Low-alpha / antiquity lead

[ivan salis]

a wise man knows things --a even wiser man knows how to earn money from that knowledge .

 

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[Consolación Diver]

Hey guys,

So, someone tell me what the lead is really worth. We recovered 25 lead ingots from the Consolacion here in Ecuador, they weigh between 80 and 150 pounds each.

We are working on a division now and should receive half of these ingots in the next few months. I am not sure what the owner has planned for them, he may not even consider selling them, but it would be nice if i could give him some kind of an idea of their worth.

I would hate to see any shipwreck artifact destroyed, but these are pretty much featureless lead puddle ingots and have no markings or anything.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Good morning gentlemen: If the latter posts are correct, then the Pb producers all have different levels of "Alpha radiation, no? So what is the simplest, general method of checking for the Alpha radiation besides a Geiger counter or Scintillator? A copy and paste article indicating that either may be useable but
~~~~~
Lead with a low alpha particle emission is produced by selecting an orebody wherein lead mineral is present in a coarsely disseminated form and substantially free of impurities. The ore is selected from a host rock that is relatively low in alpha emitters, such as a carbonate rock. The ore is mined and is milled such that the lead mineral can be separated from the host rock and any other minerals. The ground ore may be screened into one or more fractions having a narrow range of particle sizes. Each fraction is formed into a fluid suspension, and each suspension is subjected to gravity separation to remove the host rock and any other minerals which substantially contain the alpha particle-emitting substances, and to recover the lead mineral as a concentrate with a low alpha count. The lead concentrate is subjected to a suitable smelting operation, without the introduction of alpha emitters for the recovery of a low alpha lead. When the lead mineral is galena, the smelting is preferably carried out with sodium carbonate and an oxygen-bearing gas in the presence of sodium chloride as a fluxing agent to form a low melting point slag. The low alpha lead has an alpha count of about 0.02 alpha particles per cm2 per hour or less, and the count does not substantially increase with time.
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Ivan, you sure know how to hurt a persons feelings, sniff we jack of all trades, but masters of none are hurt heheheh

Don Jose de La Mancha

p.s. I often wonder why one expert has the tendency to insult another when a simple "courteous" corrective remark is sufficient. sigh

 

[ivan salis]

I'm really sorry if I hurt anyones feelings -- but history has repeatly shown time and again that smart folks tend to make money on knowing stuff others don't -- like folks who buy old lead cheap from dumb folks who have not clue as to its "real" value and then selling it to folks who badly need it at a hefty mark up --( hey don't hate the "hustler" for being smart hate the dumb ones for being stupid and screwing up the gene pool )--- hey the dumb folks are happy as heck to sell the old lead and make some money ---the middle man cleans up nicely (getting paid well for his knowledge and flipping ability) and the folks that need it get what they need -- so wheres the harm -- someones gotta make the money somewhere in the chain . Ivan

----its morally wrong to let dumb folks have money -- since they will buy food and shelter with it -- thus allowing them to breed more dumb folks in the long run.

 

[tridentresearch]

consolación coins;
Sent you a PM regarding this matter.
TR

 

[chengiskhan]

Ha - Ivan, very wry. I enjoyed your last post.

However, if anyone thinks that I as the middleman am the 'smart' guy cleaning up by preying on the 'dumb' guys who have material but don't know the true market value, that person is (unfortunately for me ) mistaken. There is far less mystery these days concerning the going rate for this stuff; unfortunately a lot of old and inaccurate information is still out there. Mostly this is because the number of people who have continued to play in this market over the years has disssipated dramatically (--that is what I mean about this market being small. There are a handful of players left--), and so those who checked out long ago are still making claims based on what they knew to be true back then. I'm not trying to knock anyone for that, but the information is simply no longer valid.

 

[ivan salis]

nothing wrong with being a smart cookie --beats beat a dumbazz any day. --- but dumbbutts hate smart folks.

 

[popeye1]

Hi
We may be interested to talk off line ?
