Average Specific Gravity of Some Minerals

• Mica: 2.3
• Feldspar: 2.5
• Quartz: 2.7
• Hornblende: 3.2
• Garnet: 3.5
• Corundum: 4.0
• Magnetite: 5.2
• Silver: 7.5
• Gold: 19.2

The specific gravity of gold is around six or seven times the amount of quartz and goes up to nine when it is under water, and this is what make the gold be able to work its way down to bedrock or false bedrock as well as to any other place it can sink down to. After the gold has gotten trapped on the bedrock, it is difficult for the stream to pick it up once again. Remember that the specific gravity of gold is 19 and this means that it weighs 19 times as much as the same amount of water to its mass. Given that teensy particles of gold are insoluble, they are preserved. One piece of gold that is worth less than one dollar is easy to recognize in a pan. Due to the fact that gold is very malleable, t can be pressed into diverse shapes by stones as they fall and go down the stream. They do not however become glued or welded together as some have thought they do though. Particles of gold can be broken down but they belong to another piece. It has been shown that the biggest masses of gold are obtained from lodes rather than from placers. The more rounded and flattened nuggets have most likely been in the stream for more time and have been more knocked around and than those that show their original crystalline aspect. The crystalline nuggets are what we call coarse gold and it is very probable that these have not travelled as much from their original source in the free state. The gold that can be found in older placers has a higher degree of fineness than the gold that has the source close by. This is probably so because the alloy silver is removed by the action of the water that dissolves it. When gold accumulates in an important placer deposit it does not simply happen out of pure coincidence or accident; this occurs because of certain opportune situations. In the places where nature has brought about a good amount of mineralization, rapid rock decay and stream patterns that are appropriately developed, there is basically a chance for gold placers to form. In a nut shell, what occurs is pretty simple. In places where the gold has become deposited, the strength of the stream has become insufficient to be able to carry the particles of gold that have become embedded somewhere or that have settled down. The richness of a deposit will depend largely on how much the water is not able to transport the gold anymore as well as on the ability of the bedrock to hold onto the deposited gold and the overall association of the sources of gold and the stream.