Gold with copper placer nuggets???

[David Wiseman 19]

A fellow showed me a gold placer nugget with copper showing here and there in it..said he beeped it.Swears it's a natural occurance. Looks man made to me.looks similar to gold I had years ago that was melted in a cast iron ladle without flux.Any pics of a similar looking nugget?..Now I've had quartz gold that had a fine orange powder on it and looked irredecent,like peacock ore..until I cleaned it with nitric..Any thoughts,input?

[David Wiseman 19]

Actually Jason, the fellow said it was blackish until he cleaned it with acid.This nuggett is gold but with the reddish hue of copper spots in it,here and there.Are you the Jason to whom I sold that GMT?

[bcache 1]

Hi yes, I am the same Jason, got it with me here right now actually.

Yeah that sounds a lot like my nugget, it was covered in a hard black coating till I gave it the acid treatment, and it's got a lot of red in it, some of the metal itself is "stained" red for lack of a better term, it won't come out. I found this one in the wild, just a few days ago, but in AZ.

Hi Jason,

Over the last few months I've had gold flakes and nuggets stained with rust. So much rust that some of the gold just looked like---rust.

If the stain is rust, phosphoric acid will quick like turn the rust into a soluble iron compound. Phosphoric acid is sold at Ace Hdw.

If you decide to give it a try get the liquid not the gel. This is an organic acid and is a very weak acid so not to worry about getting acid burns.

Good luck,

Bill C

[Nugget Shooter 4,614]

I have a small one that appears to have natural copper in it somewhere that came from near the Livingston Mine years ago and also I have seen a couple that appeared to have copper in them found by others at the LSD. That is why I suggested to Jason he may have a gold nugget with something else mixed in...

The LSD area also has nuggets with enough magnetite to stick to a magnet, magnetic nuggets so to speak...

Here is an example from the 16 to 1 mine...

Gold, Copper

Locality: 16 to 1 Mine, Grass Valley, Alleghany, Forest District (Alleghany; Chips Flats; Minnesota), Sierra County, California, USA (Locality at mindat.org)

Size: 4.4 x 3.9 x 3.2 cm.

The 16 to 1 mine is famous for these strangely colored gold specimens, and it turns out that the patina is in part due to a bit of copper present, and mixed in with, the gold. This is an unusual effect in nature, gold being the noble metal and notoriously difficult to get to alloy in nature. Yet, here we have it, and with a very fine color as a result, sort of a more bronzey-gold hue. From an old gold country collection purchased from a family, several years ago. Mass is 66 grams (2 troy ounces plus a bit). Of this, most of that mass, at a guess 85% or more, is gold.

[Hoser John 1,240]

God bless the 16 to 1 as some of the most stunning beauties I've ever seen have come from the expert craftsmen--the football--the eagle--the dragon--absolutely astounding quality bar none---thanx MUCH for the pic--John

[Sherri Smith 0]

I have a gold redsish nugget that weighs 18.3 grams. I have been trying to look up its value and from what i have figured it to be, because of the color, is that it is gold with copper mixed. Is it worth anything these days? And is there someone that i can trust to send it to? I would like to get the value of it for cash.. Please. Can someone help me with this?? 

[Au Seeker 3,153]

3 hours ago, Sherri Smith said:

I have a gold redsish nugget that weighs 18.3 grams. I have been trying to look up its value and from what i have figured it to be, because of the color, is that it is gold with copper mixed. Is it worth anything these days? And is there someone that i can trust to send it to? I would like to get the value of it for cash.. Please. Can someone help me with this?? 

Take it to a reputable jeweler and have them test the gold purity and they or you can estimate the gold value by the gold content and current spot price of gold..but it could be worth more to a gold collector because of it's value as a nugget.

Post a photo because we love seeing gold!!

[Sherri Smith 0]

Thank you my golden friend. I apreciate your words of wisdom about this beauty i have in front of me. If i knew how to send you a picture of it, i would show you how beautiful it is. It is redish, slight purplish, gold color. More redish gold than anything. Does that sound like a good piece??

[chrisski 846]

Perhaps if you could say where it's found, could help.  Not looking for GPS coords.  Certain areas like where I'm at in central AZ are known for the purity of the gold.  Other areas, (Nevada I think) can have native white gold or electrum, because of a lot of native silver mixed in.  Other areas have native copper nuggets, and no other native metals.

Regardless, a jeweler is a good idea.  With lack of a jeweler in your area, some pawn shops will do an XRF analysis, sometimes for a fee, sometimes free.

The way you describe it makes it sound like bismuth.  It's usually more silverfish but can be heavily the other colors you talked about.

 

[adam 3,128]

16 hours ago, Sherri Smith said:

I have a gold redsish nugget that weighs 18.3 grams.  Can someone help me with this?? 

I dont know , maybe post a picture ? 

[Ricky hartzog 0]

Hello I have found something similar here in Virginia but there isn't supposed to be gold were I've found it I've found a lot of limonite pseudomorph of pyrite and thought that is what I found until I noticed the gold in it I don't know if it is anything this isn't a good picture 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Ricky hartzog

[Morlock 1,686]

On 3/23/2020 at 1:50 PM, Ricky hartzog said:

Hello I have found something similar here in Virginia but there isn't supposed to be gold were I've found it I've found a lot of limonite pseudomorph of pyrite and thought that is what I found until I noticed the gold in it I don't know if it is anything this isn't a good picture 

You need a much better picture.