Crusted metallic rocks/meteorites?

[naavieko]

Hi again

Went out detecting with my SDC 2300 at a random dried creek looking for new gold locations. Didn't find any gold, but I found these 2 little "rocks" which sound off like they're gold or lead. You can see in the picture with the 5c coin they're relatively small, but pack some weight for their size. The larger one on the left weighs 2.43g and the smaller one on the right weighed .84g.

I thought I'd hold a flame to the smaller one and see if it quickly melts to rule out lead, and after a few seconds a tiny bit of what I can only describe as "crust" popped right off to expose a very metallic/silvery looking metal underneath the crust... I'm assuming the bigger one will be the same inside (they were found within a several meters of each other and apart from size look/feel identical). They're not attracted to magnet. The outer crust is quite hard and doesn't seem to scratch easily.

I didn't want to do anything else to them until taking pictures and posting here as they have me curious as hell. I figure though if I were to keep heating it up the rest of the crust would pop off and I'd be left with just a silver looking nugget?




Ideas?? Could they be meteorites?

 

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[naavieko]

I somehow managed to get a dodgy close-up shot of the exposed metallic core via microscope and my phone camera...excuse the poor quality/graininess but at least in this shot you can get a better idea of the metallic core structure -- let me tell you it looks truly beautiful under the microscope... I wish I had a better camera for it as this shot does not do it justice!

I'm thinking I'll try and heat it up and bust off the rest of the crust to leave just the metallic core/nugget.



Could it be platinum? What's with the thick crust?

 

[Indian Steve]

I hope that I am wrong but they look a lot like melted aluminum from soda or beer cans thrown in a fire. I have found a couple of pounds of melted can pieces in the water where people camp on the shore.

 

[naavieko]

Hey thanks for the reply Steve. I know what you're referring to with regards to melted aluminium as I've found quite a few of those in my time detecting, especially along beaches. I can say however 100% these aren't melted aluminium nuggets. First of all way too heavy, and the outer crust on these rocks is more like iron stone. Second, though it's hard to tell from the pics, the inner metallic core is very different from melted aluminium, it has an almost crystalline structure to the metal which I only noticed properly under the microscope. Closest thing I've found in google images is Platinum but what makes me scratch my head is the thick outer "crust" almost as if it's fusion crust from a meteorite.

 

[Tuberale]

Hey thanks for the reply Steve. I know what you're referring to with regards to melted aluminium as I've found quite a few of those in my time detecting, especially along beaches. I can say however 100% these aren't melted aluminium nuggets. First of all way too heavy, and the outer crust on these rocks is more like iron stone. Second, though it's hard to tell from the pics, the inner metallic core is very different from melted aluminium, it has an almost crystalline structure to the metal which I only noticed properly under the microscope. Closest thing I've found in google images is Platinum but what makes me scratch my head is the thick outer "crust" almost as if it's fusion crust from a meteorite.

Not aluminum. Are any oif them magnetic? Almost all meteorites are magnetic. Second, test for nickel. There is a test kit that includes a nickel test. Good luck with this.

 

[chub]

which part of Aus are you in?

Chub

 

[Al D]

I would do a density test first

 

[naavieko]

I'm in Far North Queensland

 

[naavieko]

Doesn't appear to be magnetic at all Tuberale... thinking probably not a meteorite as I also can't find any meteorite examples that are similar to this

 

[naavieko]

Here's another pic I took during day in natural light in case it helps make out features a little better. Note the thickness of the outer "crust". The little broken off fragment on the right of the rock is the part which popped off after heating it up under the flame of a lighter for a few seconds. I figure a density test wouldn't be all that revealing considering a large portion of the mass is the outer crust which appears to be a different material than that of the core. Do yas think I should just go ahead and heat the rest of it up to try and extract just the metal core? Keep in mind I still have a larger specimen untouched, so I can use the smaller piece pictured below to do experimenting with for identification if need be.



Cheers!

 

[Plug N Play]

Do yas think I should just go ahead and heat the rest of it up to try and extract just the metal core? Keep in mind I still have a larger specimen untouched, so I can use the smaller piece pictured below to do experimenting with for identification if need be.
View attachment 1743896

 

[naavieko]

Yikes... you think it could be one of those? I probably shouldn't be touching it if so...

 

[Plug N Play]

Just kidding. Way up by that top tip looks like the safest place.