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Gold Prospecting
Alluvial Gold Prospecting
Do you see good colour in this quartz
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<blockquote data-quote="user 4386" data-source="post: 493707" data-attributes="member: 4386"><p>I'm a bit unsure. If you have a hand lens and steel needle (hardness 6 to 6.5) and there is a big enough speck, you can determine it without destroying your specimens. Gold has a hardness of 2.5-3 which is very soft and it can be easily scratched with a needle. The scratch mark will look golden. If it is pyrite you will get a greenish black powder when you scratch it - it will scratch but with difficulty or not at all because it is hardness 6 to 6.5 (c.f. gold that cuts like cheese). Chalcopyrite is hardness 3.5-4 so scratches reasonably easily, but gives a greeny-black powder colour. There are not a lot of other common metallic minerals that colour and so soft.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="user 4386, post: 493707, member: 4386"] I'm a bit unsure. If you have a hand lens and steel needle (hardness 6 to 6.5) and there is a big enough speck, you can determine it without destroying your specimens. Gold has a hardness of 2.5-3 which is very soft and it can be easily scratched with a needle. The scratch mark will look golden. If it is pyrite you will get a greenish black powder when you scratch it - it will scratch but with difficulty or not at all because it is hardness 6 to 6.5 (c.f. gold that cuts like cheese). Chalcopyrite is hardness 3.5-4 so scratches reasonably easily, but gives a greeny-black powder colour. There are not a lot of other common metallic minerals that colour and so soft. [/QUOTE]
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Gold Prospecting
Alluvial Gold Prospecting
Do you see good colour in this quartz
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