Native Gold

This large miniature specimen of Quartz veinstone containing a patch of Native Gold is reported as from the Missinaibi area, an area emanating northwest of Sudbury yet extending out beyond Sudbury itself, in Ontario, Canada.  In other words, certainly not a localised area, but the best location available.  To my knowledge, given the vast extent of metallic mineralisation in this region, probably specimens get pooled from the numerous localities and so their exact points of origin are lost.  Speckles of Native Gold are embedded on the matrix’s surface over an area of about 8 x 5 mm.  A sooty black band rich in sulphides cuts across the matrix, containing tarnished cubic Pyrite crystals and what I suspect is Pentlandite, a yellow brassy nickel-iron sulphide.