PLATINUM ORE?....SILVER ORE?

[JCoffey]

Can anyone help me identify this piece I found? I found this with my metal detector mixed in with an old homes rock foundation that was all buried under years of leaves and soil. It weighs approx 8 lbs, does not flake, is solid except for the small amount of quartz type minerals on one side. All the pictures I've seen online narrows it down to possibly being Platinum or Silver Ore at my best guess. It measures about 1ft long, 6" wide, and about 3" thick. I would love to hear if anyone has come across this same type of specimen before. Thanks.

 

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[muledeericeberg]

Looks like slate schist. Jewels often pop up in the schist but rarely the slate.

 

[Icewing]

I was thinking iron ore with all that red oxidation.

 

[JCoffey]

It does look a lot like schist. But im not real sure it is. It don't flake, and the metal is pretty hard and strong. It wont break off....Although I haven't tried with any real force such as pliers etc. Do you have any recommendations on how to do any types of tests on it?

 

[Sheldon J]

Mica?

 

[DARKCYDE]

I have a few big shiny chunks of something I can't figure out. It's hard to tell how shiny it is in the pic. It's extremely hard and does not flake. The piece in the pic is about the size of my hand.

 

[muledeericeberg]

Maybe graphite to the original poster.
DarkCyde looks like old pressure morph plagioclase from flooding regions. All the water eventually penetrates and calcifies the inside of the stone.

 

[geezerdb]

I had a rock that looked a lot like yours, I bought it at an auction thinking it was perhaps silver ore. Turns out someone with a lot more knowledge then me said it was molybdenum. I was so disappointed!

 

[DARKCYDE]

Maybe graphite to the original poster.
DarkCyde looks like old pressure morph plagioclase from flooding regions. All the water eventually penetrates and calcifies the inside of the stone.

Lake Erie stretched down to this area thousands of years ago so that would make sense. This was also a part of the Black Swamp.