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You are here: Home / Finding gold / How to find gold, using a few common placer gold rocks and minerals

How to find gold, using a few common placer gold rocks and minerals

02/09/2012 by Prospector Jess 30 Comments

Know how to find gold easily by watching out for just a handful of gold related rocks and minerals:

Gold (fools gold) pyrite

Where you’re hunting for gold; rocks and minerals are one of the most important things you can look at to find gold location clues. Out of the billions of combinations of rock and mineral types, there are only a handful of gold deposit minerals that you really need to keep an eye out for. That way you learn more about how to find gold.

In this video post I’ll start you with an understanding of rock types then you’ll zero in on the specific set of rocks and minerals commonly found with gold.

Fool’s gold – chalco pyrite (Cu-Fe-S) *

View the full gold prospecting video at this link when you’re done reading:

How to find gold using rocks and minerals – Part 2 of 2:

Primarily what you’re looking for are heavy-mafic (magnesium-ferric type) minerals and they’re one of the key things we can use as a pinpoint of how to find gold. They typically are dark-colored and oftentimes have black to red tinges. Exceptions to this include some types of silica (quartzite) and the sulphides (pyrites or fool’s gold) which believe it or not ” fool’s gold”, or chalco pyrite is often associated with gold and so it will still give you a gold tracer clue.

Mark Twain quoted from Shakespeare when he said “All that glitters is not gold”, in reality all that glitters is typically not gold (glittering minerals are usually pyrite or mica – these are easy to test with the edge of a knife, because both these minerals are brittle and gold is not.) But even if it’s not gold it is useful to you as a gold prospector and are seeking methods of how to find gold placer deposits…

Even fool’s gold (copper-iron pyrites) give you one more gold tracer clue to help you find where gold is. That tracer is often concentrated with gold in placer deposits. Oftentimes you see iron, magnetite (black cubes), lead and pyrite in gold-bearing placers. This is because it’s a heavier than average mineral containing iron and sulfides.

Fool’s gold consists of even heavier stuff, copper iron sulfides. These are chalco-pyrites, this pyrite may look yellow gold to an oxidized rainbow metallic in color.  Other minerals often found with this copper-iron-sulphide include a carbonate called malachite, a beautiful semi precious green stone. None of these are gold and yet they are all part of knowing how to find gold deposits quickly.

Pyrites can have trace concentrations of gold in them, so if you find significant amounts of pyrites, it may be worth your time and money to have those samples tested.  Particularly if you find them in a larger lode deposit or one that hasn’t been tested.

Meanwhile, put that ore sample aside for now, since you’re looking for how to find gold placer deposits to start with. Since pyrites and gold are often from related deposits, pyrites form some of the best gold tracers in the creek bed.

Take a look at this short video post, it shows you more about gold and its tracers, other rocks and minerals associated with gold, especially dark red-black-blue stained tertiary quartzite.

The great blue lead was one of these gold deposits.   Question for you:  Do you ever dream of how to find gold, lots of gold,  by spotting one of these massive rich blue gold leads?
Come on, let’s hear your gold stories…

Good Prospecting

Prospector Jess

P.S. Here’s the how to find gold minerals video link again.

* Note: Image CC attribution: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com  i Rocks is not really about how to find gold, but it is a great site for it’s pictures of rocks and minerals. Worth referencing.

Filed Under: Finding gold, Gold geology, How to find gold Tagged With: Gold geology, Gold prospecting, gold rocks and minerals, How to find gold

About Prospector Jess (PJ)

Prospector Jess is a Gold prospector and your guide to the gold prospecting adventure of a lifetime.

Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/prospectorjess

View My Blog Posts

About Prospector Jess

Prospector Jess is a Gold prospector and your guide to the gold prospecting adventure of a lifetime.

Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/prospectorjess

Comments

  1. Phil says

    09/14/2019 at 7:55 pm

    Hey I have some huge areas of fools gold not far from my house. They aren’t near water just kinda in the middle of the path we use. Where should I look for gold any tips would be great thanks

    Reply
    • Prospector Jess says

      09/21/2019 at 2:43 pm

      Look up my post about fools gold. Not all fools gold is devoid of gold. From there a closer inspection of your finds and the character will be needed.

      Reply
  2. mussa says

    10/24/2017 at 8:39 am

    I live in malawi and we have district which has alluvial gold and my question is do we still find reef gold if we dig underground

    Reply
  3. Terra Banhart says

    10/08/2017 at 5:33 pm

    Hello
    I am trying to find a buyer for quartz with gold in them any suggestions
    I have some awesome pictures.. I also found jade as far as the eye could see.
    I need the buyer if someone could lead me in the right direction
    I would appreciate it I am about 19 feet from the Sacromento RIver
    Terra

    Reply
    • Brandon says

      09/11/2019 at 12:05 pm

      Oro-Cal in Oroville.

      Reply
  4. proxy list says

    04/14/2017 at 8:32 am

    Hi there,I check your new stuff named “How to find gold, using a few common placer gold rocks and minerals – Hunting 4 Gold .com” like every week.Your story-telling style is witty, keep doing what you’re doing! And you can look our website about proxy list.

    Reply
  5. Robert says

    11/22/2016 at 5:49 pm

    I live in Vermont and there is a lot of grainet rock. In a part we live in. My ? Is. Will there be gold in that mountain. In my hiking I have found some exposed white quratz coming out on one side of the mountain. It looked like a good sign. But is it?

    Reply
  6. Remi King says

    09/01/2016 at 5:41 pm

    I bought a 2lb bag of gold concentrate from Dirt Hogg Pay Dirt. The bag contains a lot of small reddish pebbles. I called them, and they don’t know what the stones are, Can you shed some light on what they are?

    Reply
    • Erik says

      10/15/2017 at 4:25 am

      sounds like Cinnabar. It consists of mercury sulfide. it is generally very heavy and sucks when trying to separate from gold. DO NOT HEAT GOLD WITH CINNABAR, without proper fume hoods or recovery equipment. Mercury is extremely toxic.

      Reply
  7. Larry Herman says

    07/24/2015 at 11:30 pm

    Do you have a web page to sell items? I have a Keene Gold Dredge to sell. It is Ready to head for the river, just to big for my wife and I.

    Reply
    • Virgil Boomgaarn says

      04/29/2016 at 12:46 pm

      What size of dredge & how much

      Reply
    • Eric says

      12/21/2016 at 3:09 am

      How much ? Is it still there

      Reply
    • eric sussex says

      03/28/2017 at 8:04 pm

      How much u want for it

      Reply
  8. faysal says

    07/09/2015 at 8:42 pm

    How to find natural gold

    Reply
  9. warne young says

    05/23/2015 at 10:35 am

    I found a deposit of sapphire, more significant than yogo dike, in california. with crystals the size of 1,000 carats. ,also sulfide dreposit nearby with blue staing mang. Plus a quartz vein of pyrotite .I am a contruction worker but have been mining , prospecting and now wanting to full time treasure hunt, mine , and prospect. my sapphire deposit i need funding with and starting a full time company locating and developing. do you now someone or companyor way to find an angel devoper to help me get started ?

    Reply
  10. jd says

    04/09/2015 at 4:47 pm

    Im new at prospecting..i found a wide quartz vein running horizontal across a creek..The bank a few feet away has verticle quartz vein maybe 3 or 4 inches wide running the entire heigth of creek bank.I dug a piece out and it had like a zipper made of quartz crystals facing each other. Where the wide vein crosses the creek has greenrock that looks like a mixture of quartz and something mixed with it. what would you do first in my situation? Your input will be deeplly appreciated. Jd

    Reply
  11. Don Lemke says

    01/26/2015 at 9:00 am

    I have located gold on my claim. what equipment do you rec.to use

    Reply
    • Joshua Doherty says

      12/25/2015 at 11:16 am

      I’m not prospector Jess but I can help you with this, if it’s a river you may want to use a big sluice box with miners moss or a high banker sluice for big gravels. If your talking just open ground with no water source you can get a high banker that recycles the water. If you have a claim at sea, deep river or lake you need a dredge to recover your gold, a dredge should have a generater supplying power to your breathing apparatus, your water pump for your sluice box and if it’s cold then hot water also to flow through your wet suit. Good luck hope you find a fat gold nugget.

