Oddball nuggets pics and a couple of questions

[Ragnor]

So I been locating some sizable nuggets of yet to be assayed material, Now clearly there is some copper involved and that is to be expected. However I had one of these acid tested in the 1990's at a pawn shop and all nitric acid did was polish it a little. Some of them do streak brown so they are mostly copper, but others streak yellow and that is always a good thing. Now my first question is, what to make of the silver stuff?
It is silver when it comes out of the ground even when the rest of the nugget is coated in oxides. Does that make it platinum? Chrome doesn't do that in nature does it? And silver would be black wouldn't it?

These have been cleaned in phosphoric and acetic acid, because that's what I have on hand and i dont want to use hyrdochloric because of the chlorine stripping off materials I don't want to lose. I do not yet have the labware to make the other acids.



Now the second part of the question. I have found of these with my detector on rough and unworn bedrock that was uncovered in recent slides. I would think it's safe to assume they have come down slope rather than being creek deposited material since there is only top soil covering them. There is little or no gravel in the holes. Problem is everything above them has 2-4 feet of soil and pumice and ash and trees and brush covering it. Any tips on what surface features to look for to get me more of these in areas that havn't slid recently?

This one streaks very yellow, but no silver lining


also there is no signs of mercury in any of the creek bed material.

 

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[Clay Diggins]

They look like plain ol copper nuggets to me Ragnor. Obvious copper minerals attached. We find those as sunbakers around here.

Not sure why you think high heat or fire would be involved? If the temperature at bedrock really reached more than 2000[SUP]o[/SUP] F the soil nutrients would be burned off and no plant seed or spore would grow. The highest air temps reached in forest fires is about 1,500[SUP]o[/SUP]. Fire temps are higher and soil temps are much lower just a few inches deep. Moisture reduces soil temps even more.

It looks like you may have located a copper deposit. Send a few of those nuggets for a fire assay (about 1/4 to 1/2 pound). 50 bucks and a week later and you will know if there are other metals beyond the obvious native copper.

Heavy Pans

 

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[Ragnor]

They look like plain ol copper nuggets to me Ragnor. Obvious copper minerals attached. We find those as sunbakers around here.

Not sure why you think high heat or fire would be involved? If the temperature at bedrock really reached more than 2000[SUP]o[/SUP] F the soil nutrients would be burned off and no plant seed or spore would grow. The highest air temps reached in forest fires is about 1,500[SUP]o[/SUP]. Fire temps are higher and soil temps are much lower just a few inches deep. Moisture reduces soil temps even more.


It looks like you may have located a copper deposit. Send a few of those nuggets for a fire assay (about 1/4 to 1/2 pound). 50 bucks and a week later and you will know if there are other metals beyond the obvious native copper.

Heavy Pans

Well the thing that I'm hung up on is the dispairity between the course angular crystaline nature of the fresh material and the rounded melted look of the copper. Why isn't the copper in crystals like the gold. Why isn't the gold in large melted blobs?

Now my best answer is the copper solidified higher in the ore body and the mountains have been weathered down several thousand feet. In that theory even most of the gold has been weathered out and moved down. That does explain why values are shallow and more placer gold is present in the drainages then on the slopes. I just have a thing about wanting to understand the entire process. In knowing exactly what has occured and why the minerals are in the state they are I might glimpse a larger strike.
I overthink the hell out of things. However on occasion this allows me to 'imagine' details that allow me to percieve that which has not yet been discovered.
I want to be able to create a little animation in my mind that allows me to see these mountains crumble and the metals collect in they're little resting places. It's somthing I do. From hunting and fishing, to mechanicing, to prospecting. I am always trying to see the situation not just in the present, but in the past and the furture. Sure it drives me nuts, but when i am able to pull out that unknown information by calculating the known, those moments of clarity are priceless to me.
So without going to far into it. I sound off ideas and see what comes back. The official tests call it INTP-T personality. I just call it trying to figure out wtf happened, lol

 

[kcm]

The copper may have traveled farther.

I understand your thinking. In one set of pics, it actually looks like you can still see char from having gone through a fire. In the other set, there are small holes in the metal that look like air bubbles, or maybe where some other material might have been but has rotted away.


I overthink the hell out of things.

Join the club!

 

[Ragnor]

Update:

Well, my nugget collection has grown to over a 1/4lb. now. Getting a little tougher to find them. But hard work still pays off. Just a matter of spotting the deep cracks hiding under the overburden. Found a large silver one yesterday and found something else pretty unusual too down in a deep crevice.



Particularly fond of the more yellow one


The unusual object, wonder how long ago somebody dropped that in the creek? Pretty sure it's set to the same size as the bolts on the pipeline that fed the hydraulic mining operation from the 1920's (forgive the sad state of my desk, lol)

 

[winners58]

almost looks like foundry droppings, any processing like that further up stream.

 

[Ragnor]

I am not aware of any smelting or foundry works having occurred. None are documented, though there is a distinct lack of ore shipment records for the amount of tunneling that was done. There is no tower, pile of bricks or slag piles.
I ran into a guy the other day and asked him if he knew anyone who had-had the material assayed. He said he didn't know of anyone who had. Then he told me he met an old prospector that had a theory that a metal laden mountain had exploded at some point on the central ridge in the area showing metal all over the area. So that tells me it is not isolated and perhaps I should expand my search area. I found a fist sized hunk of the stuff several miles down stream when I was a kid, thought it was just copper and forgot it lying there. Wish I hadn't done that.
Now the thing is that when the guy was telling me of the exploding mountain theory I remembered in the mineralization report for the area that the author suggested that the heavily fractured bedrock and unexplained breccia pipes in the area and nickle-Iron deposits could suggest a meteor impact scenario. Though evidence was lacking to complete a hypothesis. A large metallic object impact would certainly account for molten metal being spewed across a large area. A meteor impact would seam more likely then the metal volcano theory. Though it may look very similar when one imagines how the metal got cast about.

 

[et1955]

A book you should read if you haven't, " Roadside Geology of Washington State " Plate tectonics and Volcano's yes, meteor no, one way to check your theory is to check the UW geology dept. and see if they have any specimens of such an occurrence.

 

[Ragnor]

A book you should read if you haven't, " Roadside Geology of Washington State " Plate tectonics and Volcano's yes, meteor no, one way to check your theory is to check the UW geology dept. and see if they have any specimens of such an occurrence.

I think I will go to the library today. The author of that book told me to read it probably 15 years ago when he had a rock shop in the yardbirds. never got around to it. It has been suggested to me several times over the years. thanks for reminding me.