# Name the rock game



## brothers gold (May 3, 2011)

Could you tell me what this might be. It's non magnetic, has quartz,gold or pyrite encrusted on it and some blue color and iron staining to it. The pics dont do justice to the metalic look of it. Pretty heavy for its size at 40 grams. Found it in Southern Oregon. Took it to the local mining shop and they were not sure what it was. I havent tested it with anything as I'm not sure what to do.
It an interesting piece so any thoughts would help.
thanks


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## metatp (May 3, 2011)

The first picture makes it look like a meteorite.


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## brothers gold (May 3, 2011)

HTPatch said:


> The first picture makes it look like a meteorite.



Interesting thought.


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## Richard36 (May 4, 2011)

Hello Brothers Gold,

It does look a lot like a meteorite, but the last photo shows what looks like traces of being in contact with a granitic rock, possibly in conjunction with Skarn, and the fact that you found this in Southern Oregon makes me wonder, bigtime.
Meteorites wouldn't have Pyrite on them either.

It has the same gray appearance as that of native Pt, or at least an Ore that has a reasonably large percentage of it.
Black sands in Curry Co. are a prime example, as that area is know to contain native Pt.

Short of those options, I would say Graphite, Molybdenum, or Galena. 
Galena being the one that would fit the description of substantial heft, though it doesn't look quite right to be Galena.

So, PT ore? Maybe, Possibly. 
You can hope anyway.

Motivation enough to go find the source load at least.

Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".


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## brothers gold (May 4, 2011)

Richard36 said:


> Hello Brothers Gold,
> 
> the fact that you found this in Southern Oregon makes me wonder
> It has the same gray appearance as that of native Pt, or at least an Ore that has a reasonably large percentage of it.
> ...


 PT was my first thought and we are looking for the source. Art there any simple tests I could do that that would confirm.
Laz777 pointed me to this site and said you specifically would be able to help
Thanks


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## Richard36 (May 4, 2011)

brothers gold said:


> PT was my first thought and we are looking for the source. Art there any simple tests I could do that that would confirm. Laz777 pointed me to this site and said you specifically would be able to help.
> Thanks



Tell Lazz777 that I said thanks for the referral.
As for tests, here's a few testing procedures.

The following reactions take place with high grade ore.

Aqua regia (Neutralized) + Stanous Chloride = Purple to Black for Au. [Relevant to gold content]
--------------------------------------------------- = Yellow for Pt.
--------------------------------------------------- = Blue-Green for Pd.
---------------------------- + Potassium Iodide = Red Solution for Pt.
---------------------------- + Potassium Iodide = Black Solution for Pd.
---------------------------- + Acetone or Ethanol = Black precipitate for Rh.

Nitric acid + Hydrochloric Acid = A white precipitate of Silver Chloride.

Hydrochloric Acid = Orange Solution, + Nitric Acid = Black Precipitate for Ru.
(Precipitate redissolves quickly unless the HCL has been neutralized.)


Here's a photo of Molybdenum to compare your specimen to.




I hope that this has been helpful.

Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".


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## Militoy (May 4, 2011)

The blue colors and the quartz, plus the lack of a fusion crust pretty much rule out the meteorite idea. Graphite wouldn't be particularly heavy, and galena usually shows more crystal structure. At a wild guess, since color is almost the only clue to go by - as well as the least significant clue - I would say some kind of sulfide of iron, cobalt or nickel, with some copper. Could even be a tungston ore - but you haven't posted a pic under short wave UV light.


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## brothers gold (May 4, 2011)

> Tell Lazz777 that I said thanks for the referral.
> As for tests, here's a few testing procedures.
> Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".



I'll give him the msg and thanks again for suggestions


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## brothers gold (May 4, 2011)

Militoy said:


> but you haven't posted a pic under short wave UV light.



What exactly would the UV light show? I did look at it under one and didnt see anything out of the ordinary other than it was purple.
Thank you for your reply


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## Militoy (May 4, 2011)

brothers gold said:


> Militoy said:
> 
> 
> > but you haven't posted a pic under short wave UV light.
> ...



The reference to UV light was about detecting tungsten ore - just another possible data point. Sheelite glows a pretty blue color when exposed to short wave UV. There's an old sheelite mine around a half hour's drive from here that I visit occasionally. At night with a portable UV lamp, the whole landscape lights up in blue, violet, red and orange from the various ores there.


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