Fool’s gold but any chance real thing?

[Kodethr33]

I live in Oakdale, Ca which is at the base of the foothills around Sonora and the MotherLode. I was digging up my yard to pour some concrete and came across this. Under the top soil and a layer of clay was a layer of course sand that contained an absurd amount of iron pyrite. It had my gloves and shovel sparkling, which is why I stopped to take a pic. I’ve heard real gold can run with fools gold. Any chance I might find gold if I were to continue digging up the yard? I tried to wash through a bit of it in my dogs bowl but water would just wash it around instead of it being heavy enough to sit at the bottom.
The photos show a French drain running underground and the sandy layer is shown next to/below it (light brown).
If anyone knows about the layering or this sandy layer under clay I’d be more than interested to hear! Thanks
- Clayton

 

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[et1955]

Is iron pyrite or mica ?

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

River sand used as bedding for the culvert?
Suspect it’s mica. Could always be some gold being your near the motherload country.
I wouldn’t get crazy and dig up the yard...

 

[firebird]

How far are you from the Stanislaus River? If your property once had a creek or river going through it there's a good chance there's gold. Knights Ferry only a few miles away from Oakdale used to allow gold panning as they had quite a bit, but now the rangers banned it and kick you out if you try to pan. Get a gold pan, watch some youtube videos on how to pan and grab that colored gravel before pouring concrete in it. I know the Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Modesto sells them, I bought a "Gold Rush" panning kit there last September that even had some real gold in gravel to teach you how to find real gold.

 

[63bkpkr]

You might pull out a magnifying lens and take a look at the gold colored items as well as pull some out. Looking - do the bits and pieces have a square structure or at least straight edges ? If so likely Iron Pyrite. If it looks like thin sheets that break fairly easily then Mica.
The pulled out pieces - put them on a hard (non-breakable surface) smash them with a hammer, what happens?
If when smashed they turn into even finer squares or dust then Iron Pyrite. If when smashed they flatten out then you could have the real Au looking back at you.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

That's probably just a sandy backfill for the drain and probably isn't from your yard. If it's been dug up then there wont be visible "natural" layers although there will be layers of different backfill material.
Most gravel pits that sell truckloads of rocks and sand already know if there's gold and they take it out although you hear about the home depot sand with gold so ya never know.
I would guess that material isn't native and probably is mica.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

But I'd pan some anyway, your in the motherlode!

 

[smokeythecat]

First pan it. Then fine crush the fines. Then use a magnet to separate out the magnetics. Then smelt the non magnetics. Then separately smelt the magnetics. You may need an x ray diffraction test ($45) or so to get gold content. That's how I do it.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hi there, and thanks for the pictures.

I think the biggest clue to the nature of your sparkly material is the statement that, "water would just wash it around instead of it being heavy enough to sit at the bottom."

This previously quoted statement is a telling clue depending on your context of course. If in your "panning" context you mean the material would not "sit" on the bottom of the pan, then it's more likely mica than any other material. If however you mean your material wouldn't drop into the crease at the bottom of the bowl, but it would nevertheless very easily drop to the bottom of the pan, then it might be pyrite as pyrite is a naturally heavy material, and it often runs right with the gold, or slightly above it (mica will easily move with a slight agitation of the water, pyrite is far more stubborn). In fact, when I start to find pyrite when I'm prospecting, that's when I perk up and start to pay attention as I'm hitting the heavies, and as gold is a heavy, I pay attention when gold's friends start to gather.

All the best,

Lanny