Found in corner of old cabin

[quagmike]

I found these rocks buried in the corner of an abandoned cabin in the ghost town of Como, Colorado years ago. They were buried about 12" down along with a chunk of raw silver. Just found out about this post and I was hoping one of you amateur (or professional) geologists could identify them. The stash lit up my Master Hunter and the rocks are very heavy for their size.

 

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[TreasureTales]

Hi quagmike, welcome to the forum. PLEASE increase the size of your photo. My old eyes can't see so well anymore. LOL

 

[quagmike]

Trying to enlarge photo - let's see if this works....

 

[TreasureTales]

AHHHH, much better, thanks. Does a magnet stick to these? Can you scratch them with a knife blade? Just trying to eliminate some possibilities.

 

[quagmike]

Yes, they are magnetic and no they will not scratch - very hard surface.

 

[TreasureTales]

Meteorites. Well, don't quote me on that, but they COULD be. Can you post a pic of the silver?

 

[quagmike]

That's what I was thinking originally. I'll look for the silver.

 

[Gribnitz]

Slag left over from smelting ore

 

[quagmike]

Could be, certainly more probable. Thanks

 

[TreasureTales]

Magnitite or Iron Oxide, sometimes contains small amounts of manganese, nickel, chromium, and titanium. Common where gold and silver is found. Metal detectors go nuts over it. They'll either sound off big time or null.

Aren't those the same types of minerals found in meteorites? (I'm trying to regain some credibility!! )

 

[Gribnitz]

Aren't those the same types of minerals found in meteorites? (I'm trying to regain some credibility!! )

There are iron meteorites, but they are very pure. Hematite is an ore. It has to be smashed up and melted to take away the impurities to get to the iron. Hematite and magnatite are the most commonly mis-ID'd meteor wrongs because they have a lot of characteristics of a meteorite, but they are VERY common minerals so it is found a lot.

( I learned a lot about them because I found a huge hunk of hematite I thought was a meteor and got the bad news after I sent it off for testing )