rock identification help for a rock from butte montana

Dragontomb

Tenderfoot
May 21, 2015
9
7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello I was wondering if I could get some help to identify this mineral from butte montana (specifically from the stewart mine area). The hardness is around 2.5 and density is around 7. My instincts tell me it isn't galena. Maybe another pb sulfosalt or silver mineral? Any ideas?
Thanks.
 

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bammer

Jr. Member
Apr 5, 2005
36
20
Ohio
Detector(s) used
JW Fisher Pulse 8X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Metallic looking, If you have a Geiger counter I would give it a pass over it just to be sure. Is it magnetic? There are several tests you can do to determine silver content. Nitric acid test:90 to 100% silver, the acid will show a creamy color. ,77-90% silver, the acid turns a gray color.,65-75% silver, then the acid will show a light green color.
 

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Eu_citzen

Gold Member
Sep 19, 2006
6,484
2,111
Sweden
Detector(s) used
White's V3, Minelab Explorer II & XP Deus.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
It does look like a weird piece of oxidized galena to me.
 

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IAMZIM

Bronze Member
Apr 23, 2011
1,567
2,160
Butte City, Montana
Detector(s) used
ace 250/garret pinpointer, garret AT Gold
Primary Interest:
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Keep in mind I am no expert. I AM from Butte though. I'm wondering why your instincts tell you it isn't galena? I have some galena that looks just like that. (from here in fact..) Galena was present in the Stewart mine as well. Yours looks oxidized, hense the black coating all over it. Also, the hardness is right for galena, as it would be a mixture of lead and silver, being dead on at 2.5. I will try to post some pics of my galena, as soon as I can find it! I would rule out Enargite because of the hardness and density. I truly think that you do in fact have galena. (This is just my personal opinion) Being a mineral from the Stewart mine, it is a piece of history!
 

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Dragontomb

Tenderfoot
May 21, 2015
9
7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yeah now looking at it more and more definetly looks like galena.
 

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