Found in the Cobalt Ontario, Beaver mine.

[SteveJJ]

I found these while metal detecting for silver ore at the Beaver mine near Cobalt Ontario. They are 13 and 10" long respectively. It appears they were poured in fine sand depressions, and had iron bars laid out for some reason as they are molded into the metal.

The metal will fracture with a granular break, silver in color, and can be cut by a carbon steel blade. It does not bend much before fracturing. It is hefty for it's size. It is non-magnetic away from the iron.

Speculation is that it is a lead mixture, possibly Babbit. But why mold it in a sand depression with iron in it? The iron looks to be square sided. The smaller specimen has a hexagonal point sticking out, like from a star drill poked into the sand prior to pouring. The iron is rusted so it's fairly easy to see.

I'd hoped it might be silver but don't believe it is as it isn't black, and cuts by knife, and is hefty for its' size.

Any ideas what it is and why it may be cast in this form? I know next to nothing about silver mining, or uses of babbit.

 

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[david680]

Could be babbit that simply melted onto the iron, as in a building fire.

 

[cudamark]

If they had a smelter there at the mine, maybe that is some slag left over from that process.

 

[WawaDuane]

No idea what this is but I used to live in North Cobalt...wish I had my Garrett then. Some good exploring around there back in the day.

 

[Johncoho]

My best guess would be slag as well. I found a large piece of melted metal at an old silver smelter in Arizona a few years ago and had it tested. It was really heavy for its size and weighs about 4 pounds. It is mostly silver with some copper and some other trace metals. It will tarnish when you shave off a little and let it set for a few days.