World's Largest and Biggest Platinum Nuggets ?

[HappyTrails55]

Hi everybody, I have not posted on Treasurenet for quite a few years now but I'm back searching for the answer to this question. Anybody who has ever read anything on the Threads that I have posted in the past knows that I always do my homework and back it up in Documentation and Pictures and that is what I expect to hear and read about this question. I read someplace (will look it up later) that the Largest Platinum Nugget was 9.635 kilograms or 21 pounds but could not find where it was found, when, or any pictures of it. A list of the Largest and Biggest found seems to be not available. Can anybody elaborate or answer any of the question ? Thanks, Darrell

 

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[pepperj]

Hi everybody, I have not posted on Treasurenet for quite a few years now but I'm back searching for the answer to this question. Anybody who has ever read anything on the Threads that I have posted in the past knows that I always do my homework and back it up in Documentation and Pictures and that is what I expect to hear and read about this question. I read someplace (will look it up later) that the Largest Platinum Nugget was 9.635 kilograms or 21 pounds but could not find where it was found, when, or any pictures of it. A list of the Largest and Biggest found seems to be not available. Can anybody elaborate or answer any of the question ? Thanks, Darrell

The biggest platinum nugget is about .5 ounces.
There's lot in this post regarding speculation on a big piece of something.
Thread 'Trying to identify any advice is appreciated mahalos hoping it's platinum' https://www.treasurenet.com/threads...preciated-mahalos-hoping-its-platinum.677690/

 

[DizzyDigger]

"The largest platinum nuggets ever found were discovered in stream deposits in the Ural Mountains, Russia. The largest was found in 1843 and weighed 9.635 kilograms."

Apparently it was found in the Ural Mtn's of Russia in 1843, and I'd hazard a guess that cameras weren't real common back then.

Also found some interesting info that casts some doubt about the 21 lb. chunk. See #4 on this page:

10 STUNNING precious nuggets found in Russia (PICS)

What do ‘Giant’s Heart’ and ‘Irendyk Bear’ look like? How much does the ‘Urals giant’ weigh? And who made the ‘Mephistopheles’? All this and more as...

www.rbth.com

 

[HappyTrails55]

Thanks so far. I think we all know that the Noble Metals of Gold, Silver, and Platinum nuggets are never pure and contain other minerals, metals, and other elements in them but it's the preponderance of the majority of the types of metal that make the nugget. Because Platinum belongs to the PGM group, any of them is somewhat classed as Platinum, is that true ?

 

[ironhorse]

There used to be a poster on this site...about 10 or so years ago maybe...he was in Siberia near Mongolia...he posted videos of himself and another guy digging platinum nuggets with their detectors. I thought that was about as cool as it could get for what the landscape had to offer which was that or nothing lol

He was like a cowboy out there..big side arm to fend off robbers!
I'll try to track him down...his nuggets weren't in the kilos only grams

 

[pepperj]

If one wants the basics on what to look for and the description of Platinum this video is helpful.

digging platinum nuggets in Siberia - Google Search

 

[HappyTrails55]

Well I'm not looking for large platinum nuggets, I believe I already have one, I'm trying to find out what the geologists consider a platinum nugget and if there is different elements alloyed in them. Certainly from what I have read in research, platinum deposits are rich in IRON (Fe) deposits. I will show pic's and a report from Hi-Tech Refinery (Tempe, Arizona).

 

[HappyTrails55]

