Yes it is a rock, but it set off my Metal Detector and Pinpointer

[GulfSun]

Okay I was out MDing and got a signal pulled up a rock and tested the pinpointer on it to make sure that was the target. Sure enough it was. The rock is very lightweight. Can you help me identify it?

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

A "hot rock". Looks like quartz with some iron pyrite in the matrix.

 

[Mzjavert]

Fool's Gold--I used to pick these out of the driveway of my parent's best friends as a kid.

 

[ivan salis]

fools gold aka IRON pyrite --its the iron in IRON pyrite that triggers the detector

 

[High Plains Digger]

Maybe a little galena in it also. A typical combination in Leadville ore.

 

[Bum Luck]

Looks like encrustation on something.

? is, what's the something?

Throw it in vinegar.

 

[High Plains Digger]

Looks more like hardrock quartz to me. Vinegar won't do a thing but make it smell like a pickle. Phosphoric acid will clean some of the rust off and who knows what else it will eat. Don't breathe the fumes.

 

[Tenn treasure hunter]

are they worth anything I find them all the time.

 

[generic username]

i used to dig alot of them with my old detector too.. theyre no good

 

[Ism]

Pyrites are heavy. Its one of the last things in the bottom of the pan when panning for gold which is why novices tend to mistake it for gold.
None of the pyrites I've placed in front of my coil were detectable. Nor did they have iron oxide exuding out of them.
I'm no expert on pyrites, but that rock doesn't look like any pyrites I've seen.

 

[mcmich]

I have found rocks similar to that in a local river. I believe they are slag. One of the ones I found has a blob of melted copper in it. Thought I had found something good until the copper turned green.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Okay I was out MDing and got a signal pulled up a rock and tested the pinpointer on it to make sure that was the target. Sure enough it was. The rock is very lightweight. Can you help me identify it?

That is called "Leaverite," because when you find a "hot rock," you Leave her right where you found her. Looks like quartz with magnatite and mica. Is it worth anything? Not to me.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

If it was mine, I'd crush it down to powder, and pan it out...no telling what might be in it.
Jim

 

[toe2short]

I found one in my backyard, I live in Edison, NJ. I am taking it to a meeting tonight, Deep Search Metal Detecting Club. I will let you know what they say. Mine is also very light, a pice chipped off. It looks like quarts, I'm not sure.

Jim

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

crush it up...pour in some nitric acid...outside away from plants animals an humans...

what is left is what you have.