New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

wow. can't tell much from that photo.

i'm just about to head out there to show nuggethead the ropes so if you're reading this in time we will be there for a bit this morning.

i'm guessing what you found may well indeed be fool's gold.

gold is not usually found be scraping it off a rock out there.

what i do know is that there are many shiny rocks out on that beach. the wet ones do very much give the impression of gold.

i once found a massive quartz boulder out there with a rusty spot on it and what looked liked gold. jack hammered it open and found it to be crystals of what is known as fools gold, or iron pyrite. this is a dull yellow colour.

good luck in the hunt.

It is not a very good photo - in fact it is as clear as mud...even if you did get a photo on here then the closest one can get is to say that it does or does not look like gold or it is a high probability that it is gold.

Gold can be 'painted' onto the face of a rock - I have seen gold like this from the Morning Star Mine in Fiordland. Generally though the gold will be 'stuck in' the rock and the part showing will project above the level of the rock - all that might need to be determined however under a stereo microscope.

Some of the simple tests are to scratch it with a needle - if dust flakes off it then it wont be gold - Biotite mica (Also called Gold mica) if in thin plates or sheets, Iron Pyrites or even Copper Pyrites. The latter two has a distinctive colour and to the experienced eye not really at all like 95% of gold - the other five percent of gold might have an oxidized discolouration but betrays its true identity when scratched as the gold underneath clearly shows with its characteristic golden glimmer.
If still in doubt then clean it thoroughly and place a tiny bit of mercury onto it - if it becomes silver then the mercury has adherred to it and a great indication its gold - even if its now a silver colour! Oops bother now how do I get the mercury off it! As a kid I tried this with a coin that was supposed to be gold - it was - by the time I had finished it was a silver (Mercury) plated gold coin - on went the hot plate and when it was red hot on went the coin! When I finally sold the coin it was not quite the same as it was when I first got it.

I do not think you willhave gold but it is a nice thought...and until you are told otherwise keep it just in case.