Rockhounding in North Dakota – What Rocks You Can Find and Where
Gold
Streak: Golden, Yellow
Hardness: 2.5 – 3
Chemical Formula: Au
Native gold is an element and a mineral. It is highly prized by people because of its attractive color, its rarity, resistance to tarnish, and its many special properties – some of which are unique to gold. No other element has more uses than gold. All of these factors help support a price of gold that is higher than all but a few other metals.
Trace amounts of gold are found almost everywhere, but large deposits are found in only a few locations. Although there are about twenty different gold minerals, all of them are quite rare. Therefore, most gold found in nature is in the form of the native metal.
Photo: Gold by Robert M. Lavinsky is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Author: Celeste
Rocks!
