Hutchinson County Historical. Museum Mission. The purpose of the Hutchinson County Historical Museum is to collect, preserve, and to interpret the heritage of Hutchinson County, with particular emphasis on the oil field and boomtown story of the 1920-1930 era, for public benefit.
A few of the minerals that bear gold in their respective formulas are in a subclass of sulfides called the tellurides. The element gold seems to have an affinity for tellurium and this is one of the only elements that gold can bond with easily. In fact only a few rare tellurides are found without gold. A few of the tellurides are nagyagite, calaverite, sylvanite and krennerite. These are all minor ores of gold and their contributions to the supply of gold pales next to native gold's own contribution. Occasionally these minerals are associated with native gold.
Iridium (one of the platinum group metals) is one of few metals that have a higher specific gravity than gold, being 22.6. Gold is around 8 times heavier than the quartz rock which it is commonly associated with when gold is found in hardrock form. A single cubic foot of gold will weigh approximately 1187 pounds. It is this quality of gold, having a superior weight factor over the other materials usually found along with it, that is used in most gold recovery methods. For example, watch in the following video segment how fast gold penetrates down through the lighter materials which commonly make up a streambed: