The California Gold Rush was sparked by the discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in early 1848. Many people went to California in search of gold to get rich. Some were lucky and others were not. Using the information on the previous slide (also attached here as an image), explain how early miners were often confused by pyrite when they were panning for gold. 1. How are these materials so alike, yet so different?

2. How could they have figured out if they had found one or the other?