I found this rock in a hole in azusa, CA. The picture is half of it. It is heavy, greenish and white, and had approximately 3/4 of an inch of rusty and easily scraped off material on outside. Inside is really hard material. I took outer rusty material and smashed it and ran through approximately a 200 mesh screen and got gold looking material with a small amount of white/silvery and much heavier material, which tells me the other is not gold. i am obviously a newbie and would appreciate any ideas and will make sure im more educated before i post again.
anyone know what kind of rock this is
- Thread starter surewood
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Hi Surewood,
I am a newbie myself, not an expert. Hopefully someone else will join this conversation. I have little experience, and I am not in a position to tell you what it is, only my opinion.
Have it checked for Platinum Group Metals. I have silvery white metal that is very heavy, and all indicators show it to be of this group. Maybe a pawn shop will do it if there are any sizable nuggets. I only have fine powder, called sponge.
Respectfully and sincerely,
Aphrodite <3
I am a newbie myself, not an expert. Hopefully someone else will join this conversation. I have little experience, and I am not in a position to tell you what it is, only my opinion.
Have it checked for Platinum Group Metals. I have silvery white metal that is very heavy, and all indicators show it to be of this group. Maybe a pawn shop will do it if there are any sizable nuggets. I only have fine powder, called sponge.
Respectfully and sincerely,
Aphrodite <3
Aphrodite, please don't give advice when it's obvious that you don't know anything about the subject.
Sponge is half massive but porous metal resulting from calcining platinum salts into metal again. It is NOT fine material that you scrape off a rock and can pan.
Nothing in the description of the rock hints about platinum group metals. At most it could be a sulfide mineralisation but to tell anything more you need to know more about the geology of the area and see a fresh surface of the rock.
Göran
Sponge is half massive but porous metal resulting from calcining platinum salts into metal again. It is NOT fine material that you scrape off a rock and can pan.
Nothing in the description of the rock hints about platinum group metals. At most it could be a sulfide mineralisation but to tell anything more you need to know more about the geology of the area and see a fresh surface of the rock.
Göran
upcyclist
Well-known member
I'm definitely a noob, but two main things I can think of to test the rock:
1) dissolve some of your screened material in acid(s). Which acids it dissolves in will be a clue, and when it does dissolve, you can test it with things like stannous chloride. I will flash my noob badge and not delve into which acids, and what dissolution indicates. Suffice to say: read Hoke, the forums, etc.
2) find a local rockhound club and show it to them.
As an aside, your gold-colored particles could be iron pyrite (aka fool's gold), and the heavy whitish particles could be galena or some other lead mineral. Of course, the lead & iron are much more common than gold, silver, plat-group metals, etc.
1) dissolve some of your screened material in acid(s). Which acids it dissolves in will be a clue, and when it does dissolve, you can test it with things like stannous chloride. I will flash my noob badge and not delve into which acids, and what dissolution indicates. Suffice to say: read Hoke, the forums, etc.
2) find a local rockhound club and show it to them.
As an aside, your gold-colored particles could be iron pyrite (aka fool's gold), and the heavy whitish particles could be galena or some other lead mineral. Of course, the lead & iron are much more common than gold, silver, plat-group metals, etc.
upcyclist
Well-known member
Update: Just did some checking on mindat.org. Azusa (Dalton) is home to two mines, the Felix Mine and the Fish Canyon Mine.
The Fish Canyon Mine info included the following: "... Most of the fluorites recovered are green in color, although some blue and purple crystals have been found. Inclusions of galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite are noted to occur in the fluorite crystals. Secondary minerals such as cerussite and malachite have been found in the deepest parts of the diggings."
So yeah, I'm thinking (note, only thinking) you found a mix of chalcopyrite & galena. Iron & lead.
Edit: fixed links
The Fish Canyon Mine info included the following: "... Most of the fluorites recovered are green in color, although some blue and purple crystals have been found. Inclusions of galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite are noted to occur in the fluorite crystals. Secondary minerals such as cerussite and malachite have been found in the deepest parts of the diggings."
So yeah, I'm thinking (note, only thinking) you found a mix of chalcopyrite & galena. Iron & lead.
Edit: fixed links
