Native gold is highly sought after by collectors for its brilliant metallic luster and malleable nature. It is typically found as nuggets, wires, or crystalline masses in quartz veins and stream-bed placer deposits.
Is this native gold?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch native gold with a known reference. Native Gold sits at Mohs 2.5-3, softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Streak: yellow.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Luster: metallic.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: gold, brass-yellow, yellow, pale yellow, orange, yellow white, reddish white.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: cubic. Typical habit: arborescent, granular, platy.
Often confused with
Native Gold vs. its common look-alikes, and how to tell them apart in the field.
How to tell apart: Pyrite is the harder of the two (Mohs 6-6.5 vs. 2.5-3); streak differs, so Native Gold leaves yellow, Pyrite leaves greenish black to brownish black.
How to tell apart: Streak differs, so Native Gold leaves yellow, Chalcopyrite leaves greenish black.
How to tell apart: Streak differs, so Native Gold leaves yellow, Mica leaves white; luster reads metallic on Native Gold and pearly on Mica.
Often found alongside native gold
Minerals reported to co-occur with native gold. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- Au
- Mohs hardness
- 2.5-3
- Density
- 19.3 g/cm³
- Colors
- Streak
- Yellow
- Luster
- Metallic
- Transparency
- Opaque in all but thinnest foils
- Crystal system
- Cubic
- Crystal habit
- Arborescent, granular, platy
- Cleavage
- None
- Rarity
- Common
- Uses
- Collector, Jewelry, Industrial, Investment
- Host rock
- Widespread in very small quantities in rocks of many kinds throughout the world, and in sea water
Where rockhounds find native gold
Classic worldwide localities
- Mother Lode belt of the Sierra Nevada, both lode and placer deposits, California, USA
- Homestake mine at Lead, Lawrence Co., South Dakota, USA
- Breckenridge, Summit Co., Colorado, USA
- Lake Co., at Leadville, Colorado, USA
- Siberia, along the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains, Russia
- Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk), as at Beresovsk, Russia
Field-hunting tip
Where it forms: Widespread in very small quantities in rocks of many kinds throughout the world, and in sea water. If you start seeing pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite in float, you are in the right ground. Typical habit: arborescent, granular, platy. Train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop.
Common questions
How do you identify native gold?+
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What rocks look like native gold?+
What minerals are found with native gold?+
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Find native gold on the map
RockHoundR shows mapped rockhounding spots, access rules, and lets you log every find.
