And she would walk off and come back and pan out the dirt in a tub, and she would find gold all the time. I had never seen anything like. It was so funny. She was Asian, a magnet to gold.
She had the gold finding skills!
Is she still single😂
Are you saying that she was a gold-digger?
great comments patman and chris 😂😂😂
Racist and reported
Hello there. Mate you are a wealth of knowledge and thanks for passing it on.
I’m moving to a small place in New Zealand next year and hope to do some professional fishing and part time gold panning. Could you give me any advice on finding gold on the west coast on the South Island? Thanks for your time
I've not been to NZ myself. However, I am sure you can find old books on the internet - there are old government publications which tell where the gold was mined in the past.
@@ChrisRalph could you give me Geological indicators as I’ve never tried to pan for gold in rivers to try and find a reef and have no idea what to look for in that type of environment. But thanks for your reply
Yeah@@basiclifeskillsasaman1291check the regions hold history on the government geo websites,they use facemasks from scuba diving and look on the rivers bedrock for gold in Australia,even air compressor s too, a detector is best but you must invest at least 1300$ for a gold monster detector
There is no one set of geologic indicators good for all sites. Different locations have different indicators.
@@ChrisRalph thanks mate will keep you posted if I hit a vain of gold
Wow sir! Very informative.I have a couple of questions for you if you will,and I know you will because you said you would and I thank you for that.In 84 I was rebellious and living in the Ozarks of Missouri.Actually Ozark Mo.Well after myself and my mom had had enough of the overbearing discipline of the Bible belt in regards to my basic rebellions,we decided it would probably be a good idea to get the hell out of Dodge.Or Ozark if you will.So she sends me to my Father's in Placerville Calif.But that's where I went to school,I actually lived in Coloma where old man Sutter discovered gold in 1849 and as you well know now the 49ers have their mascot for their team.That being said,my pa and i lived right on the american river and would pan and dredge for a pretty cool way of bonding as i had never even met this man until this time and i was 14.We would watch and wave at the kayakers almost killing themselves floating down this raging American river and it's freezing giant rapids due to the 30 ft of snowpack the Sierra Nevada mnts.would get every year.My dad always said that one day we would figure out a way to get to the downstream side of these boulders in the river that these guys were floating,that there had to be handfuls of nuggets just sitting there because over the millenniums there's been no way to get to them without diverting the whole river.Do you know of a way short of a scuba and a teacher that this coild be done? Is there any tools that have been invented or any other reasonable way to get to these treasures?They say if those mountains were an apple,that we've only taken equal to a bite out of that apple of gold out of those mountains.Question #2, my cousin Paul William back before I made my way out to northern Calif.was on the cover of Fortune magazine for finding the biggest gold nugget ever found with a metal detector.He has long been deceased,but I was wondering where the best place may be for this kind of treasure hunting for gold nuggets,and what detector would be your go to for that kind of prospecting? Sorry so long and thank you for your videos I really learn a lot from you.
Because I can't read your mind, I have no idea what the water depth is at the spot you are considering. The water level goes down a lot in early fall before the rains start. There are lots of places to look for gold. Check out my video on where to find gold in Northern California.
Wow, I should get your book! Oh wait, I already have it - let me know when you revise it!
I'll do one early in 2025, but it will be minor, just about the newer metal detectors that have come out since the last revision. I'd say not worth buying a new copy.
Very educational and fascinating story. You hinted on robotics and underground mining. I think that is going to play a central role in future of industrial scale mining operations, armies of Ai machines, or VR controlled androids mining deep underground and under sea or on the Moon, Antarctica, or Alaska where it's too cold, anywhere it's too dangerous for people to go.
Robotics will be mining in the future. Robots 🤖 will take over fast food in California this year.
This was a great video 💪🏻🫡
Glad you liked it!!
Thank you!!
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Your formation of Gold example has the Hills and Mountains looking like veritable sluice boxes which effectively they were right ?- the gold finally settling in the streams tumbled over rocks - it is interesting stuff - lots of big boy science to know where it is and how to get it out
They were effectively sluice boxes
Thank you Chris for being a proud American and not afraid to let people know this is America we donit American over here .
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Thanks for the video. As more has been learned about the Vredevoort impact, I have been interested that the arc of gold mines radiates in a rough arc with Vredvoort in the center. What may lie on the opposite (southern) side of the impact site on the same arc? I have been over Vredevoort in a microlight low and slow and present day it looks as if the impact may have been at at an angle as the north side has markedly more rocky outcrops than the south.
Interesting! I guess it cold have hit at an angle, but lots of erosion and movement have occurred in the 2 billion years since it hit.
I flew routinely from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg right over the Bredefort dome and agree with observation on the angle of impact.
A great program I was born in the heart of it all. Had a wonderful childhood in Springs surrounded by about 7 mines with multiple shafts. We even had a Uranium plant at Daggafontein. Every mine a Recreational center pool courts etc.. Kids could commute by push bike and only stipulation be home before dark it was so safe.
Sounds like a great time.
Mr Chris. I have a question. First and foremost I went out and found some flour and flake gold today. Not much but I was happy to get it. I'm curious about that I know you had said in the past, miners Moss is miner's moss. I am a little curious though. I'm curious about the dream matt. Have you ever tried this Matt? And if you have can you give me your opinion of it. I have a vevor sluice. It looks like yours. It came up white miners moss and a blue mat. Could you give me your opinion on the mat and the Moss. Before I spend money on the dream Matt I'm trying to get as many opinions as I can. Both from people I know, and the very few prospectors I have met. Unfortunately it seems that other prospectors are not willing to talk pretty much about anything. So those are my questions. Have a great day love the video.
Maybe join a gold prospecting club that has gold claims that you can work on them like the GPAA gold prospecting association of America and LDMA lost Dutchman mining association.
~Look at: Geo Sluice Mining for high quality plastic sluices and highbankers that catch fine gold. I own the Le Trap and a couple of California sluices.
Maybe join a gold prospecting club that has gold claims that you can work on them like the GPAA gold prospecting association of America and LDMA lost Dutchman mining association.
~Look at Geo Sluice Mining for high quality plastic sluices and highbankers that catch fine gold. I own the Le Trap and a couple of California sluices.
THe dream mat is not much better than miners moss. I would just stick with the miners moss.
Most of Alaska has not been checked very well for gold .
Well, I think its been explored better than you think. The last big, brand new discovery was more than 100 years ago.
One thing that keeps America behind on production is environmental regulation and permitting
in many cases, yes.
Watching this from a town on the Witwatersrand district....I can see some of the mine dumps from my office widow.
I hope the video was interesting to you.
I used to work in the Western Basin of the Witwatersrand Goldfields, not far from the Vredefort Dome which is the epicenter of the meteor strike that created the tectonics exposing the reef to the surface.
I had an offer to go work at a mine on the Witwatersrand in the early 1980s, but they required you to surrender your passport for 5 years - and that was just too much.
I'm with you, placer.
Yep. Glad you enjoyed the video.
My great grandfather discovered the gold, George Robert Walker. His statue is outside Anglo Vaal building, Gauteng. Check your history, George Harrison was his Australian prospecting partner.
Checked a bunch of references - and they agree with me.
Interesting, never knew the how's and why's of the Boer war. Usual greed behind the violence.
Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it.
South african here.
100% correct,
The worlds 2nd Largest mass oxide deposit was also discovered in 2015 btw.
Saldanha Bay.
I stay 1400km downstream from the main gold region in an ancient riverbed, and I find so much super fine gold in the sand, sadly our laws are not in favor of mining gold, and I just dump the gold dust with my trash.
South africa can easily be the world's biggest producer, if the government wakes up.
No pun on the pronunciations, we enjoy it😂
Glad you enjoyed the video and yes the SA government makes small scale mining difficult but they have for many decades.
Where’s the best place to sluice in Souther California? I usually go up to East Fork, San Gabriel River but I’d like to try someplace new. Any information or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Generally, so cal is a dry place, with not loads of flowing streams. I usually did the East Fork, but also had some success on Piru creek.
Placerita cyn was the first gold strike in cal.
The Gold Reef City, Johannesburg is my home town, I grew up in the lowveld near Barberton and Pilgrimsrest where the first gold rush started, I've always had an interest in the history and the geography around! Another interesting subject is the Bushveld complex where a lot of the worlds platinum comes from, it lies just north of the Witswatersrand.
Is not the Bushveld complex to the south west of Johannesburg?
@@ChrisRalph The Bushveld Igneous Complex is the worlds largest source of Platinum Group Metals, the main platinum mines are around Rustenburg in the North West Province and the chrome mines are near Burgersfort in the Limpopo Province!
@@ChrisRalph
Bushveld complex lies mostly north of the Wwrand gold deposit
Good presentation…I’ve kicked off a couple of land rushes myself. I do porphyry coppers now. You never mentioned the vredeford dome at the center of the Witwatersrand. Connection? Those quartz clasts look suspicious. Diamicton? The Matrix looks like chlorite. What depositional system produces an argyllaceous matrix supported conglomerate like that? Glacial outwash? The “mud” matrix suggests very poor sorting. So few gold reefs. High gradient…little channeling?
The Vredefort meteor impact took place millions of years after the witwatersrand gravels were laid down and buried. So it did not create the gravels.
I see…indeed the gold bearing system seems to be 2.9 by and the vredefort is only 2.0. You are right. So…what’s with the sedimentology…proximal scree from interfering first order drainages associated with inter bedded fines. I see the relatively high energy cross-cutting relationships. I put to you the rich gold vapors emanating from Mt. Erebus (among others). So we are looking at the ancient supercontinent of Vaalbara incorporating the Kaapvaal craton and the Pilbara Craton. We are pre plate tectonics! Hmm. In porphyry systematics gold means thin crust
George Harrison? That guy was talented, later became lead guitar of the Beetles! 😂
Interesting formation.
That's right. And Harrison lived to be 140 years old. He looked really good for his age when he was with the Beatles. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Funny
He struck Gold twice, something unheard of in this day and age.
Beatles
@@ThadiousThorthane-mx3kn And here I thought Lennon just loved root vegetables 😆
I've learned that all the gold and jade found near Monterey, CA was deposited by alluvial float (from lava pushing jade and gold to the surface). People still recover ocean polish jade there from the beach and shallows. Are there other places where alluvial float jade and gold can be found? Maybe this could be a future video topic? Thanks
Well, I'm not sure about the person you heard that from. I can't say I agree. Yes, people still find good jade in the area, and there are some hard rock gold deposits that give rise to beach sands that have some gold in them.
I would start at Jade Cove. A lot of jade still in there….off Rt1
Add to that in Kimberly, just next to the Witwatersrand is where the largest diamond (3100ct) ever was found. Also that almost all the world’s platinum still comes from this area and that it is the largest producer of uranium.
Now they’ve struck oil and gas off the coast too… huge oil and gas. The coast being about 1500km away but still part of South Africa - that is until independence which is being sought.
Ok.
Largest diamond was found in Culinan mine to the north east of Pretoria, hence the name the Culinan diamond
Beautiful ❤❤❤❤ video
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you Sir 😊
Good Morning !!!!!!!
Gooooooooood morninnnnnnggggg
Good morning. Hope you are staying dry in all the weather. We got snow at the house from this storm.
@@ChrisRalph 4 inches at my house and my friend calls asking if I wanna go to the river😂😂😂
500 saloons sounds like a party !!!!!
@@Smithsgold you drink water!!! 😂😂😂
I know some Terrace deposits that were about $6 per ton in the early 80’s. They were uplifted rather than buried. Pity they are all under major highways and in their cuts….. local but interesting deposits.
That is interesting.
There is gold everywhere! Grand Canyon, Chocolate mountain, Alaska... Thats why I invest in Silver!
