🥇 BANNER 153 lbs of Silver.

[cryptic]

Went metal detectecting in the old silver tailings around here and I got a great signal on the F75. It came in at around 67 on the screen. Oh great another piece of tin i thought to myself. Oh well, dig everything because you never know what it might be. After about 35 minutes of digging and having the hole collapse in on me many times I finally saw the target. It was a nice pink coloured rock. That is a good sign since around here a lot of silver has Cobalt in it. That is one of the ways the miners would find silver veins back in the old days. Anyways, after finally digging it out, I couldn't lift it out of the hole. It was too heavy for me. It was also a very deep hole. I had to get a ratchet strap from my truck and pull it out of the hole. It is so heavy that I could hardly carry the thing over the tailings piles and through the bush. I ended up dragging it most of the way with the ratchet strap which finally gave in and broke apart from the abuse. I ended up rolling/carrying it the rest of the way. When I got home I found out the true weight of it. It weighs over 150 lbs. I still have to clean it up. It has cobalt and calcite in it and I estimate it to be at least over 75% silver. I rubbed it up a little bit to show some of the silver. It still has to be cleaned.

 

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[cryptic]

From my understanding they only do the 200 ppm test for silver. Greater than 200 ppm could mean anything. These test results come from a Multi Element ICP-AES Aqua Regia Digestion.

 

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[cryptic]

From what I have read and people I have talked to, the 200 ppm test for silver is standard for this type of assay. If you want a more specific assay for silver, cobalt, nickel, gold, whatever, to find out the exact amount, then a different test has to be done. Any input on this would be appreciated.

 

[BenDavis]

ICP or inductively-coupled plasma analysis is not suited for assay of your rock. It is mostly used in geochemical exploration where the desired elements are present in low concentrations in soil or water The amount of silver present exceeds what this instrument can measure.

Looking at the list of elements present, your rock consists mostly of massive cobalt-nickel-iron arsenides and silver. There is also some copper present, perhaps as chalcopyrite. There should be some sulfur. Many mines do in-house fire assays to check their ores, but the high amount of arsenic present in your piece precludes this. This is because some of the arsenic will combine with litharge in the fire assay and pevent proper cupellation.

As mentioned previously, arsenic-rich cobalt-silver ores were assayed by scorification. Iron is added during fusion and the arsenic combines with it to form an artificial arsenide. In the old days in the Cobalt camp, rich silver ore was melted down in small blast furnaces in a scaled up version of scorification. The crushed ore was mixed with coke, scrap iron or iron ore, and limestone. During melting some of the arsenic fumed off and the rest combined with the iron. The molten silver, being heaviest, sank to the bottom and was drained off and cast into bars. Remnants of this process can still be seen locally in piles of scrap iron, coke, and partly melted firebricks, sometimes still containing small blobs of silver.

The only non-destructive way to get a very rough idea of the amount of silver in your ore is to do the specific gravity/density method discussed before. It's basically the same method used by Archimedes to determine the purity of gold.

 

[coinshooter]

Sounds like it would be better to send in to an assayer to smelt out the silver and the heck with the rest.
Another avenue would be to have it slabbed up and sold.to rockhounds.
If it has good coloring from the nickel cobalt, they will pay big bucks for it.

 

[lonewolfe]

Nice haul!

HH

 

[metalman89]

i know this is pretty late, but ive been sitting here for about an hour just in complete awe. congratulations on that amazing find. even if it had like 1/2 oz just on the outside of that rock. thats an amazing find, and i nominate you for this find, even though you already have the banner!!!

-Jersey

 

[dig kzoo]

Awsome find. I wouldnt have known what it was and would have left it.

 

[metalman89]

Sorry everyone btw for bringing back a dead thread

 

[cschiefs]

Sorry everyone btw for bringing back a dead thread

So glad you did so I could see this awesome find! Congratulations Cryptic~! Utterly amazing.

 

[metalman89]

I was speechless. I almost got up and started driving to Kentucky to look at some old silver tails!

 

[tyrooney]

Wow....double wow

 

[rhino71]

Rock and Roll!!....literally.

 

[ice9]

An amazing find. Anybody who doubts that it's legit can rest assured that there is still a lot of silver to be found in Canada, I can vouch for it.

Sadly, the big paydayt isn't there, as far as I can see. The price of the chemicals to refine it now exceeds the value of the silver; and slabs are a tough sell, in my experience.

If it's competent enough to cut into a sphere, that might go for a few grand; and even big spectacular slabs would be incredible display pieces, but sawn specimens are not a big deal for mineral collectors with deep pockets, as far as I can see.

Still the find of a lifetime, any way you cut it!

 

[sutphin]

NOW THATS WHAT I CALL FIND AND OWN A PEICE OF THE ROCK.

 

[Doc Arey]

Wow! Great Find and save!

 

[M_d_in_guy]

congrats Cryptic on the find, that right there tops the bucket list I'd think. I would suggest getting an XRF done on this, I had some samples XRF'd a year ago through a friend of mine that a research scientist (Geologist). If you'd like to get it XRF'd (100% zero damage with this testing) I could help you with the procedure of getting it done. Mt friend by the way works for the MNR and at worst he'll write a report on it. The whole procedure would be safe for the specimen. I would take myself out of the loop and let you deal with Roger one on one. He is also a moderator on one of the coin sites I belong to. Pm me if you'd like as the XRF process will break down exactly what minerals % wise are in the specimen. Cheers and again congrats on banner as well. Jon

 

[trapperart]

Very nice congrats on the silver

 

[GA_Boy]

What is the actual value of whatever you want to call it? I was disappointed that it wasn't 3/4 Silver as some thought.
Marvin

 

[GA_Boy]

OP are you reading this?? See above.
Marvin

 

[cryptic]

OP are you reading this?? See above.
Marvin

It's was a great mineral specimen when I had it. I don't think anything will ever be found like that in a long time but I hope someone does.