Gold vs Pyrite - Telling The Difference in The Field - Gold Mining Equipment
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Gold vs Pyrite - Telling The Difference in The Field - Gold Mining Equipment
Visit our website at highplainspros... for more blogs, videos, and great deals on metal detecting and gold prospecting supplies!
Just finishing up that decomposing granite I bought at the landscaping store. There is quite a bit of pyrite in it, but there is a little fine gold and small chunky flakes. In this film I am showing how to tell the difference between real gold and fools gold. As you can see in this video, pyrite acts different than gold in a pan.
It also has a different sheen in the sun and it is a lot more brittle than gold. It is important to remember that finding pyrite is not a bad thing. You find gold where you find black sands and iron pyrite and, like Tom Massie said in the most recent Gold Fever episode I watched, pyrite often has some very low quality gold in it (like 40% or less gold).
So, it is okay to hang onto it with your black sands. You can eventually crush it and use heat and/or chemicals to extract it. If you get enough, it might make it worth the effort to extract. I know guys with tubs of iron sands and pyrite they are keeping to process later on.
Visit us NOW at highplainspros... …We’ve got a HUGE selection of special metal detector packages that will knock your socks off at great prices. Minelab, Garrett, Fisher, White’s, Teknetics, DetectorPro, Nokta, XP and MORE! FREE GEAR on some packages! HUGE selection of metal detectors, coils and covers, mining equipment, used equipment, classifiers, dredges, sluices, drywashers, kilns and accessories. You’ve GOT to check us out right NOW!
Ask us for tips and tricks… We have learned soooo much over the years about metal detecting . We love to help!
And please, LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
Be sure to follow us on:
TWITTER- / prospectorsks
FACEBOOK- / high-plains-prospector...
TH-cam- / @highplainsprospectors
• Gold vs Pyrite - Telli...
Gold vs Pyrite - Telling The Difference in The Field - Gold Mining Equipment - highplainspros... - 888-236-6580
![[Live] : ONE FIGHT NIGHT 28 วันนี้!! "พระจันทร์ฉาย vs เอลลิส"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LfImEQqfARc/mqdefault.jpg)
Wow learnt a lot in ten minutes ! Thanks for the info . Own 200 acres with mineral rights and it’s located In Sudbury Ontario . 10 km from falcon Bridge Mine in Sudbury Ontario . City of The big Nickle . Once I sell my business I’m planning on moving back home and prospecting that land . Sell dirt , crushed rock and hope fully luck out with some gold . Tons of pyrite , creeks just shine with it and mountains . Where there pyrite there’s gold ! Cheers guys very motivating . Keep it up
Pyrite sparkles in the light, gold sheens in all directions of the light. Good video.
Grandpa way back, when I was 10 years old, showed me using gold flakes and small nuggets of gold mixed in with iron pyrite particles and small pieces of iron pyrite that a quick separation was possible by using a magnet. Iron pyrite is magnetic and gold is not. So a simple toy magnet was always handy to do a quick check of the pan.
this was an awesome video... investing lots of time in my new hobby I learned a lot. I'm just a novice, but I'm finding gold thanks to you!!!
I really like your video, it is one of the best I have seen. I am new to all this and I have been trying to learn how to tell if its real gold or pyrite. I have seen several other videos and your is by far the best. THANK YOU ! I really appreciate you taking the time to make these videos.
Dawn Bork Thank YOU and thanks for watching!
as long as you use soap in the cleanup, we've had flood gold so fine it clumps and floats in a pan on surface tension.
Good video for those who don't know the difference. Another way to tell, small pyrite will flip and flutter in the pan. One side will look gold like, the other side will be dark. The bigger chunks are a dead giveaway.
Nice information video. Thanks for sharing. Happy Prospecting folks. Also, people pay attention to what's going on behind scenes too...DHS (department of homeland security) has purchased nearly 2 BILLION rounds of ammo, Armored Tanks, and Auto Weapons of War--They are refusing to answer as to why when asked. Also has paper targets by LET INC that looked like Armed Americans. They are a Domestic Department--O's citizen army? Many retired high ranking military putting out alerts.Take care.
