Geobotanical Prospecting

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acpeacemaker

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 8, 2011
Messages
901
Location
Colorado
Just curious if anyone had some good books on plants and growth in relation to searching for different ores. I've been going through a lot of old mining journals with some discussions of it. But, wanting something for more of my area.

Take care,
Andrew
 
Horse Tails (Plant) are known to take-up Gold. I know they take up Silica. Peeps used to use them as Pot Scrubbers. They were called. Scouring Rush.

I was reading about a project to clean-up Plutonium contamination at Rocky Flats, using Hemp to take it up.
 
That's really interesting iorns :)
I have come across a few different things about trees that take up values seem to distort the actual growth. It never really said what trees other than it was focused in Asia. But being out in the field i've realized there are weird formed trees where I have found values nearby.
There was a story I came across not to long ago about a pinecone that assayed in $10 in gold, but the ore around it was assaying at about $7 a ton. How does that work? :)
For the medical marijuana question, wouldn't that not really matter with hemp? Because male plants could be used?
 
~Isn't hemp one of tghe most all round useful plants in existence?

I thought some american president once said something on the lines of "everyone should grow it" - - right up until someone pointed out that as well as being useful you could get high smoking it of course.

Still useful though- -canvas was originally from hemp wasn't it?
 
Canvas, rope, clothing, oil, MUCH more paper from an acre of hemp than an acre of pine trees and can be harvested yearly(sometimes twice per year depending on climate) as opposed to waiting years for trees to mature.

Pretty much all America's founding fathers and early presidents grew it. It was a very important resource and probably still should be, but with the misconceptions surrounding hemp and cannabis hemp will likely remain an illegal crop for a long time.I seem to remember reading that colonial landowners were required to grow hemp at one point. To help with the war effort, maybe? Don't quite remember.

But I am sure you would probably get a headache more than anything else if you did smoke it!
 
4metals said:
I was reading about a project to clean-up Plutonium contamination at Rocky Flats, using Hemp to take it up.
Click to expand...

Should we consider this yet another reason for medical marijuana?
Click to expand...

I hope nobody would be foolish enough to let folks get a hold of the contaminated plants. Breathing in Uranium and other Isotopes is bad enough.
 
I hope nobody would be foolish enough to let folks get a hold of the contaminated plants. Breathing in Uranium and other Isotopes is bad enough.
Click to expand...

Some marketing genius may do just that, chemotherapy with a buzz. They just have to figure out how to target the radioactive isotopes to the cancer. Nah, a good marketing guy will sell it like it is! We don't need no clinical testing!!!!
 
spaceships said:
~Isn't hemp one of tghe most all round useful plants in existence?

I thought some american president once said something on the lines of "everyone should grow it" - - right up until someone pointed out that as well as being useful you could get high smoking it of course.

Still useful though- -canvas was originally from hemp wasn't it?
Click to expand...

Probably more than you would ever want to know about Canvas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvas
 
4metals said:
I hope nobody would be foolish enough to let folks get a hold of the contaminated plants. Breathing in Uranium and other Isotopes is bad enough.
Click to expand...

Some marketing genius may do just that, chemotherapy with a buzz. They just have to figure out how to target the radioactive isotopes to the cancer. Nah, a good marketing guy will sell it like it is! We don't need no clinical testing!!!!
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that be kind of like killing two birds with one stone? You kill the cancer with the radioactivity and counter react the sickness with the canibus that you smoke. Definetly wouldn't work that way. Wrong radioactive isatope and the kind of smoke that gives you no high, just a headache. :evil:
 
acpeacemaker said:
Just curious if anyone had some good books on plants and growth in relation to searching for different ores. I've been going through a lot of old mining journals with some discussions of it. But, wanting something for more of my area.

Take care,
Andrew
Click to expand...

Have you tried searching google for Phytomining, or Bioleaching? (Many more just by searching for, gold in plant roots)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131022-gold-eucalyptus-leaves-mining-geology-science/ (eucalyptus)
http://news.stanford.edu/pr/02/alfalfa821.html (alfalfa)


I'll just leave this here.
View attachment Geochemistry_of_gold_in_the_weathering_c.pdf


Edit -
Irons said:
Probably more than you would ever want to know about Canvas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvas
Click to expand...

That was actually quite interesting to read. Especially part about the Renaissance masters, multiple layering and polishing the canvas, which could take months, before they actually painted something on it.
 
I've heard argumentative thoughts with gold in Kansas. But, that was my first thought about alfalfa. Growing on the front range of CO and Kansas. :) Thanks for the links.
Andrew
 
Generally biogeochemistry is the sampling of plants, usually trees, and analyzing (assaying) the material for metal content. Much like geochemistry samples are taken from different locations and the results are plotted to locate anomalous areas. This is effective in areas of deeper overburden as the trees root system draws water from a large surrounding area and usually down closer to bedrock. Samples should been taken from the same part of the tree, eg bark from each tree or leaves from each tree. It works well on water soluble elements but not so well on precious metals. As for actual plant growth indicative of metals present - the only one I know of and have seen is zinc moss which is a moss bright lime green in colour and grows only in areas of high zinc concentrations. As for biogeohemistry I'm attaching an article on the subject covering a joint research project done in Canada and Australia.
 

