Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 3: Do the Analysis at Home
• Method 2 of 3: Grind the quartz and rinse it in the tray
• Method 3 of 3: Look for Quartz with Gold in Nature
• What do you need
• Analysis at home
• Grinding and pan rinsing
• Search for quartz with gold in nature

Real gold is a very rare and valuable metal. For this reason, the discovery of large pieces of gold in nature is something unprecedented. Small pieces of gold can be found in minerals like quartz! If you want to know if a piece of quartz contains gold, do one of the home tests before taking the stone to an assayer, who will determine what is in the quartz and how much it costs.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Do the Analysis at Home

1. 1 Compare the weight of several pieces of quartz. Real gold weighs quite a lot. If you have a piece of quartz with particles that might be gold, weigh it and compare to the weight of a similar piece of quartz. If quartz with gold particles weighs several grams more than about the same piece of quartz, then it may indeed contain gold.
   • Real gold weighs about 1.5 times more than "fool's gold", also known as "iron pyrite".
   • Fool's gold and other minerals that are similar to gold will not display the difference in weight between identical pieces of quartz. Moreover, if the gold is not real, a piece with gold particles inside may even be lighter than another piece of quartz.
2. 2 Test with a magnet. Iron pyrite, or, as it is also called, the gold of fools, is attracted by a magnet, while real gold is not. Hold a strong magnet near the gold particles in a piece of quartz. If the stone sticks to the magnet, then it is iron pyrite, not gold.
   • Refrigerator magnets may not be strong enough for this test. Buy a stronger magnet or rare earth magnet from a hardware store.
3. 3 Try scratching a piece of glass with gold. Real gold will not scratch glass, which is not the case with other minerals that look like gold. If a piece of quartz has a gold corner or edge, try running it over the piece of glass. If there are scratches on the glass, then it is not gold.
   • Any piece of broken mirror or glass can be used for this test.The main thing is that you do not mind scratching it.
4. 4 Scratch a piece of unglazed pottery with gold. Real gold will leave a golden streak on the surface of unglazed stoneware (for example, on the back of a bathroom tile). On the same piece of pottery, iron pyrite will leave behind a greenish-black streak.
   • For this test, you can use tiles in the bathroom or kitchen and scratch the back of the tile. Most of the pottery is glazed, so you cannot detect real gold with it.
5. 5 Do an acid test with vinegar. If you don't mind spoiling the quartz, do an acid test to see if it contains gold. Place a piece of quartz in a glass jar and pour vinegar into it so that it completely covers the quartz. The acid in vinegar will dissolve the quartz crystals in a few hours, leaving behind only particles of quartz with gold.
   • The acid will not harm real gold, but other similar materials will dissolve or change in some way.
   • For these purposes, you can use a stronger acid, which will act faster, but to work with it you will have to be more careful and take precautions. Vinegar is a safe acid that can be used at home.

Method 2 of 3: Grind the quartz and rinse it in the tray

1. 1 Take a steel or cast iron mortar and pestle. It is best to crush stones with a mortar and pestle at home, without using professional equipment. Make sure they are made of a harder material than crushed quartz and gold, such as steel or cast iron.
   • The grinding and washing method will destroy the quartz lump. Before starting this method, make sure that you are not averse to destroying the quartz.
2. 2 Crush the quartz into a fine powder. Place a piece of quartz in a mortar. Press down firmly with a pestle until the quartz begins to crumble. Continue crushing the smaller pieces until the quartz and gold dust is in the mortar.
   • If you break off pieces that are only quartz, set them aside and focus on the pieces with gold particles.
3. 3 Take a gold rinsing tray and submerge the powder in water. In the store, trays for washing gold can be bought for about 1000 rubles or more, but on the Internet they are cheaper. Pour the crushed powder into a large bowl and add water to it. Then dip the tray in water and try to grab as much of the powder as possible.
4. 4 Rinse the powder in the tray until you separate the gold particles. Rinse the powder in the tray in a circular motion. Since real gold is heavier, it will settle at the bottom of the tray. Lighter quartz particles will rise to the surface.
   • Transfer the water containing the lighter quartz powder to another container by tilting the rinsing tray to discard.
   • You may need to repeat this step several times to get all the gold to settle at the bottom, so be patient!
   • If the gold dust does not settle at the bottom, but rises to the surface along with other particles of quartz, then this is not real gold.
5. 5 Remove the gold particles with tweezers and put them in a glass bottle. After rinsing the powder, gold particles and flakes will lie at the bottom of the tray. Take them out with tweezers and put them in a glass vial, so that you can then take them to an assayer and determine their value.
   • If there are other black sand particles along with the gold dust at the bottom of the tray, take a strong magnet and separate them from the gold before putting it into the bottle.

Method 3 of 3: Look for Quartz with Gold in Nature

1. 1 Look in places where gold and quartz occur naturally. Gold is usually found upstream where it has been washed or washed in the past. Such areas include places where volcanic hydrothermal activity has occurred, and near old gold mines. Quartz veins are often formed in places where the ground has been fragmented by tectonic and volcanic activity.
   • Gold was mined in parts of the west coast of the United States and in the Rocky Mountains, Australia, South America and Central Europe.
2. 2 Look for natural cracks and streaks of quartzite. Gold is often found along natural linear structures of quartzite or in its cracks and veins. Gold is easier to detect in white quartz, although it can also be found in yellow, pink, purple, gray and black.
   • If you find quartz with gold in nature, take a geological hammer or sledgehammer to break up the quartz and rocks that might contain gold.
   • If the land has an owner, obtain permission from him to remove stones from his property.
3. 3 Use a metal detector if you have one. Large chunks of gold will emit a strong signal on the metal detector. However, besides gold, a positive metal detector signal can also indicate the presence of other metals. It is worth noting that if some kind of metal was found in quartz, then gold may also be among it.
   • Some metal detectors have settings for finding gold, so if you are looking to buy a metal detector to search for gold, try to find a device with this feature.

What do you need

Analysis at home

• scales
• Piece of glass
• Piece of unglazed ceramic
• Magnet
• Vinegar and glass jar

Grinding and pan rinsing

• Steel or cast iron mortar and pestle
• Gold rinsing tray
• Bowl or tub of water

Search for quartz with gold in nature

• Local map
• Metal detector
• Written permission from the landowner