Gold in lgneous,Sedimentary, 

And Metamorphic Rocks 

Gold in Igneous, Sedimentary, 

And Metamorphic Rocks 

By Robert S. Jones 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 610 

Washington J 969 
United States Department of the Interior 

JAMES G. WATT, Secretary 

Geological Survey 

DOYLE G. FREDERICK, Acting Director 

First printing 1969 

Second printing 1970 

Third printing 1981 

Free on application to Distribution Branch, Text Products Section, 

U.S. Geological Survey, 604 South Pickett Street, Alexandria, VA 22304 
CONTENT~ 

Page 

Abstract------------------------------------------------------ 1 

Introduction--------------------------------------------------- 1 

Accuracy of analyses------------------------------------------- 1 

Gold in igneous rocks ------------------------------------------ 1 

Gold in sedimentary rocks-------------------------------------- 3 

Gold in metamorphic rocks ------------------------------------- 22 

References cited----------------------------------------------- 23 

Table 1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

12. 

TABLES 

Gold content of standard granite G-1 and standard 

diabase W-1 --------------------------------------- Analyses of gold in igneous rocks made before 1955------

Analyses of gold in igneous rocks made since 1954-------

Average gold content of igneous rocks based on all 

known published analyses made since 1954 ------------

Average gold content of plutonic and volcanic rocks ------

Analyses of gold in sedimentary rocks made before 

1955 ---------------------------------------------- Analyses of gold in sedimentary rocks made since 

1954 ---------------------------------------------- Average gold content of sedimentary rocks --------------

Average gold content of sedimentary rocks, from 

recent data-----------------------------------------

Analyses of gold in metamorphic rocks made before 

1955-----------------------------------------------

Analyses of gold in metamorphic rocks made since 

1954-----------------------------------------------

Average gold content of metamorphic rocks--------------

III 

Page 

2 

4 

8 

15 

15 

16 

19 

22 

23 

25 

26 

28 

Gold in Igneous, Sedimentary 

and Metamorphic Rocks 

By Robert S. Jones 

ABSTRACT 

Gold analyses were compiled for about 50 rock types of which 

more than 50 percent are igneous, about 30 percent are sedimentary, and the rest are metamorphic. The analyses for gold made 

before 1955 tend to be higher than the newer analyses, so separate 

lists are given. At present, minute amounts ofgold in rocks seem 

to be best determined by neutron-activation methods of analysis, 

and the following data are based on such analyses: 

Igneous rocks contain as little as 0.2 and as much as 73 ppb 

(parts per billion) gold. The average, calculated on the basis of 

50 percent granite and 50 percent basalt, is 3.0 ppb. Averages 

(in parts per billion) for individual plutonic rock types are: granite, 

2.8; syenite, 2.5; diorite, 3.5; gabbro, 5.4; anddunite, 8.2. Averages 

(in parts per billion) for individual volcanic rock types are: rhyolite, 12; trachyte, 6.5; andesite, 5.2; and basalt, 3.2. 

Sedimentary rocks contain as little as 0. 3 to as much as 41 ppb 

gold. The average of 5.0 ppb is based on the average of 7.5 ppb 

for sandstone, 3. 9 ppb for shale, and 3. 5 ppb for limestone. 

In metamorphic rocks the range of gold content is from 0.86 to 

22.4 ppb with an average of 4. 3. The average (in parts per billion) 

for gneiss is 1.8; for schist, 5.0; for quartzite, 4.8; and for marble, 3.1. 

In relatively nonauriferous regions, the compiled gold analyses 

of rocks show only a few parts per billion, whereas in relatively 

auriferous regions the analyses tend to be one to two magnitudes 

higher. 

INTRODUCTION 

This report was prepared as background material 

for the Heavy Metals program of the U.S. Geological 

Survey, an intensified program of research on new 

sources of heavy metals, particularly .gold. Data on 

the occurrence of gold in igneous, sedimentary, and 

metamorphic rocks are summarized. The number of 

gold an a 1 y s e s made on common types of rocks is 

meager compared with analyses of other elements, 

and many of the data are of questionable quality. 

ACCURACY OF ANALYSES 

Analyses of the gold content of rocks made prior to 

1955 were made by fire-assay, spectrographic, and 

wet chemical methods. These methods are less sensitive than those used at present, and the results obtained 

seem to be higher than those given by the newer methods. The gold beads produced by fire assay were 

measured by gravimetric, colorimetric, or volumetric 

1 

m e t h o d s until Hagen ( 19 54) introduced the spectrographic method. Since 1954 a few analyses have been 

by methods similar to Hagen's, but most have been 

made by the neutron-activation method. An a 1 y s e s 

presented in this report are grouped in tables according to date; analyses made before 1955 are'shown 

in tables 2, 6, and 10, and those made since 1954 are 

shown in the remaining tables. 

Analyses of the U.S. Geological Survey's standard 

rock samples G-1 and W -1 (Fairbairn and others, 

1951) by several methods are given in table 1. The 

values for G-1 range from 0.002 to 0.0112 ppm (part 

per million), and those for W-1 range from 0.0048 to 

0.010 ppm. All an-alyses are by neutron-activation 

methods except for those of Das S arm a, Sen, an d 

Chowdhury ( 1965), which were made by fire assay 

followed by spectrographic analysis, and tho s e of 

Brown and Wolstenholme (1964), which were made.by 

mass spectrometer. 

GOLD IN IGNEOUS ROCKS 

Go 1 d analyses of igneous rocks are given in tables 

2 and 3. The older analyses listed in table 2 for igneous 

rocks were made by fire assay, and comparison with 

some of the recent results indicates that the o 1 de r 

analyses are very much higher. A major source of 

error may be gold impurities in blanks, especially in 

the test lead used in assaying, causing high values. 

Hillebrand (in Emmons, 1886) and Andrew (1910) 

warned that it was impossible, at that time, to obtain 

test lead that did not contain appreciable am• .. mnts of 

gold. 

The analyses by Hagen ( 1954) were made by fire 

assay followed by spectrographic an a 1 y s i s. He did 

considerable study on losses that might occur during 

the assay and applied corrections for them but apparently did not consider the p o s sib i 1 it y of gold 

contamination i.n the reagents. Hagen's values are consistently higher than those given for :;imilar rocks by 

neutron activation. No comparisons of identical samples are available, but the following comparison may 

be made for rocks· from the same localities. 
Rock, locality, and number of samples Au (ppb) 

Hagen (1954) Others 

Ol1v1ne basalt, Jefferson County, Colo--

Norite, Bushveld complex----------------

Do-------------------------avg of 7--

Basalt, Hawaii----------------avg of 6--

116 

4 to 128 

62 

114 

1 4.0 

1 2. 9 

2 2. 6 

Do----------------------------------- 3 2.8 to 5.9 

4.2 

3 2.6 

Do-------------------------avg of 3--

Kimberlite, Transvaal------------------- 92 

1DeGrazia and Haskin (1964). 2Vincent and Crocket (1960b). 3Baedecker (1967). 

Assuming that the samples were similar in gold content, it would seem that Hagen's results are high by 

a factor of 20 to 30. 

Gold seems to be heterogeneously distributed to a 

marked degree in some samples. Clifton, Hubert, and 

Phillips (1967), for example, found that the gold content of splits from a single sample of Oregon beach 

sand differed by as much as 29 ppm (<0.1 ppm to 29 

ppm). De Silva (quoted in Baedecker, 1967) reported 

large discrepancies in neutron-activation analyses for 

gold even after the samples had been pulverized to 

achieve greater homogeneity. He divided one irradiated 

aliquot into four parts and found that one part contained 

90 percent of the total activity of the sample. This lack 

of homogeneity, rather than analytical errors, is probably the cause of the discrepancies in the analyses of 

some samples, such as the differences (noted by 

Baedecker, 1967) in analyses of U.S. Geological Survey 

standard rocks G-1 and W-1 (table 1) and in four 

analyses of a diabase dike which showed 3.3, 140, 3.4, 

and 6.8 ppb gold (Shcherbakov and Perezhogin, 1963). 

Clarke and Washington (1924) estimated the gold 

content of igneous rocks to be in the range 1 to 10 ppb, 

and this order of magnitude has been substantiated by 

later workers. The average amount of gold in igneous 

rocks has been estimated by Berg (1932) to be 6 ppb, 

by Noddack and Noddack (1934) to be 4 ppb, and by 

Mason (1952), Rankama and Sahama (1950), Polanski 

(1948), Anderson (1945), Goldschmidt (1937), and Fersman (1933) to be 5 ppb. Goldschmidt (1954) computed 

a mean value of 2 ppb gold based on the gold to silver 

ratio of 20:1; this ratio is based on the proportion of 

these two elements in important ores. Horn and Adams 

( 1966 ), with the aid of a computer and assumptions 

based partly on a modification of Goldschmidt's (1933) 

material balance, have derived a figure of 3.57 ppb of 

gold in igneous rocks, which is only slightly higher 

than the value of 3.0 ppb obtained by averaging the 

values for granite and basalt in table 5. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin (1964) reported that, 

in the Altai-Sayan folded belt in the U.S.S.R., gold is 

more abundant in extrusive rocks than in their intrusive equivalents. For example, 14 rhyolites and trachytes contain an average of 5.4 ppb gold, compared 

with the average of 3.8 ppb gold in 33 granites and 

eight syenites; 19 intrusive basalts average 10 ppb 

gold compared with the average of 6.4 ppb gold in 14 

2 

Altai-Sayan gabbroids. Boyle (1960) reported that the 

Prosperous Lake granite in the Yellowknife district 

of Canada contains 10 ppb gold compared with 100 ppb 

gold in a quartz-feldspar porphyry. 

The gold content of the Skaergaard intrusives in 

Greenland were studied by Vincent and Crocker ( 1960a ), 

who concluded that they varied little even though the 

intrusives have undergone strong magmatic differentiation. The initial magma, represented by a chilled 

border, contained 4. 6 ppb gold. Most of the other rocks 

and minerals contained between half and twice this 

amount. However, Crocker, Vincent, and Wager (1958) 

believed that the gold content of the layered gabbros 

Table 1.--Gold content of standard granite 

G-1 and standard d1abase W-1 

[Analyses by neutron-activation methods unle~s 

specified] 

Gold content (ppm) 

1 Granite G-1 

0.006 

.0045 

.0046 

3

<.08 

.0020 

4 .0112 

5 .0057 

Diabase W-1 2 

0.010 

.0084 

.0049 

.005 

3

<.08 

.0048 

4 .0053 

5

.0064 

Reference 

Vincent and 

Smales (1956). 

Vincent and 

Crocket 

(1960a). 

Hamaguchi and 

others (1961). 

Shcherbakov and 

Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Brown and 

Wolstenholme 

(1964). 

Baedecker and 

Ehmann (1965). 

Das Sarma, Sen, 

and Chowdhury 

(1965). 

1

U.S. Geol. Survey standard granite from We~terly, R.I. 

u.s. Geol. Survey standard diabase from 

Cegterville, Va. 

Analysis by mass spectrometer; not included 

in average. 

4

Analysis by fire-assay and spectrographic 

me1hods. 

Average of values except <0.08 ppm. 
is constant and tends to be evenly distributed among 

the various silicate and oxide phases. They thought 

that the gold is present in uncharged randomly distributed metallic atoms in the magma rather than as 

charged ions or complexes. In the middle part of the 

intrusion they found evidence of an appreciable concentration of gold in the immiscible copper s u 1 fide 

droplets in contrast to the lack of concentration of 

gold in the iron sulfide droplets which separated later. 

The lowest average gold content for granites (1.2 

ppb) has been reported by Anoshin and Potap 'yev ( 1966 ). 

The granites are from widely separated massifs in the 

U.S.S.R. (the Kolyvan' massif in thenorthwesternpart 

of the Altai and the Khangilay -Shilinskii massif in east 

Transbaikal). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin (1963) examined 28 

granites and concluded that the gold content of massifs bearing gold deposits are similar to those of barren massifs. The gold content of the younger granite 

phases, which are considered the source of the gold 

mineralization in the region, are lower than the gold 

content of the older mafic rocks. 

Mantei and Brownlow (1967) showed that the Marysville quartz d i or it e stock in Mont an a has an appreciably higher background value for gold than the 

rocks of the Altai-Sayan folded belt in Asia (Shcherbakov and Perezhqgin, 1963) or those of the Skaergaard 

intrusives of Greenland (Vincent and Crocket, 1960a). 

The gold content is greatest in and near the periphery 

of the stock, where it averages 71 ppb; elsewhere it 

averages 10 ppb. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin (1964) used data obtained from igneous rocks of the U.S.S.R. to compare 

the gold content with the content of iron, magnesium, 

copper, vanadium, lead, zinc, and some unspecified 

metals. It is not clear whether they analyzed the same 

rocks for these metals and for gold or whether they 

used values furnished by Zavaritskii (1955). The metals 

and oxides that show cor r e 1 at ion with gold, in decreasing order of correlation, are: Cu, Fe203, MgO, 

V, and FeO. Shcherbakov and Perezhogin ( 1964) stated, 

"It should be noted that the correlation coefficient between the gold content and the content of another 

cation decreases as the bonding between the cation 

and oxygen becomes more strongly ionic." In addition 

they noted that the patterns of gold distribution are 

different in the intrusive and extrusive rocks so that 

when the data for the extrusive rocks are introduced, 

the correlations between gold and all the other components are much lower. 

Table 4 gives the average gold content of igneous 

rocks based on all known published analyses made 

since 1954. The analyses represented by each average 

are probably too few to give reliable background values 

for the igneous rocks. For example, the average for 

nepheline syenites (1.8 ppb gold) is based on only two 

analyses, and the value 100 ppb for quartz-feldspar 

porphyry is a single analysis. 

3 

Table 5 shows the average gold content of various 

igneous rock types as de t e r m in e d by the neutronactivation method only. The value for granites is an 

average of 13 individual averages of granites from 13 

localities in North America and the U.S.S.R.: Algoma 

District, Ontario; Westerly, R.I.; Wausau, Wis.; Stone 

Mountain, Ga.; Altai; Turochak, southeast Altai; Aksai, 

southeast Altai; Kuznetsk, Altai; northwest Altai; east 

Transbaikal; Tuva, Soviet Asia; Sayan (Mount Sukhaya); 

and Tashtuzek, southeast Altai. The averagegoldcontent of basalts (table 5) was derived from 11 individual 

averages representing basalts in Jefferson County, 

Colo.; Cooper Falls, Oreg.; East Pacific Rise; Mauna 

Loa, Hawaii; Altai, U.S.S.R.; central Altai, U.S.S.R.; 

Lintz, Germany; Morvern, Scotland; Giant's Causeway, 

Ireland; and two parts of the mid-Atlantic ridge. 

The data for volcanic rocks show a direct relationship between gold and silica, whereas the relationship 

seems to be inverse for the plutonic rocks (table 5). 

The relatively large amount of gold in the rhyolites 

may be the result of selective sampling. 

GOLD IN SEDIMENTARY ROCKS 

Data on gold in sedimentary rocks are presented in 

tables 6 and 7. Table 6 gives the analyses made prior 

to 1955; table 7, the analyses made since 1954. 

Reported gold content of sedimentary rocks ranges 

from at least 82 ppm for conglomeratic ores from the 

Black Hills, S. Oak., to as little as 0.0003 ppm for a 

sandstone from Mount Darwin, Tasmania. 

Many of the conglomerates represented in table 6 

are from ore-producing areas, and some may, in 

places, contain enough gold to be mined profitably. 

More than 500 fire-assay-atomic-absorption analyses 

have been made for gold in conglomerates in northwestern Wyoming (table 7). The average gold content 

of the Harebell Formation is estimated at 55 ppb, and 

that for the younger Pinyon Conglomerate is estimated 

at 80 ppb (Antweiler and Love, 1967). 

The analyses for gold in sandstones range from 0.3 

ppb in a sandstone from Tasmania (table 7) to 446 ppb 

for a sandstone from Victoria, Australia (table 6). The 

average amount of gold detected in sandstones by 

neutron-activation analysis is 7.5 ppb (table 8). Siltstones are represented by two values (table 8), one of 

5.5 ppb and the other 6.2 ppb (Shcherbakov and 

Perezhogin, 1963). 

Amounts of gold reported in shales and lutites range 

from 2.3 ppb to 374 ppb (tables 6 and 7). The lutites, 

from shallow cores from the ocean floor, contain variable amounts of gold, but from a depth of 1 to 10.45 

meters the gold content increases with depth from3.1 

ppb to 17.2 ppb (DeGrazia and Haskin, 1964). 

(Text continues on p. 15.) 
,.. 

Table 2.--Analyses of gold in igneous rocks made before 1955 

[Some of these rocks may be metamorphic in origin. All analyses are by fire assay only unless specified] 

Rock 

Pegmatite-----

Granite-------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Location 

United States: 

Mojave, Calif-------------

Lake Tenaya (Porcupine 

Flat), Calif. 

American River, Calif-----

Candelaria, Nev-----------

Pike's Peak, Colo---------

Antelope Springs, Colo----

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

0.332 to 

1. 659 

.120 

.115 

1.130 

. 032 

<.083 

Mojave, Calif------------- Trace to 

0.033 

Carson district, Idaho--- ~.415 

South Africa: 

Do-------- G~bblersdal, Transvaal---- .092 

Do-------- Janefurse, Transvaal------ .059 

British Guiana: 

Do-------- Mazaruni district--------- .2 

Chile: 

Do-------- Near Valparaiso----------- 1.000 

Australia: 

Do-------- Timbarra, New South Wales- 3.406 

Quartz 

porphyry. 

Eurite 

(felsite). 

Do--------

Granophyre----

Rhyolite------

Ecuador: 

Loja Province------------- Trace 

Australia: 

Timbarra, New South Wales- 11.607 

5 miles from Timbarra, 11.033 

New South Wales. 

South Africa: 

Kalkfontein, Transvaal---- .0031(?) 

United States: 

Chalone Peaks, Calif----- Trace 

New Zealand: 

Do-------- Thames, North Island-----

South Africa: 

.0593 

Felsite------- Rooiberg, Transvaal------

United States: 

Aplite-------- Antelope Springs, Colo---

.113 

.041 

Number 

of 

samples 

2 

l 

1 

l 

1 

l 

3 

10 

4 

l 

1 

1 

4 

Remarks 

F~re.assay a~d spectrographic----

B1ot1te-gran1te------------------

Fire assay and spectrographic----

-----do--------------------------

Granitite. Method unspecified----

Silver, 829 ppm------------------

Content probably <0.166 ppm------

Silver content, 5.0 ppm----------

Silver content, 3.3 ppm----------

Fire assay and spectrographic----

Content probably <0.166 ppm------

Fire assay and spectrographic----

Reference 

De Kalb, Courtenay, cited 

by Lincoln (1911). 

Wagoner 0901). 

Do. 

Do. 

Hagen 09 54) . Hastings, J. B., cited by 

Lincoln (1911). . 

