Pyrite and Gold or just Pyrite

[Daryl Friesen]

Heres a pic of rock we broke open this summer. When you look at the pic do you see gold in there or is it just Pyrite?

Daryl

Prospecting and Mining Map library of British Columbia

 

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[strickman]

is it brittle ?

 

[Astrobouncer]

I think I see green copper oxides, bornite (purplish iridescent staining), and chalcopyrite. If so, then there is probably gold there, at least in trace amounts. Definitely worth sampling them sulfides further regardless.

 

[Hardrocker]

It sure looks more like gold than pyrite to me. On the other hand that would be an extreme rarity to see so much widespread gold like that. If its pyrite it would be brittle and probably have some geometric form to it. You could take some of the rock and break it up with a pestle and mortar and see how it behaves. You could also put it in nitric acid to see if it reacts with the acid or not. One could also see if mercury will stick to it. I know that mercury has become a dirty word, but used carefully and in the right cases it can be a very good tool.

 

[Fullpan]

Shade it with your hand and take another pic!

 

[solarsmith]

fire assay to find out how much gold is in it!

 

[Mad Machinist]

ALL pyrite has some level of gold in it. The problem is how to get it out and is it economical feasible to do so? Iron pyrite is hell on nitric acid, tends to use up the nitric rather quickly when trying to dissolve the host rock.