Ugly PGM Native Metal

[Nountaineer]

Thank you for the response. My platinum is obviously not pure . Did you read my latest posts about the cadmium in it? It is indeed polymetalic. I do not expect the same appearance as your refined platinum.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Thank you for the response. My platinum is obviously not pure . Did you read my latest posts about the cadmium in it? It is indeed polymetalic. I do not expect the same appearance as your refined platinum.

Once again, who are you replying to.
Please use the reply to button.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Thank you for the response. My platinum is obviously not pure . Did you read my latest posts about the cadmium in it? It is indeed polymetalic. I do not expect the same appearance as your refined platinum.

We are thousands of members,
so if you reply or point an answer
to some member,
please use the reply button.

 

[Nountaineer]

Okay

 

[Yggdrasil]

Okay

So who did you ask?

 

[Nountaineer]

It's gone. I apparently still don't understand how to use this. Posts are disappearing and duplicates are being caused.

 

[lazersteve]

Thank you for the response. My platinum is obviously not pure . Did you read my latest posts about the cadmium in it? It is indeed polymetalic. I do not expect the same appearance as your refined platinum.

The post I read said the xrf showed Cd with no percentage...not sure what that means except maybe no Cd.

The latest photo looks like a small pile if Ag shot. It's much too white to be Pt. Admittedly it's very out of focus.

I was referring to your photo of the buttons on the scale.

Again, I would advise testing a very small sample before smelting a bunch of ore. Once you can prove Pt, not just believing, then press on.

Steve

 

[Nountaineer]

The post I read said the xrf showed Cd with no percentage...not sure what that means except maybe no Cd.

The latest photo looks like a small pile if Ag shot. It's much too white to be Pt. Admittedly it's very out of focus.

I was referring to your photo of the buttons on the scale.

Again, I would advise testing a very small sample before smelting a bunch of ore. Once you can prove Pt, not just believing, then press on.

Steve

Thanks Steve for the advice. All that I can tell you is that it contains platinum gold and cadmium plus nickel is likely since I have picked up nickel in this area with my White's coin master.A late silversmith tested palladium on claims that he had in the area so I already knew that it was here and it had to have come from this deposit. I have enough background information on this to proceed. I lost 8 months here trying to solve a couple simple problems it seemed of a better flux recipe and a hotter furnace but nobody has helped me with those things except for Kurt and that was just recently. I don't have any more time to keep repeating myself so I am not going to respond again until I get the test results and get paid. I am dieing and that 8months cost me more than you know,

 

[billgold]

You are putting far too much faith into electronic gadgets - and they are not all that reliable for metal identification in the first place, especially the XRF on ore samples.

I would not proceed any further until I had assays of the samples in hand. If the assays are encouraging, you can then decide whether it is worthwhile to continue with development.

 

[DarkspARCS]

NONE !!!!! --- if it is PGM metal - like gold it will be bright & shiny !!!! --- & it will remain bright & shiny no matter how long it has been in &/or exposed to the environment

Kurt

This is sage advice, no matter what color the metal is, however...

In a minerally diverse chemical environment gold, even though it itself is inert possesses a strong afinity to alloy with other elements, including those of a cation binding nature such as selenitic or silicic nature and these alloys will tarnish and encapsulate the gold. The addition of the correct flux and a collector metal (lead, silver, antimony, bismuth) will agglomerate whatever values are there.

 

[Nountaineer]

Thank you, I tend to learn the hard way but am quite curious about how things work and that contributed to me becoming a refrigeration mechanic. The recent test results revealed quite a combination of metals and the ugly metal that I saw in my concentrate could be anything. The metal from previous smelts were melted in an induction furnace and when tested it had platinum and gold but too much iron in it. The material that I am currently working with has platinum only from the PGM group and gold as the only other precious metal.

 

[user 72646]

This is apparently PGM that was separated during smelting at 2300 degrees for 3.5 hours in my new 8kg crucible .I inadvertently separated it from the platinum leaving the highest MP metal fused to the lower half of the crucible which I believe is platinum. I will use my oxygen/acetylene torch to puddle it and make a nearly pure platinum button. Can anyone tell me which PGM has the native metal that is dull and ugly in appearance?
View attachment 57804

Hi I have something similar??
Some items have reddish marks...others silver, it is pretty spectacular to be fair..
This came from transistors ashed for gold powder.
Did you determine what the PM was?

MM

 

[Edlin]

X-ray spectroscopy is actually XRF.
If they have the correct library and are properly calibrated and operated by skilled trained personnel,
they can be relatively accurate.
And fire assays do not tell too much regarding PGMs as I understand it.
If you want reliable information a NiS assay is needed, An ordinary fire assay can tell you some, but not the full picture.

XRF is not the only type of X-ray spectroscopy.

XPS is also a very sensitive tool for surface analysis.

 

[Nountaineer]

Hi I have something similar??
Some items have reddish marks...others silver, it is pretty spectacular to be fair..
This came from transistors ashed for gold powder.
Did you determine what the PM was?

MM

I haven't determined which metal it was but only certain ones produce native metal from what I understand.

 

[hoytSmith]

The post I read said the xrf showed Cd with no percentage...not sure what that means except maybe no Cd.

The latest photo looks like a small pile if Ag shot. It's much too white to be Pt. Admittedly it's very out of focus.

I was referring to your photo of the buttons on the scale.

Again, I would advise testing a very small sample before smelting a bunch of ore. Once you can prove Pt, not just believing, then press on.

Steve

I don’t think a metal can be identified by appearance. Pick out from a short list of known alloys, maybe. Show someone a 95-5 alloy of any 2 metals — I don’t think anybody’s going to be right very often. Until it hits 4 nines, Platinum can go from very dull gray to bright white, depending on what the surface impurities are and the crystalline structure resulting from the alloy and melting/freezing conditions

specific gravity is very easy to measure and corrolate with density. Pt is 21+g/cc. I’d be encouraged by a dense button, definitely if it were >15g/cc

 

[Nountaineer]

I don’t think a metal can be identified by appearance. Pick out from a short list of known alloys, maybe. Show someone a 95-5 alloy of any 2 metals — I don’t think anybody’s going to be right very often. Until it hits 4 nines, Platinum can go from very dull gray to bright white, depending on what the surface impurities are and the crystalline structure resulting from the alloy and melting/freezing conditions

specific gravity is very easy to measure and corrolate with density. Pt is 21+g/cc. I’d be encouraged by a dense button, definitely if it were >15g/cc

Hoyt you may not have seen my latest test results.

 

[hoytSmith]

Well now. That’s disappointing. What’s next?