De Kalb, Courtenay, cited 

by Lincoln (1911). 

Simundi, A., cited by 

Becker, G. F., in 

Lincoln (1911). 

Hagen 0954). 

Do. 

Harrison (1905). 

Crosnier, L., cited by 

Lincoln 0911). 

Card, G. W., cited by 

Lincoln (1911'). 

Wolf, Theodor (abs. by 

vom Rath) cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Card, G. W., cited by 

Lincoln 0911). 

Do. 

Hagen (1954). 

Fairbanks, H. W., cited 

by Lincoln (1911). 

Don (1898). 

Hagen 0954). 

Hastings, J. B., cited 

by Lincoln (1911). 
Do--------

Do--------

Granodiorite--

Tonalite------

Diorite-------

Diorite 

porphyry. 

Andesite _____ _ 

Prophylite ___ _ 

Syenite-------

Do--------

Porphyry------

British Guiana: 

Mazaruni district---------

Essequibo River-----------

United States: 

Dedham, Mass-------~-----­

Australia: 

Charters Towers, 

Queensland. 

British Guiana: 

Mazaruni River------------

Ecuador: 

Loja Province-------------

New Zealand: 

Thames, North Island------

Thames, North Island------

United States: 

Candelaria, Nev-----------

British Guiana: 

Mazaruni and Essequibo 

Rivers. 

Ecuador: 

Loja Province-------------

United States: 

~ Anthorthosite- Adirondack, Essex 

County, N.Y. 

South Africa: 

Do-------- Transvaal-----------------

Canada: 

Essexite------ Mount Royal, Montreal, 

Quebec. 

South Africa: 

Gabbro-------- Transvaal----------------

Canada: 

Do-------- Moyie, British Columbia--

United States: 

Do-------- Duluth, Minn-------------

Canada: 

Norite-------- Sudbury, Ontario---------

Do--------

/ 

Diabase-------

Do--------

South Africa: 

Transvaal----------------

United States: 

Mariposa County, Calif---

Washoe district, Nev-----

• 3 

1.0 

.079 

. 080 

. 3 

Trace 

.042 

2.42 

.72 

. 5 

Trace 

. 026 

.060 

.155 

.087 

. 074 

.165 

. 042 

.062 

.076 

As much as 

0.66 to 0.83 

1 

2 

1 

8 

2 

21 

24 

1 

3 

l 

2 

l 

4 

1 

l 

2 

7 

l 

Method unspecified---------------

Fire assay and spectrographic----

Method unspecified---------------

Method unspecified----------------

Harrison (19 0 5). 

Do. 

Hagen (1954). 

Don (1898) . 

Harrison (1905). 

Wolf, Theodor, (abs. 

by vom Rath), cited 

by Lincoln (1911). 

Don (1898). 

Do. 

Wagoner (1901). 

Harrison (1905). 

Wolf, Theodor (abs. by vern 

Rath), cited by Lincoln 

(1911). 

Fire assay and spectrographic----- Hagen (1954) . 

Fire assay'and spectrographic. 

Bushveld complex. 

Fire assay and spectrographic-----

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

Various parts of Bushveld 

gabbro. 

Fire assay and spectrographic . 

Purcell sill. 

Fire assay and spectrographic . 

Levack norite. 

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

Bushveld complex. Gold content 

ranged from 0.004 to 0.128 ppm. 

Silver content, 7.2 ppm. Average 

of two samples. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Wagoner (19 01). 

Becker, G. F., cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 
0'-

Table 2.--Analyses of gold in igneous rocks made before 1955--Continued 

Rock Location 

British Guiana: 

Diabase------- Mazaruni River------------

Do-------- -----do-------------------

Do-------- Omai, Essequibo River-----

Do-------- Cuyuni River--------------

Surinam: 

Do-------- Viqtoria placer-----------

Ecuador: 

Diabase Loja Province-------------

porphyry. 

United States: 

Basalt-------- Cheney, Ritzville, and----

Ellensburg, Wash. 

Do-------- Multnomah Falls, Oreg-----

Do-------- Petaluma, Calif-----------

Do-------- Yellowstone National 

Park, Wyo. 

Do-------- Golden, Colo--------------

Do-------- Keweenawan County, Mich---

Mexico: 

Do-------- Canteras de Tlalpam, 

Districto Federal. 

Do-------- Hawaii----------------------

India: 

Do-------- Bombay--------------------

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

. 1 

. 3 

.1 

Trace 

0.200 to 

0.600 

Trace 

.110 

.063 

.026 

. 16 

.116 

. 127 

.043 

.114 

.126 

Do-------- -----do-------------------- .098 

South Africa: 

Do-------- Kruger National Park------ .130 

Azores: 

Do-------- Aria Langa, Pico---------- .077 

New Zealand: 

Basaltic tuff- Richmond River------------ 15.180 

Number 

of 

samples 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

4 

1 

3 

1 

1 

Remarks 

Method unspecified. Proterobase--

-----do--------------------------

-----do--------------------------

Method unspecified. Some samples 

yielded less than 0.1 ppm. 

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

Composite sample. 

-----do--------------------------

Paving stone. Silver content, 

0.547 ppm. 

Fire assay and spectrographic----

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

Olivine basalt. 

Fire assay and spectrographic . 

Amygdaloidal basalt. 

Fire assay and spectrographic----

-----do--------------------------

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

About 35 miles east-southeast 

of Bombay. Deccan trap. Composite of 20 samples from 

18 flows. 

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

About 80 miles southeast of 

Bombay. Deccan trap. Three 

samples aggregating 52 

composite samples. 

Fire assay and spectr·ographic----

-----do--------------------------

May be water deposited-----------

Reference 

Harrison (1905) . 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Du Bois (19 0 3 ) . 

Wolf, Theodor (abs. by 

vom Rath), cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Hagen (1954). 

Do. 

Wagoner (1901). 

Hagen (1954) . 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Schmeisser, Karl, cited 

by Lincoln (1911). 
South Africa; 

Ijolite Spitskop, Sekukuniland, 

(Urtite?). East Transvaal. 

U.S.S.R.: 

Monchiquite--- Krynka River--------------

Tila1te------- Nizhni Tagil--------------

United States: 

Pyroxenite---- Cripple Creek, Colo-------

Webster County, N.C-------

South Africa: 

Do-------- Transvaal-----------------

Germany: 

Do-------- Black Forest--------------

South Africa: 

Kimberlite---- Kimberly, Transvaal-------

United States: 

Peridotite---- Peekskill (Montrose 

Point), N.Y. 

Do-------- Murfreesboro, Ark---------

South Africa: 

-....] Harzburgite--- East Transvaal------------

Dunite-------- Transvaal--------------~--

Do-------- -----do-------------------

New Caldonia: 

Serpentinite--- Northern part-------------

.102 

.739 

. 012 

.017 

.037 

. 063 

. 100 

.092 

.028 

.039 

.067 

.06 

.18 

7.0 to 

8. 0 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

8 

1 

1 

1 

l 

2 

l 

1 

Fire assay and spectrographic----

Silver content, 24.74 ppm--------

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

Zoticha, Pavolvski mine. 

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

From Iron Mountain. 

Fire assay and spectrographic----

Fire assay and spectrographic . 

Bushveld complex. Gold content 

ranged from 0.028 to 0.124 

ppm. 

Spectrographic-------------------

Fire assay and spectrographic----

Fire assay and spectrographic----

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

Contains biotite and augite. 

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

Bushveld complex. 

Fire assay and spectr·ographic. 

Mooihoek or Onverwacht mines(?). 

Outer part of following sample 

(duplicate analyses). 

Fire assay and spectrographic. 

Same as preceding sample but an 

interior part of the rock 

(triplicate analyses). 

Hagen (1954). 

Morozewics, Jozef, cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Hagen (1954) . 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Leutwein (1939) . 

Hagen (1954). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Lacroix, Alfred, cited by 

Lincoln ( 1911). 
00 

Table 3.--Analyses of gold in igneous rocks made since 1954 

[All analyses are by neutron activation unless specified] 

Rock Location 

Canada: 

Pegmatite----- Yellowknife, Northwest 

'Ferritor:i.es. 

Gran1te------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- Algoma district, Ontario--

United States: 

Do-------- Westerly, R.I-------------

Do-------- Wausau, Wis---------------

Do-------- Stone Mountain, Ga--------

Do-------- Northwest Wyoming---------

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Altai---------------------

Do-------- Tashtuzek, southeast 

Altai. 

Do-------- -----do-------------------

Do-------- Turochak, southeast AltaiDo-------- Aksai, southeast Altai----

Do-------- Kuznetsk, Altai-----------

Do-------- Altai---------------------

Do-------- Northwest Altai-----------

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

<0.01 

.01 

.0047 

.OU5 

.0033 

.0019 

.033 

.0014 

.0035 

.0018 

.0018 

.0020 

.0039 

.016 

.0012 

Number 

of 

samples 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

3 

3 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

19 

Remarks 

Analysis by fire assay-----------

Fire assay of Prosperous Lake 

granite. 

Bridgeland sill------------------

U.S. Geol. Survey standard rocks 

G-1 and G-2. Fire assay, spectrographic, and neutron activation. Value is average of more 

than 13 analyses. G-1 average, 

0.0057 ppm; G-2 average, 0.0011 

ppm. 

Precambrian granite. Replicate 

analyses by fire assay and 

atomic absorption. Two samples of one rock contained 

0.015 ppm each; the second 

rock contained 0.050 ppm. 

