Is this My Gold or is it a Fools Gold?

[Audigger123]

Is this My Gold or is it a Fool's Gold?

Hey guys. I sluiced about 10 gallons of material. It's never been tested or anything like that, and it comes from a pit. It's a dark sand. Upon close inspection you can see hints of shine in the dirt. It's mostly fine rocks.
I started to pan what was left of the 10 gallons of material I ran, keep in mind I have no experience and everything including my sluice and pan are homemade based on DIY's found on this very forum, and I've recovered the flakes that make the sand shine. Whether or not it's gold, I have no idea. I was hoping if you guys could help me identify exactly what it is. If you have any questions or would like more pictures let me know. I plan on getting it tested, but I'm going to be way to busy for at least a week.. Thanks guys.

 

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[Audigger123]

Click on the second last picture to see a larger version, it's the best picture of the biggest flakes I found.

 

[kylebrownrs]

Looks like gold

 

[Audigger123]

Thanks for the input. Any other thoughts guys?

 

[AU Seeker]

Looks like gold to me as well, but photos can be deceiving sometimes, as my avatar show I'm a gold seeker and I have found a good bit of gold in my pan, sluice and dredge, once you know how gold acts in your pan compared to pyrite, brass, lead, etc. you will never mistake something else for gold, that being said where the material came from will tell you much more as to if it could be gold or not, did the material come from somewhere that gold is known have been found?

 

[AU Seeker]

I wouldn't brother to have it tested, it's not big enough, if acid is used to test it it will most likely eat the gold to nothing, you can do a simple test yourself, get one of the pieces out and place it on a hard surface, preferably a heavy metal surface and try to flatten it out with a hammer, if it flattens out and doesn't shatter/crumble into pieces, I would say you have found your first gold!!

If it shatters, it most likely fool's gold/pyrite

 

[Audigger123]

Looks like gold to me as well, but photos can be deceiving sometimes, as my avatar show I'm a gold seeker and I have found a good bit of gold in my pan, sluice and dredge, once you know how gold acts in your pan compared to pyrite, brass, lead, etc. you will never mistake something else for gold, that being said where the material came from will tell you much more as to if it could be gold or not, did the material come from somewhere that gold is known have been found?

Thanks for the reply AU Seeker! You obviously know what you're talking about. To my knowledge, there has been no gold found in this area. Although it is private land and the ground has never been tested for gold, and therefore there have never been any attempts to find gold. There is a major brook and river that runs nearby, about 300 metres west of the area I took the material from.

 

[Audigger123]

I wouldn't brother to have it tested, it's not big enough, if acid is used to test it it will most likely eat the gold to nothing, you can do a simple test yourself, get one of the pieces out and place it on a hard surface, preferably a heavy metal surface and try to flatten it out with a hammer, if it flattens out and doesn't shatter/crumble into pieces, I would say you have found your first gold!!

If it shatters, it most likely fool's gold/pyrite

Alright, I've heard of this test before. I'll give it a try and get back to you! If you have any other input until then it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help up to this point.

 

[AU Seeker]

Can you tells us in general where this is without giving away your exact location, state and part of that state?

I'm aware of where gold has been found in most of the USA, so I maybe can add to your knowledge of your area.

Edit: be careful with the hammer, you shouldn't have to hit the piece very hard and you may lose it if it stick to the hammer, go slow and keep your eye on the piece.

 

[Audigger123]

Can you tells us in general where this is without giving away your exact location, state and part of that state?

I'm aware of where gold has been found in most of the USA, so I maybe can add to your knowledge of your area.

Edit: be careful with the hammer, you shouldn't have to hit the piece very hard and you may lose it if it stick to the hammer, go slow and keep your eye on the piece.

That would be a great help, but I am actually located in Eastern Canada. You wouldn't happen to have any information on Eastern Canada would you?

 

[AU Seeker]

I have a little knowledge on locations of gold found in Canada and I have friends that know much more about gold locations in Canada, but most areas of Canada could have gold moved there from original gold bearing locations by glaciers.

 

[huntsman53]

Looks like Gold to me! I hope that the flattening test proves it is Gold.

Just because there is no information of Gold finds, does not mean that Gold is not there. Basically all of Central East Tennessee West of the Appalachian Mountain Chain is known well for no Gold. However, a few years ago, a friend of mine did a sampling in a local creek in the area and found a few flakes of Gold. It was deep but no less was still there. Just about anywhere in the North America where Glaciers traveled South across Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, they left Placer Gold behind. For some areas, there is quite a bit of Placer Gold while in other areas, there is very little but again, it is still there. I have no idea in what Country or region you found the Gold, so there is no way to know whether this is just Placer Gold moved to the location or whether it is Placer Gold from local or nearby deposits (veins). Do some research about Gold found locally or nearby and maybe you will have the answer to what you want to know(!), and that is whether there is viable Gold deposits or Placer Gold for you to explore(?)..

Good luck!


Frank

Sorry, you were posting while I was still typing and I did not know your location!

 

[Audigger123]

I have a little knowledge on locations of gold found in Canada and I have friends that know much more about gold locations in Canada, but most areas of Canada could have gold moved there from original gold bearing locations by glaciers.

Interesting... thanks for all of your help. If you have anything else that might help please feel free to let me know. Thanks again for all your help AU Seeker.

 

[Audigger123]

Looks like Gold to me! I hope that the flattening test proves it is Gold.

Just because there is no information of Gold finds, does not mean that Gold is not there. Basically all of Central East Tennessee West of the Appalachian Mountain Chain is known well for no Gold. However, a few years ago, a friend of mine did a sampling in a local creek in the area and found a few flakes of Gold. It was deep but no less was still there. Just about anywhere in the North America where Glaciers traveled South across Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, they left Placer Gold behind. For some areas, there is quite a bit of Placer Gold while in other areas, there is very little but again, it is still there. I have no idea in what Country or region you found the Gold, so there is no way to know whether this is just Placer Gold moved to the location or whether it is Placer Gold from local or nearby deposits (veins). Do some research about Gold found locally or nearby and maybe you will have the answer to what you want to know(!), and that is whether there is viable Gold deposits or Placer Gold for you to explore(?)..

Good luck!


Frank

Sorry, you were posting while I was still typing and I did not know your location!

That's quite inspiring to hope for the best! There isn't a lot of information available on the area unfortunately, and because of the low population it hasn't been explored much. Thanks for the input, I value your knowledge. If there is anything else that you think may help me, or if you have any more questions, please post them here. Thanks again!

 

[Hot zone]

To answer your question, Both,