Gold and quartz specimens.
Gold ore in quartz rock.
Often these gold in quartz specimens are very beautiful and interesting causing them to be highly valued by mineral collectors sometimes even more than the value of the gold itself.
This chunk of vein quartz from mariposa is typical of gold quartz material from the mother lode district of california.
How to find gold in quartz.
Normally even good rich gold ore has no gold metal which is visible to the naked eye.
Gold bearing quartz is one of the world s rarest forms of natural gold.
Gold veins often form within quartz rock and it is certainly an indicator to look for.
When quartz is found in gold bearings areas it is possible that gold will be found as well.
In epithermal gold deposits it is quite common for sizable gold veins to run through quartz rock and these specimens can be located using a quality metal detector.
Gold is most often found in quartz rock.
Gold is often found associated with the mineral quartz.
This page is dedicated to the gold that s still attached to quartz or a host rock.
This type of gold is highly desired in the mineral collecting community.
In most gold ore the gold is present in tiny specs either within minerals like pyrite or spread out free among the quartz.
It is sometimes associated with other minerals as well including iron and manganese oxides calcite pyrite and other sulfides as well.
The white color of quartz makes it easy to spot in many environments.
It nestles in the veins lines or cracks in quartz and will appear as small particles or scales.
It is not uncommon for prospectors especially those who operate.
It is found underground by hard rock miners in only a few locations in the world.
The mother lode of gold in california is a region crisscrossed by many such quartz and gold filled hydrothermal veins.
This ore shows considerable bright and visible metallic gold disbursed through the quartz vein gold ore.
Quartz may be found as small stones in river beds or in large seams in hillsides.
Most of the world s production comes from a handful of mines in northern california.
However many prospectors give more attention to quartz than it really deserves.
Quartz is the second most abundant mineral on the earth s surface and it can be found in many locations that have very little or no gold.
In some cases you may be able to see small masses of gold within quartz but much of it is invisible to the naked eye.
Finding gold in quartz rock when gold is still encased in quartz rock it is called a gold specimen.
Remember the specific gravity of quartz is 2 65 times heavier than water whereas pure gold is 19 3 times heavier than water.
One way that gold prospectors look for gold is too try and locate its source the place where to gold forms in the earth.
These are a real treat for gold prospectors and collectors as well and are often valued at a premium due to their beauty and rarity.