I'll be doing a whole video on the question of if gold really is everywhere soon.
Yes you are correct,
Ok. I'm not sure exactly what you are saying that I am correct about.
Hi sir, peace be upon you. You are a prospector who has a lot of knowledge. for me you are a professor in this matter. .
Sir, I want to ask you the honest answer you know... What do you think about LRL? Is the way it works real or fake? Maybe my question represents subscriber friends here.
Please really hope to make a video about this problem.
thank you. 🙏🏼
LRL is fake and junk. Do not waste your money.
@@ChrisRalph Thank you sir, your answer is very useful for everyone.🙂🙏🏼
@@ChrisRalph ~Thank you very much for the heads up. What do you think of OKM underground scanners and also Accurate Locators stuff?? And by the way I loved your presentation of your video, very educational, well researched, and well spoken.
We have to realise that the geological history of earth is billions of years in the making and what the gold areas look like now was nothing like what they looked like when the gold was formed in them. The gold being conglomerate was probably deposited by glacial action or extreme water flows when that layer was basically flat and later movement of the crust pushed the layer up and turned it on its side. The deposits in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia were washed off of tall mountains that no longer exist and deposited as fine alluvial deposits in a shallow sea that was later pushed up and erosion and weathering brought it to the surface. Many of the continents we know now were once joined and in some cases the gold areas that exist in each of them would have been close to each other. One thing is common though, the gold came up in the same process. Where I am from the quartz was pushed up into soft sedimentary sandstone and was not a volcanic situation but only twenty kilometers away the quartz is in hard granite that was likely part of vulcanism. Another 40 or so kilometers away the quartz is in a very hard sedimentary rock that was under very high pressure and pushed up into fold mountains. All interesting stuff.
Things change a lot over time. The Kalgoorlie hard rock - like the super pit - are the roots of those mountains.
billions of yrs.........think critically....if you believe that you will be thinkin for a very,very,very,very,very,very,very......................................................................................................................................................................................................long time....duh..........
There are some end-of-glaciation linked gravel and sand-deposits in the valley where I live in the Alps. Obviously during full scale glaciation the glaciers would push out all the debris from the central Alps, but by the time the glaciers receded, they left a lot of debris behind.
Where would you look in a gravel or sand-pit? Would you the favour the coarser gravel over the finer sand? And how would you go about it? Dry-sieve it, then pan the finest material that falls through the mesh? Do ou know of any placer deposits formed by ice, not by streaming water? Thank you!
Lots of placers formed of glacial deposits in Alaska, USA. Look where streams cut through the moraines and wash the lighter stuff away.
I worked in some of those deep level gold mines - hellish hot down there!
There is still plenty of gold down there but it is at ultra deep levels.
Gold mining was killed by an investment unfriendly government and it is just too deep to start afresh.
Many governments kill mining for political reasons and cant understand why they lose the tax income.
SOUTH AFRICA. THX
Glad you enjoyed it.
Yeah i worked on a mine on toro Lhds , we used to load a 120000 tons a month . We call that conglomerate the basil reef. Its so rich , we blasted one day and we found gold(not pyrite)everywhere. Security came down and that section of the mine was sealed off. We literally got double wages that month. Since i left i heard they found a new richer reef 2/3 kms from the shaft we worked.This was 150km South from Johannesburg. This reef is much bigger than what they know. I can say if i had the capital i know where to find the same basil reef not near Jhb. I need to go and do some sampling ! Problem for small fry like me ...its deeep !
True. The deep mines are very expensive to operate.
This story sounds eerily familiar to all other finds around the world.
certain elements are almost the same.
We also have lot's of gold here in Florida ! But you need scuba tanks and flippers to go find it ! And a lot of luck ! Happy hunting !
And its stuff left behind by others, not gold put there only by mother nature.
Very informative. But, is anything known about the origin of the gold in the hills north of the Witwatersrand that washed down to form the conglomerate that is mined today?
The hills north of the basin have gold in them even today. There are greenstone belt gold deposits in those hills.
