✅ SOLVED Silver looking flakes in gold pan

[ripcurl382]

I was sluicing in North Georgia yesterday and this is the first time I've come across this silver metal mixed in with my gold when I did my cleanout.
The metal seems to have the same shape, texture, and acts just like the gold does in the pan... One or 2 of the flakes of gold actually have a small piece of this silvery metal attached to it. I'm assuming they were just mashed together during their trip down stream... I've found gold with mercury in other streams but this doesn't look like mercury to me. I'm not aware of any silver or platinum being found here.... Could it be steel or aluminum shavings? would they act just like gold in my pan? These flakes appear to be just as coarse as the gold in the pan.. Any thoughts?

 

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[ripcurl382]

I only had time to run 1 five gallon bucket through the sluice that day... maybe if I go back today I'll be able to go through a lot more material and possibly find some larger pieces... I'll keep you guys posted if I figure anything out. Thanks for your help!

 

[mirage83]

There's a lot of mica in some area's of Georgia, including the Dahlonega gold belt region. That may well be what you're finding.

 

[cudamark]

It would have to be a heavy metal of some sort of it would have panned away. Most of the gold I've dredged here in Ca. (when we were able to!) had mercury coating it. We burned the mercury away with acid to clean it up and make it look gold again. You might try the acid on a small piece and see what happens.

 

[bigfoot1]

its not muscovite mica for sure.a simple test is to spit on dry piece and see if it goes dark.dark is mica.There have been instances of gold amalgamated with murcury that do look like what you have.If indeed it acts with the same specific gravity as gold in your pan...its gold in your pan.We encountered gold in the mojave desert that was green.I have seen black samples and heard of red.
Has something to do with salts I believe.14k acid test is a safe bet.18k gets iffy.Not bad for 5 gals of head ore

cheers

 

[AU Seeker]

It appears to be gold with mercury on it, it's not lead and that the only thing known in your area that would come close to acting like gold in your pan.

 

[mirage83]

Yeah, should have thought that through a little more, as mica would certainly have been washed out early in the panning process. The other posters are correct, if you were in an area that saw significant gold operations upstream it could be residual mercury.

 

[ripcurl382]

Thanks, I actually cut a piece in half and the mercury really showed it's bright silvery color. I guess there was just barely enough mercury to barely coat the outside of a few of the pieces. My previous experience with mercury was quite different. The first time I found gold covered in mercury it eventually enveloped all of the gold I put in the vial with it and just made a big ball of mercury/gold amalgam. Really ticked me off because I like to see the shape and characteristics of the individual pieces of gold. Guess the mercury content was just a lot less in this sample. Is the gold actually mixed with the mercury or is it just coated? If I were able to separate the 2 would my gold still maintain it's original shape/texture? Any ideas where to obtain Nitric Acid?

 

[ripcurl382]

How do I mark this thread as solved?

 

[cudamark]

The mercury just coats the gold. It's attracted to other mercury, that's why it was used. It will attach itself to small pieces of gold and then to other mercury coated pieces to form larger chunks that can then be picked out. The old time prospectors had trouble recovering tiny flecks and "flour" gold. This solved that problem, and created another....the mercury pollution in the river. Once the mercury is removed, you'll have the gold left in it's original shape. The acid can be obtained from a chemical supply or in many rock and mineral shops as well as assay and prospector supply stores. Just be careful with that stuff, it's pretty nasty and you'll need to find a place to get rid of the residue. It's toxic as well.

 

[ToastedWheatie]

How do I mark this thread as solved?

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/369859-how-mark-your-what-solved-photo-tutorial.html

 

[AU24K]

Possibly this:

Molybdenum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Best,

Scott

 

[HappyTrails55]

You know I got almost the same thing, the pic's you posted are very similiar to what I've been finding. I'd post pic's here but have a problem right now doing so. Getting a new Laptop next week so I can post pic's. But I wanna tell you all that the Platinum Silvery Flakes I'm finding with Gold is coming out of Shale Rocks. We found a bed of Greenstone on the claim, the Shale Deposit kind of sits on top of it of varying depths. So I collected the shales and run them through my flail chain crusher into fines then sluice it. I've used from MineralLabs, My kit to test for Hardness with the pick's and compared to other metals. The metal only indents with the #4 pick and the porcelin scratch test is a dark grey. I found from some acid test kits (from e-bay) for platinum, that the results were positive so far. I have also used a little Nitric Acid on them (I got from a prospecting supply house) and it Did Not Affect it. So far, it seems like it is Platinum. There's a whole matrix of rocks combined with this Greenstone Bed including Serpentine, Gneiss. I've found also Slate, Green Slate, Phyllite (with Garnets) and Mica Schist (Muscovite & Biotite). Magnetic Black Sands abound throughout, but none of this Metal is Magnetic, I've used my very strong magnets with no result. So I collect this, separate, set aside until I have enough to put into a frying pan for my coleman stove and clean it up. There is Salts in this stuff as well. Not alot of info on the net about Platinum or the fines that no doubt are being found. I'm after gold and find all of this in Greenstone Shale. I watched a Youtube Movie Short about South Africa Platinum Mining and they had to process 10 Tons of Ore (dirt,rocks) to equal one ounce! Crap, I think I could beat them with my measley 3, 5 gallon buckets! Darrell

 

[ripcurl382]

Thanks everyone!