New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

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Gold and mercury?

5AMP		Posted : Tuesday, 5 February 2013 1:09:43 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 3/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 57 Location: wellington Thanks: 105 times Was thanked: 16 time(s) in 11 post(s)		i found a flake of metal which is a dull grey silver in lower light conditions but in bright sunlight appears gold. Where the edges are rubbed they are bright gold. It also has what appears to be a smaller gold flake stuck to it. I am guessing that it is a flake of gold with a very thin film of mercury which attracted the other piece of gold.I have put another flake from the same location alongside to show what clearly is gold.Photos not much good so the colour contrast between the two might not be clear. Can anyone tell me whether the larger flake is likely to be gold? File Attachment(s): IMG_0804.JPG IMG_0779.JPG

NUGGY		Posted : Tuesday, 5 February 2013 1:17:34 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 20/07/2012(UTC) Posts: 267 Location: greymouth Thanks: 85 times Was thanked: 76 time(s) in 58 post(s)		Yep, looks like gold to me - it's a bit out of focus n fuzzy though, so it's not a 100% definitive yep. NUGGY

simon		Posted : Tuesday, 5 February 2013 3:40:06 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 7/01/2011(UTC) Posts: 789 Location: Central Otago Thanks: 33 times Was thanked: 239 time(s) in 150 post(s)		wow, that could bring a new record for this forum for fuzziness. as a photographer i can offer anyone one tip for photographing small objects like gold. firstly read your cameras instructions. they will state the minimum distance your camera will focus on anything. photograph the gold from no closer than this. as digital cameras have so many megapixels the trick is to crop down to the size of your object after shooting it. hopefully then no more blur. from these pics i would say from the shape both are gold. you will often find gold where bits and pieces have stuck together from the smashing of rocks on them in the river. so all the little bits that wash down reform into bigger bits, hopefully nuggets or decent sized flake.
		WWW

5AMP		Posted : Tuesday, 5 February 2013 4:32:56 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Nugget Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 3/11/2011(UTC) Posts: 57 Location: wellington Thanks: 105 times Was thanked: 16 time(s) in 11 post(s)		Thanks Simon-will try that-quite hard to keep the camera steady too.I do appreciate what you said-I had thought pieces of gold would not fuse together-tried it with a small blow torch and it was nearly impossible so assumed something else was causing it to stick together.Interesting to learn otherwise.

oroplata		Posted : Tuesday, 5 February 2013 4:48:11 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 16/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,040 Location: Christchurch Thanks: 23 times Was thanked: 211 time(s) in 152 post(s)		Look for the "macro" setting on the camera - switch that on for doing close-up photos. Most cameras use an icon of a flower to signify macro or "close-up" mode.
		WWW

Lammerlaw		Posted : Tuesday, 5 February 2013 5:41:43 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 24/05/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 72 times Was thanked: 579 time(s) in 396 post(s)		Could well be gold but it is impossible to give a definitive answer without seeing it and testing it - What is its weight? My son found a 'nugget' that looked as though it was gold except its colour was marginally to light and its weight was much too light - we decided that it was a 'nugget' of Aluminium from a construction site further up the river which had been beaten and mangled by its journey down stream until it had assumed a nice nugget shape. Take it to a jeweller and they will test it and tell you if it is a nugget of gold...hopefully it will be.