question about gold and pyrite.

[ohiochris]

Are small pieces of gold ever found stuck to small dark or black colored rock of some sort , or is that an automatic indicator of pyrite ? I am panning in Ohio and have found a few really convincing specks of gold color that seem to be stuck firmly to the dark rock ( or whatever it is ). But its pretty heavy and only shows up at the very bottom of the pan beneath the black sand. I have however not found any visible pyrite or fools gold in any other size or place in the material. I was under the assumption that pyrite is not that heavy and shouldnt be found very often at the very bottom.

[2cmorau]

post some pictures
do you have a mortar and pestle?

[Jslick]

In my experience gold is always shinny yellow and gold in color. Pyrite may appear gold at one angle but will not at others. Plus, all pyrite I have run into has a rust orange tint at one angle or another. Look at you specimen under a magnification. That could help clear things up.




http://www.panninggold.org

[Terry Soloman]

Are small pieces of gold ever found stuck to small dark or black colored rock of some sort , or is that an automatic indicator of pyrite ? I am panning in Ohio and have found a few really convincing specks of gold color that seem to be stuck firmly to the dark rock ( or whatever it is ). But its pretty heavy and only shows up at the very bottom of the pan beneath the black sand. I have however not found any visible pyrite or fools gold in any other size or place in the material. I was under the assumption that pyrite is not that heavy and shouldnt be found very often at the very bottom.

Yes gold can be embedded. Take a needle and try to flake the gold off. If the material flakes it is pyrite.

[ohiochris]

Ok thanks for the help guys. I crushed any suspicious looking material I had between 2 hammers and it all crushed into tiny pieces so it was pyrite. I was fairly certain thats what it was but didnt want to risk throwing out anything good Ive only found one tiny piece of natural gold before so I dont know how many forms it may come in , and dont want to risk throwing something out until positively identified.

[B H Prospector]

Hi Ohiochris,
Gold can sometimes be attatched to hemitite. One of the iron pyrites that makes up blacksand, the other being magnatite. Magnatite can be removed with a magnet, but only do it when dry or you may pick up some gold with it.
Good luck.

B H Prospector

[riverrunner814]

Also to tel if pyrite is to run it with your finger accross bottom of the pan and if i shatters or smear on pan its pyrite. Gold is gold in sunlight or shade, pyrite will shine in light. Some nuggets I found are a dull gold keep your eye out for them also.

[63bkpkr]

Another difference is that Gold is worth a lot more than pyrite.

Sorry, I've been out in the mountains for so long I just had to make that s. a. comment. Several types of rock and crystals can look like gold but when you have the real thing next to the phony well, the gold really stands out.

I have found two small gold nuggets coated with and glued together by iron rust. I've never found gold bonded to pyrite especially to one of the cubical pyrite crystals. Due to the cubic crystal structure of pyrite many times a 10X (ten power) hand lens will identify the pyrite structure and crushing it will always confirm it is pyrite (it breaks up into tiny particles many being little cubes) while crushing gold will only cause it to squeeze a bit longer or to bend. This stretching of Gold is similar to our government buddy, that's the private Federal Reserve Bank, printing more money to stretch out the governments spending only the money they print is worth less and less making it worthless at some point. Gold is always valuable no matter how thin it is. {sorry, my bad, a political comment}

OhioChris, just keep working at it, compare notes, read up on the materials normally found in Ohio and just keep at it. Do you happen to have a nasty looking old gold ring? If so you might cut a hunk out of it. Take that hunk and pound on it A little Bit with the ball end of a hammer and then keep it as a color sample to compare to field samples.

Good Luck, 63bkpkr