Talk:Carlin–type gold deposit

Misleading photo
I pruned this photo, File:GoldinPyrite.JPG, because it's not a photo of typical Carlin-type mineralization -- it appears to be from a leached qtz-sulfide vein, with visible gold. Editor and photographer Qfl247 reverted, commenting "this is a small-scale example, not a different deposit...can't show Carlin in 1 pic, best subst".

It's a nice photo, but it's really of no help to the article -- typical Carlin-type mineralization looks like nothing in particular -- often, just dirty black or brown rock. Which is one reason why the deposits weren't discovered earlier. I spent about 10 years in Nevada exploring for these things, and visited all the major deposits, so I know what they look like. --Pete Tillman (talk) 02:19, 20 August 2010 (UTC), Consulting Geologist, Arizona and New Mexico (USA)


 * I agree with what you are saying, and perhaps I should have started this thread instead of reverting you. I meant do disrespect.  However, you are kind of making my point.  I would say that because, as you said, "Carlin-type mineralization looks like nothing in particular".  So, because you can not see an example of gold hosted within a microscopic pyrite crystal lattice, this is the next best thing.  Perhaps the caption needs to be clearer--I concede that, but I do not agree that it offers nothing to the article.  I wonder, do you have a good hand sample of Carlin-type mineralized rock?  Even if it "looks like nothing", it might help to add it to the article first, then have this pic as a way for a novice to understand the gold hosting in the less pretty/too-small-to-see rock.  QFL 24-7 bla ¤ cntrb ¤ kids ¤ pics ¤ vids 03:01, 20 August 2010 (UTC) (also a consulting geologist)


 * Well, is the pic from the Carlin area? The image description doesn't say where it is from. Are such leached cap type rocks typical of or even found in the Carlin area? Vsmith (talk) 03:15, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

[edit conflict] I do have several boxes of Carlin-type samples in storage in Arizona, plus some slides. I'm in NM for the summer, but will dig through and try to come up with something in the fall. If nothing else, some more deposit pictures, if I can find someone with a slide digitizer.


 * In the meanwhile, I still don't see what your nice photo adds to the article. But maybe you can redo the caption. Where's it from? Wouldn't hurt to add some more info to the Commons page. And thanks for contributing a bunch of other nice photos!


 * Always good to hear from another field geologist! Although I'm mostly retired, these days... Best, Pete Tillman (talk) 03:24, 20 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Well, honestly, I don't know where it was taken. I took the pic from a rock in the personal collection of a professor, and I don't know more than that.  As far as I know, this kind of leaching is actually not common in the Carlin-type deposit; the pic is just to demonstrate the fact that the gold is in the pyrite, and humans can leach the pyrite to get the gold.  I'm just thinking the fact that the gold is dissolved in the pyrite might be a hard concept to grasp for a laymen, and this pic can help demonstrate this relationship.  If not, the pic is on several other pages, including the gold and pyrite pages themselves, and it being removed from this is not a heartbreaker to me.  QFL 24-7 bla ¤ cntrb ¤ kids ¤ pics ¤ vids 03:31, 20 August 2010 (UTC)


 * It is a great pic and I understand what you were trying to illustrate with it, but if it's not from or typical of the area, then it is misleading. My mental image of the Carlin deposit (never been there) was of "hidden" or submicro gold associated w/ microscopic pyrite grains in shale or dolomitic siltstone ... visually blah stuff and not what the image is showing. So, I'd say remove it. Vsmith (talk) 04:00, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Invisible gold?
This is a little overstated. I recall a conversation with Alan Coope, co-discoverer of Carlin, that there were prospect pits over the Newmont discovery, and it was written up as a minor placer gold occurrence.

That said, it really is invisible, and you only know gold is there (and can only do ore-control once you try to mine one ) by chemical assay -- so we're not seriously misleading our readers. --Pete Tillman (talk) 18:54, 8 September 2016 (UTC), former Nevada gold guy

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