Dumb question, if I may
 

I remember as a kid, train cars coming in our village with loads of coal and I recall seeing beautiful veins of gold streaking through those chunks of coal. Of course the first time I thought I had hit a jackpot till my dad told me it was worthless "fools Gold"

So my question is this. What makes it worthless? It sure looked like the real thing.
I quess I should have kept some just in case.

Iron pyrite. Abundance for one makes it worthless, I know it is everywhere around Ontario. Also it doesn't have the utility of Gold.

Dennis,
What you were admiring was iron pyrites. Pretty yellow, but none of the characteristics (or value) of gold. I grew up near Springhilll and well remember seeing the stuff and wondering...

Best
Les

Me too! I was about 10 yrs old, and was sure it was gold.

This just in, in plans to mitigate Canada’s staggering debt Justin Trudeau is planning to role out a new currency backed by Canada’s Iron Pyrite reserves...

YP - better load up now.

Alternatively...

https://lmgtfy.app/?q=why+is+fool%27s+gold+worthless

There have been hundreds of questions asked that are WAY dumber than that one. Lots of them in recent threads from one certain new poster.