Pyrite or Gold

[Joshr29]

I picked this up while on a family vacation to Colorado. Part of the rock looks like quartz and I've heard gold can be found around it. I know it wouldn't be much here but I was curious anyway. Thanks in advance for the help. HH!

 

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[DORN]

im dealing with a similar issue. From what ive read you can test it by scratching it across the unfinished side of ceramic tile. If the scratch is gold, it should be gold. If its green or black, then its pyrite. Try looking up testing pyrite rocks online. Hope you see gold.

 

[Jhaddad8]

It's hard to see in the pictures but it looks like your "gold" has a cubic habit. In lay mans terms, the crystal has cube shapes. This would indicate pyrite. The scratch test would also be good. That rock actually has quite a bit of gold. A lot of gold mining is done where you can never actually see the gold in the rock.

 

[Joshr29]

I guess I will have to try and chip a piece off for the scratch test. I can't get any gold to make contact with the ceramic. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Brian T. Booth]

I picked this up while on a family vacation to Colorado. Part of the rock looks like quartz and I've heard gold can be found around it. I know it wouldn't be much here but I was curious anyway. Thanks in advance for the help. HH!

Howdy Joshr29,

I'm about a 100 percent sure this is pyrite. The last photo show tarnishing and oxidation of the iron found in pyrite. Note pyrite is FeS2.

Respectively Submitted,

Brian T. Booth

 

[coinshooter]

Does it have a blueish purple flashiness to it?
Looks like your pics might indicate that, but I cant be sure.
If so, it would be chalcopyrite.

 

[Rawhide]

burn it, if it smells and burns it is not gold.

 

[Joshr29]

Does it have a blueish purple flashiness to it?
Looks like your pics might indicate that, but I cant be sure.
If so, it would be chalcopyrite.

It does have a kind rainbow color look to it if you look at it just right. I kinda thought it was pyrite but I wanted to know for sure. Thanks everyone for taking the time to help me out. HH