Native gold from Mikawa mine, Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Native gold was found at Mikawa mine, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The mineral was associated with quartz in a druse within quartz-vein in propyrite. The crystals were formed in filiform, reticulated and dendritic shapes with about 1 mm length with 0.1 mm width and 0.05 mm thickness. Very malleable and ductile, opaque and yellow with metallic luster. Qualitative and semi-quantitative analyses were performed by the wavelength dispersive EPMA. Quantitatively, the crystals contained Au, Ag and Hg. Semi-quantitative analyses were executed with ZAF correction algorithm. The results showed that these specimens had a average chemical composition Au_0.77Ag_0.11Hg_0.12. This specimen was archived at our site with a collection number ESO-M01001.