popeye1

 

[pcolaboy]

I have a fair amount of lead from the 1700's but it did not come from any shipwreck. It was essentially buried in the dirt for 200+ years on a friend's property. Most of it was what they refer to as "camp spills" from making shot (I have lots of lead pistol and musket shot as well). I also have other amounts that came from a place that made lead sheathing during the same period.

Let me know if you're interested via PM.

Pcola

 

[wrecker 2]

hallo boy,s we have some alfa lead for sale we have 250 ton ready to schip from europe

people off intrest can contakt me on PM patjedive@gmail.com

i will bring you in contakt whit the seller off te lead is stackt on pallets ready to ship by container or air post word wide report from lab is also avalibol by mail

lead whas recovert from ship wreck side by salvage company the now the price from alfa lead so good luck

 

[PyrateJim]

Without getting into a detailed discussion, does anyone know what the CURRENT, substantiated, market price is for an ounce/pound of low-alpha lead, pre WW2?

 

[FISHEYE]

I just checked with one of my sources and they said they paid $50.00 a pound for low alpha lead 4 years ago.Im waiting for a call back from another source for the current price.

 

[wwwtimmcp]

I have about 500lbs of lead but don't know if it is low alpha or not. most is sinkers from lake erie. any cheap way of testing this stuff ?

 

[robertocean]

hi everyone, i have recovered 800lbs of LAL from shipwreck dating 1700. is in the form of ingots, they have been tested as well. i am looking for a buyer . contact me : robertocean@live.com

 

[AcDiver43]

It's my understanding that there are only a handful of companies that are currently buying the stuff and they would be the only ones able to test the lead for purity and alpha content.
Who did the tests for you?

 

[cklfmba]

Low Alpha Lead

Is anyone still interested in buuying low alpha lead?

 

[FISHEYE]

No one wants to pay more than scrap price for low alpha lead.best is to keep it to make bullets and dive and fishing weights.With the way tings are going in the world right now.The bullets are going to be worth a lot more than food.

 

[Southern_Digger]

good ole pegleg god rest his soul.

I met Pegleg about 4-5 years ago-same year Odyssey Exhibit was at museum in Tampa. His enthusiasm and support for all treasure salvors made a good impression with me. I heard about his Treasure Expo online, planned a weekend trip with wife, taking an extra day off. We travelled from South Florida to Tampa for the Odyssey Exhibit; visited relatives in Orlando, then across the state to Cocoa. Also, I thought highly of Pegleg's wherewithall to assemble everyone for the Expo. Unfortunately, on arrival, someone failed him on getting other forms of advertising for the event and the turnout was not great. But it included the most important--many salvors who dedicated their time. Also, some volunteers failed to show. Once the wife and I arrived, my wife became their weekend volunteer, passing out tickets and such. We had a great time and Pegleg actually tipped me off on a local, turn-of-the-century land site where I could search and dig. Unfortunately, I never had time to pursue it, nor any other expos that may have been held in following years. One surprise, I saw Dell again, for the first time since about 1981 when he was an honorary member and guest speaker at our club/society called South Florida Historical Preservation Society-the first metal detecting club in Broward County, which at one time, was actually invited to dig on urban archeological sites across south Florida, both by city and counties invites. However, regarding the man-- I believe Pegleg left a good impression on many. R-I-P.

 

[AUVnav]

The lead isotope assaying is done by a standard Lead Isotopic Ratio Package. Isotope ratios are measured using mass spectrometry, which separates the different isotopes of an element on the basis of their mass-to-charge ratio.

Just because it is from a shipwreck, does not mean it is low alpha. It may have been mined in an area with a high radioactive background. Remember, lead is depleted Uranium, so they are frequently found in the same locations. Radioactive dating measures the uranium vs lead, Pb206 is the final decay chain of U238, with a half life of 245,000 years. Pb207 from U235 and Pb 208 from Th232.

As of June 2012, depending on the lead isotope Pb204, 206, 207, or 208, the value ranges between $25 and $100/pound. (not in any order, but depending on the isotope)
Pb204 is primordal lead, with no radioactive isotopes, standard lead is Pb208

It is difficult to refine to keep the contamination from affecting the isotope value, hence the extremes in value.

Good luck!

 

[VOC]

Remember Lead is depleted Uranium ?

Thats a new one on me !