@@ChrisRalph Thanks, but that doesn't answer my question. Where did the gold in the northern hills come from?
The gold comes from the surrounding rocks. See this video on how green belt gold deposits form: ua-cam.com/video/t99xvBShyD0/v-deo.html
My prospecting dream is to find this type of deposit - an old riverbed which has since been buried and is no longer a river. A lot of the biggest not-yer discovered deposits are probably of that type - because if an area isn't known for gold and nobody knows about an old buried streambed, then there wouldn't have been a reason to sample it.
All the deposits like that which I have ever heard of are in areas already known to have gold.......
What about the solid walls of gold in Timmins, ON, Canada? $4 billion annually and literally built the TSX.
Sorry. All of the gold of Canada, bothers and west are a drop on the bucket by comparison.
You have probably considered this but i wonder if the deposit confuses geologist is because the material was layed down at a high rate of speed. Maybe a short time of glacial activity laying very course chunks of the gold bearing material as if partially eroded. This may cause placer and vein gold to be present in the conglomerate. Obviously later geological formations came depositing layers on top and even later forcing it back to the serface again. Sorry for the confusion, I tried to sum it up without typing a novel.
The origins of the surrounding sediments both above and below is well accepted. These form time boundaries for the period which the gravels were laid down.
The Grand canyon it was in the New York times in 1912 they even brought out a steamship ferry to put in the Colorado River and then shut it down and never mentioned again
The grand canyon is earth's largest gold discovery???????
I had a drilling contract in Savuka mine drilling out the pillar between level. From 5ton of ore we recovered over 1.1kg of gold.
That is pretty rich ore.
Miner and shift boss since 1985 started at the original HARMONY gold mine in the orange free state in the gold mining town of VIRGINIA I mined the LEADER REEF at VIRGINIA NO1AND 2 SHAFTS.
MY SON WAS BORN IN VIRGINIA I'M FROM JOBURG .
CURRENTLY WORKING IN RUSTENBURG MINING PLATINUM ON THE WESTERN LIMB OF THE BUSHVELD IGNEOUS COMPLEX ALSO MINED ON THE EASTERN LIMB IN THE TOWN OF BURGERSFORT.
Did the ruling ANC mess this headstart up too?
Yup. They took over the big mines using diversity laws and sold the machinery etc. Then allowed zama zama gangs to control the mines. Illegal non documented gold is coming out, perfect for the politicians to wash all their stolen cash.
Everyone has their different views on the politics and history of South Africa. However, this is a video about a gold deposits and the geology of the deposit, not the politics and history.
I worked on the deepest mine at about 3000m below surface back in the day.
That must have been quite the experience.
@@ChrisRalph The most impressive part for me was the ventilation. So vital at these depths, there were cooling systems established underground too because the heat was 'infernal'. I remember there were also diesel engine trucks and locomotives. Ventilation was paramount. As a geologist some times we had to wear an ice jacket in badly ventilated areas. The miners normally worked in stable cool environments, not us! The worst thing? The cage or lift system. Sometimes the operators (on surface) would drop us so we were almost weightless, down the shaft. Lots of people freaked out when that occurred. I seem to remember there were three different multi level cage systems. But maybe only two on Saaiplaas/Erfdeel ran by Anglo. This was in the extension of the Witwatersrand in and around Welkom. I could only take it for a couple of years and moved on.
Because of the past plate tectonics and continent drift( Gondwana), do you think the South Africa area was ever connected to Australia as has been postulated? The gold reefs are sort of similar...
They were not connected. India sat between them. The green belt type of gold deposit is not that rare and similar belts are found in Canada, the US, west Africa and elsewhere across the globe.
What caused it to be there? I'm no expert, but the Vredefort Dome astrobleme may have something to do with it. The reef appears to conform to a ring around the impact epicenter, with more density in the north western parts. Also, there's a similar ring of platinum deposit, also inexplicably vast, that appears to form a ring much further out around the same epicenter, also dense north west. (From Rustenburg through Mokopane to Burgersfort) View it on a topographical map - it is very obvious and extends beyond the Gauteng province. The impact occurred over 2 billion years ago and I'm suggesting it is responsible for more than just creating the basin - the very same asteroid/comet may have contained these precious metals. In this very video, without any mention, the center of some of the diagram maps are Vredefort. I find myself at the peak of a Dunning Kruger curve here - can someone with real expertise please comment on 'my' astrobleme 'hypothesis'?
