Old timers would use a thing called Gossan. Gossan is intensely weathered/oxidized or decomposed rock that appear at the upper part of a mineral deposit nick named "iron cap" or "iron hat". Alot of the time the iron hat has a red stain to it compared to the rock around it. But as we proceded into modern times we learned that Gossan can have different colored hats meaning different things:
Yellows, Browns, Maroons, and Reds = Various Iron Oxides
Black = ................................................. Manganese Oxides.
Green = ................................................. Nickel
Greens and Blues = ............................... Copper Sulfides, Oxides, Carbonates, Etc.
Bright Yellow = ...................................... Molybdenum
Waxy Green = ....................................... Native Silver, or Silver Chloride.
Oranges and Yellows = ........................... Arsenic
Pinks and Purples = ............................... Cobalt
Also more then not it is topographically positive(higher then the surrounding area) due to the erosion resistant quartz in the mineral deposit.
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