gold flakes

[Bobadilla]

Hello,

I work as a marine archaeologist in the Caribbean and I have been a member of this Forum for six years already, but my prime interest have been always old shipwrecks so far. Nevertheless, eager for any legend speaking about gold, I heard about the occassional finds of gold in the mountain rivers and creeks of the island. So I went there with a local friend to see if we find something. I must say that I know nothing about the prospecting, just what I heard and saw in the movies. We had only some plastic plates and our eyes, it was our whole prospector's equipment we brought, together with good mood and nice weather. What a surprise when after about twenty minutes we found in a pocket of mountain creek small flakes, about one milimeters in diameter, shining really like gold. In my naivity I was expecting some solid, though small pieces but this one could be well seen only under the amplifying glass. From one side it was shining and it was bright yellow but from the other site it was black. Sometimes we found a small piece of river rock, with small flakes incrusted in it. Now, my question to you, experienced prospectors - is it really gold what we found or just something else? We found about 12 of these very small flakes on that day. Later I tried to find out on my digital scale how heavy it was, but alltogether it was not even 0.01 gram......
Thanks for your replies!

Regards,
Lobo

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[freddy williams]

the last time I found gold in my sluice it was sorta blackish in color but a good acid wash made it shine right back up the blackish is just a sediment on your gold Congrats and HH....

 

[Eureka]

easyest way I found to teling if flake is gold or not if ther is any question in my mind is to use a digital microscope . There is No mistakeing it when seen up close. I take lots of photos of flake even as small as - 120 mesh and you cant mistake it. Only time I have trouble identifiing gold is if it's micro gold minus 100 and smaller mess that is attached to quarts and hard to see without a scope. Mostly you see the quarts with eye but it's still lawying heave in the pan and acting like gold so i zoom in and yep gold attached is always the reson why. When putting it under 150 Mag. even - 120 and smaller is unmistakeable. I'll post a peace or 2 of my - 120 mesh and smaller quarts attached gold.

 

[Bobadilla]

Thank you for your answers and advice!
Freddy, would you be so kind telling me what kind of acid should I use to clean these flakes and what is the procedure? Thanks in advance! Next weekend I am going there again, this time I will try a little upstream. I will try to make some photos if I find something (I hope I will....)

Regards,
Lobo

 

[GrayCloud]

Aw Heck, Just hit it with a hammer. If it flattens out, that's a good thing. If it fractures into many little pieces, that's a bad thing.

 

[Hoser John]

EZ to ID-just get some good old clothes bleach and black gold turns yellow--if gold that it. Simply take a knife/nail/metal to it and push--ifn' it cracks,crumbles or goes crunch it's not oro puro. Too bad Shipwrecks site was hacked to death as you would have been in hog heaven with the most informative wreck site in the nets history--but---John

 

[Terry Soloman]

Aw Heck, Just hit it with a hammer. If it flattens out, that's a good thing. If it fractures into many little pieces, that's a bad thing.

Bingo! Pyrite fractures and is brittle. Take a sewing needle and work the flake. if it breaks or cracks it isn't gold. Sure gold can be small, as small as being microscopic. Gotta love archaeologists, always coming to metal detectorists and miners for help..

 

[Goodyguy]

Also you could turn it slowly around 360 degrees. If you see a color change it's not gold.
Gold's color will remain the same no matter which way you turn it. Mica and pyrite will change color during rotation due to the double light refracting characteristics of their surfaces which gold does not posess.

GG~

 

[Bobadilla]

Thank you very much for your help guys, and I mean it. I will try all the methods you recommended me with these small flakes and let's see. I will be back home in two days so I will do it then and, of course, I will let you know whatever result.

Regards to all of you,
Lobo

 

[Bobadilla]

Hello,

Curiosity did not let me sleep, so I went to the creek again. It was heavy rain for last couple of days there and it caused small landslides in the mountains. We found rocks in the creek from this landslides and they were covered with shining flakes. I made two photos which I attach to this post. Tell me now, if it is gold or not, please. THANKS!

Regards,
Lobo

 

[Bobadilla]

View attachment 630233

Hello,

Curiosity did not let me sleep, so I went to the creek again. It was heavy rain for last couple of days there and it caused small landslides in the mountains. We found rocks in the creek from this landslides and they were covered with shining flakes. I made two photos which I attach to this post. Tell me now, if it is gold or not, please. THANKS!

Regards,
Lobo

 

[Swampbuckster]

Still tough to say. It looks like gold but seems like an awful lot stuck to a rock like that. Are the flakes heavy? Break them away from the stone and put them in your pan with some sand. Do they stay in the one side of the pan as the sands wash away? Gold is super heavy. It's unmistakable even in its smallest form in a pan and how it reacts compared to all the other sands and minerals.

 

[Bobadilla]

Thanks for the advice. I am back at home in the city now, so no sand here. I will try to do the test during the weekend. But as I remember from the first trip to the creek, these microscopic flakes were really so tiny and flat that they were hard to see in the pan. We did not try to move it around and find out if the flakes stay on one side. Good point, I will do that. By the way, if it is not gold, what is it? It really shines brightly in the sun or even under the artificial light.

Regards,
Lobo

 

[Swampbuckster]

Well color of the plastic plate you were using can mean a lot. If it's white, the gold will be really tough to see. But a green or black plate and it would show up a lot easier. Your in the city yes, but there is sand somewhere. Even dirt. Then you can compare the weight difference. I am relatively new to prospecting myself and so I'm sure other members can help you furthermore.

 

[Swampbuckster]

It could be pyrite. If it is gold, you better stop typing and go get more of it!