Help Identify - Found Metal at Creek

[GodsEarth]

My daughter came across some kind of metal at our creek yesterday and I can’t figure out what it is. It’s a bluish silver that is dense and brittle. Not soft as I can’t scratch and not at all malleable. Not magnetic. Everything I pull up on searches match rare metals but I’m no geologist so I’m looking for some of your incite! Thank you.

 

[GodsEarth]

Update: I measured the density and it came out at 5.45cm3 so we suspect germanium but it looks more like vanadium.. oh well!! 😆

 

[AU Seeker]

Have you tried doing a streak test ?

 

[GodsEarth]

Have you tried doing a streak test ?

No I haven’t tried that yet I’m not too familiar on what to do for a streak test. How do I go about that? Thanks!

 

[Red-Coat]

No I haven’t tried that yet I’m not too familiar on what to do for a streak test. How do I go about that? Thanks!

You need a ceramic tile that has an unglazed back. A leftover from some DIY. Most tile stockists will also happily give you a broken one or an off-cut. The inside of a ceramic toilet-cistern lid will do at a pinch.

Steak the specimen firmly a few times on the unglazed side. Don't rub to-and-fro as if you're colouring in. Blow away any dust to see the colour and nature of the streaks themselves, not the dust created.