Quartz with mystery substance

[Sjohnsone]

Howdy all - I'm a newbie and was panning in the San Gabriel River, where I found a chunk of mystery quartz in the classifier. I thought it looked a bit weird so I threw it in my bag.

Does anyone have any idea what the heck this is on it? There are some super shiny spots on it (the camera picked one up) but it almost looks like silver or lead.

It's neat nonetheless.

Thanks in advance for any help.

V/R,

Seth

 

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[roadrunner]

I have stuff all over my quartz around me just li9ke it.
Have a book on its way from amazon to look up our rocks here in Az.
Will post after it arrives unless some one else does.

 

[jair]

It looks to me that the quarts is from an area that had a thermal vein of very high heat intruding it .
Most likely a long time after the quarts was formed .

 

[Sjohnsone]

Jair,

Does that mean it's like a sulfide or something? (Been doing some web sleuthing).

 

[barleetow]

That I believe is arsenopyrite but hard to say with out having it in ones hand

 

[jair]

Jair, Does that mean it's like a sulfide or something? (Been doing some web sleuthing).

Not sure on that , but may be worth a fire test to see if any thing is in the quarts . That is if you know some one close to you that has an oven .

Sending it out can cost any where from $25- $65 depending on the company or person .

 

[roadrunner]

What do you mean a fire test?
Like testing gold? With a furnace. I have a furnace.

 

[russau]

it looks like mica to me. crush it and pan it out. or chip a small peice out for testing.

 

[bedrock bubba]

Its probably mica. Very common in quartz. Just pulverize it and pan it out, and look-see!
But only do that if you have found free gold in the same area.

 

[Rockhunter1620]

AZ geology magazine and it's free, check it out fellers, a lot of good, useable info.

Welcome to Arizona Geology Magazine | Arizona Geology Magazine

RH

 

[socalal99]

This summer, I found a very similar piece of white quartz on bedrock, in the EF SGR. I saved the rock because it was sitting on bedrock under about 6 feet of overburden, so something in the rock made it heavy enough to drop to the bottom. I inspected the surface and thought I could see free gold in the area with the black minerals. I partially crushed it and still think I see speck sized gold, but I am not sure. I saved the rock fragments to evaluate later with a microscope or a more knowledgeable miner.

FYI, this summer (2013), a prospector found a beautiful 4 oz specimen of gold in white quartz, up in the narrows. I believe it was found with a metal detector. It's always a good idea to look carefully at heavy quartz.

 

[jair]

What do you mean a fire test? Like testing gold? With a furnace. I have a furnace.

Yes , I have a 2300 degree oven . Pottery kiln . Works grate for two 30 gram crucibles .
But you need flux I order to fire the oar . And a scale to determine the value . Then if you have a prill ( any thing of vale in a lead button some call ) You need to fire it and get your value out of it in a small BB . Then determine what is gold , silver and or any platinum .

 

[roadrunner]

I can use borax for flux right? Or just use some welding flux.
How do you determine what minerals are in the button?
With acid?

 

[chris rizin]

Looks like quartz with manganese and a touch of mica..