What is this rock?

sjb

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Detector(s) used
Garrett Ace 250, Minelab X-Terra, Minelab Safari
I am stumped with this rock. I have never had a rock cause such an overload on my metal detector. I have a new Minelabe Safari and took it to the beach. It signaled gold and of course we dug, dug dug. About two feet down, there were rocks, and we took them out of the hole one by one. This rock was the cause of the beeping- and every time we test it, it causes the machine to "overload" with such a strong signal. The dark grey color of the rock rubs off on our hands, and we can write with it (like it is graphite or something). There is a vein of quarts and shiny material that runs through the rock. Any thoughts?

http://s994.photobucket.com/albums/af66/sjbgarden/Rock/

Thanks!
 

Schist is a metamorphic rock: one of the big three types of rock (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic). Metamorphic means "fire changed."

Graphite is carbon. Just carbon. Think of the soot in a chimney, also known as carbon-black. Graphite is usually carbon which has been pressure-altered. So a little harder than soft carbon (coal), but not by much.

Carbon will not set a metal detector off, anymore than your body will react to a detector. So ... break it open and let's see the inside.
 

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Ok, we are trying to break this baby open, but it is harder than we thought. It also burns the towel where we hit it with a hammer- as if it is igniting or something (see photos below)

You will all recognize me when they print my photo along with the caption "Housewife dies when the rock she tried to split explodes in garage causing the largest black hole in history" ... details to follow


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Ok, that vein of stuff looks interesting. Can't tell what it is--pyrite? Pyrite and mica do occur together. But explosive schist? Burning towels? I gotta see this, until then, bull schist. But you have a major component of gunpowder there, more or less. And perhaps the sulphur part of the pyrite gives the second part. But I can't remember the 3rd component. Tuberale? Take it away................ And please, go wash your hands. And the line of mica--unmelted schist. Is there anything in conjunction with the vein of mica? That could have the mineralization that makes your detector sing.

And don't drop that rock.
 

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I will say that the rock itself is beautiful inside. It is the same material as the exterior, but the effects of water on the outside has dulled it a bit. The inside just sparkles. You know the little tiny square sparkles you see in craft stores? That is what it looks like- so sparkly for lack of a better word.

I do not smell sulphur, as you might with gunpowder components. I am tempted to try to light it.....then again....I don't want to go out that way. "She always did love science..."

I appreciate the input. What a strange and beautiful item, to recap

1) soft feel, yet hard to crack open
2) easily writes on anything
3) not magnetic
4) highly conductive (metal detector goes crazy)
5) beautiful and sparkly (too tired to come up with a more creative description)
6) found two feet under sand at the beach

SJB
 

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I can tell ya,it isnt gold.Probably what we call a Hot Rock?? :thumbsup:
 

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Already identified as graphite schist, so metamorphically altered coal at low temperature. Graphite (carbon) appears to be a major component of the rock, or it wouldn't leave your hands that color.

So the question now remains: what is setting the rock off for the detector. A detector would not detect graphite as a metal. Nor would it identify mica or pyrite as metal.

Kuger states it is not gold. I am not so certain.

Mica in my experience usually appears and flat plate-like granules. In larger plates, it used to be called isinglass, and was once used as window panes for early windows. It does distort an image. Want to see what it looks like? Check out Clint Eastwood's motion picture "High Plains Drifter" and look at the windows: isinglass, aka mica.

Iron pyrite is fool's gold, but is also a combination of iron and sulphur. Yet there is no smell of sulphur after the rock has been struck with a hammer (steel, right?). Iron pyrite plus steel is a good way of striking sparks. Iron pyrite and flint is another way.

The only iron pyrite I have seen personally have been in mostly larger crystals, not in what appear to be small globules embedded within the graphite.

So in my opinion, I don't know. Globules do not appear pyrite-like to my eye. Lack of sulphur odor after hammer strikes also supports sulphur-poor content.

It looks to me as if this rock has a layered sedimentary look. Coal could be sedimentary, especially in low-grade condition. Most coal has at least some sulphur content as well, which makes it typically unsuitable for energy production, as burning it produces sulphuric dioxide, which combines with water in the atmosphere to produce sulphuric acid. The human nose is sentive to sulphur and sulphuric dioxide (rotten egg smell).

