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When is a nugget a flake
Scorpio  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 4:11:42 PM(UTC)
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Hmm i thought i would just get your ideas on this... I call all small pieces of gold nuggets.. but some are more flakes but nugget seems to be the common word now... even for tiny pieces around 0.030grams, personally i just see nugget as a small piece of gold.... i would call flakes maybe the stuff that's so fine its like dust...

What do you guys think ?
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kiwikeith  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 4:37:47 PM(UTC)
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i would call a nugget something i can pick up in the fingers with a 3rd dimension
a flake would be the same but very flat

but you dont call a flake "i got a 1oz flake" its a 1oz nugget not that ive ever got one
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Scorpio  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 4:46:53 PM(UTC)
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I think of gold flakes as this stuff lol... which is more leaf gold

http://www.trademe.co.nz...er/auction-582359972.htm
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kiwikeith  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 5:50:35 PM(UTC)
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caz said it depends on who is telling the story about their finds
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goldstalker  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 6:43:46 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: Scorpio Go to Quoted Post
I think of gold flakes as this stuff lol... which is more leaf gold

http://www.trademe.co.nz...er/auction-582359972.htm


gold flakes my ass lol
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1864hatter  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 7:16:44 PM(UTC)
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Flakes left

Nuggets right.

I recon kiwikeith is on the money, if you can pick it up with your fingers and its more 3D than 2D then its a nugget.
If its 2D like the bits on the left despite some being half a grams then they are flakes. In my books anyway.
Google says Flake= A small, flat, thin piece of something.
A mate of mine recons anything over a gram is a nugget and smaller stuff being pickers and flakes and fines.
Mind you in my minds imaginings a nugget is something shiny, heavy and the size of your fist!!

Edited by user Wednesday, 17 April 2013 7:27:35 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

1864hatter attached the following image(s):
P2051280.JPG
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And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!
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Scorpio  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 7:35:23 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: 1864hatter Go to Quoted Post
Flakes top

Nuggets bottom


ahh thanks :) nice example.
but you can see there's alot of variation to what people (other than on this forum think a nugget and flake are)
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Lammerlaw  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 7:40:06 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: Scorpio Go to Quoted Post
I think of gold flakes as this stuff lol... which is more leaf gold

http://www.trademe.co.nz...er/auction-582359972.htm


That sure in hell isnt flakes - I would call that 'gold swindles' because there is probably less than ten cents worth in each vial - I have hundreds of sheets of it here and it has absolutely no weight so the gold content it negligible.

I have thought of flakes as just that 'flakes' flattened gold more or less as close to two dimensional as is possible and a nuggets as someone above said three dimensional. in my mind you can get 'microscopic nuggets' or nearly microscopic - they would be three dimensional though.
To my way of thinking it is possible therefore to get a flake that weighs heavier than a nugget - a flake that is clearly three dimensional being quite think, say one mm would be considered a flattened nugget.

Someone might think my logic is flawed buts thats OK as I dont care - as long as I get lots of gold I dont care if its flakes or nuggets.
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1864hatter  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 7:50:22 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: Lammerlaw Go to Quoted Post


Someone might think my logic is flawed buts thats OK as I dont care - as long as I get lots of gold I dont care if its flakes or nuggets.



Good one!
And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!
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bittenbythebug  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 8:09:53 PM(UTC)
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I think Tony Nolan said that nuggets are anything over 1oz and anything smaller was described as gold peices. Flakes are flakes.
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oroplata  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 8:40:35 PM(UTC)
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Quote:
Gold is the most ductile of all metals, meaning it is the most suitable for drawing into wires. Amazingly, one ounce of gold can be drawn into a wire 1250 miles long (thickness 1 micron). This means that you could make a gold wire long enough to go around the earth with just 20 ounces of gold. Using metric units, one gram of gold could be drawn to a length of 66 km.

Gold is also the most malleable of all metals, meaning it can be beaten into thinner sheets than any other metal. Gold can be beaten without any special difficulty to a thickness of 0.1 micron. A stack of one thousand sheets of 0.1 micron gold leaf is the same thickness as a typical piece of printer paper.


http://www.chemicool.com/elements/gold.html

Executive summary: Trademe "gold bullion scrap leaf" auction = rip-off.
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pc5001  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 10:44:34 PM(UTC)
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I heard from a crusty old miner once that back in the gold rush days a nugget was a piece of gold that could be tossed into the air and confidently caught, anything you were afraid to throw into the air and catch was a flake...how simple and practical is that?
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Lammerlaw  
Posted : Wednesday, 17 April 2013 11:03:55 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: pc5001 Go to Quoted Post
I heard from a crusty old miner once that back in the gold rush days a nugget was a piece of gold that could be tossed into the air and confidently caught, anything you were afraid to throw into the air and catch was a flake...how simple and practical is that?


I think that one has got serious flaws in it - what do you call it then when they are too heavy to throw into the air and IF they were dropped from something and you tried to catch them you ended up looking as though a cannon ball had gone through your head?
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rgmcbrid  
Posted : Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:33:48 AM(UTC)
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When Poohbear and I are out the discussion usually revolves around whether a particular piece of gold is big enough to be called a flake rather than a speck. But having said that, our criteria, steeped in desperation, for a 'nugget' is anything that makes a noticeable 'clonk' when it is dropped on a hard surface. We don't care what the shape is, if it has enough mass to go clonk we give it nugget status.
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