Gold Wears An Iron Hat

Cariboo5 said:
I have heard this old saying "Gold wears an iron hat".....Implying that where one finds iron (acidic soils) gold may be close by.. Has anyone also heard this and what truths are there.....Thanks in advance to all..
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Not entirely sure on that one but I do know that in a creek iron usually ends up in the same general area as gold since they're both heavy. I think that finding the two in the same area is just a geological thing. If you look at what types of metals have been found in mines it's different in different areas.
 

From The Mineral Kingdom by Reinhard Brauns:

When the overlying rocks have been removed by denudation, a mineral-vein will become exposed to the action of weathering processes, and several secondary minerals, which are not present in the deeper portions of the vein, will be formed. By the action of water containing oxygen and carbonic acid in solution the original minerals of the vein will be decomposed, a portion of their material being removed in solution, and another portion giving rise to compounds which are stable under the new conditions nearer the surface.

Thus with iron compounds, such as iron-pyrites, the decomposition will result in the formation of limonite: metallic ores of copper will be altered to malachite, chessylite, cuprite and native copper; lead ores to cerussite and anglesite. These secondary minerals are those mentioned at the commencement of this section as the associates of the metallic ores. They are especially characteristic of the upper or oxidized portions of mineral-veins; and as iron is often a common constituent, they are usually much mixed with limonite (brown iron-ore). For this reason the outcrop of a lode at the earth’s surface has usually a rusty and cellular appearance, and this ferruginous capping of the lode is known to the German miners as the “eiserner Hut” (iron hat) and to Cornish miners as the gossan. In this connection may be quoted an English equivalent of an old German saying:


“A lode that wears no iron hat
is never likely to be fat".
 

Thanks Steve.....Excellent information..
 

Gold wears and iron hat.

Early miners found gold deposits by looking for iron caps also known as a gossan.

Edit: oops. I see this was already answered. Opened this before I left earlier.
 

I always heard it as "Gold rides an iron horse"
 

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I was fortunate to be shown three 'hats' in Colorado more than 20 years ago. My explorer b/in/law took
me up on San Juan Mt to see a sheepherders monument, the gossans and a bristlecone pine. The hats
were from 10-25 feet in height. You could find iron stained crystals at their bases.

Then later I took a friend up too early in the year and got hip deep in snow without getting to them. Few
years later we tried again and the doggone road was not even there. We climbed on around in my trusty
landcruiser up the slope finally gaining the summit but the hats were gone. We saw evidence of dozer
tracks but I still wonder what that miner found.
 

..over here we have a saying on the gold fields..'gold rides the iron maiden'.....all means the same just slightly different saying.
 

And the old saying in Colorado is "gold rides an iron horse" ...same idea everywhere, and always it means you should have a decent magnet in your gear bag.
 

Heres a classic gold quartz ore heavy with iron.

Gossans are a term used by hard rock prospectors, they are a well kept secret.

Most folks don't know what these look like, In hard rock we use these as our indicator of where a possible spot to sample.
it would be hard for some one to explain what one looks like, you would have to be shown.
I have a post over in hardrock that has some good ore examples with iron oxides,
View attachment 869797
 

Gorgeous sample, thanks for sharing!
 

I know this doesn't look too much like the other pic but I'm finding pieces of gold with quartz on it and a few ft above where I'm finding it there's this quartz vein that has some rusty stuff around it.

image-1138767703.jpg

Worth looking into?
 

I have a few hats but this looks different than the image in the thread. It appears the yellow is inverted from their sample?

Saprolite, black bands a small amount of rust. And a black speckled band in white/greenish sandstone.

ironhats.JPGironhats-2.JPGblackvein.JPG
 

In the UP of MI, there's the Ropes gold district just north of the big CCI iron mine.

The Back 40 massive sulfide gold/copper/zinc/lead mine is also capped with a magnetite/hematite gossan.

And on the beach, the gold is also with the iron sand.

So it's true around here!
 

Capt Nemo said:
In the UP of MI, there's the Ropes gold district just north of the big CCI iron mine.

The Back 40 massive sulfide gold/copper/zinc/lead mine is also capped with a magnetite/hematite gossan.

And on the beach, the gold is also with the iron sand.

So it's true around here!
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Almost makes we wish I still lived in Michigan. I'd be spending alot of time in the Ishpeming area
 

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