Its known that the gold deposits are older than the Vredefort impact and the resulting Dome. Therefore the Vredefort impact cannot have caused the gold deposits.
The South African mining industry is a drop in the bucket of what it was.
Yes, it is a shadow of its former self.
I think the placer deposit theory is more reasonable.
That is my opinion too.
South Africa also have the worlds deepest mines due to all the digging for all types of minerals, not only gold.
Some of the mines of the Witwatersrand are extremely deep.
Watching this reminds me of the book "When the lion feeds" by Wilbur Smith.
Interesting - I'd not heard of that book before you mentioned it.
Vit-vaters-rond :) - also this explains how South Africa has $3 Trillion worth of gold just before the ANC took over in 1994... which mysteriously vanished.
There is plenty of corruption in governments both white and black.
In primordial earth, a metallic planetoid joined young earth, imbedding deep in the forming crust.
Is there any scientific evidence for that?
Its hard to believe its from a placer deposit because you think you would see bigger pieces of gold in placer form small and larger gold not the uniform small hard to see gold in the ore but could be several depositation formed the load also not just one event. But the quartz is rounded
Not all placers have coarse gold. There are plenty of known placer deposits with only very fine sized gold.
Chris as an aside do you know if there is a non linear or linear gradient to the change in heat per unit of depth into the earth ? that is let's say 40 degrees at surface and at 12,000 feet it is 120 degree F so I'm curious if then at 6000 feet it would be 40 + 120 = 160 / 2 = 80 degrees ? that would be linear - and my question relates to where is it at 72 degrees just fascinates me that at some depth below no gas costs to stay warm I guess I have to dig down roughly 5000 feet that might be more expensive that my natural gas I guess too bad nature didn't just give us 30 degrees more although 40 isn't bad when it's zero F out
The change is fairly linear but the rate varies from place to place. If volcanic rocks are nearby, it can get hotter much faster. They reached 120 degrees F at 4000 foot depth at Virginia City, Nevada - volcanic rocks are nearby. They reached 120 degrees at 10,000 ft depth at the Witwatersrand - no hot volcanic rocks below the mines.
@@ChrisRalph First person to answer this question for me and that's because prospector's are a practical lot - Ive listened to another of your video's and you are really smart - you've lived it you can tell
I have to say it. You look like Commander Data's brother.
You need to get glasses. If you have them already, you need a new prescription.
Why not both theories, a placer deposit that was burried, dipped and became epithermal as it was a easier path for fluids?
Perhaps - no one has proved it 100 percent
Now everyone in the world will die because of high gold price. When Corona virus comes gold price will rise all time high....
Gold, silver, ect,were formed in stars billions of years ago. During the heavy bombardment period.
And how did it get from stars to the earth and from wherever it was on earth into deposits that are economic to mine???
I knew it had to be from South African 🇿🇦
Yes, very true.
Geologist here . May I inquire as to why you have two first names (ie a first name for a surname )? I’m envious . The only thing I could do to top this is to change my surname (Santos) to Jay.
What? My family name is the one of the family I was born into. There are not many folks with a last name of Ralph, but there are some. Should my parents have given me a typical last name as a first name?
I would love to discover gold
You live in the right country for finding gold. There are lots more gold deposits than just the Witwatersrand.
In the USA( lower 48) would you choose for large nuggets?
California produced the most large nuggets.
Not much gold in North Island, New Zealand,
Not true. There are a series of gold mines on the North Island - one still actively mining gold - in the Waihi area. Martha Hill in that area has produced millions of ounces of gold. Its true that there are more gold mines on the south Island, but there is good gold on the North Island too. Do some research.