Myths and mines

Prerequisites for a treasure hunt, old style.

Put down the whip and hat. Move over Indiana Jones. Its time for a new style of explorer.  

Gone are the days of dusty maps and mythical golden cities, these days the chances of finding gold, and other resources, requires a more scientific approach.

Geologists around the world are using microscopes and heating stages to explore the subterranean world of our planet and find its buried riches.

Using a THMSG600 Linkam stage, scientists at the Department of Physics and Earth Science from the University of Parma are investigating gold deposits from the Lepaguare valley mining district in Honduras. 

The Lepaguare is a mining district that hosts several precious metal vein deposits. These deposits mainly consist of gold and sulphide and are found alongside thick quartz veins within pre-Mesozoic metamorphic rocks. Inside the veins, the quartz crystals are rich in fluid inclusions (FI) which can be studied to provide an understanding of the history of the gold deposits.       

We don't expect to see a THMSG600 in the next Indiana Jones movie, but we live in hope.

By Caroline Feltham