I Am a Blooming Idiot

[OreCart]

Okay, I know, that is not a big revelation as I have proven that quite a bit on here. Here is the thing; I think I might have tossed out a Platinum Nugget yesterday.

I was at a new stream yesterday and sampling it for gold, when I found what I thought was a silver nugget so I threw it out and kept panning for gold. But after thinking about it, I realized silver tarnishes, so it probably was not that as it was silvery in color, and not black. But it was also not rounded over. It was very spikey in shape, not very big at all...big enough to pick up with tweezers, but probably not your fingers. The only way I can describe it, is that it looked like a silvery maple leaf with all its spikey edges, but again very small.

Now the area nearby shows heavy mineralization, and gold and silver are confirmed here both visually and by fire assay. That vein that was assayed, was probably 50 feet or less from the stream I was panning. It is possible it was lead because I found Galena in that vein (host rock, galena, quartz, galena, host rock as sampling across the vein. I have also found copper and of course iron pyrite.

I did some checking and found out Platinum was indeed discovered in Maine. (US Geological MDS Map) It is nowhere near where I found this nugget (and stupidly tossed it out thinking it was a silver nugget), but maybe I found some platinum

 

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[placertogo]

Many years ago along Nile Brook just south of Rangeley village, they were regularly finding small nuggets of platinum.

 

[OreCart]

Many years ago along Nile Brook just south of Rangeley village, they were regularly finding small nuggets of platinum.

I have been online all morning trying to figure out what else it could be, but nothing else looks like what I saw. It could not have come very far because of the lay of the land (20 acres at most), and most likely from the cliff face only fifty feet away.

I know Wikipedia is not the best place for information, but the nuggets pictured look just like the one I found (but the ones they show are bigger).

I might call the state geologists and get their take on if platinum could be here when they will be in the office on Monday. (I guess I will be going back to pan that stream, but this time for Platinum) (LOL)

 

[OreCart]

I did not take any pictures yesterday, but I have taken some a few weeks ago.

It is kind of hard to see in the photo, but the spot where I found the unique nugget shall we say, is at the lower left corner of the picture. You can probably see where the stream curves down the little ravine. Just out of sight to the right of the pictures is the cliff face. Originally the scree pile under the cliff face sloped right down to the stream. The road you see, was carved out by a bulldozer casting the scree from right to left to make a level road so we could twitch wood up the hill. That is why the stream is so full of sediment too.

 

[Goldwasher]

Well, it won't move from where it landed for a while most likely.

You fount it once already you know..

 

[mike(swWash)]

Why toss a silver nugget away in the 1st place

 

[Tahoegold]

I've found lead bullets splashed open like you described. It was shiney and flat with jagged edges just like you described. If that really was platinum, there should be more and finer pieces. I hope you find that one you threw. A good detector should be able to help find it! Good luck!

 

[placertogo]

Rethinking how you described the piece, it sounds like some kind of melted metal (tin, zinc, aluminum) that was dropped on a surface in the molten state and spread out before cooling to the solid state. All the platinum I know of found in Maine was in placer settings rounded by alluvial activity.

 

[placertogo]

Metal detecting around burned building sites, I have often found globs of metal melted from the fire. They are often shiny and odd shaped but are usually aluminum, white metal (zinc) or such which will stay shiny ever after years in the ground. At one time I thought they were silver coins melted but then I realized most structure fires do not reach the temperature to melt silver (1640 degrees farenheit for .925 sterling).

 

[triple d]

Was it heavy in the pan like gold. If so it was most likely platinum. I have found platinum in Maine. On the east branch of the swift. But its usually smooth and in the shape of a tear drop. And I think its associated with lead ore.

 

[OreCart]

I've found lead bullets splashed open like you described. It was shiney and flat with jagged edges just like you described. If that really was platinum, there should be more and finer pieces. I hope you find that one you threw. A good detector should be able to help find it! Good luck!

It is possible it is a bullet fragment, which I never thought of. I do not know of any hunting in that area in the last 40 years though, only because it is so remote. But bullet travel a longggggggggways too!

There is no way it is a building site though, or could have come from a building site because there is nothing close by, or ever was built close by.

It adds some interest to an otherwise lackluster stream though. It also makes me wonder if I should not resend a sample from that galena nearby to the assayer with inclusion for testing for Platinum. I never have done that because I never figured in a million years platinum would be here.

