Chrif Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Hello everyone, I am a passionate beginner I do not know much, you can help me please to identify,I found it in a river. Thank you in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4meter Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 (edited) Interesting looking sample but we need more info. How heavy is this sample compared to a equal size of Quartz? What is the hardness, streak color and tenacity (ductile, malleable, sectile, flexible, brittle or elastic) of the black/gray material? Just from the photos I would say it is Quartz with Manganese stains ( Psilomelane and/or Romanèchite) and iron stains. Edited October 16, 2018 by 4meter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 (edited) First of all what makes you think this is high grade silver? Do a streak test first. https://geology.com/minerals/streak-test.shtml Or you can take a small piece if the suspected high grade silver and grind it into a powder with a hammer. Then smear it on a piece of white paper. Note the color. Edited October 16, 2018 by Morlock 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrock Bob Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 It looks like the type of ore that could carry silver. Only an assay could tell. There is no way a person could determine from a photo or any common mineral test if that rock was high in silver. There are a couple of chemical field tests that you could use but they wont tell you much. If you suspect it carries silver values you need a simple assay. Otherwise the rock is easily identifiable as a sulphide base metal ore. It is quartz and iron gossan with a polymetallic sulphide filling. If it is high in silver it will also be high in lead and other base metals too. "High grade" silver ore runs hundreds of ounces a ton. Yours is not what is considered "high grade" ore although silver may certainly be a major element in the polymetallic mix. "High grade" silver ore these days comes from Peru and is nearly solid metal. This looks more like the standard ore found throughout the west and that generally does not run anywhere near what is considered high grade silver ore. If you collected it in a silver producing area then feel satisfied that you identified the vein filling material they were mining. If you have a tonnage of the rock then send a handful of samples to be crushed, split and assayed. That is the only way you will ever be able to determine if silver is present and if so how much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisski Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 If you bring it to a pawn shop, they may do XRF analysis. Even if it is silver, for me I would need it assayed at pounds per ton with a pretty long vein to make it profitable. The ore looks like a sample I took from an old, abandoned manganese test pit from the 1940s I took locally in central AZ. In my case, the report done back then said the manganese was not available in commercial quantities. This also looks like ore I'm told has gold locally, but have never found any when I crushed it, but I got a workout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morlock Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 (edited) Depending on what it is, it may have much more value as as mineral specimen as opposed to the actual metal content. Edited October 16, 2018 by Morlock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edge Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Did you ever do a streak test? How soft is the mineral, can you press a coin into it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 This is a native Silver nugget from Bradshaw Mountains, AZ 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theace115 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Looks like that can be a Meteorite @adam LOL!! :-P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAPS702 Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 I have an niton XRF analyzer. I can perform a complete mineral analysis for you if you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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