This reminds me of an episode of Little House on the Prairie where Laura and a friend thought they found gold in a creek. They spent their entire summer vacation panning for gold from morning till night, only to be told by the banker at the very end that they had pyrite.
Oh yeah this was sooo me, now I kinda lost the motivation
The best explanation I've seen... Excellent Job. It is a pitty I only find pyrite and mica on my region....
Your mats are a great type for trapping fine gold. So good that to really get all the gold out of them you need to let they dry completly the beat them like you would a carpet (which is what they are) over a piece of large cardboard on your garage floor, the pan what comes out. Surprising how much almost micro fine gold they will trap. Happy mining.
Yeah I am sure. I figured we would use it for several years and burn it then pan the ashes. I hear that works well too. Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching!
I'm just starting out and I had this problem because I haven't seen gold yet. Worst comes to worst I'll put the pliers and tweezers to work. Thanks for the video.
It just takes practice. Good luck!
Awesome video, thanks alot. Newer miner and have found pyrite, noticed it behaved different in the pan as well. Thanks alot!
Am working on a client's sample. Saw a bunch of sparkly golden colors that float and drift in the pan and change color depending on the light. Fire assay to follow. I do assaying.But so far the sample is showing lots of quartz, black sand and pyrites. Golden colored pyrite can be high in copper with some silver and gold.
Thank you my friend. Ive been wrestling pyrite out of the yard creek. I feel a bit foolish, but I had to try.
Thanks for the video. After watching I'm pretty sure my 13 year old nephew and I found pyrite this weekend rather than gold......bummer. Oh well, we sure had fun! And now we're ready to head back to the river with our new knowledge and look for the real stuff!
Where there’s pyrite there is a likelihood of gold being present too! Try putting a magnet to it iron pyrite will stick to the magnet gold wont
Done
Fun video. I was specifically looking for very very thin gold in some video and your video came out your pieces are a little bit bigger than what I was looking for. Not to worry I have my 5 gallon buckets full of paydirt and haven't lost anything. I'm waiting for enough money to buy a blue Bowl separator about 250 bucks
This summer I purchased a 40 acre mining claim from a geological services company in Chester California. I had a choice of many but I bought the one with Queen Lily Campground a u.s. forest service Campground. Search it on maps check out the satellite view.
I was there on Thanksgiving classifying mineralized bedrock to 1/8 of an inch and brought home a few buckets. I didn't dig very deep didn't find any chunks. The bed rack I had just broke its silver in color shiny has gold flecks in it. Found some quartz and brought a large piece home it's about 35 lb.
So I'll be looking for flour gold sometime in March when I get my blue bowl separator and a $3 blender from Goodwill to crush these little Pebbles of bedrock down to 30 70 and 100 mesh
I bought the mining claim because of the campground I live 2000 miles away and can't get there every weekend
Merry Christmas!
Thanks so much! That sounds like one heck of an adventure. I love the blender idea! Let us know when you are ready for a blue bowl we keep plenty in stock...sometimes even used ones. Good luck and happy hunting!
I have a question , ok so .. I have a big land in Mexico , and there’s a place with big Mountain ⛰ you can see all the rocks shining like gold , what can I do or where can I go to get it tested ?
It only takes a little experience to know the difference. The easiest way, and you mentioned it, is just to shade the material with your hand. The gold will still look like gold, the pyrite and mica will disappear. There's an old adage among prospectors, "If you think it's gold, it's not. If it's gold you'll know it."
Very true sir. Thanks for your comment!
I am a super noob. Did tons of research. I've panned for gold years ago as a kid, not knowing anything.. I thought mica and pyrite were gold but still wasn't sure.. went last week as my first real attempt to locate gold knowing I did NOT find gold previously. At the bottom of my pan( read; frisbee) I got to black sands and literally orange dots smaller than the black sands that wouldn't move and were reflective in all light, almost glowing. I definitely found gold. 1st real try.