Attachments

  • BioGeoChem_Hulme_K.pdf
    930.5 KB · Views: 11
UncleBenBen said:
Canvas, rope, clothing, oil, MUCH more paper from an acre of hemp than an acre of pine trees and can be harvested yearly(sometimes twice per year depending on climate) as opposed to waiting years for trees to mature.

Pretty much all America's founding fathers and early presidents grew it. It was a very important resource and probably still should be, but with the misconceptions surrounding hemp and cannabis hemp will likely remain an illegal crop for a long time.I seem to remember reading that colonial landowners were required to grow hemp at one point. To help with the war effort, maybe? Don't quite remember.

But I am sure you would probably get a headache more than anything else if you did smoke it!
Click to expand...

Cannabis is a wonderful plant.

Besides all of the things you have mentioned, it (indirectly) is responsible for beer -hops are a close cousin of cannabis, which of course gives beer its bitterness and its flavor (so long as you dont drink "lite" beer)
And the CBD's are what the medical folk have been trsting and trying to treat those with seizures (successfully, i might add.. A neice of mine in colorado had horrible seizures until being treated -illegally, at the time- by liquid cbd capsules)

But, i had not heard of its ability to take up gold or radioactive isotopes... Yet again, another miracle from the magical plant.

As far as the thread topic goes, horsetails are the only one i had heard about. They grow in and around my neck of the woods... But, I havent heard of anyone striking it rich with a a gold mine in Kansas... But, if they did...i doubt they would share that knowledge with the masses.

-topher
 
Actually hemp is not the same as cannabis. You'd have to smoke a pound of hemp to get the same effect as a single joint of cannabis. (Don't ask how I know this. :oops: )
 
rickbb said:
Actually hemp is not the same as cannabis. You'd have to smoke a pound of hemp to get the same effect as a single joint of cannabis. (Don't ask how I know this. :oops: )
Click to expand...

Cannabis, at one time, was synonymous with marijuana.
Over time, people wanted two different things.
-one group to get high
-the other to use its strength and versatility.

This lead to selectively breeding certain strains with one another to reach the desired effects/end products.

Hemp as we know it, is very low in THC (the psychoactive drug that some know and love) BUT its tensile strength is very high, as well as its CBD content (more on that in a minute)

Cannabis eventually split into two distinct paths, indica, and sativa. Both have their own idiosyncrasies and benefits.
Sativa, is a very tall plant (good for hemp and..) which has a very high cbd/thc ratio. It is good for growing outdoors, where some plants can grow up to 20ft tall.
Indica, is the "short-round" of the two, and has a higher thc/cbd ratio.
The general hemp manufacturing process happens in 40 some odd countries where sativa strains are left out to field where mother nature takes her course, male plants are more desireable for hemp as their thc content is very low. Hippies and the like, go for the female plants as it is their buds (that are resinous flowers-looking to soak up any pollen in their sticky-icky traps) that contain the mass majority of thc and cannabinoids.

Nowadays, the highs and lows of indica vs sativa are mind-numbingly intricate, as over the generations, people have still been selectively breeding to try to get the best high/hemp/medicine/etc..

Where in their family tree the Hops family comes along? I do not know exactly.

But, i do know that hemp is being used for much more nowadays than just its strong fibers.
-one place sites it is being used in making a supercapacitor, to make the idea of fast-charging, cheap batteries a real possibility
-hemp is also being used to make new plastics
-plus a great deal more.

I should probably stop ranting about this plant...otherwise i might be seen as *one of those guys* 8) :mrgreen:

A couple websites for the curious minded-
http://www.leafscience.com/2014/09/16/5-differences-hemp-marijuana/

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/06/19/indica-vs-sativa-understanding-differences/

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/whats-difference-between-hemp-and-marijuana

-topher, the-damn-dirty-hippie-that-wants-to-change-the-world-but-just-smokes-and-smells-like-skunks

Edit to fix continuity of text
 
Topher_osAUrus said:
I should probably stop ranting about this plant...otherwise i might be seen as *one of those guys* 8) :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

I got questioned so many times why I wanted to move to Colorado, even though the mountains is in my blood. I don't smoke but always got the same saying from everyone that asked me about it. Hey, Colorado, they just legalized it right?
 
acpeacemaker said:
Topher_osAUrus said:
I should probably stop ranting about this plant...otherwise i might be seen as *one of those guys* 8) :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

I got questioned so many times why I wanted to move to Colorado, even though the mountains is in my blood. I don't smoke but always got the same saying from everyone that asked me about it. Hey, Colorado, they just legalized it right?
Click to expand...

Soon enough people will wake up and realize that in comparison to alcohol, it is harmless.

Maybe if we tell everyone we know that it can be used in the geobotanical prospecting of gold, it will get legalised *immediately*!
But, then its price will skyrocket like *copperas for gold reduction*... Instead of $9.99 a bag, it would be $999.98
*sigh*
-toph
 

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