DON'T GET Fooled While Gold PANNING

A Guide to Know What's What

- MOIRA K. MCGHEE

When you're panning for gold, a primary concern is whether the glitter in the pan is genuine gold or fool's gold. Although fool's gold mimics gold, it's not real gold. However, it can sometimes be a precursor to finding real gold. It's also pretty, so it's not necessarily bad to see pyrite even though it's not very valuable monetarily. If you've ever dreamed of striking the mother lode but you're not 100 percent sure what gold looks like in its natural state, this guide is for you.

WHAT IS FOOL'S GOLD?

Fool's gold is a mineral called pyrite, also called iron pyrite. Its name comes because it fools people into thinking they've found genuine gold.

"Pyrite is usually found in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, metaphoric rock even igneous rock. It has a very cubic form and a nice brassy luster, so it's confused for gold a lot. There aren't too many things out there that look like gold besides gold," said Michael George, Assistant Chief of the Nonferrous and Precious Metals Group in the Mineral Commodities Section of the National Minerals Information Center of the U.S. Geological Survey.

George has been with the USGS (www. usgs.gov) for almost 20 years. He earned his bachelor's degree in mineral economics from Penn State and his master's degree from George Mason in geographic and cartographic science.

HOW FOOL'S GOLD DIFFERS FROM REAL GOLD

Looking at it from a scientific standpoint, pyrite and gold aren't alike at all.

"Chemically, pyrite is made up of the chemicals iron and sulfur where gold is its own element. Gold only has molecules of gold in it. Pyrite has one iron molecule for every two sulfur molecules. Their chemical compositions are completely different," explained Cynthia Pridmore, a California Geological Survey (CGS) Senior Engineering Geologist.