Looking for gold and may have found silver

[Asmbandits]

I've been doing some prospecting of an old mine that I've found and have interests in for further mining. I took a few samples from some of the best looking areas the old timers were chasing at the face, from what info I can find the mine was abandoned in the early 1900's as it was not as productive as they would have hoped but reports were very good prior, also there are numerous shafts close as they put a lot of work chasing something of valve. It's primarily a gold mine but also produced silver and mercury. The host is a mixture of decomposed slate with much quartz and sulfide matrix. The mine is located in northern ca but not in the gold belt region. I took about a pan of material from the face, panned the lights and saved some of the larger pieces to process at home. The light material produced some very fine flour gold so hopes were high for the better looking lager specimens. I took one small but very good oxidized rusty color chunk no larger than a half a snickers bar and carefully crushed and panned it out. I was very surprised to find not gold but something I've never seen in a pan, and what I'm thinking could be silver. It's still the heaviest thing in the pan but not as heavy as gold, it very sure its not it's not pyrite as it doesn't look like it and doesn't move like it. I've never seen anything like it and it doesn't seem to be heavy enough to be lead. The shine really makes me think it's silver. The pictures are not the best but hopefully someone can give me an opinion on what they think it is.

 

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[prospect007]

action mining has a test kit for things like this, try their web site.

 

[dave wiseman]

Are you sure it's not arsenopyrite?

 

[Asmbandits]

No, it very well could be arsenopyrite. Im by far no expert, just havent seen anything like this in a pan before. My sample is turning dull very fast, not as shinny and metallic looking as it was yesterday, it could very well not be silver. Has anyone ever seen silver in a form like this? I cant find any pictures of silver like it in or anything close.

 

[DDancer]

Could be galena as well. Most native silver wont break up into fragments like that and ore silver is usually in the form of a telluride. If your up to it you can try cooking it off and get yourself a test kit to see what it says about the final product. Some telluride's are shiny like that when broken up but galena is more common in gold bearing areas.

 

[Asmbandits]

I'm starting to think that it would make the most sense that it would be one of the mentioned minerals mentioned above, I saw something new and jumped the gun I guess, but that is the great part about this forum and the ability to share and learn. Even though it's not silver it is most likely a mineral associated with the formation of gold and that's good news. I'd rather not try to spend the time and risk of testing this sample, I think it's most likely not silver and I'll just stay searching for the yellow metal