What is this metal?

Hi all,
Was just wondering if anyone out there would be able to assist us in identifying what this metal is, if at all?







Cheers

Buzz

merc on gold in Quartz? not real clear but---

Murachu wrote:merc on gold in Quartz? not real clear but---

How do you mean merc on gold?

G'day Buzzdog.

Any chance of getting a clearer shot of the specimen?

Cheers kon61.

kon61 wrote:

G'day Buzzdog.

Any chance of getting a clearer shot of the specimen?

Cheers kon61.

Evening kon61,
I will certainly give it a crack. The metal, or what ever the hell it is, appears to be silver in colour . I don't think it's gold, but with my limited knowledge of metals and what they look like in their natural form, I'm at a loss as to what it is?
If it helps, it was found in a river bed within the Katherine reigon?

buzzdog wrote:

Murachu wrote:merc on gold in Quartz? not real clear but---

How do you mean merc on gold?

It could be Mercury attached to the gold in the quartz

G'day Buzzdog.

Check to see if its magnetic it might be a specimen mixture of (quartz and tin). If not magnetic and not a form of crystal/mica, I'd have to agree with Murachus' answer.

Cheers kon61.

Murachu wrote:

buzzdog wrote:

Murachu wrote:merc on gold in Quartz? not real clear but---

How do you mean merc on gold?

It could be Mercury attached to the gold in the quartz

G'day Murachu,
Finding Mercury attached to gold in the quartz, does this occur often in the wild?

kon61 wrote:

G'day Buzzdog.

Check to see if its magnetic it might be a specimen mixture of (quartz and tin). If not magnetic and not a form of crystal/mica, I'd have to agree with Murachus' answer.

Cheers kon61.

Evening kon61,
I ran a magnet over this metal and nothing? I was kinda expecting some sort of attractant but nothing?
Please bare in mind that I'm new to this so I don't really have a large vocabulary of how to describe raw metals in rocks, so please forgive us for this downfall, a downfall which I'm currently trying to rectify.

Cheers

Buzz

Could be a pyrite crystal, check it out with a good magnifying glass, if it is a pyrite crystal it will have an obvious pentagon structure "5 sides"?
Cheers

someday wrote:Could be a pyrite crystal, check it out with a good magnifying glass, if it is a pyrite crystal it will have an obvious pentagon structure "5 sides"?
Cheers

I will check it out...but to be honest, it almost looks like melted solder yet it doesn't seem to blemish?

G'day Buzzdog.

No apologies required Buzz.We all do the best we can to help one another.Sharing knowledge,that's what this Forums all about.

Cheers kon61.

It happens in the wild by picking up mercury lost by ol timers in a creek or from a battery where the specimen was lost

Some ol timer opal miner I met on the fields years ago told me there is Platinum out there somewhere in Nt.
Ive got it marked on a map somewhere but buggered if I can find the map.

Palladium ore maybe but not platinum

Murachu wrote:Palladium ore maybe but not platinum

Interesting, it could very be...although with my luck I'd say is some crappy piece of crap that has been left from an old timer...I'm not that lucky.
Cheers anyway Murachu.
Is Palladium a common metal?

it becomes platinum after its refined I think --palladium is the ore its found in --- I stand to be corrected

Two totally different metals.
platinum is often found chemically uncombined as native platinum. Because it occurs naturally in the alluvial sands of various rivers,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium

thanks Brickie I stands corrected

Murachu, from reports I have read there is platinum to be had at Beechworth, only it is not to be seen with the naked eye.

Its Galena by the look of it, Silver lead ore. Flat and mirror like is it? sorry, the photo is a tad blurry.
if it where Sphalerite it would look darker and if a native Platinum group it would be a dull metalic grayish silver. Native silver generally grows in fine wires. Although, It may be electrum. The Quartz looks very, gold loving. But i would have to say Galena. Not a bad thing, Galena is the richest source of silver in the world and generally has trace gold. Just depends on if it has a flat crystal face or is rounded as to what it is.

From time to time I have found small metallic pieces that are mirrorlike when broken and reasonably soft in that you can break off pieces with your thumnail.Galena sounds good as its non-magnetic and usually has some silver content.I was thinking of antimony as well but its not very conductive.