Whats a Black Gold Nugget look like?

tvanwho

Full Member
Jul 15, 2005
109
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indiana
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Tesoro Lobo ST, Whites MXT and TDi,Garrett AT Pro and Ace 250
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Prospecting

rodoconnor

Bronze Member
Mar 4, 2012
1,419
1,638
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I've found a few . It's just a coating like you said. Nitric acid ,vinegar [it takes a while], drano will dissolve it.
 

gollum

Gold Member
Jan 2, 2006
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7,591
Arizona Vagrant
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Minelab SD2200D (Modded)/ Whites GMT 24k / Fisher FX-3 / Fisher Gold Bug II / Fisher Gemini / Schiebel MIMID / Falcon MD-20
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All Treasure Hunting
Tom,

From the description, the black coating is NOT desert varnish, but black oxides from the approximately 10% copper gold nuggets.

Mike
 

Nov 8, 2004
14,582
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Alamos,Sonora,Mexico
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I HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT I DID IN ASSAYING/PROSPECTING for suspected copper . SEEMS THAT i USED AN ACID AND A 'CLEAN' IRON NAIL. PLACE A DROP OF THE ACID ON THE SPECIMAN THEN RUB THE WETTED SPOT WTH THE CLEAN NaIL, IT WILL TURN FRESH COPPER COLOR FROM THE TRANSFER OF THE COPPER ION.

Many forms of oxidized coppper are black. An example is the black bars that Doc noss found in the Vitorio Pk in NM. At first he thought the Dore' bars were iron, but they were Gold alloyed with copper from northern Mexico.

Hi Mike, keep posting my friend and luck with the Petes black nuggets..
 

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DolanDave

Jr. Member
Aug 25, 2012
46
24
Las Vegas, NV
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Minelab GPZ 7000, GPX 6000, Equinox 800, ect.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Tvanwho,
Im an avid prospector/ meteorite hunter that lives in Las Vegas, NV. I have come across black nuggets pretty close to the area around the Virgin/ Colorado River. Enclosing a pic...
Dave.
BlackNugget.jpg
 

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tvanwho

Full Member
Jul 15, 2005
109
33
indiana
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Lobo ST, Whites MXT and TDi,Garrett AT Pro and Ace 250
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Thanks guys,

I threw away a black rock that looked exactly like my clenched fist, sure looked like a nugget and damn heavy too and screamed on my MXT. I have been back to the area several times and cannot relocate said rock but I did find historical evidence that the creek I was in was part of an iron mining prospect 130 years ago. I guess that would account for signs of mining all over the place and the orange bedrock bottom of the creek in places. It was mostly a mudhole creek, except the area where I had map dowsed for gold. Unfortunately, the area is VERY rugged and as I get older, I just cannot traverse such rough ground without numerous aches and pains. Been kicking myself for 8 years now. I have chunks of magnetite from Payson, Az area that I got metal detecting around a hardrock gold mine but the black rock I tossed did not look anything like the magnetite altho magnetite is quite heavy too. Oh well, the school of hard knocks can be a painful one...
 

Oroblanco

Gold Member
Jan 21, 2005
7,837
9,822
DAKOTA TERRITORY
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Lobo Supertraq, (95%) Garrett Scorpion (5%)
Thanks guys,

I threw away a black rock that looked exactly like my clenched fist, sure looked like a nugget and damn heavy too and screamed on my MXT. I have been back to the area several times and cannot relocate said rock but I did find historical evidence that the creek I was in was part of an iron mining prospect 130 years ago. I guess that would account for signs of mining all over the place and the orange bedrock bottom of the creek in places. It was mostly a mudhole creek, except the area where I had map dowsed for gold. Unfortunately, the area is VERY rugged and as I get older, I just cannot traverse such rough ground without numerous aches and pains. Been kicking myself for 8 years now. I have chunks of magnetite from Payson, Az area that I got metal detecting around a hardrock gold mine but the black rock I tossed did not look anything like the magnetite altho magnetite is quite heavy too. Oh well, the school of hard knocks can be a painful one...

I would recommend getting yourself a nickel test kit - and test those heavy, magnetic rocks. If they test positive for nickel, it is quite likely that they are meteorites and could be very valuable!
 

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