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Post by stronger on May 23, 2015 9:57:57 GMT -5
Hello, this is my first post. Here in North West SC I'm finding a lot of silver colored metal in a quartz vein, but very little gold. The silver runs in veins within the quartz. Wondering if anyone knows what kind of metal this could be, and if I should start saving it. Happy hunting and heavy pans....
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Post by Gold Seeker on May 23, 2015 17:17:15 GMT -5
Are you sure the silver material is a metal, what happens to this "metal" when you hit it with say a hammer, does it break/shatter or does it flatten out?
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Post by stronger on May 24, 2015 15:17:19 GMT -5
Yes, it is metal and you can flatten it. It doesn't shatter. I do have areas that have pyrite, and mica in Saprolite too but this is in quartz. When I crush rocks with veins of it, I get heavy little pickers in the pan. Wish they were gold, the heavy metal I find is mostly silver.
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Post by stronger on May 24, 2015 20:15:16 GMT -5
So today I went and picked out a bit of rotten rock maybe 2 gallons and chipped off a piece of quartz. three little flecks of gold in the saprolite (tiny) and more silver metal in the quartz. Does lead act like gold?
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Post by Gold Seeker on May 24, 2015 20:16:41 GMT -5
Yes lead will act like gold in your pan, even thought it's about half the specific gravity/weight of gold it's still a very heavy metal so it will be in the bottom of the pan along with blacksand and gold. There's a history of a few silver mines in S.C. in and around where gold was also found, there are even more numerous historic silver mines in N.C., not knowing which area of S.C. you're finding your samples you'll have to check the following website to see if any of the historic silver mines of S.C. are in your search/sample area, also finding relatively pure silver anywhere in the USA is rather rare but does happen, most silver deposits are of silver ore and not somewhat pure silver and the pure silver has to be extracted from the ore by smelting or chemical process, maybe you have stumbled across a rare deposit of relatively pure silver, if not maybe it either lead or zinc which was often found and mined with or nearby silver deposits. www.us-mining.com/south-carolina/silver-mines |
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Post by Gold Seeker on May 24, 2015 20:33:43 GMT -5
You can try to melt the "silver metal" to try and tell if it's lead or zinc, both of which has a relatively low melting point compared to silver or gold, lead melts at just over 600 degrees F, zinc just under 800 degrees F, so both should melt easily in a short amount of time using a propane torch, if the metal is silver you would have a hard time getting it to melt easily/quickly with the propane torch, the melting point of silver is just under 1800 degrees F. almost 3 times that of lead and about twice that of zinc.
If the silver metal is hard to melt and turns gold in color after heating, it could be gold with mercury on it, so be careful not to breathe any of the fumes while heating and do the heating outside where the wind will blow any fumes away from you and any neighbors.
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Post by stronger on May 25, 2015 12:43:46 GMT -5
You can try to melt the "silver metal" to try and tell if it's lead or zinc, both of which has a relatively low melting point compared to silver or gold, lead melts at just over 600 degrees F, zinc just under 800 degrees F, so both should melt easily in a short amount of time using a propane torch, if the metal is silver you would have a hard time getting it to melt easily/quickly with the propane torch, the melting point of silver is just under 1800 degrees F. almost 3 times that of lead and about twice that of zinc. If the silver metal is hard to melt and turns gold in color after heating, it could be gold with mercury on it, so be careful not to breathe any of the fumes while heating and do the heating outside where the wind will blow any fumes away from you and any neighbors. Thanks Gold Seeker. The metal is in quartz and I find the veins when I break it up; There wouldn't be mercury attached in hard rock to gold would there? Or can that happen naturally? |
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Post by Gold Seeker on May 25, 2015 13:10:19 GMT -5
I would doubt that it's mercury, but yes mercury does occur naturally and there's a slim possibility that there could be mercury on your samples either from a natural deposit or from use of mercury in the area in the past, also I wouldn't feel right if I suggested you heat/try to melt your samples without a warning of a health risk if precautions are not taken.
I also find it uncommon that you're finding a relatively pure metal other than gold in a vein, so I'm trying to cover all the possibilities of what your sample might be.
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Post by goldrunner on May 25, 2015 19:41:32 GMT -5
Amy pictures would help. I am intrigued .
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Post by stronger on May 25, 2015 20:25:42 GMT -5
 I'll try to get some more samples next weekend and get pictures up. It is coming from quartz between layers of Rotten rock above and below it. There is a lot of colors in the quartz. When I break pieces of the quartz out the silver vein is inside. I didn't take pics of the quartz with the silver colored vein so I'll do that next weekend. Kinda stinks to be a newb, but I am truly enjoying the experience - I have a lot to learn. Just figured out how to get pictures up. This is the area It is coming from. The Middle shows the quartz vein and the rotten rock is above and below. I've picked out a little with a small pick hammer. |
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Post by kruzman on Jun 8, 2015 9:17:23 GMT -5
other reason to not breath the fumes is there could be arsenic.
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Post by ywevis on Jun 21, 2015 20:17:35 GMT -5
Maybe indyme2 could tell you, he is just about the most geological dude on here. |
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