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Gold Prospecting
Metal Detecting for Gold
Specific Gravity test help - Gold and quartz
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<blockquote data-quote="Hawkear" data-source="post: 647386" data-attributes="member: 4728"><p>Of course all the methods used to calculate gold content use assumed SG values for quartz around 2.60 -2.65 depending on what reference you use, and even the assumed of 19.3 for gold can be different depending on the alloy content.</p><p>As Goldtalk Leonora and goldierocks suggest quartz is often not pure, although many of the specis I've found in Victoria are often in pure white quartz or close to that. I have also found many specis in highly coloured quartz and in other mineralised quartzy matrices. </p><p>If you have any doubts that the quartz in your speci is not close to its standard SG, just look around for a similar looking piece of quartz (without gold) laying nearby as a reference piece and do a simple SG measurement on it while you have your gear set up. </p><p>The SG for quartz you would use in the formula is just the reference piece's dry weight divided by it's wet weight.</p><p>I know some have said "who cares about calculating just smash it and weigh the gold" or "just sell it as a speci for a premium price" but some of us do really want to know.</p><p>The wife and I have kept a couple of nice specis as prized pieces for show and tell and the first question we get asked is "How much gold is there in it?. </p><p>We do not like to be put in a position of having to guess.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hawkear, post: 647386, member: 4728"] Of course all the methods used to calculate gold content use assumed SG values for quartz around 2.60 -2.65 depending on what reference you use, and even the assumed of 19.3 for gold can be different depending on the alloy content. As Goldtalk Leonora and goldierocks suggest quartz is often not pure, although many of the specis I've found in Victoria are often in pure white quartz or close to that. I have also found many specis in highly coloured quartz and in other mineralised quartzy matrices. If you have any doubts that the quartz in your speci is not close to its standard SG, just look around for a similar looking piece of quartz (without gold) laying nearby as a reference piece and do a simple SG measurement on it while you have your gear set up. The SG for quartz you would use in the formula is just the reference piece's dry weight divided by it's wet weight. I know some have said "who cares about calculating just smash it and weigh the gold" or "just sell it as a speci for a premium price" but some of us do really want to know. The wife and I have kept a couple of nice specis as prized pieces for show and tell and the first question we get asked is "How much gold is there in it?. We do not like to be put in a position of having to guess. [/QUOTE]
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Gold Prospecting
Metal Detecting for Gold
Specific Gravity test help - Gold and quartz
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