Can anyone tell us what this might be??

[Chocasparks]

Hi guys,
We crushed a bit a quartz and panned it out and ended up with a heap of this in the pan, it looks like silver but we're not really sure!! Can anyone tell us what it might be??
Cheers Chocasparks

 

[Heatho]

G'day mate, do you have any of the same quartz that hasn't been crushed? It really could be anything. My first guess would be molybdenite but near impossible to tell without a whole mineral specimen.

 

[BigWave]

Is it conductive?

 

[Chocasparks]

Yea i do heatho ill post a pic...

Im not sure to be honest bigwave, i never thought to test it...

 

[Eldorado]

Could it be galena which is lead sulphide the ore used to make lead? I have a piece of quartz with shiny silvery bits attached to it like this photo taken from the net which is galena on Quartz.If I rub the specimen I have,the little shiny bits come off the quartz.Tried to take a photo of my speci but couldn't get a decent shot.Hope this makes sense.

 

[20x]

anything like this..
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6046

 

[Chocasparks]

This it here guys!! Its not actually in the quartz, its more it the rock that the vain runs through... you can see it better in the 3rd pic..

 

[Heatho]

Interesting. Looks like maybe some pyrite crystals in the last pic to me. Did it give off a strong strange odour while crushing it?

Hopefully one of the geologists that frequent here can give you an answer.

 

[Chocasparks]

Na there wasnt any odour at all..
Can pyrite be a silver colour as well as gold?? I thought pyrite was a gold colour....

 

[grubstake]

Can pyrite be a silver colour as well as gold?? I thought pyrite was a gold colour....

Iron pyrites is commonly gold or silver, but can also be black. Copper pyrites (peacock ore) can be all different colours at once, like oil on water.

 

[LONEWOLF]

Could be Tin.... What general area did you find it in?... That would be your starting point in your Search ...

LW...

 

[Goldpick]

Really need a more detailed closeup of the freshly broken section on the middle of the first pic. Is the mineral heavy in the pan, or light enough to just be a lot of mica flakes from the host rock?

 

[SWright]

G'Day All

My guess would be arsenopyrite, even if you did not get a smell. Sometimes you have to hit the stuff and quickly get a whiff right up close. Arsenopyrite is a typical wall rock alteration close to some metal bearing veins. Though as others have said may need a closer photograph. Individual arsenopyrite grains often have a triangular section, pyrite small cubes, galena has cubic cleavage and molybdenite is soft and flaky.

Araluen

 

[drystone]

Hi there,
a similar story for me today, dollied up some promising looking quartz vein breccia off a mullock heap, 1 nanospeck of gold, but a heap of silvery (+/- tarnished brown, orange) sulphide. Looks like arsenopyrite mostly, had mild garlic odour too.
cheers
drystone

Drystone

 

[Chocasparks]

Hey guys sorry havent been online for a while.. we finally got a chance to put this stuff on the scales and it seems pretty heavy..

 

[XIV]

You may have to do an acid test.
Drop a few bits in acid.
And see what happens.

 

[Chocasparks]

And what should i be watching for??

 

[grubstake]

Fizzing or any other reaction.

 

[XIV]

Fizzing would be your iron base.
If it slowly dessolves, guessing lead.
Could be galena / silver.
No reaction. Silver/platinum ( maybe )
Native silver or platinum is rare.