Blood red gold?!

[WildWill]

Hey y'all, I found a few nuggets and pickers lately, lots of the piece have red swaths running on them? Would it be rust? Iron? Idk that's why im asking you! Lol

 

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[Oakview2]

More than likely iron stained, a quick trip to your local Ace hardware for some Wink rust remover, it will take care of it PDQ

 

[WildWill]

Ahh that makes sense, I found an old square nail mixed in with it, the dam nail went through my classifier, and sluice. found it on my miller table looking at it like wtf? Lol pretty cool that it made it through all the screens.

 

[trinityau]

Hello WildWill, whether the patina is from a rusty nail or a million years of setting in black sands I myself prefer to not clean those pieces. There are many collectors out there that prefer them that way, small or large. If you are finding lots of gold that is iron stained, (patina) it could be a possible indicator that the area was part of the main pay lead of an old channel. You may want to investigate further, just my ideas. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[NuggetN8]

Iron oxide staining! I've been finding gold that has that kind of staining too. Iron causes red staining and when it's coated in black stuff it's manganese.

 

[WildWill]

Hey thank you much guys, after further digging in the hole, most of the gold is cleared out, 9 grams in 2 trips, can't argue with that!

 

[Hoser John]

Nice lil'picker-soak in bleach and it'll be a peach instead of a prune. Good ol'glorious gold comes in many colors in accordance to form of creation,what minerals are adjacent or junk it's concentrated with and laid there awhile. My favorite is flat jet black maganese colored nuggets,splash a lil' bleach on them and it's like magic as that screaming yellow appears...sooo cool-John

 

[WildWill]

Haven't found black gold yet, one day maybe lol, what areas in ca produce black gold?

 

[NuggetN8]

Haven't found black gold yet, one day maybe lol, what areas in ca produce black gold?

I find manganese coated gold in placer county. I don't like it because it hides the gold really well.. And it's kind of ugly. Makes gold look like little black rocks.

 

[Fullpan]

South Yuba River, between Washington and Edwards crossing, has some black gold.