New to prospecting

Hey guys

New to prospecting but having some fun. Found this rock with quartz and limestone and a few small yellow shades. Would like to know someone's opinion on the colours. Thanks a lot!

Nick

There's gold in there, not sure if it would be worth more as a specimen or crush and pan it
Welcome to the forum, wait for another response before you crush it

NICE & welcome, keep that location to yourself. Research SG (specific gravity) methods with the size of specimen in mind. I'm not the person to ask " how to" still learning and haven't done a test yet myself. Interested to hear what comes of though, good luck

G,day nick
I hate to rain on your Parade but I think the yellowish Crystals you can see in the second pic are iron or copper pyrites. However that doesn't mean that there is no gold in that rock, as pyrites is a good indicator that the conditions for gold deposition were favorable. So by all means crush it down to dust and pan off until you are left with a tablespoon of concentrates, then if gold is not immediately obvious check the fines with a magnifying glass.

I'm definitely going to Spec Savers, if that's iron or copper pyrite. Nick what magnification are those images & what size is the specimen. I know I struggle with my eye sight at times of late but I never thought they could be that bad :lol:

Might be my eyesight RMO I looked at it last night and thought I could see crystal faces on the yellow mineral. Had another look this morning and now Im more inclined to say it looks like gold. Have you done an acid or scratch test on one of the crystals. if its gold no single acid will touch it. With the scratch test gold is soft and the shaving will be same colour as gold you shaved it off. If pyrites it will be difficult to scratch and brittle and will powder.

Thanks guys!

I actually crushed it up and tried to pan it with absolutely no technique so the rock is pretty much gone. Dosnt matter tho there's plenty more rocks where that came from. Hopefully I'm on the right track tho. It's only early days!

Thanks again for your comments.

Nick

Yeah But was there any gold in the bottom of the pan??

Looks like the real thing to me .Dig a piece out and hit it with a hammer .If it flattens its gold .If it shatters its pirate

Old Fred said:

Looks like the real thing to me .Dig a piece out and hit it with a hammer .If it flattens its gold .If it shatters its pirate

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Yep sure looks like gold to me too, still shiney even though not in the sun. Well done Nick, suggest you take a bit to geologist or someone local who can tell you if it is before crushing/panning with bad technique so you dont lose anymore.