LSUROCKS
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 137
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Post by LSUROCKS on May 7, 2011 0:09:35 GMT -5
I went to Virginia for 4 days for work and had some time to do some rock hunting and even tried some gold panning on a beautiful crystal clear stone creek. Here are some of what I found. Would love if you guys could tell me if the quartz I found has gold in it. It definatly looks like gold and not pyrite. Really cool quartz specimen I found right outside Grand Caverns.  This is quartz that I found while panning for gold in a creek south of Manassas.    It was dark outside so really didnt do them any justice I will get some pics taken tomorrow during the day. Let me know what you guys think. Also is there an easy way to get rid of the rock thats on the first quartz specimen to get nothing but quartz or should I leave it like it is? Preston |
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Post by mohs on May 7, 2011 1:21:44 GMT -5
Those are some promising looking quartz samples But are they gold bearing? Hard to tell from the picture some field test methods Poke the metallic metal with a knife point If it gold it will dimple/indent Pyrite is brittle/flakes Rotate the sample in the direct sunlight Pyrite is crystal faced-- 5 sided-- it will FLASH on the facet Gold is smooth nuggety shines all away around  good luck ! Ed |
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Post by rockrookie on May 7, 2011 7:22:58 GMT -5
Nice finds !!
hope that there is Gold in there .
--paul
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Post by frane on May 8, 2011 21:00:54 GMT -5
I have found quartz here in VA that has sheets of Mica in them. Has the same gold flash and they look cool tumbled if they hold together.
Fran
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sampson
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2011
Posts: 222
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Post by sampson on May 8, 2011 22:08:22 GMT -5
Very nice colors in those rocks. It's hard to tell in the pics if there is gold in them but they sure do look heavily mineralized. Edmostly gave some good tips to test if it is real gold, as well you could try crushing a small sample real fine and then pan it out to see if there is any free milling gold in there. As mentioned any gold should be malleable and if visible in your samples it should stay together in small pieces/flakes/nuggets while things like mica, pyrites, and plain mineralized quartz will crush to a fine powder and then be easily seperated in your gold pan.. With the obvious heavy mineralization there could be dissolved or micro gold as well as a whole host of other platinum group elements in there too.
Sampson
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stefan
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on May 9, 2011 8:48:35 GMT -5
Not to sure about the gold in there. From the pix looks like iron staining and mica (mica can be very deseptive- but the knife point test Ed metioned will play it out as mice will flake also) Man I do hope its gold!
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