Sarakokshinsk massif (duplicate 

analyses). Includes phase II 

(0.0015 ppm), phase III (0.0015 

ppm), and phase IV (0.0012 

ppm). 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Leucocratic (duplicate analyses)-

Duplicate analyses---------------

Leucocratic (duplicate analyses)-

Melanocratic, Dudetsk massif 

(duplicate analyses). 

Duplicate analyse~---------------

Kolyvan' massif (part of Kalba 

complex). Includes biotite 

phase I (0.0013 ppm), II 

(0.0014 ppm), III (0.0011 

ppm), and granite porphyry 

phase IV (0.0011 ppm). 

Reference 

Boyle (1960). 

Do. 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(1964). 

Vincent and Crocket 

(1960b), Vincent and 

Smales (1956), Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963), Baedecker and 

Ehmann (1965), Das 

Sarma, Sen, and Chowdhury (1965), and Baedecker (1967). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(1964). 

Do. 

Antweiler and Love (1967). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0964). 

Anoshin and Potap 1 yev 

(1966). 
\() 

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Quartz 

porphyry. 

East Transbaikal, central 

part of Aga area. 

-----do-------------------

Gornaya Shoriya-----------

ruva----------------------

Sayan (Mount Sukhaya)-----

Altai-Sayan folded belt 

(mostly). 

U.S.S.R.: 

Southeast Altai-----------

Canada: 

Quartz feld- Yellowknife, Northwest 

spar por- Territories. 

phyry. 

Granophyre---- Greenland (southeast)------

Do-------- -----do--------------------

Do-------- -----do--------------------

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Nizhnyaya Tunguska River--

Aplite-------- Northwest Altai-----------

Do-------- ? 

Do-------- Kuznetsk, Ala-Tau---------

United States: 

Do-------- Boulder County, Colo------

U.S.S.R.: 

Rhyolite------ Altai---------------------

Felsite------ Northeast Altai-----------

Rhyolites and Altai-Sayan folded belt---

trachytes. 

New Zealand: 

Obsidian----- Rotorua--------------------

.0012 

.0020 

.039 

.0037 

.0042 

.0032 

.012 

. 10 

.0036 

.073 

.0085 

.0043 

.0012 

.0019 

.0048 

.0033 

.012 

.0055 

.0054 

.021 

7 

9 

2 

l 

l 

33 

l 

l 

3 

l 

l 

3 

l 

l 

2 

l 

l 

l 

14 

l 

Khangilay-Shilinskiy massif------

Khangilay-Shilinskiy massif. 

Average of three hydrothermally 

altered granites: l. Biotitemuscovite granite (0.0028 ppm), 

2. Muscovite-albite granite 

(0.0018 ppm), 3. Muscovitealbite-l~pidolite granite 

(0.0014 ppm). 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Chingekat granite (duplicate 

analyses. 

Duplicate analyses---------------

This average includes probably 

most of or all the foregoing 

analyses. 

D2 (duplicate analyses)----------

Fire assay-----------------------

Acid, Skaergaard massif 

(duplicate analyses). 

-----do----------------------~---

Basic, Skaergaard massif 

(duplicate analyses). 

Anakita massif-------------------

Kolyvan' massif (part of Kalba 

complex) phase IV-see"Granite." 

Kundatsk massif (duplicate 

analyses). 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Duplicate analyses, possibly also 

referred to as "trachyte," sample No. 480. 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Do. 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do. 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0964). 

Boyle 0960) . 

Vincent and Crocket 

(l960a). 

Do. 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Anoshin and Potap'yev 

0966). 

Shcnerbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do. 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(1964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0964). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964). 
-

0 

Table 3.--Analyses of gold in igneous rocks made since 1954--Continued 

Rock Location 

Australia: 

Perlite------~ Queensland----------------

U.S. S.R.: 

Tuff lava----- Central Altai-------------

Canada: 

Granodiorite-- Yellowknife, Northwest 

Territories. 

United States: 

Do-------- Silver Plume, Colo--------

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Ala-Tau-------------------

Do-------- Central Altai-------------

Do-------- Altai-Sayan folded belt---

Do-------- Sultanuizdag (Uzbekistan)-

United States: 

Quartz Helena, Mont. (20 miles 

diorite. northwest). 

U.S.S.R.: 

Diorite------- Altai---------------------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- East Sayan Mountains------

Do-------- Altai-Sayan folded belt 

(mostly). 

Do-------- Central Kuznetsk, Ala-TauDo-------- Kuznetsk, Ala-Tau---------

Do-------- Sultanuizdag (Uzbekistan)-

United States: 

Andesite------ Guano Valley, Lake County, 

Oreg. 

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Northeast Altai-----------

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

0.0015 

.0052 

<.01 

.0013 

.0031 

.0048 

.0040 

.0056 

. 034 

.0010 

.0045 

.0032 

.0035 

.0046 

.0034 

.009 

.0006 

.01 

Number 

of 

samples 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

8 

5 

5 

1 

1 

2 

14 

2 

1 

1 1 

1 

1 

Remarks 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Western granodiorite, analyses by 

fire assay. 

U.S. Geol. Survey standard GSP-1. 

Triplicate analyses reported 

as 1.3 ppm. Iridium content 

0.0007 ppm, reported as 0.7 

ppm. 

Dudetsk massif (duplicate 

analyses). 

Yalomanskii massif (duplicate 

analyses). 

Aktausk intrusive. Values 

of 11 analyses range from 

0.0013 to 0.0320 ppm. 

Marysville quartz diorite stock . 

Range: 0.004 to 0~089 ppm. 

Phase I (duplicate analyses)-----

-----do--------------------------

Kanatinsk diorite (duplicate 

analyses). 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Tikhvinsk diorite (duplicate 

analyses). 

Diorite porphyrite vein----------

U.S. Geol. Survey standard AGV-1 

(triplicate analyses reported 

as 0.6 ppm). Iridium content 

reported as 0.5 ppm, probably 

is 0.0005 ppm. 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Reference 

DeGrazia and Haskin(l964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Boyle 0960). 

Baedecker (1967). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Paler, Murovtsev, and 

Borozenets (1967). 

Mantei and Brownlow 

0967). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do. 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Do. 

Pale~, Murovtsev, and 

Borozenets (1967). 

Baedecker (1967). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 
Do-------- Kuznetsk, Ala-Tau--------- .0055 3 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .0047 1 

Syenite- Sultanuizdag (Uzbekistan)- .034 5 

diorite. 

United States: 

Syenite------- Wausau, Wis--------------- .00064 1 

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Altai-Sayan folded belt--- .0044 8 

Trachyte------ Southeast Altai----------- .0051 1 

Do-------- Northeast Altai----------- .012 1 

Do-------- Central Altai------------- . 0080 1 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .0011 1 

Do-------- Northeast Altai----------- .0065 2 

Diorite- Kuznetsk, Ala-Tau--------- .015 1 

gabbro. 

Gabbro-------- East Greenland-------------- .0024 1 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- . 0046 1 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .011 '1 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .014 3 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .0029 1 

United States: 

Do-------- Ironton, Mo--------------- .0024 1 

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Kuznetsk, Ala-Tau--------- .0066 1 

Do-------- Altai--------------------- .0044 2 

Do-------- Taskyl ------------------- .0063 1 

Do-------- Altai-Sayan folded belt--- .0055 1 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .0064 14 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .0087 33 

-----do--------------------------

Basaltic (duplicate analyses)----

Leucocratic. From Dzhamansai 

intrusive. Values range from 

0.0028 to 0.0660 ppm. 

D2· Duplicate analyses-----------

Pillow structure. Duplicate 

analyses (possibly also called 

"rhyolite"), samples No. 480. 

D. Quartz bearing. Duplicate 

analyses. 

D2. Quartz bearing. Duplicate 

analyses. 

Felsitic. Duplicate analyses-----

Dudetsk massif. Duplicate 

analyses. 

Skaergaard intrusion. Olivine 

free. Duplicate analyses . 

Skaergaard 1ntrusion. Chilled 

margin. Duplicate analyses. 

Skaergaard intrusion. Olivinebearing. Duplicate analyses. 

Skaergaard intrusion. Ferrogabbro (hortonolite). 

Duplicate analyses. 

Skaergaard intrusion. Ferrogabbro (fayalite). Duplicate 

analyses. 

Dudetsk massif. Duplicate 

analyses. 

Sarakokshinsk massif. Duplicate 

analyses. 

Taskyl' gabbro. Duplicate 

analyses. 

Kanatinsk gabbro-----------------

The rocks are referred to as 

"gabbroids." 

The rocks are referred to as 

"gabbroids" and have originated 

in the Altai-Sayan folded belt 

and elsewhere. 

Do. 

Do. 

Palei, Murovtsev, and 

Borozenets (1967). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964'). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do. 

Do . 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Vincent and Crocket 

(1960a). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(1964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Do. 
1--' 

N 

Table 3.--Analyses of gold in igneous rocks made since 1954--Continued 

Rock Location 

South Africa: 

Norite-~------ Transvaal-----------------

Canada: 

Diabase------- Yellowknife, Northwest 

Territories. 

United States: 

Do-------- Centerville, Va-----------

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Altai---------------------

Do-------- Nizhnyaya Tunguska River--

Do-------- Kuznetsk, Ala-Tau---------

United States: 

Basalt-------- Jefferson County, Colo----

Do-------- Cooper Falls, Bridal Veil 

quadrangle, Oregon. 

Do-------- East Pacific Rise-----------

Hawaii: 

Do-------- Mauna Loa--------~--------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Altai--------------------

Do-------- Central Altai------------

Do-------- Altai-Sayan folded belt 

(mainly). 