I'd like to see some of the material ground up and panned. If the globular material is much heavier than the graphic, you should end up with a flour-type residue in the bottom of a gold pan. Add a few lead shot to the gold pan, and continue panning until only the lead shot are still in the pan. If you still have a golden residue or flakes in the bottom of the pan, it probably is gold. Iron pyrite would be much lighter than lead (or steel) shot pellets.

High Plains Digger wonders what else is necessary for gunpowder. I believe it may be potash. I don't want to say more for fear of having someone trying to create their own gunpowder, but potash is VERY common.

Geologists has already identified this as graphite schist. I think that deserves a solved icon.
 

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sjb said:
Rick (Nova Scotia) said:

It does look similar, but Galena would not cause the metal detector to scream so- something is setting it off big time. I am going to scan the small pieces to see it if sets it off or not. I don't have my Safari home, but an older version- of course it is out of power... I know the feeling. I need a cup of coffee and two 9V batteries.

sjb

Yes it would, it can be nearly pure lead, did you even look ?

The "something" is metal, the metal is lead.

Streak=gray
hardness= 2.5

Green check
 

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Sorry I missed that it was I.Ded as Graghitic Schist...crazy I was just talking about that on here the other day!!O.K.,gold can be associated with that.I have never seen gold intrusions in it,but I have worked very rich deposits,that would stain your hands completely black(for several days)...from G.S!There are very few places around here that have it,but I always sample em,after my first experience!! :thumbsup:
 

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GALENA or Graghitic Schist, in either case, case solved.

Even the individual small pieces react to when scanned, so the whole thing, not a vein or something is causing the ruckus.

THANK YOU ALL WHO HAVE CHIMED IN

P.S. if anyone wants a schist writing tool, let me know and I will send you a piece :laughing7:

Until next find....

SJB
 

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If you really want to know if it is gold,crush some into powder and pan it
 

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It is NOT gold, you would not be able to detect finely diseminated particles at all, let alone at 2 feet.
 

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Rick (Nova Scotia) said:
It is NOT gold, you would not be able to detect finely diseminated particles at all, let alone at 2 feet.

:thumbsup:I kind of said that,going off what he described it isnt.....but if one wanted to know for sure,that would be the way to know for sure! :thumbsup:
 

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Kuger--unless the gold is mixed with something else, it won't crush, it will mash as it is extremely maleable. Pyrite will crush into small pieces, chalcopyrite will mash. Simple, but a good definitive test for some of that stuff.
 

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High Plains Digger said:
Kuger--unless the gold is mixed with something else, it won't crush, it will mash as it is extremely maleable. Pyrite will crush into small pieces, chalcopyrite will mash. Simple, but a good definitive test for some of that stuff.

:icon_scratch:Yea,appears to me it is in a host rock!I have very seldom cracked a rock and had free gold fall out.I have crushed a few ton of rock to get gold though :thumbsup:
 

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Here are a couple of photos of small pyrites. Smaller than the head of a pin. Most of the crystals are singles, or groups of square crystals. There are a couple of the 12 sided balls, but hard to see. Iron pyrite has two crystal forms. Maybe this will help the poster to figure out what it is, or is not. Wish the guy in the museum would have looked at the "sparklies" and said something
 

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:thumbsup:If ya know what your looking at,there is no mistaking gold.I agree I wish the Geologist would have elaborated.
The gold I found in that Graphitic shist was rough,but free,and I always wondered what the host rock was??This was in a crevice in a creek by the way...
 

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Mica and gold can go together. It is the graphite that I don't understand, and how it got thown into the cake mix. Whether it came from coal or if there is something as "elemental carbon" , I just don't know, and how it got into ingeous rock. But diamonds are carbon, and are in ingneous rocks.
 

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High Plains Digger said:
Mica and gold can go together. It is the graphite that I don't understand, and how it got thown into the cake mix. Whether it came from coal or if there is something as "elemental carbon" , I just don't know, and how it got into ingeous rock. But diamonds are carbon, and are in ingneous rocks.
Not sure either,but there are belts of it(Graphitic schist)here in the Gold Country,and in the mining reports it states "Gold associated with Graphitic schist in such and such area",I didnt know anything about it until,my hands were stained black from it,and scared me when I couldnt get it off!!Then did a little research,and have always kept an eye out for it since!!
 

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