Taking Mineral Samples from Rock Chips

In the early stages of exploration, the bearded ones are fond of swinging their picks at any rock within sight. Not only does it feel good to bust open a rock but often the non-weathered surface of the rock bears no relationship to the weathered rock. So the first thing to do is crack open the rock and look for signs of alteration or mineralization. If the rock looks interesting then the geologist will determine where it was found using his global positioning gizmo (GPS) and then write descriptions in his weatherproof notebook.

So taking rock chip samples is nothing more than finding interesting, mineralized rocks and chipping them off the weathered surface to collect specimens of what lies beneath. Once again it is important to note the location of the sample and describe the feature from which it was taken. Rock chip samples differ from channel samples in that they are discrete and not continuous and so can only hint at the mineralization that might be nearby.