 

[placertogo]

Was it heavy in the pan like gold. If so it was most likely platinum. I have found platinum in Maine. On the east branch of the swift. But its usually smooth and in the shape of a tear drop. And I think its associated with lead ore.

I've found a lot of odd stuff in the East Branch. It is only a few miles south of Nike Brook in Rangeley which used to be known for platinum. I think the gold in the East Branch is more than just glacial. I have found a couple of small pickers with pieces of quartz attached which I doubt would have survived riding the Laurentide Ice Sheet from Canada.

 

[seafox]

Would not call you a blooming idiot but as one before me asked why throw away a silver nugget? were I getting as much lead as I have seen in some of docs vidios I likely would carry out the lead for recycling

 

[OreCart]

I really do not know. If I find more silver nuggets I might keep them from here on out, but overall I am not that interested in silver.

 

[OreCart]

Was it heavy in the pan like gold. If so it was most likely platinum. I have found platinum in Maine. On the east branch of the swift. But its usually smooth and in the shape of a tear drop. And I think its associated with lead ore.

Yes, it was heavy like gold, and seen as I was checking for gold flakes. But wouldn't lead also behave this way?

 

[triple d]

Lead should be able dent with finger nail. And will be duller in color. Platinum will be shiney. There are other minerals in the Platinum family. Some are found in N.H. Not sure but possibly Maine also. Silver ore can add up fast. And is usually found in Lbs Not Ozs. In a stream not so much.

 

[triple d]

Years ago people made a living on the East Branch. I agree. Placertogo

 

[OreCart]

Years ago people made a living on the East Branch. I agree. Placertogo

I need to do a lot of research on this I think, as well as return to the stream and pan some more. A lot of that research needs to be in regards to what Platinum is often found with. An interesting tid bit of information is that I am finding a lot of garnet here, but not just garnet, rare melanite. I know it is melanite because I can pick the garnet up with a magnet, the only black colored garnet that can do that. That is because of the heavy titanium content.

So in a strange round about way; is Platinum associated with titanium? It is that sort of research that is needed.

The interesting thing here is, it is located so close to a known heavily mineralized outcrop, that maybe it was not rounded over and beat up because it did not travel far? The stream is located in the scree pile of the rock outcropping, so it is possible that as the rock face fractured and broke off, and the stream filtered out the light sediment, the heavy platinum just dropped into the stream bed.

Another possibility is, when we bulldozed the logging trail, we moved the platinum from the base of the cliff, into the stream. It is not very environmentally friendly, but that is what we did, as we tilted the blade on the bulldozer, made a very heavy cut on the uphill side and angled the blade to shove the soil laterally. By putting a lot of oil into the stream, we basically made a giant, natural sluice. It has been 8 years since we did that, so nature has had eight years to wash out the heavy sediment, letting the platinum (and gold) settle out.

It is interesting for sure since this stream is so close to a possible lode outcropping.

 

[OreCart]

So, I talked with the State of Maine Geologists, and they were not surprised that I MIGHT have found Platinum. They said they are finding isolated pockets of it, North, West and East of me, but have not heard of any discoveries in my area. They said what they are finding in Maine is small pockets of the mineral, but very pure veins.

After describing what I saw, the Geologist felt it was not lead due to the color, and could not have been zinc because it would have floated off my pan. Obviously without confirmation by assay, there is no way to say it was, but told me Galena has a high occurrence of being found in conjunction with Platinum.

I will never say I found something without a second confirmation, but I do think I will make a note on this sample site that I MIGHT have found Platinum so it is documented, and mapped.

 

[placertogo]

So, I talked with the State of Maine Geologists, and they were not surprised that I MIGHT have found Platinum. They said they are finding isolated pockets of it, North, West and East of me, but have not heard of any discoveries in my area. They said what they are finding in Maine is small pockets of the mineral, but very pure veins.

After describing what I saw, the Geologist felt it was not lead due to the color, and could not have been zinc because it would have floated off my pan. Obviously without confirmation by assay, there is no way to say it was, but told me Galena has a high occurrence of being found in conjunction with Platinum.

I will never say I found something without a second confirmation, but I do think I will make a note on this sample site that I MIGHT have found Platinum so it is documented, and mapped.

Are you a member of Maine Gold Prospectors?