Fools gold or real gold

[fossilfinder1977]

Hi everyone, I need a little advice. I'm a fossil and rock collector. I recently found a petrified whale or sea animal head lodged under a tree sticking out of the mud of a hill. While trying to knock it lose from the tree a chunk broke off releasing a golden ore all over the ground. I finally got it home and discovered the inside was caked in a golden ore. So I have buckets of petrified mineral containing quartz, a black metallic substance and lots of gold. Of course the first assumption by anyone is pyrite. Which ok some I'm sure is pyrite. But not all of it has the same characteristics . Some is flakey ( keep in mind it's melted over top of sandy minerals that crumble easy so of course it will flake off.) Some is thick and peels like wet paper. I put chunks of the main rock side a wood burning stove loaded with fire and red hot coals. All it did was burn off some of the minerals but the gold mineral remained golden and untouched by the heat. I have pounds of this stuff. I can't accept it's all just fake gold. Any advice?

 

[davsgold]

gold melts at around 1064deg C if you don't get a blob of gold in something your using to melt at these temps then it is NOT gold

"Can you melt pyrite?


Pyrite doesn't melt. When heated, it gives off part of its sulphur and turns into pyrrhotite. Further heating, with plenty of air, will cause it to burn, leaving iron oxide ("rust"). And heating destroys calcite too."

 

[The geezer]

if you heat it on the gas stove in a spoon and it doesn’t go to black crumbly dust I would get excited

 

[Moneybox]

Hi everyone, I need a little advice. I'm a fossil and rock collector. I recently found a petrified whale or sea animal head lodged under a tree sticking out of the mud of a hill. While trying to knock it lose from the tree a chunk broke off releasing a golden ore all over the ground. I finally got it home and discovered the inside was caked in a golden ore. So I have buckets of petrified mineral containing quartz, a black metallic substance and lots of gold. Of course the first assumption by anyone is pyrite. Which ok some I'm sure is pyrite. But not all of it has the same characteristics . Some is flakey ( keep in mind it's melted over top of sandy minerals that crumble easy so of course it will flake off.) Some is thick and peels like wet paper. I put chunks of the main rock side a wood burning stove loaded with fire and red hot coals. All it did was burn off some of the minerals but the gold mineral remained golden and untouched by the heat. I have pounds of this stuff. I can't accept it's all just fake gold. Any advice?

We all like photos.....

 

[grubstake]

Hi everyone, I need a little advice. I'm a fossil and rock collector. I recently found a petrified whale or sea animal head lodged under a tree sticking out of the mud of a hill. While trying to knock it lose from the tree a chunk broke off releasing a golden ore all over the ground. I finally got it home and discovered the inside was caked in a golden ore. So I have buckets of petrified mineral containing quartz, a black metallic substance and lots of gold. Of course the first assumption by anyone is pyrite. Which ok some I'm sure is pyrite. But not all of it has the same characteristics . Some is flakey ( keep in mind it's melted over top of sandy minerals that crumble easy so of course it will flake off.) Some is thick and peels like wet paper. I put chunks of the main rock side a wood burning stove loaded with fire and red hot coals. All it did was burn off some of the minerals but the gold mineral remained golden and untouched by the heat. I have pounds of this stuff. I can't accept it's all just fake gold. Any advice?

I have to say that your whole story sounds somewhat unlikely to me, however as wood burns at around 1,100°F, but gold doesn't melt until 1,943°F, if this substance is in fact gold, you aren't even close to melting it, so "untouched by the heat" is a good result.

Here in Australia, some jewellers and pawn shops have an XRF gun, a hand-held device that uses X-rays to instantly determine/verify the actual composition of supposed precious metals. If you can locate one such in your locality and they're prepared to help, you can skip any other tests and know immdiately whether your golden ore is in fact the real deal. Good luck!

 

[Greg_wilson]

If it was a petrified or fossilized skull of some sea creature, shame something that could have been of historic significance was destroyed

 

[XLOOX]

sounds like it could be mica but if you have "pounds of the stuff" that light be gold then then you have more than enough to do a density test & more than enough to afford an XRF

 

[davsgold]

you would at least think the person being the first post and asking a question would at least acknowledge the peoples replies, and this is why most people will call their question rubbish and not bother to reply