suspected gold specimens...

about 5 months ago i was out with my family and a few rellies. after 3 days i had found alot of quartz with what looked like gold rivered throughout it i took a few pieces of the quartz and cracked them to which i believe i found gold the only thing is i cant be 100% sure its gold and not just some other mineral that had leached into the area. i understand that the quartz must be refined to get what gold there is out of it but i am at a loss to where in victoria i would get that done or if i should take a few pieces and ask at the shop in balarat... its a fair amount of gold coloured material that i have kept and the detector we had used gives a faint signal if anyone has experience with quartz specimens and has any helpful information id greatly appreciate it. ill try to upload pictures as soon as i find my digital camera.

Are they specks or seams running thru it, if there specks dolly it, ive made a few dolly pots at work, i get some steal plate 5 mm or 10 mm and weld various size round tubes to the base, get a solid bar, and smash it to dust, then stick it in a pan and wash it, if its in seams running thru the quartz and is visable leave as is, it will be worth something, after you crush it you should know if it is gold or not, it should be, but you do get silver looking stuff in quartz and slate, that could be mistaken for small particals of gold at first.

Gday


The gold coloured material through the quartz could be pyrites, its usually more silvery looking than gold and has a flakey appearance, the fact that the detector does not make a significant signal when passed over it makes me think that this is the case.

Usually if there is enough gold through a specimen to be seen with the naked eye you would be more likely to get a signal from it with your detector.

What you can do for a simple test is to select a piece that has a fair amount of the material near the surface, get a sharp stainless steel knife, pen knife or similar and give the area a bit of a scrape, if the material flattens out, seems soft and still sticks to the quartz then it is gold, if it flakes off and comes away from the quartz then it is pyrites.

You could always put a small sample in some acid, like Hydrochloric and leave it for a bit, if its gold the acid wont touch it if its pyrites it will change colour and then disappear.

Either way it is possible that there is both gold and pyrites in the specimen so you could crush it (dolly it) and then pan it off, the pyrite flakes will be pulverised and float away, and the gold will remain in the pan and form a tail as you pan it off.

Gold particles in quartz can be so small that they cant be seen with the naked eye, so that is why a specimen is taken and dollied up so that it can be panned and checked, some of this very fine gold will remain in the pan and appear very fine and mustard like, when panning a sample its always good to add a small amount of dish washing liquid to the water as this stops the really fine gold particles from floating on the surface of the water and being washed out of the pan.

You can send your specimens to someone like P W Becks in SA, they will assay them but it will cost you , so you probably want to be certain that there is gold in them first.

cheers

stayyerAU

Most experienced prospectors will be able to tell you if its gold or Pyrites. There are also pictures in the Gold Prospecting Book by Doug Stone. Also have a look on the internet on Gold Specimens, it may give you pictures. Our gallery also shows many pics of gold

Seeing as you are in Swan Hill if you come down to Maryborough, drop into Coiltek and they will help as well.

Jeff

hey guys thanks for your replies. the specimens have full coating on some of the smaller pieces and lines going throughout some of the larger pieces. i tried scraping one side of the piece it took small chunks off the specimen. ill try find my digital camera this arvo and upload a picture of the specimens.