Info needed, found Gray Blue cave clay, in Pa.

Hi everyone, We been digging 45 feet back inside a cave tracking down a metal object and the clay inside up until now was brown. Now that we are close to the metal object there is a 2 foot streek of gray clay from the top of cave to the floor. When we dig the gray clay we see greenish blue powder or something inside of it. I sent samples out to a lab and no one knows for sure what turned the clay gray. The greenish blue looks like the same color on old copper. We are tracking down gold so I don't know if we have the right spot. Has anyone came across gray clay with greenish blue inside . I can email you a copy of the lab report. Any info will be help full. Thank You

Well, I don't have any experience hunting for gold in caves, but I would think that the gray clay that you're running into is just high in reduced metals.  In an anaerobic (low oxygen) environment, many metals will be gray or blue.  As they encounter oxygen and react, they oxidize (rust) and become brown or yellow. 

This situation is often encountered in soils.  The soil near the surface is brown in color due to the reaction of metals (most often iron) with oxygen.  As oxygen is mixed into the soil through water infiltration and insect and animal movement, the iron oxidizies or rusts, forming iron oxides, which are brown or red.  As you move down through the soil profile, the deeper soils with higher clay content, higher bulk densities, and greater water-holding capacity are low in oxygen, and the metals are in a reduced form, often gray or blue. 

Dry some of that gray clay out and break it into little pieces.  Expose it to oxygen and water in a warm environment, and see if it changes to brown, red or yellow.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

AS I recall, when the miners where mining gold near Virginia City Nevada, the cussed all the blue clay that made the gold miners absolutely disgusted. They had it piled all over the place to get it out of their way. Turns out it was extremely rich silver ore. Some of the richest ever found. I would suggest an assay.
~Nash~

Copper Pennies Somtimes
Spread a blue/Green Oxidation into the Ground
as they turn blue/green.

Perhaps You are Near a large deposit
Of Natural or Man Made Copper

FINDER KEEPER!!  A WHILE BACK A POSTER FROM AUSTRALIA,, MENTIONED THAT THE SPANISH WHEN BURYING THEIR CACHES,, WOULD FILL THE HOLE WITH DIFFERENT LAYERS OF DIFFERENT COLORED SANDS,, THIS IS JUST A LONG SHOT, BUT KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR SHELLS AND WEIRD SHAPED STONES!!  PEACE BRO!!   td

I find layers of this type of clay in stream beds here on our farm in Puerto Rico,and lots of iron nodules like bog iron.( I at first thought they were meteorites).I also see it in road cuts and there are known deposits of copper near them.I also M.D. on some farm fields in Ct. and find this type of clay in a deep valley also with bog iron around as there are streams and boggy areas around the area.

Hey FinderKeeper 


What is the latest? -- any new pics?


thank you in advance, 

Cachefinder-