The rules are usually pretty well spelled out...some a little less clear than others. But, public lands usually have a rule about prospecting, gem collecting, metal detecting, etc. I have some links at the bottom of our website for many resources. Regardless of how clear or not clear the rules are, the fact is that public lands are for public use and typically there is some level of prospecting you can achieve within a close distance. Stand for your rights!
Great video my friend! I acually met a mine owner last season who was mining pyrite. He has it tested and after the math hes said it was worth mining along with the gold.Once he a big pile of it, they would cook it and get the gold out. He also cooked tons of other sulfides and did quite well at it.
I toured through a working gold mine in Jamestown, CA. The guy taking me through said, "You know where the real gold is here? Down in the gift shop." ;-)
Which one? I frequent Jamestown often
I wonder - when gold bearing pyrite rusts does it leave behind pannable gold dust or just microscopic particles.
I learned that from a prospector in Arizona...something I think you kind of realize when you are around gold enough, but I never thought of it really as a prospecting technique.
I have seen tons of videos and no one shows like yours tank you for sharing
can you cut a gold spec with the tip of a paperclip wire into pieces?
That was great information thank you.
You are very welcome!
This is one of the most beneficial videos I've seen. Thank you very much!
Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
Question for you guys, what is the difference between the jobes and tuff stuff deep v groove matting? Nice video from a new comer
Thank you so so much for this video at last someone show the tricks of the trade:-)
I work underground and go by colour. Pyrite is a brassy gold normally a square vein running through the core. Normally in quartz
I bought a black pan 3 hours ago at sportsman warehouse I love it
Thanks for the educational video.I have always wondered how to tell the difference between pyrite and gold.
Chalcopyrite apparently has anywhere from .1 to 3+ grams per tonne according to a little Wikipedia search! It would be worth pulling it out for a large scale copper or iron operation...and fun to try to find as a hobby prospector. That is a lot of material to move and break up for gold alone though. Over time though as it decomposes, mother nature will do the work for you!
start at 5:00
Title should be "Ads for gold mining hardware - Followed by gold vs pyrite comparison." Pisses me off when people use YT as a free advertising platform. They could just do a quick mention that the equipment can be found at their website in the description if anyone is interested. When I come across something like this I make sure to never buy from the retailer pulling this stunt.
Richard Helge
Mastodon Agree
Let us know the results! Very interesting. Do you have a website for your assaying services, I would be happy to link to it on our website!
This is my understanding too. I believe I heard Tom Massie say that the right samples can be up to 20-40% gold at one time. Does this sound right?
If the gold is heavier and sinks, then why the need for the larger safety pan underneath? Should n't all the gold be on the bottom of your small pan?
Very interesting video. Always wondered how to really tell the difference. Thanks for the information.
Sir, I got g-fever. I have been thru the panning part in a select few spots. Not much, plus hard spots cause of river currents and tides. I have discoverred gold flakes or pyrite in Quarts that is attatched to rocks. I have been heating the quartz for easy extraction. I got 1,000 tiny gold flakes per square inch. I just found out how to test for fools gold, and 1/2 of my flakes are sticking to a magnet, others are not. Alot of flakes are silver, and alot gold. I got a big rock nextdoor I have been pounding on, cause of it's great concentration of quartz ROWS. I also know where there is a huge peice of quartz near a river that cannot be moved by hand. It is also on top of a rock. The rock itself has a stream flowing thru it, and after seeing my pic's again of it, there is quartz growing on top of it in areas. I just now brushed a bunch of teeny,tiny gold flakes off from the rock, and magnet won't stick to it. Maybe too small..I got a ton of quartz around here, what to do? Put it in the acid? Re-heat? FYI, I heat my quartz/rocks in a burn pit. That way, it will cook a long time. I also cant beleive how fragile the quartz gets when heated to 1,000 degrees or more. Any thoughts?
LOL, it certainly sounds like you do have a case of gold fever. The first telltale sign is mistaking every rock for gold! Beware, gold is hard to find. You can certainly find gold near quartz, pyrite, black sands, etc. However, not every time! Keep at it and just keep anything you find that is really heavy (i.e. black sands, etc.) Most likely you can extract some precious metals out of it eventually. You may try one of the Kwik Kilns for smelting some of your concentrates. Here is the link: www.highplainsprospectors.com/kilns-smelting-assaying-c-155.html
Good luck and happy hunting!
