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Post by glennz01 on Mar 9, 2016 21:48:59 GMT -5
Native silver or molybdenum, hard to say at this point.
Tested positive for platinum!  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2016 11:26:25 GMT -5
Moly is mohs 5.5
Melts very high
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unclesoska
freely admits to licking rocks
All those jade boulders tossed in search of gold!
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Post by unclesoska on Mar 10, 2016 14:30:04 GMT -5
Molybdenum has the sixth highest melting point of any element. It does not appear in nature in it's natural state, always as an alloy. Could be silver, though I would expect more tarnish. To me, it looks like Galena, a lead ore, 2.5 hardness, and a low melt point. CAUTION: heating will release both lead and sulphur fumes, Respirator required, outside only! If when you melt it, some parts don't melt as fast as others if it contains silver in addition to Galena.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2016 14:32:36 GMT -5
Push a pin in it.
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Post by glennz01 on Mar 11, 2016 1:56:50 GMT -5
Galena was the first thing I thought of but my metal detector doesn't register galena. also the number on my detector was very high indicating silver.
we do have a lot of natural Molybdenite locally. the break you see is fresh so nothing would be oxidized although there is a slight black tarnish. Molybdenite doesn't tarnish so that may rule it out. This material is also harder than Molybdenite. I need to find my large piece of Molybdenite and run it under my detector to see if it picks it up. I know someone that has a test kit for silver that I will use next month. Until I do that i'm not going to try anything that would be destructive to the specimen. If it is silver, due to the crystaline structure, it could be worth a bit.
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metalsmith
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Post by metalsmith on Mar 11, 2016 12:40:31 GMT -5
Hmm, quite conversely, I'm going to offer that Galena would oxidise rather than Silver, if this piece was exposed when you found it (and was likely to have been for a number of years) then since it is not dull grey, it is more than likely to be silver (testing acid should determine)
Pure silver doesn't tarnish, its the Cu in Sterling that does; the hardness of silver is also ~2.5 and of course galena tends to very easily form cubic habit, which I can't quite see in the smaller sample or anywhere. The moly I've found has always been grey rather than silver, but just mho.
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bushmanbilly
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Post by bushmanbilly on Mar 11, 2016 13:32:53 GMT -5
Any platinum found where you are? Test it with a magnet. Some platinum is magnetic. What does it weigh? How big is it? I beg to differ about pure silver does not tarnish. If my silver eagles and maples(99.9999) are not protected they tarnish. The maple is a 2010 stored in a case. The bar not.  |
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bushmanbilly
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Post by bushmanbilly on Mar 11, 2016 13:37:14 GMT -5
In the early gold rush days, platinum was discarded by the miners. The true value was not know at the time. The Chinese miners knew better and kept it.
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Post by glennz01 on Mar 11, 2016 23:27:16 GMT -5
Any platinum found where you are? Test it with a magnet. Some platinum is magnetic. What does it weigh? How big is it? I beg to differ about pure silver does not tarnish. If my silver eagles and maples(99.9999) are not protected they tarnish. The maple is a 2010 stored in a case. The bar not. All precious metals can be found in the area but not in quantity like this... flakes if one is lucky. All of my strong magnets are someplace in storage and i'm not sure where my digital scale ran off to. it is surrounded in parts by native rock but judging by the weight, i'm guessing the bottom has a larger pocket of metal. Tuesday a geologist should be able to look at it along with the rest of our rock club. next month on the 6th I can have it acid tested. This seems too hard to be molibdymite though. It does have black tarnish on the outside which could be where silver is or it could be the rock, but there is some slight black tarnish on the inside possibly from water seepage. as for structure it has crystals but it is not the same type as galena. I have a piece of galena to compare with. |
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Post by glennz01 on Apr 7, 2016 2:22:08 GMT -5
In the early gold rush days, platinum was discarded by the miners. The true value was not know at the time. The Chinese miners knew better and kept it. To my surprise it tested positive for platinum... not really known to have any of that locally, nor any native metal... apart from small gold |
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Post by broseph82 on Apr 7, 2016 8:13:12 GMT -5
In the early gold rush days, platinum was discarded by the miners. The true value was not know at the time. The Chinese miners knew better and kept it. To my surprise it tested positive for platinum... not really known to have any of that locally, nor any native metal... apart from small gold Sell it or melt it and make some money |
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 7, 2016 9:11:07 GMT -5
Market is up,sell it...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 9:56:59 GMT -5
Awesome! Great job glemm. Good work, good find...
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Post by glennz01 on Apr 7, 2016 10:30:48 GMT -5
Makes me want to bring my detector out more when I go hounding. I will only sell it if I find another that is just as good or better, although it would pay for the shed I need to build so I can keep all my rocks  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 11:05:45 GMT -5
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Apr 7, 2016 12:08:44 GMT -5
What test did you use for platinum? The killer test is specific gravity since Pt is incredibly dense. The S.G. of pure Pt is 21.5 but it's often found in association with other Pt group metals like rhodium, osmium, palladium etc., so S.G. often ranges from 14.0 to 19.0. The high gravity, color (gray-white, metallic luster) and malleability are typical, along with Pt's infusibility and insolubility in acid.
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Post by glennz01 on Apr 7, 2016 22:00:26 GMT -5
What test did you use for platinum? The killer test is specific gravity since Pt is incredibly dense. The S.G. of pure Pt is 21.5 but it's often found in association with other Pt group metals like rhodium, osmium, palladium etc., so S.G. often ranges from 14.0 to 19.0. The high gravity, color (gray-white, metallic luster) and malleability are typical, along with Pt's infusibility and insolubility in acid. We used the common precious metals test kit which tests by the chemical nature. These kits are very good and accurate for testing metals, Jewelers use them a lot. |
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bushmanbilly
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Post by bushmanbilly on Apr 8, 2016 0:57:30 GMT -5
Get it appraised. A nugget that size is rare and worth way more that its weight. I would solder a bail on it and wear it around my neck. Than I would go down to the claims office, get a claim map and see if the ground is open that you found it on. If it is keep it quiet and claim it up. I hope you didn't tell anyone where you found it. Could cause a stampede. As far as I know there are only to places in N.America that Platinum is found in good quantity. The Talemeem and Silkameen rivers in southern British Columbia.
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bushmanbilly
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Post by bushmanbilly on Apr 8, 2016 1:03:44 GMT -5
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Post by glennz01 on Apr 8, 2016 2:05:50 GMT -5
definitely not claimed, however, unless I find another, the river is not worth claiming... I say that because it is massive and travels about 80 or so miles before it gets to the area where I found it. It was all glacial covered at one point in time as well Where i found it is unheard of to find anything.
I do know a mountian that this could have came from though.
I'll be using my detector a bit to try and locate more.
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Nov 15, 2024 17:44:51 GMT -5
Nov 15, 2024 17:44:51 GMT -5
