Help identifying this please!!

[tridge800]

Found this While out at metal detecting around old lode mine.There is more quartz tailings here than i have ever seen at any other site.My MD hit on this piece along with a few other pieces,but i cant tell what it is.I know some of it is Pyrite, but from what i have read pyrite doesnt sound off on MD.I am using a Garrett AT Gold and using the iron audio feature i dont get any sign of iron in the quartz.

 

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[placertogo]

Looks like chalcopyrite, a copper/iron sulfide mineral. One of the forms of "fools gold," it sometimes forms with real gold. As a sulfide of both ferrous (iron) and non-ferrous (copper) metal, it will sound off on a metal detector on both iron mode and iron-discriminate mode. If you have some pieces that are not nice specimens, you can dissolve the sulfide with acid and see if any gold and silver remain. I found a nice fist-sized piece in quartz matrix on the beach here in Maine this year but it is too pretty a specimen to grind up and look for real gold.

 

[tridge800]

Thanks placer,what kind of acid would i need?And this place is completly littered with solid quartz tailing piles with most all pieces the size of a football or larger.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Also looks like the pyrite is in Hematite, which is iron oxide and will set off your metal detector. Pyrite or not, that is a nice specimen!

 

[kuger]

I wouldnt mess with acid...dangerous and hard to get...crush a piece and pan it.Def. chalcopyrite in there

 

[tridge800]

Yea would prefer not to go the acid route as i know nothing about it..but also dont know how to get started crushing pieces this size??How small would it need to be crushed in order to check for remaining gold by panning method??

 

[kuger]

crush it down to near powder

 

[Terry Soloman]

First, don't crush anything! You'll ruin the specimen. Just take a sewing needle and see if the "gold" flakes off or breaks - that is Pyrite. If it doesn't take it to your local jeweler, and ask her to do a acid scratch test to see if it's gold. Pretty simple and free. You can SELL the specimen to a rock hound on Ebay when you confirm it's pyrite.. Just saying.

 

[tridge800]

That's great Terry,ill try that..thanks alot!!

 

[placertogo]

Sulfuric acid is actually made from pyrite. To break down the pyrite and leave any gold, nitric acid must be used. This should be used with the utmost care. Pyrite can also be dissociated with heat but beware of the resulting fumes which will contain sulfuric acid. Crushing is the preferred method and then treating the crushed material with heat or nitric acid.

 

[kuger]

First, don't crush anything! You'll ruin the specimen. Just take a sewing needle and see if the "gold" flakes off or breaks - that is Pyrite. If it doesn't take it to your local jeweler, and ask her to do a acid scratch test to see if it's gold. Pretty simple and free. You can SELL the specimen to a rock hound on Ebay when you confirm it's pyrite.. Just saying.

Pretty sure it was recommended...and I was referring to a separate piece above Terry!What good is five "specimens",if you dont even know what they are?