Appreciate it, thank you for the video! Good luck out there 👍
pryite is shiny and when you touch it tends to break or fall apart espic in your pan, also leaves a gold streak I call it if you move it around. You should be able to tell gold . I like to use a high def light source normally it picks up really nice if you don't have a scope. Blue and green pans work best I do use the black ones but tend to be harder to find..
Hey if I found pyrite gold is that mean there real gold around sir
How about trying a high powered hydraulic press similar to one that presses thc under heat. You separate the elements in a pan and then press each for diff. controlled experiments
Although getting anyone to tell you exactly where to go to find good gold may prove a little more difficult. The GPAA provides a book that helps you find claims you can go prospect for free...but you have to be a member...that is the best place to start for a beginner. The Gold Prospectors Association of America...they have local clubs and outings too you can join in on and get some knowledge.
Gold Buddy is NICE Smart Design
are you using jet dry or some kind of soap in your pan? just started watching videos and someone mentioned Jet Dry to help separate the gold.
That's used to break the surface tension of the water, you can use any kind of soap for that I'd imagine
The stream beside my house has a lot of mica and I've found thumbnail size pyrite but no gold unfortunately.
Thanks for the info. Helped a lot
Glad it helped. Good luck out there.
Can you take a batch of flour gold and small pickers and place them in a press and squeeze it into a gold sheet, disk, lump ?
I mean a solid form from flour.
Not pure just something you can hold in a mass.
Pls how do I get the circulatory machine and how does it work?
Whats the chances of gold in mountains of basalt , granite and limestone ? There is a lot of pyrite and quartz in the rivers ?
Depends on where you are. Only a prospecting trip will really tell. Right?
you learn this by panning. real gold is 19 times heavier than water (I think) and it won't move. It will only move if it is dirty with lighter materials, that's why people who prospect carry around dawn with them. Some pyrite can have gold in it, kind of rare, I collected some of this from my aunts mine in Nevada and had it tested. You can also find rubies and diamond in your black sand, diamonds will stick like the gold, rubies will move with the sand so use a magnet and the rubies usually fall out of the sand as you lift it up. You are welcome noob prospectors.
Dylan McCallister wait youre saying rubies are magnetic??
Yes, 19x heavier. Interesting stuff you wrote about diamonds and rubies. It's been said we have corundum here in my area.
@@unsubme2157 No he said rubies fall out so the black sand must be magnetic and stick to the magnet and the rubies fall out.
@@moviejose3249 yeah i read it again a couple times it makes more sense. Whenever i posted that i mustve been tired haha
Dylan McCallister fantastic tips... Thanks for the extra info!
did u find all that gold 6:54 at the top of the sand/pan (or is that ALL gold?) anyway did u find all that in ur yard?
That was a mixture of gold, pyrite, and sands. The point was to show how differently they act in the pan. This gold was found from various places around the country. This is the result of stockpiling a bunch of concentrates from different places and then going through them to extract the gold later.
I would check to see if you are loosing gold..you can test with BB or lead shavings..looks like there is not enough water. I prefer my riffels completly underwater so as not to get suck out or blow our
Thanks so much for the comment. It just takes practice to learn how to tell the difference from gold and pyrite. Keep it up. Buying paydirt and panning it out over and over again is a great way to get practice.
this is very helpful, thanks a lot. I thought I had gold but after watching this, probably not =(
Very good information thanks
Very thorough video. Good explanations.
What if it's in little tinny chip Peace's will it still not break?
Soon to have an app that you add to your phone that shows pyrite immediately and gold if there is any...if good with you i will send you the app when its finished for your evaluation of the app😊
No, it is very fine and not too pure of gold, it would take crushing then a chemical (or just a long chemical process) or smelting process to remove it from the pyrite. It can be a costly process and often makes mining viability questionable. That is what an assayer is for. Send them a sample they test it and tell you what % gold it is and you decide if it is worth pursuing.
