GOLD, RUBIES, COPPER, and other TREASURES from the EARTH.

Unrefined native gold found on Rock Creek, 
South Pass, Wyoming (photo by W.D. Hausel)

The photos are mine: collected by earthly wisdom and given to me as a gift from God. 

But the words are not mine - they are 2,700 years old, and provide heavenly wisdom. Earthly wisdom may be good for some, but I would trade all for a little heavenly wisdom.

“Surely there is a mine for silver,

A mine for silver - ruby silver (reddish) in chlorite schist with
some sphalerite (zinc ore), and galena (lead ore) from the 
Mayflower mine, Park City Utah.

And a place where gold is refined.
Iron is taken from the earth,
And copper is smelted from ore.
Man puts an end to darkness,

Putting an end to darkness - Thomas prepares to take
ore from the darkness at Arizona's Resolution mine

And searches every recess
For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.
He breaks open a shaft away from people;

Breaking opening a shaft - geologist stands
under square set on the 350-foot deep 
Carissa gold mine shaft, South Pass, Wyoming.

In places forgotten by feet
They hang far away from men;

Copper ore consisting of blue azurite, green malachite, and black
tenorite, Kirwin district, Wyoming (W.D. Hausel photo)

They swing to and fro.

As for the earth, from it comes bread,
But underneath it is turned up as by fire;

The earth is turned up as by fire - folded
banded iron formation in the Seminoe
Mountains greenstone belt, Wyoming, has
been squeezed, torn, and turned up.

Its stones are the source of sapphires,
And it contains gold dust.
That path no bird knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
The proud lions have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the roots.

Overturning mountains at the root - the Bingham open pit
mine in the Oquirrah Mountains of Utah - a source for gold,
silver, copper, lead, zinc and many other metals has provided
for the miners of many generations.

He cuts out channels in the rocks,

He cuts channels in the rocks - exposing 'blue ground'
(weathered kimberlite) to find diamonds at the 
Aultman 1 kimberlite pipe in Wyoming.

And his eye sees every precious thing.

Iolite (gem-quality cordierite), a beautiful blue, sometimes 
purple, sometimes lavender gemstone - a precious thing
found in the central Laramie Mountains of Wyoming.

He dams up the streams from trickling;
What is hidden he brings forth to light.”
“But where can wisdom be found?

Iron from the earth - specular hematite (botryoidal with 
limonite (yellow) and earthy hematite (red) from the
Hartville uplift, Wyoming.

And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
It cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
Neither gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.
No mention shall be made of coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above rubies.
The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.”

Searching for rubies, I found them - right where they were 
suppose to be. Ah, to be endowed in earthly wisdom - but I
would trade it all for a little Heavenly wisdom (photo by Hausel).

“From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the air.
Destruction and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And sees under the whole heavens,
To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
When He made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
Then He saw wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed,
He searched it out.
And to man He said,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

A crystal from the Sierra Madre, Wyoming - a chlorite 
pseudomorph after almandine garnet.

Ore Shoots

What is an Ore Shoot? Some may think that ore shoots have something to do with guns. Not really. But it may be good thing to carry a gun in bear or mountain lion country when searching for ore shoots. Those bear can move almost as fast as my Honda Fit! An ore shoot is considered a minable part of a vein that has been enriched by one or more structural or chemical processes along a vein or lode - it is essentially the equivalent of a pay streak in a gold placer. After examining the definition reported by Wikipedia, Merriam-Webster, and Lexico, I can see why people get confused over this term, as it is apparent that these three sources on the internet have little understanding of ore shoots. Is it just me, or has the internet made a major dumb-down in the past few years. Seems like the internet is starting to Woke and get stupid, just like some of its human counterparts. Mindat is the closest to a good definition of ore shoot, but it needs a little help, and the Free dictionary is the best of these.

Ore shoots are those parts of veins, ore bodies, or mineralized faults that are enriched in mineral values such that it may be minable under favorable circumstances. Ore shoots are surrounded by vein or mineralized rock material of lower value, and can be structurally or chemically enriched, and can be formed of primary or secondary ore, or both. A similar term to 'ore shoot' is ore chute.

Many chemically formed ore shoots yield good ore deposits. During vein formation, hot silica (quartz-rich), hydrothermal acidic fluids react with rocks of favorable chemistry; particularly rocks with calcium carbonate (limestone, dolomite). Thus, while prospecting a vein along trend where it cuts through limestone, could lead the prospector to skarns, replacement deposits, etc in a search for gold, silver, copper and other valuable minerals. Replacement deposits and skarns are often formed when such mineralizing fluids come in contact with limestone or even rocks such as limy shales, or limy sandstones. Replacement deposits can be very rich.

Cupriferous gossan - note the tawny limonite (hydrated iron oxide) with fissures filled with azurite (copper carbonate) typically found in many mining districts in Arizona and Utah, particularly in
leached zones and also in supergene enriched zones. Such zones are commonly found associated
with copper ore in Arizona.

The tan matrix in this specimen invaded fractures in a quartz vein and partially replaced
the quartz.

Imagine you are mining along a mineralized vein for
galena (lead-sulfide), and the material is very low
grade, such as that at Black Buttes, WY (top photo).

Then, over a short distance, the vein is enriched yielding 

a massive galena ore shoot, such as that at the Emma mine, 

Utah (bottom photo).

 

A sample of massive galena from the Lark Mine, Utah. While 
searching for galena, a miner might discover that the
lead-sulfide contains silver within the crystal structure. This
would also improve the value of the ore (or ore shoot), but
the silver would have to be metallurgically extracted from
the crystal structure of the galena. Much galena is used to
manufacture bullets! So, how does one separate lead from 
sulfur, and how does one extract silver from lead-sulfide?