GOLD?

[Polarbeer]

My parents are redoing the garden, they went and bought alot of small stones to use in a lane. When they had placed all the stones there was alot of dust looking like gold dust. Also smaller flakes, I have them in the sand still as I don't have a pan or an effective way to seperate them atm. So I started looking at the stones and some of them have flakes in them, so I'm wondering if it's gold or something else?

Here is a pic of a stone...

 

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[BBad]

Well, yeah, licenced PG and CEG, currently work for a 'local' DOT as an engineering geologist although my true love is rocks and lapidary. I am new to gold and even being a geologist, I cannot hold a candle to a real prospector. Having the background helps though.

What drew me to geology is that is it is extremely tangible, you can HOLD IT and SEE IT which makes it relatively easily learned especially with good books. Much of the hard part is the jargon.

I will try to be as active as feasible, I have a high maintenance 2-1/2 year old girl, a boy due in a month , and when your a hard worker for the gov't, they tend to pile the work on you.

I will be more than happy to answer questions to the best of my ability looking at pics on the computer.

 

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[Eu_citzen]

Wow someone revived a ancient post.

Yes I checked around a bit and I think we have a form of Mica here.
The test on the other forum confirmed this I want to recall.
Unsure.

BBad,
Welcome.
Interesting, I think I might learn something from you to...
I'm a student in the field of geology, gemmology and jewelry making at the moment.
Possibly with a specialisation in gems later.. Yet to see.

 

[Astrobouncer]

That is awesome! I am a student in college, but its a technical college so we have no kind of geology degrees here. I would have to transfer to a regular university which does not look like its gonna happen cause money is tight right now. I am definitely an amateur geologist. I love rocks and minerals, always have since I was a little kid with a quartz collection. I do research on minerals when I am not prospecting or when I find some I cant identify, which happens almost weekly...I might pursue some kind of geology degree, but first I am going to finish my major so I can get a decent job when I graduate.

 

[BBad]

Eu_citzen:

Pleasure to meet you.

I think everyone on the board is a student of geology, and that is what makes it great, out in the field with the rocks/natural processes that we need to figure out in order to find the gold. I am also extremely interested in other materials, actually some of my favorite is a blue chalcedony that are essentially chunks of geodes and are some of the mose beautiful things I have ever seen. Only about a quarter in size, blue/green in color and found on the desert floor. I want to set them in platinum they are so nice.


Astrobouncer:

Some of the best geology training I had was at the jr. college level. It is amazing how many good professors would rather teach at that level than the universities. Another example is when I transferred from cc to UCSB, I had to start using broken microscope slides!!! How was that for a 10x tuition increase, which I was also working to pay off.

The only thing I can say about classroom geology is that after a good course (involving much field work also) it was like putting on a set of goggles that allowed you to 'read' the terrain better. It has been my experience that some of the best geologists are drillers, backhoe operators, earthwork contractors, and of course prospectors and miners. There is nothing like learning geology strait from the dirt.

 

[Eu_citzen]

BBad,
The pleasures on my side.

Yes I agree, a old saying from another geologist comes to mind;
"The geologist is never wrong, the geology is."

The blue calcedony is neat.. I like quartz because of it's large varriation of colours and such, it's quite fun to see folks face as they relialize that; quartz, smokey quartz, rose quartz, agate, Jasper and a whole bunch of others are actually quartz varriations.

 

[AUDuke]

All you have to do is use a volt/ohm meter and see if its conductive, if it is its probably gold.

 

[Eu_citzen]

All you have to do is use a volt/ohm meter and see if its conductive, if it is its probably gold.

Neat idea, never thought about it.

 

[auferret]

All you have to do is use a volt/ohm meter and see if its conductive, if it is its probably gold.

Very good idea. My problem is that the gold I find is so small, the leads end up touching each other.

 

[BBad]

That would be why they use gold on the connectors, etc.. for computers and such. I was thinking about extracting the gold from my old computers before further recycling but I am not sure if its worth it.

Regarding the quartz, they are honestly some of my most beautiful and interesting pieces in my collection.

 

[golddust77]

Gentelmen i would say the picture is worh a thousand words but im pretty sure that is definetly gold pyrite dosent look like that. and ive seen gold in that kind of Quartz.so yea gold no dought in my mind

 

[CharlieBitMe]

My money's on mica. There's an orange filter on the entire photo (see the color of the fingers). Without that orange filter, these flakes would most likely look yellowish/silver. I'd love to be proven wrong.

 

[Goldwasher]

im also voting micha..looks like the right type of rock, and the black and glittery stuff near it too,also the mineral in question looks thin flakey and has a geometric shape to pat of it like a micha flake.... hope im wrong.......i say dont worry about ruining a specimin,,,,pick a piece of it out and do some tests.

 

[miasdad]

ok just mail me one of those rocks i will tell you if its gold need my address??

 

[Polarbeer]

I hate to use my first post in a negative way but what you have there is muscovite, a very common gold colored mineral in the mica family. Magnify it and see if it is platy (flat). Mica's can be split along their basal plane infinitely. I am very surprised nobody here mentioned that due to how common it is. I still would not be discouraged, the rock is obviously igneous in origin with the quartz (rusted) and the dark, mafic minerals prevalent which means there is probably gold, if even in trace amounts.

I totally forgot about this thread when the results weren't what I had hoped for

I had someone who knows gold look at the stones and he was 100% sure it wasn't gold. I was pretty sure myself after trying to pan the sand and the gold not sinking the way gold is supposed to.

 

[FiresEye]

The reason I think it's Mica is because it's too shiny to be gold. But like someone said, it probably contains micro gold in the least, at the molecular level. Only having one specimen is tough because there is no comparison. Whatever the results were, people know what to look for now.. Heavily minerized quartz in an area with a history of gold... worth checking out.

 

[tapoutking]

I say gold.

 

[Wayupnorth66]

The reason I think it's Mica is because it's too shiny to be gold. But like someone said, it probably contains micro gold in the least, at the molecular level. Only having one specimen is tough because there is no comparison. Whatever the results were, people know what to look for now.. Heavily minerized quartz in an area with a history of gold... worth checking out.

Yep..Im with you....."Mica" I remember my first few days of panning yrs ago.....i really thought I had made a major discovery......it sure can be a let down when you push on it with a small screwdriver and it shatters into powder.

 

[riverrunner814]

As stated in one answer if it bends or stuck without shattering, or crumble its gold Gold has a distict color Iron Pyrite is too shinny. If you have a gold ring on match it. Thats what I do you will see the differance. Like others said if its gold get a couple more loades of rock. Also get a pan on ebay or store with riffles, look on UTbe for instructions on panning I use a varyety of pans. At home I use a tub to pan in can get in a hardware store. Also jet dry and as said dawns dish detergent will help with the specific gravity of floating gold. From the pictures it looks like gold. Give it a try Good Luck