auriferous

Etymology

From Latin aurifer (“gold-bearing”) + the English suffix -ous. The Latin term in turn derived from aurum (“gold”) + ferō (“I carry”).

adj

1. Containing or producing gold; gold-bearing.
   To these [compounds] belong native gold, alloys of gold and silver, and the argentiferous gold, or auriferous silver, obtained from the assayings of auriferous minerals and ores. 1854, Carl Friedrich Plattner, Sheridan Muspratt, The Use of the Blowpipe in the Qualitative and Quantitative Examination of Minerals, Ores, Furnace Products, and Other Metallic Combinations
   In some places, however, quartz reefs, payably auriferous while in Silurian rock, have been followed down to subjacent granite, and have there been found to thin out and become unprofitable … 1887, R. A. Murray, Victoria. Geology and Physical Geography, page 126