Is this gold or pyrite and should I dig further?

[ValonJ]

Hello everyone,

I am in need of professional opinion on some quartz that I have found 9 meters below earth's surface. The zone where I am digging and found these quartz is known for gold mining, and I started the digging with the aim of finding golden nuggets. The local folks also mention legends and myths about the abundance of gold in those areas. I did some tests with acid and magnet and the yellow parts pass the test. Please see photos in attach, and provide your opinion on the matter. What is your opinion about the yellow part of the quartz? Is this gold or pyrite (fake gold)? If yes, should I dig deeper and what are the chances of finding quartz with solid and concentrated gold?

Thank you in advance and your response is much appreciated!

 

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[smokeythecat]

You will have to have it assayed. There may very well be gold in the pyrite.

 

[Silveraith]

The proper people need to look at it in person. No one can tell by a picture on the internet.

 

[arizau]

This pertains only to identification by color......Check your specimens in direct and shaded light. One fact about gold is that it does not lose it's golden hue in shaded light unlike most if not all other elements or minerals. Pyrites, etc. may appear like gold in the light but blank out otherwise.



Good luck.

 

[RTR]

A Falcon will tell you if it is, or isn't ...in a second

 

[spaghettigold]

Judging by your name you could be around trebca.If so you are in a goldbearing region.To me it looks like pyrite or the yellower stuff like chalkopyrite.You can crush the rock to a fine powder and then pan it to see if there is free gold in it.But also if you don't find eny in your pan ,it could be that there is gold in it that is locked up with other minerals and to know that you have to run a assay.
But crush and pan first.Also are there rivers nearby with washable gold?If so ,atleast there was some freegold at one time.
Also look for georeports of your location.

 

[firebird]

It looks like pyrite, gold has a deeper golden hue than that but pyrite and gold can be mixed together. Take it to a local gold buyer or find a store selling metal detectors as it'd easily sound off if that's really gold in a high concentration. If that's really gold even a cheap $40 Harbor Freight metal detector would sound off to that. There's a terrible video of one guy here carelessly crushing a gold ore sample that contained thousands of dollars worth of gold, if that's gold don't do this!

 

[mike(swWash)]

You can also take a sharp knife tip and push it into a larger piece. If it dents it's gold, pyrite will break or shatter.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

So Pyrite can't be detected with a high frequency gold detector?
I've got a piece that blew my ears off.

Clearly looks like pyrite. I dismissed it, but packed it home as a specimen because it was so pretty.
Came off the wall of a tunnel..and I remember exactly where.

I guess I need to
Go back and look again. If the pyrite doesn't set the detector off, maybe there was something else in the wall.
Unfortunately I kind of vaguely remember there being a graphite looking black rock surrounding the pyrite..
Worth a drive I guess. I'll check my specimen tonight with the detector.

 

[Al D]

Both silver and gold can be present with pyrite, I would do an analysis on your sample to see what is present with the pyrite.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Both silver and gold can be present with pyrite, I would do an analysis on your sample to see what is present with the pyrite.

I knew that, but for some reason it didn't occur to me to have it tested.
They were mining gold or at least looking for gold and left it in the wall.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Here is what my piece of Pyrite looks like.
It does set the detector off, but isn't a screamer.
It is heavy.

 

[Mad Machinist]

ValonJ,

Looks like low grade chalcopyrite to me. The rainbow hue along the bottom corners is a dead giveaway. However, I would still have it assayed as chalco can quite often contain decent amounts of gold.

 

[Goldwasher]

Here is what my piece of Pyrite looks like.
It does set the detector off, but isn't a screamer.
It is heavy.
View attachment 1781005

It will set off a detector. The falcon is cool i use one. but it does miss small gold doesn't have much "depth" and it will sound on minerals that don't have visible gold or any at all.

it's a sound as you move away from the piece that usually indicates high mineral/hot rock Sound when you move towards the piece and move around it is gold/metal

 

[pingdis]

As one mentioned before and one of the easiest test: gold will still be gold/yellow in shade; other minerals will go noticeably darker when no light is on it.

 

[dave wiseman]

Graphite is known to set off a detector.Steve Herschback a well known detectorist and detector brand tester wrote a good article on this subject years ago.