Gold changing to silver color

[socdam]

Hi - First time post, yet I've been following along on this forum for quite a while (thank you to everyone who posts on here!!!)

Recently I panned some gold flakes and small pickers at a creek in CA. At the end of the day, I noticed that many of my pieces changed from a gold color to silver-ish color.

In the creek, I also find small pieces of sliver metal that look like balled up aluminum foil.

Has anyone ever experienced this? If so, can you help me understand what is going on?

Thank you!

 

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[lostandfound79]

It is possible that the balled up aluminum foil pieces are Mercury which would attach it self to the gold but without a photo I could not be sure.

 

[kcm]

Photos would definitely help. The color of gold is stable in varying light. However, fool's gold can look like gold in some light, but not in other. Are you sure it's gold?

Also, if you happen to pick up some mercury (whether leftover from prior mining or natural), it will attach itself to gold and create amalgam.

 

[socdam]

Thanks for the responses. After doing some addition research, there is no question that it is mercury. On my claim, I picked up some amalgam that looks like this:



The amalgam must have had some excess mercury on it because it covered some of my other pieces in my snuffer bottle. Those now look like silver/metallic colored pickers/flakes and are in the original shape of the gold I found.

Now my challenge is finding a safe way to remove the mercury! yikes

 

[kcm]

Look up mercury retorts. Maye sure you capture the mercury fumes. If you can save up enough mercury, you can sell it, or maybe even donate it to a local school science lab.