Pyrite Ore (fools Gold) and gold

[akcicek]

Hi, i have recently obtained a rock that is from a cave on the side of a mountain in Anatolia that we believe was used to dig into the mountain by an ancient civilisation. since then its just been lived upon by my ancestors. I brought a rock back that has shiny minerals in it but cannot work out exactly what it is. my uncle who used to mine in another location said that you usually find this sort of minerals close to gold. i took this to a geologist who also couldn't exactly work it out what is in the rock as there is more than one mineral but she says its highly possible its iron pyrite. when i scrape a bit off and rub it with my hands it is like gold glitter what I believe is quite possible then iron pyrite. My question is if you find iron pyrite is there a high chance there a valuable minerals or metals in this mountain ? id appreciate the help on this. here is the rock btw.

 

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[arizau]

Gold is often found with iron minerals but most often iron minerals are found in areas where there is no gold. Iron is one the most abundant elements in the earth's makeup where gold is one of the least. Abundance of elements in Earth's crust - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia You can probably find something on the internet or at a library that have some type of record of what minerals have been mined in or near the area of interest. Here is one link. https://www.google.com/webhp?source...on=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=anatolia gold deposits

Good luck.

 

[akcicek]

Hi thanks for the reply, the area is sedimentary rock as when I'm there you can clearly see layer on layer, just to the north in the closest town a Canadian company mine gold there, I'm just curious if to what mineral is in the moutain, Anatolia especially the eastern part was mined for it copper silver and gold, I just want to know if the people in the past were digging in just for iron or actually some valuable mineral.

 

[arizau]

About the only way that can be determined is to have some samples assayed or you can crush some samples to powder form and pan it yourself to see if there is any gold. That is where I would start.
Good Luck.

 

[benny]

When I look at the pic closely, it looks like mica schist to me. Looks all twisted, and I can see flat layers in some of it.
Mica schist: http://www2.newark.ohio-state.edu/facultystaff/personal/jstjohn/Documents/Common-rocks/Schist_files/image002.jpg

Was the rock wet when you took the picture?