Do-------- Germany: 

Lintz, Rhenish Prussia---

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

0.0029 

<.01 

.0065 

.0058 

.0080 

.0384 

.0040 

.0006 

.0004 

.0026 

.0059 

.0028 

.0039 

.0006 

. 0089 

.010 

.0026 

Number 

of 

samples 

1 

1 

2 

l 

l 

l 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

l 

1 

19 

l 

Remarks 

Bushveld complex-----------------

Late diabase dikes. Analyses by 

fire assay. 

U.S. Geol. Survey standard rock 

W-1. Fire assay, spectrographic, and neutron activation. Value is average of more 

than 10 analyses. 

Sarakokshinsk massif. Phase V. 

Duplicate analyses. 

Anakita massif, fine-grained 

part of the chilled border 

(duplicate analyses). 

Cm1 . Quadruplicate analyses, 

with values of 0.0033, 0.0034, 

0.0068, and ~14 ppm~ -

Contains olivine-----------------

U.S. Geol. Survey standard BCR-1 

(triplicate analyses reported 

as 0.6 ppm). Iridium content 

reported as 0.5 ppm, probably 

is 0.0005 ppm. 

Iridium content, 0.0002 ppm------

Tholeiitic; olivine present 

(duplicate analyses). 

Flow of 1859. Tholeiitic---------

Flow of 1868. Tholeiitic-picriteFlow of 1881 near Hila. Tholeiitic, hypersthene present. 

Iridium content, 0.0021 ppm. 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Duplicate analyses. Basalt flow--

These are all intrusive----------

Reference 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964). 

Boyle 0960). 

Vincent and Smales (1956), 

Vincent and Crocket 

(l960a), Hamaguchi and 

others (1961), Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963), Baedecker and 

Ehmann (1965), and Das 

Sarma, Sen, and Chowdhury (1965). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964). 

Baedecker (1967). 

Do. 

Vincent and Crocket 

(l960b). 

Baedecker (1967). 

Do. 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do . 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0964). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964). 
Scotland: 

Do-------- Morvern-------------------

Ireland: 

Do-------- Giant's Causeway----------

Middle Atlantic Ocean: 

Do-------- Mid-Atlantic ridge--------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Basalts and 

andesites. 

Gabbropicrite. 

Gabbropyroxenite. 

Nepheline 

syenite. 

Do--------

~ Picrite------- w 

Kimberlite----

Peridotite----

Do--------

U.S.S.R.: 

Altai-Sayan folded belt 

(mainly). 

Greenland (eastern)---------

U.S.S.R.: 

Altai---------------------

Canada: 

Bancroft, Ontario---------

United States: 

Red Hill, N.H-------------

U. S. S.R.: 

Southern Fergana and 

northern Nuratau. 

South Africa: 

Kimberly, Transvaal-------

United States: 

Cazadero quadrangle, 

Sonoma County, Calif. 

U.S.S.R,: 

Eastern Sayan-------------

Hebrides: 

Do-------- Rhum, Inner Hebrides------

South Africa: 

Do-------- Kimberly, Transvaal-------

United States: 

Dunite-------- Balsam, N.C---------------

Do-------- Twin Sisters Mountains, 

Wash. 

.0022 

.0020 

.010 

.0003 

.0065 

.0035 

.0028 

.0026 

.00098 

.02 

. 0026 

.0007 

.0060 

.011 

. 0008 

.0022 

. 0008 

1 

1 

3 

3 

29 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Tholeiitic (duplicate analyses)--

Values of 0.0063, 0.0106, and 

0.014 ppm. 

Values range from 0.0002 to 

0.0003 ppm; depth of collection ranges from 10,200 

to 14,040 ft. Iridium content, 0.0039 ppm. 

These samples include some 

shown elsewhere in this table. 

Skaergaard massif (triplicate 

analyses). 

Sarakokshinsk massif. Duplicate 

analyses. 

Contains sodalite----------------

Picrite porphyrite. Replicate 

spectral analyses. 

From Kimberly mine---------------

U.S. Geol. Survey standard PCC-1 

(triplicate analyses reported 

as 0.7 ppm). Iridium content 

reported as 2.5 ppm, probably 

is 0.0025 ppm. 

Ospinskii massif-----------------

Autochthonous olivine cumulite---

Garnet present. Xenolith in kimberlite from Bulfontein mine. 

Iridium averages 0.0025 ppm. 

Duplicate analyses---------------

U.S. Geol. Survey standard DTS-1 

(triplicate analyses reported 

as 0.8 ppm). Iridium content 

reported as 0.4 ppm, probably 

is 0.0004 ppm. 

Vincent and Crocket 

(l960b). 

Do. 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(1964). 

Baedecker (1967). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Vincent and Crocket 

(l960a). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(19641. 

Do. 

Gamaleev and others 

(1967). 

Baedecker (1967) . 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Vincent and Crocket 

0960b). 

Baedecker (1967) . 

Vincent and Crocket 

(l960b). 

Baedecker (1967) . 
,_ 

~ 

Table 3.--Analyses of gold in igneous rocks made since 1954--Continued 

Rock Location 

Dunite-------- China-----------------------

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Urals---------------------

Do-------- Polar Urals---------------

Do-------- Khatanga River basin------

Do-------- Albania---------------------

Ultramafic 

rocks. 

U.S.S.R.: 

Altai-Sayan folded belt---

Gold Number 

content of 

(ppm) samples 

0.014 3 

.009 4 

.022 1 

.0056 1 

.0037 1 

.0094 27 

Remarks Reference 

Duplicate analyses---------------- Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

From Ray-12, Uktussk, and Elizaveta massifs and Solov'yeva. 

Range, 0.0052 to 0.015 ppm 

(duplicate analyses). 

Sabskovaykarskii massif. Duplicate 

analyses. 

Gula intrusive (duplicate 

analyses). 

Bulchiz massif. Duplicate 

analyses. 

These samples include some shown 

elsewhere in this table. 

(replicate analyses). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Table 4.,--Average gold content of igneous rocks based on all known published analyses made 

s1.nce 1954 

[Data from table 3. Average Au: First figure in brackets is the number of areas from which 

the samples were taken, and the second figure is the number of neutron-activation analyses 

made on these samples] 

Rock type Average Au (ppb) Rock type Average Au (ppb) 

Pegmatite------------------- <0.01 [1, 1] Syenite-diorite---- 3.4 [ 5' 5] 

Granite--------------------- 7.1 [ 2 0' 87] Syenite------------ 2.5 [ 2' 9] 

Quartz porphyry------------- 12.0 [1, 2] Trachyte----------- 6.5 [ 5' 12] 

Quartz feldspar porphyry---- 100.0 [1, l] Diorite-gabbro----- 15.0 [1, 2] 

Granophyre------------------ 16.3 [ 2' 13] Gabbro------------- 5.4 [ 5' 23] 

Felsite--------------------- 5. 5 [1, 2 J Norite------------- 2.9 [1, l] 

Aplite---------------------- 2. 8 [ 4' 8] Diabase------------ 1

14.7 [4, 20] 

Rhyolite-------------------- 12.0 [1, 2] Basalt------------- 3.6 [10, 40] 

Obsidian-------------------- 21.0 [1, l] Gabbro-picrite----- 3. 5 [1, 3] 

Perlite--------------------- 1.5 [1, l] Gabbro-pyroxenite-- 2.8 [1, 2] 

Tuff lava------------------- 5. 2 [1, 2] Nepheline syenite-- 1.8 [ 2' 2] 

Granodiorite---------------- 3. 5 [4, 24] Peridotite--------- 4.6 [ 4' 7] 

Quartz diorite-------------- 34.0 [1, 5] Picrite------------ 20.0 [ 1' 2] 

Diorite--------------------- 4.3 [ 6' 15] Kimberlite--------- 2. 6 [ 1' l] 

Andesite-------------------- 5.2 [4, 13] Dunite------------- 8.2 [ 7' 25] 

1

A value of 6.2 ppb Au is obtained if the anomalous value of 140 ppb is not included (see 

table 3). 

Table 5 .--Average gold content of plutonic and from Germany. Gold values for clay range from 3.12 

volcan1.c rocks ppb (computer-derived geochemical balance, Horn and 

[Analyses by neutron activation only] 

Plutonic Average Au Volcanic Average Au 

rocks (ppb) rocks (ppb) 

Granite-- 1 2.8 Rhyolite-- 12.0 

Syenite-- 2. 5 Trachyte-- 6.5 

Diorite-- 2 3.5 Andesite-- 5.2 

Gabbro--- 5.4 Basalt---- 3.2 

Dunite--- 8.2 

1

This value is increased to 5.7 if the 

anomalous figures (Shcherbakov and Perezhogin, 

1964) of 39 and 16 ppb Au are used in the calculation. 2Value given by Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1964). 

Leutwein (1951) made spectrographic analyses of 11 

Thuringian alum- and silica-rich shales. The median 

amount of gold in these shales was 100 ppb. Pyrite 

separated from them contained no detectable gold, but 

gold was found in the hydrocarbon fraction. Seven sediments of Holocene age taken from the Baltic and North 

Seas, also analyzed by Leutwein, contained 500 to 2,500 

ppb gold, which seems high. (See "sapropel," table 6). 

Tischendorf ( 1959) founcfthat black graptolitic shales 

near Tilkerode, Harz, Germany, contained 300to 1,300 

ppb gold, whereas bleached shales from the same area 

contained from less than SO to 800 ppb (table 7). Six 

shales from the Harebell Form at ion in northwest 

Wyoming had an average of 72 ppb gold, and 18 shales 

from the Pinyon Conglomerate averaged 52 ppb gold 

(Antweiler and Love, 1967). Noddack and Noddack 

(1931) reported 10 ppm gold in a cupriferous shale 

Adams, 1966) to 817 ppb. 

