What does gold look like?

“Tmac and I were hiking in an area last Saturday where there were lots of old abandoned mines. We were climbing up to one and stepping amongst rocks that must have been inside the mountain before they blasted it. Well, something caught my eye, and I picked up a large rock with some interesting things in it....

It looks like there is some quartz in it, but also a goldish greyish veiny looking thing is in the middle....and it continues to the other side. I know I am probably dumb here, but I really want it to be gold so that I can become rich and famous. LOL

So, I was wondering, what are the chances, and what does gold look like in its natural state?”

“Can you post a picture?”

“embear, we need the exact GPS points in order to tell. ;-)”

“Gold often occurs in quartz, as a vein, but it is usually bright gold. You may have found quartz with some iron pyrite (fool's gold) in it.”

“you will have to send it to me, i will tell you for sure if it's fool's gold or real. : )
last edited: 10/11/05 10:16:19 AM”

“Well, I flaked some of it off, and did not chip or crumble, it bent. ???

And nobody will ever know where I found it. hahahahahaha”

“Ooh! Goody! Real gold is very soft and flexible!”

“Quartz with gold in it:



Iron pyrite:



Also iron pyrite:

”

“you know its illegal to remove 'artifacts' from the national park.....

just ignore those men in black suits on your doorstep...”

“just ignore those men in black suits on your doorstep

Yeah cause it's Roam Around with a fake ID.”

“why are you destroying my fantasy, bit???”

“I'm just trying to help you ID it!

It could be gold; it's not like there aren't thousands of abandoned gold mines in Colorado for nothing, ya know. When I took my wife to Breckenridge for our 10th anniversary, she went to an old placer mine and panned herself a speck of gold.

So, you could have gold. But even if you do, it's not enough to make you rich. Your rock would be a good conversation piece though.”

“That's bit's way, embear, LOL.

He is so full of facts they just spill out. ;-)”

“Wait, somebody's fantasy is having Roam show up at their door in a black suit?! I'm so confused....”

“LOL.

This is a big rock though.....”

“why has no one called embear a gold digger yet?

now, i ain't saying she's a gold digger - but she ain't messing with no broke...”

“Damn, I knew I should have become a chemist!”

“... just the facts, m'am.”

“do a rub test..rub it on white paper or a white ceramic tile.....i think gold rubs grey....you can find that info online..or from bit i'm sure....lol
there are several simple test to determine what it is...”

“I've been trying to find simple tests to determine if it's gold...there don't seem to be many.

The best thing I've read yet is that if it's gold, it is malleable. If it's iron pyrite, it will crumble or break up if you mash it with a hammer. Gold will just flatten out.”

“We visited abandoned gold mines in Central City, Co. You could see gold specks in the rock of the walls. The tour guides said it was real, but it would cost more to extract (as ore) than it was worth.”

“rub test, scratch test, ph test, fracture test, smell test...i think there are 2 others....damn why didn't i get my geology minor after all”

“smell test...”
OPIE



god stinks?”

“bit thats the thing...it didnt crumble, it bent.”

“See if you can flatten that little piece into a small sheet. Gold can be hammered into extremely thin sheets.”

“off to the store for a geological hammer! Actually I know some geologists, I'll try e-mailling them.”

“well thats a little impossible, since the peice I took off was very tiny, and the rest is in the center of the rock. I would have to somehow break the rock open.”

“oops.
FWIW
i meant "gold (not god) stinks?"”

“off to hell with you, no hanging about now laddie.”

“sure sacco......”

“Lol!”