Posted by David Bamford on November 05, 2008 at 12:17:12 user David.
I thought that Timothy was an interesting enough character to have a thread of his own, but following on from the previous discussion.
Timothy is clearly a prospector. I've met a couple in the course of work, and believe me, they're a race apart! They are infected with the same delusion which drives compulsive gamblers, in that each day they hope that they will find the deposit that will make them rich. As with gambling,it happens often enough to keep them looking. These days they will often be seen with a metal detector, but the serious dyed-in-the-wool prospector is looking for clues to deeper riches than a metal detector will provide. One of these clues is gossan, that curious house-of-cards structure which indicates the former prescence of metallic sulphide mineralisation. Rather than trying to develop a prospect into a mine, which would take millions of dollars to do, they prove the prescence of mineralisation enough to sell the title to the body to a major mining corporation, and then use the funds to keep themselves alive while continuing prospecting.
David.