tomleft Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Hi i found this near Pierce Arizona as a kid. Is this gold ore?? It weighs about a pound. Any info would be sweet !!! thanks,Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Looks like some type of sulphide mineral. Have you done a streak test on it? http://geology.com/minerals/streak-test.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomleft Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 no i have not. i didnt know of such a procedure..It is so heavy for such a small rock... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 (edited) You can use the unglazed bottom part of the lid on the toilet water container (or tank) for a streak plate. Edited June 20, 2017 by Morlock 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Sulphide minerals are heavy and that's what I think you have. Let us know the color of the streak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomleft Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 hi good idea !! it is a black streak.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertpilot Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 (edited) Looks like chalcopyrite, looks like its from middle march or abriel mine? Nice looking rock though. Edited June 20, 2017 by Desertpilot 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 It does look like chalcopyrite but until someone with mineralogical identification experience has it in their hands, it's not a certainty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertpilot Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Hey Tomleft, Your on the right track. I spend allot of time in and around the dragoons. The key to finding the gold is finding copper deposits like the middle march, black diamond or abriel. Then work the hemitite associated with the deposit. I have found that the gold runs in hemitite just like bisbee. Keep at it, I've pulled some good gold out of the dragoons. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomleft Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 is it real gold any idea of value? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertpilot Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 In your rock the gold is locked up in sulphides. You would have to crush and burn off the sulfides to recover the small ammount of gold in the complex ore. Your better off keeping it like it is, it's a nice looking rock. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomleft Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 so the gold showing is not actually gold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertpilot Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 It's a complex ore that has a little bit of gold but is mostly copper sulphides. If you can get in the oxide part of the deposit higher up the chance of finding visible gold increases. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 (edited) If there is gold in the rock, then it would be "GOLD ORE" The odds that some random rock you picked up has gold in it, is like .002% That area however, does have some nice mineral specimens. Edited June 20, 2017 by adam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertpilot Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 (edited) Adam is right with the tiny amount of gold thats in the rock it would make it gold ore. Morlock here is some similar looking chalcopyrite I've collected in the Pearce area. Tomleft here is a example of gold in hematite I found in the dragoons. You can see its from a oxide deposit with some copper oxide staining. If you look close enough you can tiny see gold flakes in the hematite (sorry not so great zoom) The rock was on the surface and the associated wash was a awesome spot to drywash. Another example of gold ore and another surface find from some mountains near by. So if you can find some similar colored quartz I'd slow down and do some sampling, Ive done pretty well chasing this stuff. Here is what it looks like in the wild. Like I said your on the right track. Edited June 20, 2017 by Desertpilot 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisski Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 If you're willing to part with it, you can crush a piece and pan it. I don't believe it's free gold. If it had that much, it would make a metal detector sing. I do not know enough about sulphides to comment. If it were a telluride, again unlikely, you could extract the gold through a chemical process, but you'd have to have a quite a bit to make it worth it. Could be worth it to return to the same area to see if you could find another sample if you're attached to that rock. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boorx4 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Hey Tomlift, Exactly what the other members surmised, you have a specimen of chalcopyrite. The main mineral of copper ore here in southern Az. Even though pyrite is the main mineral that is called fools gold, chalcopyrite is a close second. The dead give away is the reflective crystal faces on the specimen. If you look on the next to last photo you will see that the gold is non-reflective and has a firm gold coloring through out its face no matter which way you turn it in the sun. Keep looking and someday you will find a good one. Bob 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homefire Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 All Pyrites are Brittle and Crunchy. Try to scratch it with a pin or knife and little crumbs flake off. NO SCRATCH. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortuga Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Great pics Kevin! I love the Dragoon Mountains and Pearce. Been camping out there since I was a kid. Need to get out there and prospect there one of these days. One of the old journals said there was placer gold around Pearce Hill/Commonwealth Mine but that whole area is claimed up and was for sale for about 12 million $$ I think the last time I checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertpilot Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Tortuga most of the large copper deposits, (middlemarch, black diamond, Gleason, an Pearce areas are very similar to the Bisbee deposits. The gold runs in limonite and hematite associated with the deposits. Sometimes the limonite and hematite punch the surface well before the copper minerals do. The places I've done well dry washing have been on the edges of the copper deposits. It's all been small fines and pickers though nothing detectable. But it's still gold. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomleft Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 Thanks for the help and great pictures !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyy Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Yes, great picks of the gold, Desert Pilot. Perfect examples. I tend to collect different types of rocks that are indicators of gold and take a few home so I can put it in my front yard as a reminder what to keep an eye out for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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