How is Reef Gold Mined?

Gold is typically found below the surface in quartz veins, or long vertical deposits of quartz. Mining and extracting gold from quartz veins is also called quartz reef mining, or reef mining.

Prospecting

After all visible quartz veins had been discovered by early prospectors, mining companies had to develop deep shafts connecting to horizontal tunnels to identify potential gold-bearing quartz veins below the surface.

Excavation

When quartz veins are being removed from below the surface, all rock, water and other materials potentially contain gold and must be hoisted to the surface. Poppet heads or pit heads are used at the surface of the mine to power the pulleys.

History

The Prussian engineer Jacob Brache was the first to attempt quartz vein reef mining in the mid 1800s because he suspected it held more gold than surface alluvial fields.

Petrography

Polarized light microscopy, or petrography, is the best way to identify micro-crystalline grains of sulfide minerals, like gold.

Processing

Once a quartz vein is excavated and identified to have gold, it is ground into a fine mixture and separated.

References

• Great Mining.com:Quartz Reef Mining
• Electronic Encyclopedia of Gold in Australia: Quartz Mining
• National Library of Australia: Jacob Brache