How Do You Identify Gold?

New to gold panning? Found a gold coloured rock and want to know if it is real gold, or fool’s gold? This handy guide to identifying gold should help.

A small nugget of Scottish Gold from Katriona's collection

<This article contains Amazon links because they lead you to helpful products which can aid in gold identification>

A few years ago, I met an old man by a river down in Dumfries and Galloway and he gave me some pointers. It happens more often than you might think when you start gold panning in popular areas. That old timer told me that there was gold in every river in Scotland, but that there were two problems with that.

The first? In some rivers that gold is present in such miniscule amounts that you will never be able to collect it. The second? That you have to find the gold or it will remain in the river.

Finding gold is a lot harder work than you think it is. It involves a lot of digging. Then once you have dug halfway to hell, you are not even sure if the little gold bits in your pan are gold or something else. After 10 years in the industry and a few of those spent in the river, I can confirm that gold is harder to find, but easier to identify, than you realise.

Here is how you can recognise gold when you see it…

What Does Raw Gold Look Like?

When you see gold, about 80% of the time that you do see it, you know that it is gold. There is no mistaking it. It looks just like the gold ring on your finger looks. It is golden. There is no mistaking or denying it.

When you see a mineral and you think it might be gold, then it probably isn’t gold. There is one exception to this rule, in our experience. And that is when gold is riding an iron horse or wearing an iron hat. In this case it looks a little rusty. This is the other 20% of gold. This is the percentage most likely to get tossed out with the tailings because it looks like rubbish.

But most of the time and as a good rule of thumb, if you are questioning whether or not you have gold, then it is probably something else.

How Do You Identify Gold?

Gold identification is not all that difficult. There are two main things which golden flecks in the gold pan might be, other than actual gold – at least in colour alone. The first is fool’s gold and the iron pyrites. The second is mica. Fortunately, you can rule these out very easily.

The Difference Between Pyrite, Chalcopyrite, and Gold

Pyrite will be a brassy yellow colour that might fool you. There is one simple test you can do while you are still in the river to tell the difference between gold and pyrite. Once you learn this hack, all will become clear.

Gold is a soft metal, that is why we don’t make weapons out of it. It is also why old time cowboy films would show the cowboys biting on the gold nugget to make sure it was gold. It would be soft. Pyrite is not soft. It is brittle. If your golden nugget is hard, it isn’t gold.

Chalcopyrite is kind of the same but it may be different colours than just golden. As it reacts to acid, the colours change. It is often given the trade name of ‘peacock ore’ along with bornite for this reason[i].

A chalcopyrite crystal cluster on a quartz host rock. The shape is not angular enough for pyrite but the colour is about right for either.

The Difference Between Mica and Gold

Mica is a much softer mineral than gold. It typically forms in flakes which, in Scotland at least, crumble easily. This is due to the persistent rain eroding it away. Since mica is also soft and can shine like gold, it is often confused for gold by new panners.

There is an easy test you can do to tell the difference between mica and gold. Mica is exceptionally light where gold is heavy. Mica will float in your gold pan while gold will not.

Mica also flakes, if you can flake it, it isn’t gold.

A Note on Lead

The other mineral which you might well find which matches gold in all characteristics except colour, is lead. Up in the hills of Scotland and the rest of the UK, the farmers used to use lead shot to hunt animals. Rangers out controlling rabbit or deer populations will shoot all over the place, and this lead shot makes its way into the waterways and, since it is as heavy as gold is, sinks to the same parts of the river that the gold sinks to.

Lead shot is usually – but not always – round. It is grey to light blue in colour. It is soft like gold but has none of that rich yellow shine.

Gold That Rides an Iron Horse

Gold doesn’t rust by itself, but when it is all mushed up with iron particles, they can rust. The old timers have a phrase about this. They say gold rides an iron horse or wears an iron hat.

Gold and iron were formed through similar geological processes at similar times in earth’s history. You often find them in the same places. This is why the experienced panners will tell you that if you find an iron source in a river, there is likely to be gold nearby.

So sometimes gold looks rusty. It will still be very heavy – but so is iron. If you have a blob of rust sitting heavily in your gold pan and you just aren’t sure, then turn to your physical tests to ascertain what you have.

Whatever you do, don’t toss it away. Keep it safe for home testing, just in case.

Physical Tests to Identify Gold

To recap, then, here are the physical tests you can do to identify gold while you are still out in the wilds hunting for it.

To test for gold:

·       The hardness test - try to squeeze the mineral, if it is gold, it will be soft. You can use a small pin or your tweezers to prod it and see if it moulds to shape or if it breaks. If it is not malleable then it is not gold.

·       The weight test – gold is much heavier than water. Even when you have a tiny flake of gold, water struggles to move it. If your gold is floating then it probably isn’t gold and could be mica, instead.

Identifying Gold Using the Streak Test

There is another way to test for gold which we have not covered yet because you can’t really do it in the river unless you are seriously prepared. The streak test for any mineral involves scratching that mineral on a piece of unglazed porcelain and noting what colour the streak it leaves is. Gold is always gold, even in a streak test. Pyrite will look green tinged.

Where do you get unglazed porcelain? On the underside of the top part of your toilet. You can also buy scratch test pads on Amazon which are a handy thing to have in your rockhounding kit.

You can also use the unglazed porcelain you have at home, on the underside of your toilet lid.

Acid Testing for Gold Purity

There is another way you can test for gold and that is the ‘official’ way. If you want to become a jeweller or if you want to look like the big high heid yin on the water, you can produce an acid testing kit. These kits contain concoctions which change colour based upon the purity of the gold. These kits can therefore tell you if you have 9 carat or 24 carat gold.

But if you know your areas, you don’t need an acid testing kit. For example, in Scotland, gold purities are (usually) the same per location.

Gold Purity in Scottish Gold Hunting Areas

A rough guide to gold purity in Scottish Gold Panning areas is:

·       The Mennock Pass area has a purity of around 20 carats, making it very pure and highly sought after[ii].

·       Helmsdale gold and Scottish Highlands gold has a purity higher than that, often hitting 22 carats[iii].

·       Gold from the Ochil Hills region is around 20 carats, too. This is the hardest to get because the farmers do not like panners. If you get permission to pan here keep it to yourself.

Where to Buy Gold Acid Testing Kits and Gold Purity Machines?

You can now buy machines that will test the purity of your gold for you. If you intend on setting yourself up to make jewellery or bullion bars then these are recommended. This Gold Density Meter was the cheapest one we could find. A thousand pounds is about right for one of these of high quality.

The cheaper way to discern the carat of gold and test precious metals such as silver, platinum, and other gemstones, is to invest in a Precious Metal Jewellery Testing Kit. These boxes include acids which react at different gold purities, a loupe for magnification, a scratch pad made of unglazed porcelain, a needle, a file, a cloth, and everything else you need to accurately both test for gold, and test the carat of the gold you have found.

[i] https://geology.com/minerals/chalcopyrite.shtml

[ii] https://www.scottishgold.scot/locations

[iii] https://www.scottishgold.scot/history