Need some I.D. help

[Jim in Idaho]

Last summer I was out detecting in a southern Idaho mountain range. There was an old story about a silver ledge in this area, but not in this particular canyon. I'd found what I thought was the old mine, in a different canyon, a few years ago. In this particular canyon, I'd seen an interesting anomaly on Google earth, and went to check it out with the GMT. In the process, I found this small piece of metal. Initially I thought it was a piece of a lead bullet, but it was more brittle, and looked like it had tiny crystals on it. I've never seen crystals on a bullet fragment. So, it's been languishing in my collection bottle in the pickup for several months. Last week, I bought a cheap USB microscope, so decided to take a look, and a few pics, of the piece. I did a streak test on a hard Arkansas stone, and it came out gray and shiny, as shown. I broke an end off, and it broke brittle...didn't bend. So, is it natural? It was found at the base of a rock slide on a steep mountainside. Any insights would be helpful. The bright white spot on the polished end is shiny metal....it just looks white in the pic.
Jim

 

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[Clay Diggins]

Looks like Babbitt metal. Bearing overpours often end up in odd shapes and odd places.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

That's possible. This was found in an old logging area. But, it was found above the bottom of the little valley. Can't imagine why it would be in that spot. More likely a babbit pour would be in the valley bottom, seems to me. But it does look like babbit, for sure. That's a really steep hillside. The crystals look like quartz, however. Really strange. I'm thinking I should head up there tomorrow, but don't really want to.
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Well Barry, I heated it to red hot, and it didn't melt. It did sort of swell-up, and get more porous. The GM-2 still easily "sees" it. When I polished it on the hard Arkansas stone it showed silvery metal at the high points where the hard stone abraded it. Those silvery spots are very reflective...like little mirrors. Here's a closeup, and one of the actual piece, which is about 3/8" long.
Jim

 

[Clay Diggins]

Curious. Probably not Babbitt then. It's pretty big for a tin nugget, if it were silver I'd think there would be some associated oxidation and silver salts.

What are you thinking it is Jim? Have you seen anything else like this in the area where you found it? Did your pliers leave marks on the metal looking surface?

Heavy Pans
Barry

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

That's possible. This was found in an old logging area. But, it was found above the bottom of the little valley. Can't imagine why it would be in that spot. More likely a babbit pour would be in the valley bottom, seems to me. But it does look like babbit, for sure. That's a really steep hillside. The crystals look like quartz, however. Really strange. I'm thinking I should head up there tomorrow, but don't really want to.
Jim

Hi Jim… we’ve detected quite a number of babbit samples at abandoned minesites and surrounding areas over many years, but can’t remember ever finding babbit in remote or isolated natural environs such as you’ve indicated. So your point is a good one, but frankly I don’t know what else it might possibly be. The information you’ve provided indicates that it is not native silver. In addition to Barry’s comments, native silver would be soft and malleable to a point, and produce a silvery white metallic streak.

Jim.

PS: Thanks for posting those quality close-up photos, a real pleasure to view.

 

[DDancer]

Galena maybe is my guess. Heating specimens does produce results like yours and the streak test and hardness, fracturing, of the un heated material looks right.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Many thanks, guys. I'd be happy if it were galena! That would mean a lead deposit somewhere in the area. I found that area on Google Earth. There appeared to be a "dome" uplifted in the country rock. I thought it would be a good place to detect, though there are no mines in this particular canyon. This piece was detected near the bottom of the area I circled, so it probably came down from the upper portion. The whole area is about 200 yards x 200 yards. Looks like I need to get back in there next summer. That uplift extends across the ridge, and into the next canyon, too.
The old Lost Texas Jack mine is a couple of canyons over. I re-discovered it several years ago. Found the claim records at the county, too. It dated to the late 1880's, was lost and re-discovered in 1950. Supposedly, Texas Jack was found dying, and taken to Salmon City. Before he died, he told the guys that found him where the "silver" lode was located, and the mine I discovered fits his directions pretty close. BUT, what has always bothered me is the story said the ore in his possession assayed 1,000oz to the ton in silver. His old silver ledge is now under a different name, and BLM shows it as a lead producer. No mention of silver. So I'm still poking around that area, because it's possible that that mine is NOT the Lost Texas Jack, and Jack's silver lode may still be out there, undiscovered.
There are many mines in that mountain range, one of them was the second biggest silver producer in Idaho at one time. That mine is only about 5 miles from the LTJ. It also produced lead, gold and copper in abundance. So, hope springs eternal, as they say.
The LTJ was a surface deposit, apparently. There are two adits...one extends about 60' into the mountain, the other about 90'. I've detected in both without any luck. From the records they were worked one summer, and that was it. I've never found any specimens from the tailings either, sadly.
Jim

 

[DDancer]

Sounds like you have a good lead on an interesting adventure there Jim As your aware Galena is a sulfide of lead and to have some thats detectable would indicate to me the ore maybe carrying high amounts of other metals so I wish you luck when the weather gets warmer. Depending on how much of the material you have you can try crushing and fluxing a bit for a cleaner assay and someone with and xrf could tell you what values you have.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

This piece is pretty hard, DD. The hard Arkansas stone abrades it fairly easily, but it's pretty hard. Doesn't feel real heavy, either. I doubt I'll get back in there until June of '18. The elevation is about 7,300'. Something to look forward to, I guess. I'll have to look into crushing it, and doing what you said, though I don't know anybody with one of those meters. I did know somebody with one, but he sold his salvage yard, and it probably went with the business.
Jim

 

[arizau]

Last summer I was out detecting in a southern Idaho mountain range. There was an old story about a silver ledge in this area, but not in this particular canyon. I'd found what I thought was the old mine, in a different canyon, a few years ago. In this particular canyon, I'd seen an interesting anomaly on Google earth, and went to check it out with the GMT. In the process, I found this small piece of metal. Initially I thought it was a piece of a lead bullet, but it was more brittle, and looked like it had tiny crystals on it. I've never seen crystals on a bullet fragment. So, it's been languishing in my collection bottle in the pickup for several months. Last week, I bought a cheap USB microscope, so decided to take a look, and a few pics, of the piece. I did a streak test on a hard Arkansas stone, and it came out gray and shiny, as shown. I broke an end off, and it broke brittle...didn't bend. So, is it natural? It was found at the base of a rock slide on a steep mountainside. Any insights would be helpful. The bright white spot on the polished end is shiny metal....it just looks white in the pic.
Jim
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Maybe this will help you with identification. Streak Test for Minerals - using a porcelain streak plate.

A piece of magnetite that I found with a detector polished to a silvery reflective surface when I hit it with a grinder so maybe your rock has some magnetite inclusions that you polished the tip of(?).

Good luck.

 

[winners58]

could be some antimony mixed in with other elements making it hard to identify.
the sunshine silver mine in Idaho had antimony as a byproduct

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I appreciate the help guys. I'll try the magnetite test. I didn't check the specimen for magnetic attraction, either. Right now, to me, the most important factor is that it be a
natural metal specimen. That possibly indicates an ore body in the vicinity. I'll take that until I can get back in there and do some more prospecting.
Jim