Anyone know what rock this is?

[wjbell]

I was at a tailing pile and found this rock. It doesn't go off like a hot rock, it zips just like gold. At first I thought meteorite but I guess those are heavy. This is light and porous. Lava rock? From an intervolcanic channel? Sounds just like gold though...

[Au Seeker]

Hmmmm, I wonder if there is gold inside it.

Hammer time??

Skip

[wjbell]

Hmmmm, I wonder if there is gold inside it.

Hammer time??

Skip

The thing is, it goes off like a piece of gold the size of the rock and it's pretty light. So of there was gold inside it would have to be pretty small and I don't think it would go off like that.

[adam]

Looks like the man made by-product of the smeltering process. Sorry.....No gold in there..

[homefire]

Basalt! http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS357US357&q=basalt&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=dpO_TJb0IsT7lwfD5qjhBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CEoQsAQwBA&biw=1259&bih=600

[wjbell]

Basalt! http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS357US357&q=basalt&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=dpO_TJb0IsT7lwfD5qjhBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CEoQsAQwBA&biw=1259&bih=600

So that I found this in a tailing pile from river dreadging could one assume they were hitting a volcanic layer? Aren't inter volcanic layers suppose to be gold bearing? :hmmmmm:

[wheelbubble]

that lump looks to be a piece of coke.......hoss

[Regmaglitch]

WJBELL,

I found I similar ore in Colorado, it looked like ash to charcoal-gray colored pumice. But, unlike pumice, which is basaltic, this ore is silica-based, like some sort of vesicular porcelain or obsidian. I looked up the mines that it came from, and was suprised to learn that the ore averaged 55-60 ounces silver per ton, about half that much in copper, and between an eighth and a half ounce gold per ton. Also, we crushed some just to concentrate it. An egg-sized piece when crushed, gave up a nice silver nugget. We still have the nugget and some of the ore, as it is very unusual. This stuff was formed not in veins or lenses, but in vertical vents, chimneys, or "pipes". Your find may be a similar ore. Or it could always be a piece of smelter slag which is commonly used to build rail beds with, and can be found anywhere railroad tracks have been laid. For about twenty bucks you can find out from a common assay.

Good Luck, Ben

[David Wiseman]

http://books.google.com/books?id=cpYNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=sierra+deep+blue+lead&source=bl&ots=2zb9H_-Xwe&sig=CHikH76J4R9SKeiu11TNYo5MY8A&hl=en&ei=0MfQS8UPkoiyA6LfgN4J&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=sierra%20deep%20blue%20lead&f=false basalt is heavy/dense.

[Regmaglitch]

Hi David,

Yes, the silica-based ore that we found in Colorado WAS LIGHT AND POROUS. The mines that produced the ore were well established and had their own towns and railroads, and operated into the 1920's.

Ben