Calaverite

A gold telluride — an ore of gold that looks nothing like gold.

Calaverite specimen — Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify calaverite

Brassy-silver metallic blades.
Very heavy.
Heating drives off tellurium, leaving beads of gold.

Often confused with

Pyrite
Pyrite is much harder and lighter.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Cripple Creek, Colorado
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Calaveras County, California

Uses

Gold ore.

Rock tumbling

Not suitable for tumbling.

Did you know?

During Kalgoorlie's gold rush, calaverite-rich rock was reportedly used as fill before miners realized it held gold.

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