      Reply
  12. Dannyhalsey says

    12/21/2014 at 5:12 pm

    I found some black magnetic rocks is this a good indecater for gold

    Reply
  13. Mike sanders says

    12/04/2013 at 10:01 pm

    I have a small quarts rock with a little bit of pyrite on the side of it both
    The quarts and pyrite sparkle a lot. Can you please let me know if it’s valuable
    Or what it is.

    Reply
    • moneybags says

      01/25/2014 at 8:42 am

      i prospect a seasonal creek/ stream in close quarters to my residence in California
      not far off from that 25lb nugget found in 1850 buy the the Missourians not even a mile off. so on i found a little gold panning around in this creek stream bed and was uncovering a big rock and found within in it a couple quartz veins 3 of them to be exavt about 3ft long no more than 6 incses wide some much smaller could this be the natural place of the gold being deposited ive gone up and down panning trying pinpoint exactly where but it seeems to be coming from every where real fine stuff not enough to tell direction bigger gold is course and sharp not rounded much nothing is bigger than the roundess of a q tip stick
      now ive described history location i know there is gold here but why did i have a dream i uncovered a vein creavace filled with dirt sand reached in for pan materieal and felt it roll down the tip of my finger pulled my hand out and there it was my first noise maker ever but why did i see this in a dream b4 it happened

      Reply
      • sydney says

        07/04/2014 at 1:14 am

        we should go hiking in my backyard in cali! im in sandiego!

  14. Mike sanders says

    12/04/2013 at 10:00 pm

    I have a small quarts rock with a little bit of pyrite on the side of it both
    The quarts and pyrite sparkle a lot.

    Reply
  15. Alastair says

    04/28/2013 at 4:23 am

    After watching your videos, I took my dads old Minelab SD2000 and went hunting gold in the granite river beds near my house. Didn’t find any, but was the best fun I have had in ages.

    Off to the goldfields next week. Now I’m hooked!

    You’re an excellent speaker, your videos are very easy to understand, thanks!

    Reply
  16. Edg1 says

    11/21/2012 at 2:10 am

    The biggest nugget I ever found while sniping was a 1 OZ 3.5 dwt Gold and Quartz piece. It had a smaller nugget stuck to it and both were encased in rust and had adhered to a vertical wall of a swirl pool. Nothing Gold colored was visible, it just looked like a rust nodule. The area had been mined in the past with some large steel cabling involved and pieces of it remained and were in rust pockets here and there along the banks. There are many canyons to the East of Foresthill California in Placer county that are worth a full day or weekend of just looking over the obvious places. What I do is look up for long running cracks in the earth that cross the feeders to the American River. Some of these minor faults have Quartz stringers and those attract Gold.

    Reply
  17. thomas weaver says

    11/20/2012 at 9:20 pm

    i love this info and chalco pyrite is a more rich color gold than real gold .real gold is more like a rough gold/orange with a molten look to it

    Reply
    • Christi says

      10/17/2013 at 9:03 pm

      Do you know any Riley’s in Ca.?

      Reply
      • Prospector Jess says

        04/01/2014 at 6:06 pm

        No I don’t, should I?

      • Joel Stegner says

        08/20/2016 at 6:22 pm

        Y’all are lucky to live in CA. I live in PA but I still try to find gold.. Cooks Forest is great for gems and fools gold. I guess if im ever going to find some I’ll have to move. I love your videos and storys about finding cool stuff. I guess I gotta keep trying. Joel

  18. pankaj Vala says

    11/09/2012 at 8:17 pm

    nice page…

    Reply

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