I am interesting in pyrite for we have different kind of colours, gold, silver and bronze.
I think it has mostly to do with the level of other trace elements traveling within the pyrite (i.e. gold, copper, silver, etc.) Perhaps someone else out there can tell us for certain?
Would iron pyrite shine with lantern light or candle light? Would gold?
excellent, and perfect video. this is very valuable information, and very much appreciated, thank you very much!
Thanks, glad I could help! Thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
This really helped me thank you!
Where can a weekend prospector pan around Camden South Carolina?
A-ha. The million dollar question...where do I go to find gold. That is what prospecting is for. A few quick test pans and you can find out if the area has gold. I do remember seeing a Gold Fever episode where Tom Massie panned gold out of some excavations from a construction site in Charlotte. The word is that some of the richest gold ground in NC is right under Charlotte. If you go to a gold prospecting blog of locals in your area, you will find out if there is potentially gold there...
Pyrite is responsible for me being a miner. Found pyrite, thought it was gold and my adventures started lol
but are there specific geographical areas to pan? does it have to be near rivers, foothills or midland to find it.
i live near the coast of north carolina and im having trouble finding out if sea level locations have any gold and if i can just go out in the sounds and pan the sand.
have any info on determining the difference with acids?
Sure, visit our website here: www.highplainsprospectors.com/complete-gold-testing-kit-p-785.html
The instructions are here. It is always good to get some experience using the gold testing needles you can purchase separately...or if you have some refined gold where you know the karats that will work too. Good luck and thanks for watching!
i have crushed ore from the main vein in a high copper environment, i see gold,.. i am concerned with it being iron or chalcopyrite,.. was wondering if there was an easy anwer other than an assay,.. but no matter,.. its been sent off for assay
Thanks Todd, sounds like you took the right path. Good luck!
Nitric acid pyrite will go black gold will not change
nice gold makhine
A mining engineer taught me to use a pin scratch test and lupe to see if it is mineral or metal.
Good advise, the pin test is a good way to tell.
I noticed lots of little bubbles. Are you by any chance using soap?
LOL, no, just too much Jet Dry...I over-applied. Everyone seems to want to point that out to me. Geez guys gimme a break! Thanks for watching...and pointing out my imperfections. ;)
I didn't mean to drill you about that. So is that basically to keep fine golds from floating?
I am basically a novice at it but have recovered so far about 3 grams.
:) No worries. Yes, the Jet Dry or some other type of low-suds rinse aid will help fine gold from floating. Just a little goes a long way (as you can tell in the video). 3 grams is not bad for starters! Keep it up! Good luck and happy hunting!
I like Pyrite. :)
I like Turtles.
High Plains Prospectors- Metal Detector & Gold Prospecting Supply
I like gold! Forget the other two! lol
me tooooooooooo
It's funny. Some people call it "fools gold" but I just went to the Tucson Gem and Mineral show and they were selling it for good money! Crystals, bags of small pieces, etc. We actually bought a big cube crystal for display in the shop...who's the fool now? ;)
Zark Buzzer
Swirl technique isn't very good for finer gold, but like you did the tap technique is the shizzle, lol
we many pyrates sir we dont know if some gold in there pls answer me pls
Good video... But I shall prompt a question...
Have you ever checked these pyrite pieces??? That they do not contain any Platina or Palladium???
They are almost equally valuable as gold... and they are mixed with other ferrous material....
Of course in much smaller quantities than gold.. but if someone gathers it... by the time it accumulates a substantial amount and income...as well... BUT...the challenge that there is there is the cleaning process... It requires "special" knowledge which is obtainable from the TH-cam as well
There are videos about Pt and Pd ... check them out...
Gold and pyrite are old friends
pyrite is worth something too right? i mean not much but something i would think
To some people pyrite may have value.. Heck, I bought a beautiful pyrite specimen just for our store to show people what it looks like. So, yes, there is value. Don't forget, there is a chance any pyrite you find has some gold in it. The process of extracting it can be costly and dangerous though. So, it takes a large operation to make it feasible...not something that may make sense for the typical hobby prospector. Thanks for the question and for watching!
