Am I throwing away gold??

[Wishbone]

I just watched a video on Youtube on to how pan, and deal with clay. Please tell me that the sparkles in the pan isn't gold! I've thrown out LOTS of sparklys. I was told that gold is "bright", but not "sparkly"!!
It has to be pyrite or mica or something, doesn't it? Gold doesn't sparkle does it??
Come to think of it, do ANY precious minerals sparkle in the pan?
Check out his pan at the end of the video.



Please tell me he's wrong.
Thanks

 

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[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

I imagine he's right, I don't think all that sparkles is Gold though... I'd say a low percent of those sparkles is real gold.
Even if you did lose a bunch, now you know you'll get it next time. So it does not matter... Have to learn somehow !!

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[Wishbone]

But can placer gold sparkle, ever? He's in the daylight, maybe he should go in the shade? Nothing sparkles in the shade right
This is giving me a headache!

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Diamonds, but its gold.. Gold is generally bland, polished gold shines... I don't know

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[dale68]

Next time save some, put on apiece of steel hit it with hammer while WEARING EYE PROTECTION--- gold is soft , fools gold isn't. If it turns out to be gold don't be regretful, an education is never free.

 

[BosnMate]

The sparkly stuff is a lot of times mica. Number 1, if you did your panning properly, the gold will be in the crease in the pan, under the black sand. Number 2, the sparkly stuff doesn't shine or sparkle in the shade. If it is in the crease of the pan, mixed in with black sand, and the gold color shines (not sparkle, shine the color of gold) in the shade, then you got the real thing.

 

[midnightmoon]

Gold doesn't sparkle, not even in sunlight. Has a mellow glow.

Don't think you wasted anything!

An old timer once told me that the saying, "all that glitters is not gold", means *everything* that glitters is not gold because gold does not glitter.

 

[Wishbone]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. As a first time miner (only 8 months) I know mistakes/lessons are still to come. Most of our gold is flour gold, or micro gold, so I can't hit it with a hammer. I can't wait to find some gold that you can see with the naked eye...lol. I'm getting pretty good at panning though, a friend dropped 4 little pickers in my pan and I was able to capture and return all of them (twice).
I'll just have to be a little more careful with what I return to mother earth.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Your ahead of me, I have a pan but haven't got to use it yet! Maybe this summer!

 

[BosnMate]

Put some bird shot, little lead BB's in your pan, if you save those you are on the right track. Also, on very fine gold surface tension of the water will cause it to float and you can loose it. The answer to that is a drop of dish washing soap in the pan. If you are using a metal pan, they come with oil on them, and that will cause you to loose tiny gold. We used to heat a metal pan and burn all the oil off. Plastic pans with ripples work great.