Bdog Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 I found this in a mine out by Ridgecrest,Ca can any one ID? Thanks, Brandon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick T. Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Iron-laden quartz perhaps? It might be worth it to crush it and pan it just to see if there's some gold present that's not readily visible. What kind of mine was it?Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bdog Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Rick, Im pretty sure its either a gold or silver mine. There are large pockets of some metalic silver looking mineral like in the pics. Could it be arsenic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick T. Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Rick, Im pretty sure its either a gold or silver mine. There are large pockets of some metalic silver looking mineral like in the pics. Could it be arsenic?Try looking at the silver material under higher magnification. It's probably composed of small transparent crystals, with impurities on the surface causing it to appear metallic. If it's opaque, and appears to be a silver metallic crystalline formation, then it might be arsenopyrite, but I'm betting that it's the former. (And harmless.) I found a quartz vein once while exploring an old placer area, and it had similar looking areas that appeared to be gold. Under high magnification, however, it was nothing more than small quartz crystals covered in a film that gave them a golden metallic appearance.Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldfinger Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Hard to tell exactly what it is just from the photos . Could crush it and pan but might be more work then it's worth. Have seen very similar type of ores before but never gave it a second thought.Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copro Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Hello all, I'm sorry if I'm hyjacking this thread but I found some ore today from a known gold silver mine that I'm almost sure has arsenopyrite crystals in the sample....(silver cubic and striated) is it possible this ore has free gold or silver in it? or is it most likely locked in values.(if in fact it is asenopyrite) I would post a picture but I can't get a good closeup of the crystals. thanks in advance for any info....Luke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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