Natural platinum/Palladium Rhodium nuggets is what the tests are indicating to me!

[r4real]

Hello my fellow nuggetiers, so awhile ago I stumbled across a natural deposit of what I believe to be native Platinum/Palladium Rhodium nuggets as they pass all tests that I have done, like when scratched on stone and platinum acid is placed on the scratch it remains unaffected, when blasted with map gas it's impossible to melt, and it remains the same colour, also the flame doesn't change color which would indicate the presence of other metals visually looks identical to pictures I've seen, super heavy, unaffected when placed in hydrochloric acid, and when put in hydrogen peroxide bubbles somewhat rapidly although I don't quite trust the hydrogen peroxide test because alot of thing bubble from peroxide I know the whole producing oxygen theary but still. Lastly the only natural metals that can be found in large deposits are..Gold, Copper, Silver and Platinum and platinum group family. Obviously we know these are not Copper, Gold and these are way to hard and heavy to be silver and they don't test as silver although some you can see gold in, so take a look at some pictures and let me know what you think. thank you. And much appreciated for your professional opinions and your time to reply.

 

[eaglekeeper]

The local pawn shops/jeweler might have an XRF and they might test for you....XRF isn't perfect, but it'll get you some answers.

 

[hoytSmith]

They look pretty enough.

A flat, smooth surface is going give you the best xrf results. I'd hammer one flat and pickle (hcl-h2o2) it first as results will be consistant with the surface of the item tested. If the xrf gives you any hope, get a real assay.

 

[Lou]

Wow, actually looks like something interesting.

 

[lazersteve]

Agreed...this post is one of the few ore/mining posts that sparks my interest.

Steve

 

[cejohnsonsr1]

You could try dissolving one little piece in nitric acid and then test with stannous chloride.

 

[QMFB]

What are the geological identifiers of the area where you found these?

 

[stella polaris]

Check the density and tell us what the result is.

 

[PlatinumD]

I got lots of platinum over the last 4 years. It definitely looks different sometimes but it looks like you might have platinum to me.

 

[r4real]

So I got an assay done on one of the specimens the assay was conducted on a VANTA-GX spectrometer a $30,000 x-ray analysis machine and the results are as follows....I will upload a picture of the specimen on the spectrometer as it's being assayed with the results of the composition clearly visible. The composition of the nugget is iridium, zirconium, titanium and iron. Iron being the main element With a 97.6% composition, zirconium 0.22% and titanium 1.95% and iridium 0.22%. So the other specimens that have not been assayed yet, Should have more or less of the same elemental composition. So can anyone indicate if these are natural or extraterrestrial or what keep in mind I found these in a placer type deposit.Any information would be muchly appreciated thanks.

 

[kurtak]

Iron being the main element With a 97.6% composition, zirconium 0.22% and titanium 1.95% and iridium 0.22%

per the bold print (above quote) an XRF may (or not) give you a false reading for PGMs

It depends on what metals are &/or are not programed in the XRF library

If an XRF looks at a metal - but that metal is not in the XRF library - then the XRF will by default "make the claim" it is one of the metals that is in the XRF library

Read this thread to see what I am talking about ------------

https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/false-iridium-finds.28009/#p295508

Another example of an XRF giving a false reading

I took one of my gold bars to a scrap yard that had an XRF

Their XRF was programed with a "base metal" library but did not have precious metals programmed in the library

So when they shot my gold bar with the XRF it called my gold bar tungsten & that was because the XRF did not have gold in the library but it did have tungsten in the library - so the XRF called my gold tungsten

Kurt

 

[Thomas M Joseph]

If it were an iron meteorite, it would have a substantial amount of nickel (5-10 percent) along with the iron and most likely no titanium. Placer platinum is always associated with gold. XRF??? Do a simple stannous chloride test as suggested, you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Thomas M Joseph]

Also, test with a magnet. If not magnetic, then the XRF is not library correct, and you most likely have placer platinum.