OldSalt Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 I am curious if any of you have ever found any platinum or silver nuggets in Arizona. I am also looking for example pictures of silver in nature. Many of the photos of platinum nuggets I have seen look just like mercury covered gold nuggets. Have any of you ever found copper in Arizona? I am concerned about tossing potential valuable metals from my pan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotsa luck Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Copper nuggets are found many places in the state I have never found any silver ones but did find one PT one dredging many years ago. It was on display down at the mineral museum for a while but I didn't find it last summer when I went in. Niles down there should be able to run it down as I had given it to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bedrock bob Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Copper nuggets are found many places in the state I have never found any silver ones but did find one PT one dredging many years ago. It was on display down at the mineral museum for a while but I didn't find it last summer when I went in. Niles down there should be able to run it down as I had given it to him. Plenty of copper nuggets around Silver City NM. I found some big uns there. Clifton/Morenci area too. Wanna see the photos? I have heard of native silver nuggets, but have only found proustite, cerargyrite crystals and argentite. Not locatable with a detector... 98% Ag by weight. Looks like black lumps of coal but heavy as hell. Placer tin is a big deal in the Black Range to the AZ border and also around El Paso...Right in town in the washes draining the east side of the Franklin mountains. "Wood tin" or "Stream tin" too...Looks a lot like pettrified wood kind of. Rare stuff! And fairly valuable. Lots of bismuth in gold country. Looks like lead only pinkish. You can hardly tell it from lead. miners here had to hand pick it out of the concentrate because the smelter would not take ore with bismuth content...sucked up the silver and was hard to get it back from the smelting. It is what makes Pepto Bismol pink. Makes fairly good shotgun shot for lead free areas. These are the main interesting metals I have found while prospecting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSalt Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 Copper nuggets are found many places in the state I have never found any silver ones but did find one PT one dredging many years ago. It was on display down at the mineral museum for a while but I didn't find it last summer when I went in. Niles down there should be able to run it down as I had given it to him. Lotsa, I know that guy. We go down there every once and a while to get a geode cut, etc. Pretty nice of you to donate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSalt Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 Plenty of copper nuggets around Silver City NM. I found some big uns there. Clifton/Morenci area too. Wanna see the photos? I have heard of native silver nuggets, but have only found proustite, cerargyrite crystals and argentite. Not locatable with a detector... 98% Ag by weight. Looks like black lumps of coal but heavy as hell. Placer tin is a big deal in the Black Range to the AZ border and also around El Paso...Right in town in the washes draining the east side of the Franklin mountains. "Wood tin" or "Stream tin" too...Looks a lot like pettrified wood kind of. Rare stuff! And fairly valuable. Lots of bismuth in gold country. Looks like lead only pinkish. You can hardly tell it from lead. miners here had to hand pick it out of the concentrate because the smelter would not take ore with bismuth content...sucked up the silver and was hard to get it back from the smelting. It is what makes Pepto Bismol pink. Makes fairly good shotgun shot for lead free areas. These are the main interesting metals I have found while prospecting... Sure, photos would be great. I think what I am going to do from now on is keep a separate snuffer bottle for non-gold suspicious heavy items. It is pretty amazing how much platinum nuggets look like mercury covered gold nuggets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B. Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Hi Old Salt There are many known areas in Az to find Silver Nuggets. There recently was a 22lber found on DGD claims in southern Az. There is at least one area in Az were placer silver was actually worked and drywashed just like gold. If there are PT nuggets found in Az I'm certain they are tiny at best. I bought a 1 3/4 ounce PT nugget and a couple of smaller ones that are on permanant loan to the Flandrau. They were found in the Ural mtns of Russia. They recently inherited a couple of whopper PT nuggets from a deciesed supporter I think they are like 12 and 8 ouncers. Also from Russia. There are many other types of nuggets that occure in nature. Molybdinem (sp?) Bismouth that I've found and are or can be confused with PT group metals. But there are lots more that can be found if only one looks for them !! Lead and Iron nuggets are very rare finds in nature but are common in sulfides or oxides such as galena or magnatite or hemitite. Happy Huntin John B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Dog Doug Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 I am curious if any of you have ever found any platinum or silver nuggets in Arizona. I am also looking for example pictures of silver in nature. Many of the photos of platinum nuggets I have seen look just like mercury covered gold nuggets. Have any of you ever found copper in Arizona? I am concerned about tossing potential valuable metals from my pan. OldSalt I found a 19.92 lb. Silver nugget about 3 yrs ago. It is now on loan at the Flandrau Science Center at U of A. I am holding it in my profile picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSalt Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 OldSalt I found a 19.92 lb. Silver nugget about 3 yrs ago. It is now on loan at the Flandrau Science Center at U of A. I am holding it in my profile picture. Wow, that is awesome! Is that the color it was when it came out of the ground? Almost looks like a lead color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Ron Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 That's very cool find, Doug...Can you post a much larger picture of it so we can see detail...What an awesome find...Maybe you can tell us the story of the find,? Cheers, Unc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Dog Doug Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Wow, that is awesome! Is that the color it was when it came out of the ground? Almost looks like a lead color. Yes, It was dark blue-gray. on the other side you can see some silver. I will try to find more pics., and send them. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Dog Doug Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 That's very cool find, Doug...Can you post a much larger picture of it so we can see detail...What an awesome find...Maybe you can tell us the story of the find,? Cheers, Unc I will try to find more pics. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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