Gold or Pyrite

[necsteve]

I picked up a load of crushed granite stone for my driveway. I left it sit in the dumptrailer for about 3 weeks and the rain washed it off. My wife noticed the shiny sparkles and climbed up on the trailer and started picking out the shiny ones. We
ended up with maybe 2 pounds of stone. My first thought was ahah...fools gold!
How do we begin to identify what it is??
Properties:
(1)All of the granite with or without the shiny objects are slightly magnetic
.
(2) Not easy to melt with a propane torch.
(3) Where do I find nitric acid

If it is Gold....how do I keep the quarry from getting suspicious about buying so much crushed stone

 

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[relichunters]

That would be pyrite. Gold is round and smooth, anything flaky or sharp is not gold. You'd know, it'd look like a rain drop or something.

 

[JiminSD]

I picked up a load of crushed granite stone for my driveway. I left it sit in the dumptrailer for about 3 weeks and the rain washed it off. My wife noticed the shiny sparkles and climbed up on the trailer and started picking out the shiny ones. We
ended up with maybe 2 pounds of stone. My first thought was ahah...fools gold!
How do we begin to identify what it is??
Properties:
(1)All of the granite with or without the shiny objects are slightly magnetic
.
(2) Not easy to melt with a propane torch.
(3) Where do I find nitric acid

If it is Gold....how do I keep the quarry from getting suspicious about buying so much crushed stone

There are alot of reasons it maybe pyrite and not gold but do these..

1) can easily fracture off pieces as others pointed out gold doen't fracture....fractures not gold maybe pyrite
2) take a unglazed piece of tile and scratch it, if it leave a black streak then it is pyrite.

 

[dozer dan]

take the tip of your pocket knife and and try to scratch it. if it wont scratch or if it flakes off it pyrite or mica. if its soft enough to scratch with a knife point is most likely gold. watch the knife dont slip or you'll be changin your name to lefty.

 

[dozer dan]

1-what part of the country did you find this in? 2- i have a vial of gold sittin in my kitchen window that i found here in s/w or. none of it is uniform in size or shape. some of the flakes are sharp on the corners some are soft or rounded. the only thing they have in common is none are large.

 

[onamission]

looks like peacock ore to me(pyrite) the second pic is gold.......you'll be positive when you find it......Thanks, Tom

 

[solarsmith]

pyuritic gold is flaky and brittle ! not very cubic at all. looks silver to yelow. smells like sulfer when heated. can also contain poison. (arsenic) it will not test as gold. it can be panned . I have a friend that runs his mine tailings on a spiral wheel and is able to concentrate the pyrite with ease. now if you want to know how much gold is in your pyrite do a fire assay. ( the ONLY way to know how much gold is in any ore) Bryan in Denver

 

[gollum]

First: Make sure its gold not pyrite. Do this the easiest and cheapest way. Knock off a little piece of that gold mineral. Then, hit it with a hammer. If it is gold, it will squash. If it is pyrite, it will turn to dust.

Second: You can do a rough calculation as to the amount of gold in your specimen using the following example:



There are a bunch of videos on youtube

Mike