Instead of wing nuts why not make a magnet release pin and key
Very helpful, thank you.
Did pyrite have gold inside ?????
Why use jet dry when panning gold during the clean up?
It breaks the surface tension of the water, releasing any particulate matter ie: gold... Sun free and clear laundry detergent works better- it's biodegradable, low suds and easy on hands... unlike rinse-aids :)
Flexicone Know-How leaching technology. For the processing of refractory gold-bearing , sulphide and tellurides ores. Flexicone has developed a unique enrichment technology.
The technology includes the processes by centrifugal gravity separation, oxidation of sulphides , extraction of gold and platinum group metals by leaching leaching of gold, silver and palladium.
Years ago i found some shale on the beach it had gold coloured vanes in it and on each side a rounded melted blob of a gold colour. Some looked like gold sand in the shale. My dad took a sowing needle and pressed it in the bulk of the blob and it pressed easy and stayed like pushing into plastic. I took about 6 samples home, my dads friend did some gold mine up north and took the samples and said it was pyrite. He really wanted to know where i found it? I didn't tell him. He did not give me back the samples, I asked him many times, he said it was worthless and lost them. Dad said maybe he can't be trusted. About 10 years later i went and got some more and a friend of mine took it to a gold convention in Toronto, He plays stock and had it tested there and it was real gold. My question. Is it normal to have gold in black shale? It seems to be within only 2 properties (beach house). Is is washed up or could there be a source underground? Shale like skipping stones are light this was heavy like maybe lead or brass. There were some shale with a white rock fused in it also but with no gold colour?? and some looked like rust in the shale? Most look like gold though. Any Ideas??
Definitely could be gold in quartz or the "white rock" you are talking about. You can get a gold testing kit and test it yourself though. This could have washed down a mountain, could be from a nearby outcropping or something too...who knows. You can easily do a Google search and find a forum to see if there is gold in your area. If so, it is something to investigate further. I would be happy to help you find someone if you want to email me info@highplainsprospectors.com.
Ibanez7400 Where in Ontario ? What lake or river? Gold is very heavy and is more likely to be sunken under lighter material. That is not to say you didn't get extremely lucky. If I were you, I'd go back to that place, learn the fundamentals of locating gold and then learn to pan.
Too bad your "friend" lied to you. He's also a thief.
Ibanez7400 p
to release the gold from the pyrite is as easy as putting it to heat then dumping it into water ... would it not ??
very good information, Thanks
Is the granite decomposing, or eroding?
Decomposing I believe is what they call it. I have heard this from several prospectors as well as a lawn guy. Although I am not sure the correct way to say it.
How much jet dry approximately would u put in?
couple of drops in a pan
I didn't hear what Tom Massie said. Chalcopyrite carries copper, sometimes lead, zinc, silver and gold.
good work now all i need is to find some gold to
Yeah, right? That is why it is so hard for people to tell the difference. You have to actually handle gold and pyrite to really see the difference.
I want you to know I learned more off your video than most,i got run off the road in California,i was mad for about an hour waiting on a tow truck,while doing so I was smart enough to take 6 2 liter bottles of water in case that happened,stranded, anyway I found lots of flour gold I a stream bed,on 93 hiway,only problem it would have took thousands of gallons of water to extact it,thanks for the info about the pyrite,i usually smack it between two hammers to watch it smoke,that is also a test,brown smoke
Very good to hear! Glad to see my efforts are appreciated. Sounds like you are like me...I always have a gold pan with me when I am traveling. You never know when you have to kill some time and what better way than to pop down to the stream bed and look for some gold?!?! Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching!
Great demo ! Thanks...
*wow..awesome vid...thx 4 the lesson....never knew the difference before until this 👍*
Hi HPP, Thanks for the informative vid, I'm sure people have leant from this. Dennis
Thank you so much bro there's tons of both in colorado
You bet
it you find a lot of pyrite in rock is it more likely to have real gold in it?
No
Pyrite is the most common of all sulfides.
great vid ! that was really good info ! thanks for sharing.
Thank you for watching!
this is a great vid good work yall.