What is it? Iron slag? Galena?

[Hendog1958]

This belongs to one of my fellow treasure seekers. It was given to him by a man that was a small time coal miner ( surface with heavy equipment) the man unfortunately is dead now so he can't tell us where it came from. He claimed that it was on top of ( or below) a large seam of coal here in eastern Ky. I'm not sure I buy that story but you never know. Anyway I am going to send a sample off for testing. The metal is extremely heavy and very hard. Cannot be scratched with a knife. My metal detector gives an Iron, zinc/nickel and sometimes silver signal when passed over the specimen. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

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[DDancer]

Be interesting to see what it assays as. Its not got any real aspects of galena unless its been previously fired which is a possibility. Could be a cast off from some other smelt as well. Not many metallic minerals found in association with coal seams other than pyrites. The formation of coals is typically sedimentary and most metals are associated with hydrothermal events predating coal formation to my knowledge. However that does not mean it could not have originated from nearby host rocks.
To bad the old timer passed away there may be a story there lost to us. Let us know if you would.