Gold in lateritic ores of Ity, Ivory Coast, is finely 

dispersed in amounts up to 18.3 ppm according to 

available data. Bacteria may have played a role in the 

deposition of this gold (Par~s and Martinet, 1964), as 

indicated by the results of the treatment of the ores 

and by the gold precipitated with cultures of microorganisms from streams and soils of the region. Experiments have shown that the initial solubility ofthe 

gold up to concentrations of 6 ppm is followed by slow 

reprecipitation. 

Gold occur s in coal of all g eo 1 o g i c a 1 periods 

(Babi~ka, 1943). Goldschmidt (1935) considered that 

the maximum factor of enrichment of gold in coal ash 

over the average gold content of the earth's crust is 

between 40 and lOOtimes. Thyssen-Bornemisza (1942) 

reported that some plants have the ability to concentrate gold. 

Widely separated coals have y i e 1 de d appreciable 

amounts of gold. Gold has been reported in coals from 

Pleasant Valley, Utah, and Kemmerer and Cambria, 

Wyo. (Gibson and Selvig, 1944; Jenney, 1903; Stone, 

1912). Stone reported that samples from 31 carloads 

of coke (estimated one-third ash) from Cambria contained from 0.10 to 0.28 oz per ton (4 to 11 ppm) of 

gold, but more recent analyses have not confirmed 

these high f i g u r e s. The split and bon e y coal from 

Cambria contained more gold than that with lower ash 

contents. The gold may be associated with pyrite and 

possibly derived from a slightly auriferous sandstone 

roof above the coal. (Text continues on p. 22.) 

15 
..... 

0\ 

Table 6.--Analyses of gold in sedimentary rocks made before 1955 

[Analyses are by fire assay unless specified] 

Rock Location 

United States: 

Conglomerate-- Black Hills, S. Dak-------

Do-------- Klamath River, Calif------

Do-------- Calaveras County, Calif---

Australia: 

Do-------- Gympie, Queensland--------

Do-------- Peak Downs, Queensland----

Do-------- Tallawang, New South 

Wales. 

Do-------- Nullagine, Western 

Australia. 

England: 

Do-------- Gloucester----------------

South Africa: 

Do-------- Witwatersrand-------------

Sandstone-----

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Sandstone 

and slate. 

Shale---------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

United States: 

Angel Island, Calif-------

Colusa County, Calif------

San Francisco (Russian 

Hill), Calif. 

Australia: 

Bendigo, Victoria---------

Ballarat, Victoria--------

Gippsland, Victoria-------

Ballarat and Gippsland, 

Victoria. 

United States: 

Braintree, Mass-----------

Pennsylvania--------------

Western Kansas------------

Australia: 

Gympie, Queensland--------

Germany: 

Thuringia-----------------

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

Up to 

82.950 

6.636 to 

10.220 

Trace to 

0.597 

. 043 

7.680 to 

9.216 

1.536 to 

23.040 

18.980 

7.680 

7.500 to 

15.000 

.024 

.039 

.021 

.008 

.047 

.039 

.637 

About 

0.008 

About 

0.008 

.037 

.374 

< 0. 0 0 5 to 

0.8 

Do-------- Mansfeld (Saxony)--------- 10.0 

Number 

of 

samples 

2 

19 

27 

13 

8 

8 

11 

Remarks 

Cambrian-------------------------

Cretaceous-----------------------

Jurassic-------------------------

Permian--------------------------

-----do--------------------------

Precambrian----------------------

Carboniferous--------------------

Precambrian----------------------

Maximum, 0.085 ppm---------------

Maximum, 0.446 ppm----------------

Maximum, 0.224 ppm---------------

Gray Cambrian shale--------------

Black Pennsylvanian shale--------

Benton Shale. Silver content, 

2.820 ppm. 

Maximum amount, 0.870 ppm--------

Silver ranged from 5 to 30 ppm. 

Analyzed by spectrochemical 

method. 

Cupriferous----------------------

Reference 

Devereux, W. B., cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Dunn, R. L., cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Lindgren (1894). 

Don (1898) . 

Maclaren (1908). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Lincoln (1911). 

Wagoner (1901). 

Do. 

Do. 

Don (1898). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Lincoln (1911). 

Do. 

Lindgren (1902). 

Don (1898). 

Leutwein (1951). 

Noddack and Noddack 

(1931). 
Do-------- Norway and Sweden----------- 0.05 to 

0.1 

United States: 

Coal---------- Pleasant Valley, Utah-----

Do-------- Kemmerer, Wyo-------------

Do-------- Cambria, Wyo--------------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Limestone-----

Gypsum -------

Do--------

~ Anhydrite-----

Rock salt, 

and some 

associated 

minerals. 

Poland: 

Rudolph, Koppich near 

Neurode. 

Germany: 

Brassert, Westphalia------

Grube Fortuna, Cologne----

England: 

Hartley-------------------

Whalton, Somerset---------

United States: 

Salina, N.Y---------------

Grand Rapids, Mich--------

Germany: 

Plomnitz------------------

England: 

Cheshire------------------

Germany: 

Do-------- Strassfurt----------------

Do-------- Strassfurt, Neindorf, 

Bernburg, and 

Mecklenburg. 

Do-------- Rernburg-----------------

France: 

1.0 to 

1.4 

1.0 to 

1.4 

4.0 to 

ll. 0 

0.5 to 

1.0 

. 5 

0.01 to 

0.1 

. 5 

.26 

.083 

.083 

.007 

0.095 and 

0.100 

.l 

<.003 

.012 

Marl---------- Rancourt------------------ 4.000 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- 36.000 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- 6.000 

4 

13 

l 

Lower Ordovician black shale. 

Analytical method unspecified. 

Values given as $0.60 to $0.80 

per ton with gold at $20 per 

ounce. 

-----do--------------------------

From coke only. The coke is 

estimated to be about one-third 

ash. 

From clarain---------------------

From the ash of brown coal. 

Spectrophotographic analyses. 

Carboniferous. Silver content, 

18.7 ppm. 

Red Silurian gypsum--------------

Red Mississippian gypsum---------

Includes sylvite, kainite, 

carnallite, and red rock salt. 

Includes red rock salt, white rock 

salt, sylvite, boracite, "older" 

and "younger" rock salt, 

carnallite, kainite, langbeinite, 

and kieserite with rock salt. 

Red carnallite---------------------

Keuper variegated marl. Drill 

hole, 250.5 m. Silver content, 

6.000 ppm. 

Muschelkalk sandy marl. Drill 

hole, 382 m. Silver content, 

245.00 ppm. 

Muschelkalk marl. Drill hole, 

465 m. Silver content, 

1,000 ppm. 

Goldschmidt (1954). 

Jenney (1903). 

Do. 

Stone (1912). 

Goldschmidt and Peters 

(1933). 

Do. 

Fuchs (1935). 

Goldschmidt and Peters 

(19 3 3). 

Maclaren (1908). 

Lincoln (1911). 

Do. 

Friedrich, K., cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Liversidge (1897). 

Do. 

Friedrich, K., cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Do. 

Laur, Francis, cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Do. 

Do. 
,_. 

00 

Table 6.--Analyses of gold in sedimentary rocks made before 1955--Continued 

Rock 

France: 

Location 

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

Marl---------- Rancourt------------------ 4.000 

United States: 

Clay---------- Philadelphia, Pa---------- .817 

Australia: 

Do-------- B~llarat, Victoria--------

Germany: 

Do-------- Plomnitz------------------

Western North Atlantic 

Ocean: 

Mud----------- East of Georges Bank------

Do-------- Southeast of Georges 

Bank. 

United States: 

Do-------- South of Nantucket--------

Do-------- Off Delaware Bay----------

Do-------- Off Chesapeake Bay--------

Do-------- Between Chesapeake Bay and 

Hatteras. 

Do-------- San Francisco Bay---------

Sapropel------ Baltic Sea------------------

North Sea: 

Do-------- Norwegian coast 

(Nord Fjord, Ulvesund, 

Drontheim Fjord, and 

Nord-Rauen). 

Laterite------ Surinam---------------------

Manganese 

nodule. 

Atlantic Ocean: 

Station 286, H.M.S. 

Challenger Expeditl.on. 

. 062 

.013 

.257 

. 125 

.066 

.145 

. 015 

.044 

0.045 to 

0.271 

0.5 to 

0.7 

0.7 to 

2. 5 

3.0 to 

10.0 

• 2 

Number 

of 

samples 

2 

3 

4 

Remarks 

Muschelkalk marl. Drill hole, 

467 m. Silver content, trace. 

Columbian clay-------------------

Salt clay------------------------

Dredging, 677 fathoms deep. Silver 

content, 1.96 ppm. 

Dredging, 1,769 fathoms deep . 

Silver content, 0.38 ppm. 

Dredging, 990 fathoms deep. Silver 

content, 0.41 ppm. 

Dredging, 1,091 fathoms deep. 

Silver content, 1.0 ppm. 

Dredging, 104 fathoms deep . 

Silver content, 0.35 ppm. 

Dredging, 49 to 70 fathoms 

deep. Silver content, 0.30 ppm. 

Holocene-------------------------

Depth of samples, 67 to 180 m. 

Spectrographic analyses. 

Depth of samples, 58 to 517 m. 

Spectrographic analyses. 

Analytical method unspecified----

Spectrographic analyses----------

Reference 

Laur, Francis, cited by 

Lincoln 0911). 

