Sometimes they are elongated in specific crystallographic directions forming herringbone or dendritic twins. Others may be flattened with octahedral, cubic, or triangular faces. Gold shares its face-centered cubic crystal structure with copper, nickel, platinum, and lead.
Get the latest news and insights from Big Rock and across the geologic industry. Aubrey Lee Senior Geologist. Gold at the molecular Level. Interesting Facts About Gold. Even in well-known gold districts, not all areas produce crystalline specimens. Search near areas that specimens have been found in the past. Crystalline gold has not been weathered by erosion, so it is unlikely to be found down in the creeks and rivers. Check the hard rock deposits up high in the hills. Search for exposed gold veins.
Often times these gold outcrops have already been discovered and worked by miners, but occasionally a prospector can find an area that has not been discovered. Patience is required if you are interested in searching for crystalline gold specimens. If you are in gold country, then it is relatively easy to find a bit of gold by panning in the creeks and rivers.
However, these gold formations can form in a variety of ways. The deposits themselves generally form as small veins within a hard rock source. Exposed gold veins on the surface erode and release gold, eventually resulting in placer deposits of dust, flakes, and nuggets. But prior to reaching the watercourse they will remain in their generally rough shape.
This is a primary distinction of crystalline gold. Continuous erosion can further break gold apart into even smaller pieces. Gold that has come directly from the vein will naturally be a rougher texture, but it is not necessarily crystalline.
This type of rough gold is often less collectable than more average nuggets, and certainly less-so than crystalline gold. Rather it can be crushed and processed for its gold content alone. The various shapes that can naturally form within gold are amazing. Specimens can form cubes, dendrites or dendritic patterns, thin leaf and sheet forms, octahedrons, and many other ways that are more commonly associated with gem crystals rather than gold.
Crystalline gold can potentially form anywhere than natural gold deposits are found, but past experience tells us that there are certain specific locations that are known to produce this very specific type of gold. Additionally, there are specific formations that are only known to occur at one particular mine, or within just a very limited area within a mining district. In the United States, Nevada is fairly well-known for producing some really exceptional pieces of gold with fascinating crystal formations.
Many different mining districts throughout the state have them, and additionally there are some large commercial mining operations that extract rare specimens straight from the hard rock sources.
One place that is known for some really interesting gold are the Majuba Placers, an area also known as Rye Patch , located in Pershing County south of Winnemucca near Rye Patch Reservoir.
This is a district that is fairly expansive but has no available water for mining, so nearly all of the gold here has been found by small-scale prospectors using metal detectors and drywashers. A formation called Chevron gold is found here.
This is a fascinating structured gold that is found only at Rye Patch and a few surrounding gold districts.
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