is this just oxidised iron?

[Newb]

hi, I found a patch of highly mineralised shist in a glacial moraine in NZ. I was wondering if this was anything other than oxidised iron... its got some interesting colours.

Sadly its a plane ride and a 25km walk to investigate further

 

[silver]

Probly a good question for goldilocks on here.

 

[XLOOX]

Hold it so that light bounces off it & it looks its most golden and shiny. Then turn it. If the golden colour fades or shininess dulls a lot then it is not gold.

What we are testing here is whats known as specular reflection - metals reflect equally in all directions but non metals might have a face that reflects well but they wont reflect well from other directions, especially face on.

 

[Goldfreak]

Uranium, Ochre or ancient fossilised mustard maybe layful:

 

[Newb]

ha... yeh I ate quite a bit of it thinking it was fossilized mustard but nope. Definately uranium

great tip on specular reflection thanks - wish I'd known that! Hopefully I'll make it back up there eventually with a metal detector