Eckfeldt, cited by Lincoln (1911). 

Don (1898) . 

Friedrich, K., cited by 

Lincoln (1911). 

Wagoner (1908). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Leutwein (1951). 

Do. 

Du Bois 0903). 

Goldschmidt and Peters 

(1932). 
..-

'-0 

Table 7.--Analyses of gold in sedimentary rocks made since 1954 

[All analyses are by neutron activation unless specified] 

Rock Location 

United States: 

Conglomerate-- Northwest Wyoming---------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Sandstone~----

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Canada: 

Elbow Lake, Ontario-------

Yellowknife, Northwest 

Territories. 

United States: 

Bayfield County, 

Wis. 

Vanceburg, Ky-------------

Kettleman Hills, Calif----

Nort~west Wyoming---------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Australia: 

Do-------- Henbury, central 

Australia. 

Tasmania: 

Do-------- Western slope, Mount 

Darwin. 

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

U.S.S.R.: 

Northeast Altai-----------

Central Altai-------------

-----do-------------------

-----do-------------------

Southeast Altai-----------

-----do-------------------

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

0.055 

. 080 

.0023 

.01 

.0116 

.0026 

.041 

.064 

.081 

. 122 

.0006 

.0003 

.0026 

.0053 

.0027 

.0029 

. 0043 

. 0023 

Number 

of 

samples 

56 

225 

1 

1 

1 

1 

11 

55 

152 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Remarks 

Harebell Formation (Upper Cretaceous). Replicate analyses 

by fire assay-atomic absorption. 

Pinyon Conglomerate (Paleocene) . 

Replicate analyses by fire 

assay-atomic absorption. 

Graywacke, Gowganda Formation----

Graywacke. Analyses by fire 

assay. 

Keweenawan-----------------------

Berea Sandstone------------------

Flathead Sandstone (Cambrian). 

Replicate analyses by fire 

assay-atomic absorption. Range, 

0.015 to 0.150 ppm Au. 

Harebell Formation (Upper Cretaceous). Replicate analyses 

by fire assay-atomic absorption. 

Pinyon Conglomerate (Paleocene) . 

Replicate analyses by fire 

assay-atomic absorption. 

Henbury subgraywacke. Gold 

reported as 0.6 ppm. Iridium 

reported as 0.9 ppm, probably 

is 0.0009 ppm. 

Owen sandstone. Gold reported as 

0.3 ppm. Iridium reported as 

1.1 ppm, probably is 0.0011 

ppm. 

Cm2. Duplicate analyses----------

S. Duplicate analyses------------

D3. Quadruplicate analyses-------

D2. Quadruplicate analyses-------

D3. Duplicate analyses-----------

Cm3. Duplicate analyses----------

Reference 

Antweiler and Love 

0967). 

Do. 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964). 

Boyle (1960). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964). 

Do. 

Do. 

Antweiler and Love 

0967) . 

Do. 

Do. 

Baedecker (1967). 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do . 

Do . 
N 

0 

Table 7.--Analyses of gold in sedimentary rocks made since 1954--Continued 

Rock 

Sandstone-----

Sandstones and 

shales. 

Siltstone-----

Do--------

Shale---------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

Location 

U.S.S.R.: 

Southeast Altai-----------

Altai-Sayan folded belt 

(mainly). 

Central Altai-------------

Southeast Altai-----------

United States: 

Wyandotte County, Kans----

South Dakota--------------

Northwest Wyoming---------

-----do-------------------

U.S.S.R.: 

Gornaya Shoriya-----------

Southeast Altai-----------

Kuznetsk, Ala-Tau---------

Germany: 

Do-------- Tilkerode, Harz-----------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Canada: 

Tuff---------- Yellowknife, Northwest 

Territories. 

Southwest Atlantic Ocean 

area: 

Lutite-------- Argentine Basin-------------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

United States: 

1

Limestone----- Wyandotte County, Kans----

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

0.0016 

.0036 

.0055 

.0062 

.0072 

.0047 

. 072 

. 052 

.0026 

. 0023 

.0028 

·Number 

of 

samples 

l 

39 

1 

l 

6 

18 

1 

2 

l 

0.3 to 1.3 

0.05 to 0.8 

0.01 to 

0.07 

.0106 

.0031 

.0052 

.0173 

.0048 

Remarks 

0. Duplicate analyses------------

These samples may be represented 

by some of the foregoing 

analyses. 

0. Duplicate analyses------------

D3-------------------------------

Muncie Creek Shale Member of 

Iola Limestone. 

Homestake Formation--------------

Harebell Formation (Upper Cretaceous). Replicate analyses 

by fire assay-atomic absorption. 

Pinyon Conglomerate (Paleocene) . 

Replicate analyses by fire 

assay-atomic absorption. 

0. Duplicate analyses------------

D3. Duplicate analyses-----------. 

Sn. Calcareous and carbonaceous 

(duplicate analyses). 

Black shale. Spectrochemical 

analyses. 

Bleached shale. Spectrochemical 

analyses. 

This fine-grained rock considered a sediment by Boyle 

(1960). Graphitic, cherty, 

and calcareous. Analyses 

by fire assay. 

Depth of core below ocean bottom, 1 m. 

Depth of core below ocean bottom, 3. 55 m. 

Depth of core below ocean bottom, 6.75 m. 

Depth of core below ocean bottom, 10.45 m. 

Paola Limestone Member of 

Iola Limestone. 

Reference 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do. 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964). 

Do. 

Antweiler and Love 

0967). 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

0963). 

Do . 

Do. 

Tischendorf (1959). 

Do. 

Boyle (1960). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

0964). 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Do-------- Northwest Wyoming---------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

U.S.S.R.: 

Limestone----- Southeast Altai-----------

Do-------- Central Altai-------------

England: 

Oolite-------- Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham---

United States: 

.020 

. 041 

0.0025 

.0018 

.0023 

2 

11 

Harebell formation (Upper Cretaceous). Replicate analyses 

by fire assay-atomic absorption. 

Pinyon Conglomerate (Paleocene). Replicate analyses 

by fire assay-atomic absorption. 

Sn. Duplicate analyses-----------

S. Duplicate analyses------------

Antweiler and Love 

(1967). 

Do . 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Do. 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(1964). 

~-~--------€-arben-at-e----~- ----F-l-or-i-da-coa1';t---------------------------=--- -----;-e-tJ3-g----------;;;.~-.;;;------lto--t-o-cene...;-.;;;=~~.;..-=--;;;-.;;;~=-=~~;;;:.:-~-----------rro-:----------------------~- -~-~ 

N 

1-" 

Coral--------- Florida Keys-------------- .0008 --- Holocene------------------------- Do. 

Southwest Atlantic Ocean 

area: 

Clay---------- Brazil Basin-------------- .031 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .016 

Do-------- -----do--------------------- .0042 

Depth of core below ocean bot- Do. 

tom, 3.43 m. Red. 

Depth of core below ocean bot- Do. 

tom, 6.64 m. Red. 

Depth of core below ocean bot- Do. 

tom, 8. 87 m. Red. 
Bouska, Havlena, and Sulcek (1963) concluded that 

gold is bound predominantly to the organic part of 

coal. The coals they studied were found in fresh-water 

Cenomanian deposits in Bohemia and Moravia. Oeul 

(1958) found gold in the ash of the humic acid fractions 

of peat. He did not detect it in plant ashes, in the whole 

peat ash, or in any other fraction that he separated 

from the peat. In seven samples, Deul obtained from 

1 to 10 ppm gold in the ash of the hum!.c acid extract. 

Goldschmidt and Peters (1933) gave the gold content 

of the ash of coal as 0.5 to 1 ppm and the gold content 

of clarain, a constituent of coal, as 0.5 ppm (table 6). 

Trace amounts of gold have been detected in the ash 

of crude oils from Poland (Kisielow and Gregorowicz, 

1955). 

Most carbonate rocks contain less gold than sandstones and shales (table 8). The amount of gold reported in carbonate rocks ranges from 0. 8 ppb for a 

coral from the Florida Keys (table 7) to 256 ppb for a 

limestone from England (table 6 ). Two limestones from 

the Harebell Formation in northwest Wyoming had 20 

ppb gold, and 11 limestones from the Pinyon Conglomerate in the same area contained 41 ppb gold 

(Antweiler and Love, 1967). Horn and Adams (1966) 

estimated the average gold content for carbonate rocks 

at 1.79 ppb. 

Early analyses show that marl from the Keuper and 

Muschelkalk at Rancourt, France, contains a 1 a r g e 

amount of gold (ranging from 4 to 36 ppm) and also 

appreciable silver (table 6). The analyses for gold in 

gypsum and rock salt (table 6) are suspiciously high. 

An analysis for gold in anhydrite, however, seems 

reasonable (Lincoln, 1911 ). A manganese nodule 

obtained by the H. M. S. Challenger Expedition was 

found to have 0.2 ppm gold (Goldschmidt and Peters, 

1932). 

Of the sedimentary rocks, carbonates probably contain on the aver age the least gold, and sandstones 

contain the most (table 9). This conclusion is based on 

the neutron-activation analyses of Shcherbakov and 

Perezhogin (1963) and DeGrazia and Haskin (1964) and 

on the computer-derived geochemical balance ofHorn 

and Adams ( 1966 ). 

GOLD IN METAMORPHIC ROCKS 

Fewer metamorphic rocks have been analyzed for 

gold than either sedimentary or igneous rocks. The 

amounts detected range from 0.86 ppb in a marble 

(DeGrazia and Haskin, 1964; table 11), determined by 

neutron-activation methods, to 24 ppm in a schist 

(Levat,. cited by Lincoln, 1911; table 10). Estimates of 

the average amounts of gold in various metamorphic 

rock types are given in table 12. 