So I have a few pic's here, my other camera is broke for right now but I'll have better pictures in a few days. When I found this rock I was having problems trying to figure out what exactly it was because of it's odd and unusual shape of which looks like a human foot, like it had been petrified and it's about the size of a human foot.. Then another thought came to mind that it was some kind of processed "BAR" and so naturally I became engrossed in research of this and started to test it. First I weighed it, 7 pounds even. Then I took a small drill to it and drilled a hole all the way through it, it went in like a hot knife in butter, the powder that came out of it went into a whiskey shot glass and I added a drop or two of bleach and it turned instantly BLACK. Then I did the Ice Cube trick knowing that ice cubes melt faster on a piece of silver than concrete, wood or formica and of course it passed that test. My Prospecting buddies that I live with convinced me to update my Puretest Testing equipment, so I did, got it a few days later. Cut off a small corner piece of it, weighed it, 27 grams and used that for a Scratch & Acid Test for Platinum, Gold & Silver, it passed. Then another different prospector friend told us about this place (Hi-Tech Metals & Refinery) in Tempe, so we took it there for some kind of Spectrographic Analysis along with 2 different quartz rocks that I broke off of a ledge. I will NEVER GO BACK TO THAT PLACE AGAIN ! , it's a Joke. They do not give you Receipts or any of their Identifying Letterhead with Date, address, phone, name of the clerk or attendant and such on their Reports if you want to call it that, no specifics of pennyweights, grams or ounces, no nothing and no explanation what the test is, they just pocket your money and send you on your way, knowing that you've just been took by a shyster company. HOWEVER, with that said, the little bit of information to be gleaned from the report (any of these XRF guns or box machines should only be used as a Guide, Never a Full Evaluation and are Not True Assay Analysis). The search goes on in showing others what this rock is and where I might take it, Arizona has quite a few rock shows and Gold shows so I'm positive I'll be making the circuits. Every serious Prospector should know the Periodic Tables of Elements and the geological information that is available. Iron (Fe) is the dominant element in this report that is followed in varying stages or percentages of (Zn) Zinc, (Ir)Iridium, (Cu)Copper, 3 other PGM's, Gold & Silver, etc., etc.. All of these elements are disbursed or disseminated through out the rock or bar and it also never rusts. So what is it ? Aren't there any qualified professionals here ? Could this be considered a "Platinum Nugget" ? mmmm

 

[Clay Diggins]

If it were platinum it would weigh closer to 50 pounds not 7 pounds.

The XRF shows you have an average rock. No platinum or PGE's worth mentioning.

If you don't like the results of the XRF break up and crush the rock and send a few pounds for a fire assay. The results will be different than the XRF but there still won't be any PGM's worth recovering.

 

[pepperj]

Can you take a clearer picture of the XRF readout.
Its kind of hard to see the numbers and percentages.

 

[Clay Diggins]

I suggest you read this report on Platinum in Arizona by Ken Phillips the Chief Engineer of the Arizona mining division. (PDF)

http://docs.azgs.az.gov/OnlineAccessMineFiles/Pubs/2013-02-0073.pdf

Please study and understand this statement if you still think you have a platinum nugget.
"Ultramafic rocks are very uncommon in Arizona"

 

[HappyTrails55]

I NEVER SAID I had Pure Platinum as you apparently insinuating. I want to be nice here, however, over and over again on many internet sites of geology as in Minerals.net, "natural platinum is fairly impure" and that's exactly what I said in my post but the way you described it as an "ordinary rock" that anyone can pick up anywhere in the State of Arizona and it will have all of these elements in them, is ludicrous. Then your advice for me is to destroy the rock regardless of what it is. There's no need for that, we've had the small 27-gram piece I cut off in a Smelter Oven cooked to 3200 degrees and it still did not melt or go into a soluble solution, never altered it. So it's not an "ordinary rock". I Thank You for that Link by Ken A. Phillips, 1980, 43 years ago, Paragraph 7 is the most interesting and I quote, " To be classified as a platinum ore, the platinum content would have to have a significant portion of the value of the ore." And also in the same paragraph, "Although no one can predict the future, the present (43 years ago) knowledge of geology, mineralogy and economics of platinum and Arizona are not conducive to the discovery of producible quantities of platinum group metal ores in Arizona." I like the article so much that I put it into my favorites, although I believe I probably already have that circular somewhere in my files, for I have been prospecting since I was 7 years old or since 1957. I'm sure the boys over at the Dept. of Mines & Minerals (if they still exist) are going to be jumping through the hoops trying to figure out where these poor prospectors that are digging in this very uncommon ultramafic intrusion that they say doesn't exist in Arizona ! Patience is a Virtue so they say so all they have to do is wait for my claim papers. So, yeah we also have a varying quantity of beautiful little nuggets of both gold, silver, and platinum ranging in grams down to particles. Somewhere down the road, someone is going to be happy that I did not take your advice and destroy the rock !

 

[cyzak]

Very awesome thread thank you for sharing, I have a couple natural platinum nuggets I got out of a hard rock mine I was at in Alaska. They are not that size you have I got them in a Aspirin bottle some were never did anything with them.