GREAT 'LOOKING' GOLD QUARTZ-VEINING!!!!
SMASHED up quartz Veining is called "BRECCIATED" (brett-chi-ate-ed).
Basically means this quartz vein was ORIGINALLY a normal looking, white, boring, quartz vein, then it was RE-WORKED !!!,..... SMASHED UP & RE-CEMENTED with new fluids that were Iron-RICH. These 2nd generation of fluids usually bring the GOLD into the quartz vein, transforming it into a Brecciated-Gold-Bearing-Quartz-Vein
Can you see the area i have highlighted with yellow lines showing a small 'sheared' zone within the Brecciated vein ??
This is a good example of how the original quartz Vein has been faulted a 2nd time, creating these new areas of brecciated quartz.... with GOLD
As you may realise, sometimes when a quartz vein is brecciated (+ re-cemented), it doesn't always become harder, it actually weakens the portions of vein that is now brecciated, and makes it more 'crumbly'.
Why is this important????,.... because it is VERY common for these veins to be much more brittle and hence they will weather (decompose) much faster than all the surrounding rocks and other Quartz-Veining.
So there will often be nothing left to see of the actual brecciated veins that have the gold in them,.... just LOTS of gold nuggets in the ground that look like they have just appeared from nowhere..... not a mystery after all,... just the original brecciated quartz vein is now gone,... but thankfully leaving behind it's lovely nuggets.
SO,....YES, this type of Veining can still be present in the ground or on the surface (rock float), so still try to keep an eye out for these 'broken-up' looking quartz veins with iron-oxides through them as these are some of the best GOLD Rich veins.