One analysis of a mica-garnet gneiss showed 1.8 

ppb gold (DeGrazia and Haskin, 1964). Older analyses 

of gneisses gave 0.830 to 23 ppm gold (table 10). 

22 

Slates from gold mining regions in New Zealand and 

Australia had almost equal average amounts of gold: 

New Zealand, 111 ppb, and Australia 124 ppb (Don, 

1898 ). Composite samples of slates and argillites from 

the Yellowknife district, Northwest Territories, Canada, averaged 10 ppb gold (Boyle, 1960). An argillite 

from Asia contained 8.3 ppb gold (Shcherbakov and 

Perezhogin, 1963). 

Shcherbakov and P erezhogin ( 1963) detected 1.2 ppb 

gold in a phyllite. Chlorite schists from widely separated areas analyzed by the same workers contained 

about the same amount of gold (5.3 and 6.7 ppb). Don 

(1898) found an average of 89 ppb gold in 79 schists 

from New Zealand. Shear zones at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, yielded 17 ppb gold in chlorite schist and 632 ppb gold in a carbonate-sericite 

schist (Boyle, 1960). Levat, cited by Lincoln (1911), 

reported large amounts of gold and silver in hornblende 

schists (table 10). Pale'i' and others ( 1967) analyzed 

eight schists for gold. The amounts found range from 

0.8 to 9 ppb and averaged 3.1 ppb. Hornfels from the 

Altai in the U.S.S.R. had a gold content ranging from 

1.8 to-22.3 ppb. 

Both the lowest and the highest gold values given in 

this report for metamorphic rocks as analyzed by 

neutron-activation methods are for marble: 0.9 ppb 

and 22.4 ppb (table 11). One quartzite sample from 

near Wausau, Wis., contained 7.3ppbgold, and another 

from near Baraboo, Wis., contained 2.4 ppb gold 

(DeGrazia and Haskin, 1964). These values are in the 

same order of magnitude as most values reported for 

gold in sandstones in tables 8 and 9. 

Table a.--Average gold content of sedimentary 

rocks 

[Data from table 7. Average Au: First figure 

in brackets is the number of areas from 

which the samples were taken, and the second 

figure is the number of neutron-activation 

analyses made on these samples] 

Rock type 

Sandstone-------------

Siltstone-------------

Shale-----------------

Sandstone and shale---

Lutite----------------

Clay------------------

Limestone-------------

Oolite----------------

Carbonate-------------

Coral-----------------

Average Au (ppb) 

7.5 [9, 24] 

5.a [2, 3] 1 3.9 [5, a] 2 3.6 [?, 39] 

9.0 [1, 4] 

17.1 [2, 5] 3 3.5 [3, 5] 

2.3 [1, 1] 

3.9 [1, 1] 

.a [1, 1J 

~Average including lutite and cla~, a.6 ppb. 

3 39 samples from the U.S.S.R. 

Average including oolite, carbonate, and 

coral, 3.0 ppb. 
Table 9. I 

Avera e old content of sedimentar rocks, from recent data 

1 [Data in parts per billion] 

Shcherbakov T · DeGrazia and Haskin amd Perezhogln Horn and Adams 

(1966) estimate; this 

report, text 

Rock type (1963); th s report, (1964); this report, 

tabl 7 table 7 

Sandstone------

Shale----------

Carbonatei 

3.} 

q 

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24 

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N 

CJ1 

Table 10.--Analyses of gold in metamorphic rocks made before 1955 

[Analyses are probably by fire assay unless specified] 

Gold Number 

Rock Location content of 

(ppm) samples 

New Zealand: 

Slate--------- Reefton-------------------

Australia: 

Do-------- Bendigo, Ballarat, and 

Gippsland, Victoria. 

French Guiana: 

Schist-------- Roche Creek, Awa----------

Do-------- Pichevin Creek, Awa-------

0.111 

.124 

2.000 

1.500 

Do-------- Oyapock Creek, Inini------ 24.000 

New Zealand: 

Do-------- Macetown------------------ .089 

Canada: 

Gneiss-------- Western Ontario----------- Trace to 

0.830 

Brazil: 

Do-------- Southern Minas Gerais----- 5.0 to 

10.0 

Southern Rhodesia: 

Do-------- Ayrshire mine, Mashona- 23.000 

land. 

United States: 

Marble-------- Tuolumne County, Calif---- .005 

Italy: 

Do--------_ rar~ara------------------- .0086 

12 

64 

79 

Remarks 

Maximum amount, 0.540 ppm--------

Maximum amount, 1.656 ppm--------

Hornblende schist. Silver con- tent, 6.000 ppm. 

Hornblende schist. Silver conSilver content, 4.000 ppm. Gold is 

visible. 

Mica schist. Maximum amount, 

2.074 ppm. 

Method of analyses unspecified--

Granitelle gneiss. Method of 

analyses specified. 

Visible gold---------------------

Reference 

Don 0898). 

Do. 

Levat, E. D., cited by 

Lincoln 0911). 

Do. 

Do. 

Don 0898). 

Young (1909). 

Derby 0903). 

Spurr, J. E., cited by 

Lincoln 0911). 

Wagoner 0901). 

Do. 
tv 

a-. 

Table 11.--Analyses of gold in metamorphic rocks made since 1954 

[All analyses by neutron activation unless specified] 

Rock 

Argillite-----

Argillites 

and slates. 

Phyllite------

Location 

U.S.S.R.: 

Southeast Altai-----------

Canada: 

Yellowknife, Northwest 

Territories. 

U.S.S.R.: 

Yenisei Range-------------

Canada: 

Schist-------- Yellowknife, Northwest 

Territories. 

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- -----do------------~--------

Do--------

Do--------

Do--------

U.S.S.R.: 

Northeast Altai-----------

Kuznetsk, Ala-Tau---------

Sultanuizdag (Uzbekistan)-

United States: 

Gneiss-------- New York, N.Y-------------

U.S.S.R.: 

Hornfels------ Central Altai-------------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

Do-------- Southeast Altai-----------

Do-------- -----do---------------------

United States: 

Quartzite----- Rib Mountain, Wausau, 

Wis. 

Do-------- Devil's Lake, Baraboo, 

Wis. 

United States: 

Marble-------- Rutland (Belden's Farm), 

Vt. 

Gold 

content 

(ppm) 

0.0083 

. 01 

.0012 

. 017 

.632 

.01 

.0053 

.0067 

.0031 

.0018 

.0070 

.0223 

. 0018 

. 0027 

.0073 

.0024 

. 00086 

Number 

of 

samples 

1 

1 

l 

1 

8 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Remarks 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Analyses by fire assay-----------

Duplicate analyses---------------

Average of chlorite-schist 

phase of shear zones. Analyses 

by fire assay. 

Average of carbonate-sericite 

schist phase of shear zones. 

Analyses by fire assay. 

Knotted quartz-mica schist. 

Analyses by fire assay. 

Chlorite schists (duplicate 

analyses). 

-----do--------------------------

Schists with two or more of the 

following minerals: quartz, 

mica, chlorite, plagioclase, 

and unspecified carbonate mineral(s). Range, 0.0008 to 0.009 

ppm Au. 

Mica-garnet gneiss---------------

Duplicate analyses---------------

Amphibole hornfels formed from 

basalt (duplicate analyses). 

Formed from shale (duplicate 

analyses) . 

-----do--------------------------

Reference 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Boyle (1960) . 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Boyle (1960) . 

Do. 

Do. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Do. 

Pale~, Murovtsev, and 

Borozenets (1967). 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(1964). 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Do. 

Do . 

Do. 

DeGrazia and Haskin 

(1964). 

Do. 

Do . 
"" ....... 

U.S.S.R.: 

Do-------- Central Altai-------------

Do-------- Sultanuizdag (Uzbekistan)-

Canada: 

Amphibolite--- Yellowknife, Northwest 

Territories. 

Do-------- -----do---------------------

South Africa: 

Eclogite------ Orange Free State (Roberts 

Victor mine). 

.0053 

.0224 

. 01 

.008 

.0022 

1 

1 

2 

Duplicate analyses---------------

Triplicate analyses. Range, 

0.0082 to 0.0370 ppm Au. 

Analysis by fire assay-----------

Analyses by fire assay. Epidote 

amphibolite. 

Xenolith in kimberlite. Iridium 

averages 0.0009 ppm. 

Shcherbakov and Perezhogin 

(1963). 

Palei, Murovtsev, and 

Borozenets (1967). 

Boyle 0960) . 

Do. 

Baedecker (1967). 
Table 12.--Average gold content of metamorphic 

rocks 

[Data from table 11. Average Au: First figure 

in brackets is the number of areas from 

which the samples were taken, and the second figure is the number of neutron-activation analyses made on these samples] 

Rock type 

Argillite-------------------

Phyllite--------------------

Schist----------------------

Gneiss----------------------

Hornfels--------------------

Quartzite-------------------

Marble----------------------

Eclogite--------------------

Average Au 

8. 3 [1' 

1.2 [ 1' 

5.0 [ 3' 

1.8 [ 1' 

8.4 [ 2' 

4.8 [ 2' 1 3.1 [2, 

2.2 [ 1' 

(ppb) 

2] 

2] 

12] 

1] 

8] 

2] 

3] 

2] 

1 If the anomalous value of 22.4 ppb Au 

(table 11) is included in the calculations, 

the gold content becomes 9.6 ppb. 

*U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1981--- 341-614'140 28 GP 0 870·525