Red_desert 141 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 The photo here is a rock sample, pic sent me by email for a friend, so not previously posted on any forum. What do you think, does it look good? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Au Seeker 3,153 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Not sure what you're asking here, is it good for what? It definitely has a lot of mineralization. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Does it look like ore or came out of a quartz vein? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 (edited) I tried Google and this is what came up. Showing results for gold in AlbaniaSearch instead for gold in Albani Search Results taxfreegold.co.uk Gold Mining in Albania. Mining has taken place in what is now Albania for many thousands of years. Other than gold the other major minerals mined in Albania include petroleum, coal and natural gas most of which are found in the southwest regions of the country.Apr 18, 2016 Gold Mining in Albania, Macedonia, & Kosovo - RareGoldNuggets.com raregoldnuggets.com/?p=2249 Apr 18, 2016 - Gold Mining in Albania. Mining has taken place in what is now Albania for many thousands of years. Other than gold the other major minerals mined in Albania include petroleum, coal and natural gas most of which are found in the southwest regions of the country. Edited December 27, 2017 by Red_desert Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 (edited) Oh, they are not gold prospectors, only treasure hunters out looking for buried treasure. I cropped down a little smaller yet. Edited December 27, 2017 by Red_desert Quote Link to post Share on other sites
adam 3,127 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 NO it does not look good. Besides, I saw a movie where Albanians kidnapped some girl Quote Link to post Share on other sites
4meter 200 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 (edited) Nice ore sample! When I see a mineral that is as red as that seen in the photos above the first mineral that pops in my head is Cinnabar, a mineral or mercury and the next is Realgar, an arsenic mineral. The photo is not very clear but there does look like some metallic, silver beads in places that would be mercury forming from the red mineral Cinnabar. Your friend will want to use caution & Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when collecting these ores & handling the sample(s). Edited December 27, 2017 by 4meter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Thanks! At this point, all that is needed, is what it could be. Like treasure hunters in some other countries...they have no interest in raw gold. He tried crushing it and panning, didn't recover any gold. Mercury might be it, they both keep finding this mineral. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chrisski 846 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 That rock looks wet. If so, looking at it dry may turn the red brown, and I'd lean towards any number of iron compounds. If it is cinnabar, it is not worth it moneywise to recover it. Nowadays, that stuff needs to be processed large scale to make a profit by changing cinnabar to mercury. All you can really do is crush it and pan it to look for gold. You can also take a magnifying loupe to it in hopes of finding time stuff. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Here are pics of the hole. As you can see, a light dusting of snow is on the ground. Wet or even ice is a possibility, depending on when or where the rock photos were taken. It looks though, as if the mineral specimen (above) was put on a light colored type of background for better photos. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 (edited) I just got more photos of the possible ore. Color sampling with a painting software called Paint Shop Pro, keep getting red as the color for all pics. Still not very good for seeing details, but at least the color is obvious. Edited December 27, 2017 by Red_desert Quote Link to post Share on other sites
4meter 200 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Red-Desert, photos provide very little info. The suggestion given so far are our best educated guesses. One needs to run basic and advanced test on an ore sample to ID the minerals found within it. Basic test are Hardness, Streak & Specific Gravity of the minerals. Advanced test use strong acids & bases to get positive/negative reactions then there is X-Ray Diffraction analysis and spectral analysis of a sample; these last two are what Universities and mining companies use. If your friends really want to know what's in the rock, they need to take it to a mineralogist and have an "Assay" done on it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 (edited) Cinnabar, many of the sample photos I'd found on the Internet, all have that lighter patches on the surface more or less. But then parts of the Albanian sample, especially the one pic above, looks like those quartz swirls in some vein rock. As for color samples using software, dark brown can be toward the red spectrum. If the rock is wet, it will be darker. In painting artwork, you have a color called burnt umber, a dark brown balanced toward the red to make it darker. Testing or assay, they will have to do that themselves. Edited December 27, 2017 by Red_desert Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted October 6, 2018 Author Share Posted October 6, 2018 He finally took my advice, took the rock samples to a university, a geologists tested the specimens. Test results, iron pyrite which probably was visible and gold with no iron pyrite. From what I understand about iron pyrite, both can be found in the same area. Piles of gold ore won't do you much good unless the gold is extracted. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Desertpilot 571 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Nice Alabama rock! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ukrainian Viking 3 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Interesting rock! Nice) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 I don't think the area was ever hunted with a gold detector yet by anyone. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chrisski 846 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Getting an assay on the rock would be nice, even if he takes it to a pawn shop for XRF analysis. If the gold is significant, he could be on to something. I wonder about hunting Europe with metal detectors. I was on Okinawa for a number of years, and that whole island 75 miles by five miles was subject to the biggest invasion of World War II. Unexploded Ordnance was constantly being washed up. I saw a cross section of one, and the outside looked like it would not work, but the innards were uncorroded and perfect. I wonder who actually did the cross section. I wonder if Albania would be the same way. My ancestors are from Poland, and we never had to go far for culture, culture always came to my ancestors. Being the only flat piece of land to go from Asia to Europe, first the Mongols Going to Europe, then the French going to Russia, then the Germans going to Russia, and finally the Russians going to Europe. I'd just be very careful. Battle histories are interesting, but there were just too many in that area to be sure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 (edited) 23 hours ago, chrisski said: Getting an assay on the rock would be nice, even if he takes it to a pawn shop for XRF analysis. If the gold is significant, he could be on to something. I wonder about hunting Europe with metal detectors. I was on Okinawa for a number of years, and that whole island 75 miles by five miles was subject to the biggest invasion of World War II. Unexploded Ordnance was constantly being washed up. I saw a cross section of one, and the outside looked like it would not work, but the innards were uncorroded and perfect. I wonder who actually did the cross section. I wonder if Albania would be the same way. My ancestors are from Poland, and we never had to go far for culture, culture always came to my ancestors. Being the only flat piece of land to go from Asia to Europe, first the Mongols Going to Europe, then the French going to Russia, then the Germans going to Russia, and finally the Russians going to Europe. I'd just be very careful. Battle histories are interesting, but there were just too many in that area to be sure. Rock samples have been officially tested, by a geologist at the university. Two different rock types identified by the geologist, gold without any iron pyrite and iron pyrite without gold. You can dig holes without a metal detector and find plenty of both. Yep the battlefield is a big issue here. Over the entire area the Albanians fought a battle against the Serbs. Over 100 years ago they battles also. Edited October 9, 2018 by Red_desert Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chrisski 846 Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 There was a number of times in Okinawa and once in Korea I found ordinance left over from the war, mostly washed on shore after a storm. Once was a grenade encrusted in coral, artillery shells, I can only imagine what would have happened if I had a metal detector there. That whole island was shelled from sea and from land by both sides. That battle on Oki lasted about six months, even after the surrender there were skirmishes. Albania must have seen not only Word War I but World War 2, perhaps even the Napoleon invasions. IMO, merits an assay in oz per ton. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red_desert 141 Posted October 13, 2018 Author Share Posted October 13, 2018 I don't know if it would be easy for someone in Albania to get an assay per ton, there certainly would have to be active mines in parts of the country. Even in Australia find unexploded ordinance is a risk. Somebody posted a photo there on a forum of a grenade they found. Other people reported it to the authorities who immediately confiscated the find. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.