WHAT IS BENEATH THE LOT 8 BOULDER ON OAK ISLAND? BY DANIEL SPINO
- Daniel Spino
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
The question of what is underneath the boulder on Lot 8 has been pondered ever since it was first shown on the Season Premiere of Drilling Down for Season 13. The area under the boulder was teased with bearing gold. In last week’s episode, “The Shining”, it showed the snake camera pictures with this material of interest. This author from the beginning has suspected either pyrite or gold but wanted to get an expert opinion from a geologist to share with our readers. This author reached out to Dawn Herrington. Dawn has a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in Geology and has had a very distinguished career with 40 years of experience in the Energy, Gas, Oil and Petroleum fields. She began her career in New Orleans as an exploration and production geologist in the then Gulf of Mexico Offshore Basin, advanced later to various technical roles in Geophysics, and her most recent roles before retiring were as Exploration and Production Manager and now Private Consultant. Dawn also is a fan of the Oak Island Mystery with a keen interest in what happened on the island. This makes her an excellent source of information along with her having very good background knowledge of the Island.
Dawn was asked what she thought may be under the boulder based on the photos that have been released. She began by stating:
“Now, if it were an amalgam of mined alluvial gold mixed with mercury from those ca.1000 flasks with mercury staining found in the Tupper Sump immediately north of the Hedden Shaft, then possibly. And it would have been at the end of the extraction since mercury separates out materials of specific gravity and binding properties so that heavier, attractable gold would stick to mercury and the other sand and clay materials mixed in the loose till material with the gold would “float away”. After I saw that and thought of remnant processed gold, I also thought of sulphur, which is yellow and can be “fixed” from the soil in which it can occur naturally and bacteria “fix” it under anoxic circumstances to appear in accumulations.”
“Now, on the west drumlin in the Meguma slate, there may be unseen/unreported “saddle reefs” of gold bearing quartz(ite) material shaped like anticlines and which are part of the gold reef system found and mined in Nova Scotia. More of that quartz-bearing gold ore in Nova Scotia gold mines, of which there are many and many within 100 miles of OI. So, if there were such saddle reefs on the west side and someone hard rock mined them with heavy iron digging tools and crushing pots, then there could be extracted gold on the west side. The Lot 8 boulder and material underneath could be someone’s extractions/tailings that they buried with the intent of coming back to retrieve. One thing about one of the earlier seasons’ experts on minerals was that he had found sphalerite on the west side, which is a signature mineral for likely presence of naturally occurring gold in nearby rock formations.”
This author asked Dawn about the possibility of pyrite and she stated:
“One other thought re: your question about pyrite: it will also bind with mercury, so it would help if they run those samples the team plans to shop-vac up and see - when they find this yellow-colored material - to check for mineralization. So, possibly gold or pyrite mixed with mercury, whether remnants hidden or discarded, to be recovered. Low percentage chance on the sulfur.”
Dawn then explained the geology of the island in greater detail:
“….The geology on the west drumlin is very much like the mainland where there is no heavy deposition of glacial till. The glacial till with its scraped away flecks of gold dropped preferentially on the east side of the island because that side was geologically lower than west side. The subsurface fracture along which the Eye of the Swamp sits separates generally the west drumlin from the east drumlin. The glaciers moved onto and stopped “for a while” on some impediment to their flow and dumped the extra thick load on the east that forms the uplands and inverted the east to be present day high, but pre glaciers, the east was lower in elevation and geologic equivalent position.”
“The other thing the yellow material could be is another example of oxidation of iron, either in situ in soil or from abandoned tools. I think that is likely the case here, along with help of bacteria, a degraded ferrous sulfide. The camera did show some sort of metal spike in one view at an unknown depth, like iron, and age unknown….Yes, this is a rusted over tool, I feel certain of that. The yellow deposits in the other photo I am leaning strongly toward abandoned iron oxidized metal, with or without wood handles/attachments. Just residual material after oxygen and soil bacteria degraded and fixed the iron material.”
Dawn also was asked her opinion on the precious metals that have been detected in the water samples taken by Dr. Spooner:
“Those flecks that are likely in the Money Pit solution cores the team keeps pulling up -that’s the kind of concentration you would expect from low-grade till. Possibly low grade because it was already mined in earlier time and not much left. I think you had mentioned that in your last Compendium report posted.”
“An amplification on the Money Pit and its position on the east drumlin. As you know, the OI team drilling has been focused on what might have been swept into or have fallen into the network of “solution channels underlying the MP and elsewhere (e.g. 10X, immediately outside the traditional n/e boundary of the MP). The karst topography and washout from infiltrating ocean tides has given rise to the OI team’s ideas about man-made materials from the 100’-150’ depth below grade having fallen into the washout in the anhydrite/limestone levels below…..Any concentrations of gold and/or silver that Dr. Spooner is reporting from the deeper solution channels underlying levels are not from man-made treasure, imo. So, my amplification on my previous answer above about naturally occurring gold is this: underlying the anhydrite/limestone layer is the Meguma Slate that crops out on the west side and which likely has some findable elements of gold-bearing saddle reefs, much like those mined on surrounding mainland. The reason the Meguma Slate is so deep on the east drumlin where the MP is, is that there is a geologic fracture that runs north/northwest/south/southeast through the Eye of the Swamp and into the Lot 8-9 area where the old brick factory/shallow buried outcrop of anhydrite/limestone sits."
So, the area east of the Eye of the Swamp, such as the MP area, has a deep, connecting layer of the Meguma Slate that is geologically extensive throughout all the islands in Mahone Bay and the mainland. It occurs ca. 220-250’ below grade at the MP. Likely, it has gold saddle reef elements in it, so testing connate waters that deep will likely register gold in solution from the Meguma Slate embedded saddle reefs ca. 250’ deep, as well as any gold-bearing glacial till alluvial gold. Concentrations would increase at depth in the areas overlying the saddle reef gold. So, OI team reported increased measurements of concentrations is likely that. My reference material that started me on understanding the geology of OI began with some published articles with cross sections by Les MacPhie that date back to the late 1990’s-early 2000’s. From those and from some of the published aerial photos and program screen shots past and very recent I interpreted the fracture sequence.”
Dawn updated her opinion once more detailed pictures of underneath the boulder were shown in the last episode:
“I have attached these two snapshots from last night’s program (The Shining). The first one is at a “shallower” point along the camera snake. It looks like something crushed, possibly some granite with mica (shiny bits)."
"The second photo shows some little mica flecks, but more of something that looks, as you say, rusty…. Note there is no noticeable quartz in those views. I took several shots and they all look like this second photo. I’d say the shiny and rusty “duff” is pyrite, pyrotite, or arsenopyrite. Pyrite, pyrotite, and arsenopyrite are iron minerals that can include gold as microscopic inclusions. Not usually in commercial quantities, certainly not at price/oz in past centuries. Pyrite, etc. are found with granite. The rubble rock is not showing quartz, as you would find with granite. It makes me think it looks processed to some degree. So, someone was likely doing some exploring. Much like what was suggested in the attachments you sent me of the records of such activities…”
“I am attaching a map of granites and other rock types in generalized map put out by NS.ca. This is the map, and pink indicates granite. None of the Mahone Bay islands are shown, but there is granite underlying nearby Halifax and Terence areas. There could be an outlier lens of granite in Mahone Bay, but only speculative. If someone were “mining” exotic granite boulders on the island, maybe this is that residue, or residue from a yet to be described bedded granite.”
“I am comfortable with a version of pyrite and some mica mixed in to some material that looks processed. Stripped of quartz to leave a pyritic ‘ore’…...Having been tantalized by the high lead content levels in area surrounding the Lot 8 Boulder, I checked out lead additives to smelting, and, depending on what the crystal structure of the mineral is, the lead product could be this yellowish Massicot or a reddish Litharge. A little spice to what else was being smelted to draw out gold from ore that could be in that photo. Interesting.”
What we can deduce from all this information is that someone in the history of Oak Island was looking for gold and silver. They were mining and have left evidence of their activity. Someone was working at the site where the boulder sits today and was smelting. This activity was hidden and covered up by the boulder to obscure this activity. It’s also very possible that this was not the only location, as documentation from Dan Blankenship stated that another very similar feature was found near the Cave in Pit. This author has written in the past about his belief that such activity occurred on Oak Island. The report, entitled, “The Mystery of Gold and Silver on Oak Island” can be accessed for your review at https://www.theoakislandcompendium.com/post/season-finale-the-mystery-of-gold-and-silver-on-oak-island
Compendium Investigations would like to thank Dawn Herrington for her expert opinion and sharing her thoughts with our readers.
Please follow our weekly episode analyses during Season 13, along with articles from the original “Compendium/Blockhouse Blog”, and special investigations and features involving Oak Island. Feel free to reach out to us for questions, comments, information and any theories to our email, theoakislandcompendium@gmail.com
Please watch for more informative research to be released next week while The Curse of Oak Island is on hiatus until February 24, 2026.
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