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 Replies: 15 / Views: 3,037 |
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Valued Member
United States
67 Posts |
i was out detecting today in an abandon army depot from the 40's hoping to find some coin. I couldnt even find trash. I did few a items immediatley at the giant water tower as this is a magnet for teenagers. i suppose one of them lost these knives. they were both in the same hole. one is the minaiature swiss army knife that has a slide out toothpick and tweezer, the other I'm not sure  i also found a really weird rock. the rock is NOT magnetic, was detected by my machine so I know its metal, and is about three times heavier than you would expect it to be. its hard to tell from the pics but this thing blings like its made of chrome or something. zero oxidation, just some mud. does anyone have an idea what the heck this could be?    as you can see from the pics this is not a peice of metal broken off of something manufactured or discarded. check out this video to get a better view of the color. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC7S...AxQ&feature= (Offsite URL shortening not allowed-2) and I still havent even found my first penny! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1031 Posts |
Nice find! It looks like it could be the mineral Pyrite.
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Moderator
 United States
16679 Posts |
I'd say pyrite (fools gold) or galena. Graphite would be non-metallic.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Valued Member
 United States
67 Posts |
is pyrite very heavy? this rock is weigh heavier than it looks. its also not gold colored. I thought pyrite was yellow this is a dull silver chrome but very shiny. did you click on my youtube video of the rock? it shows the colors better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC7S...AxQ&feature=please tell me its a very expensive meteorite. ;) |
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Moderator
United States
16679 Posts |
Yes, pyrite is heavy. Pyrite does have cube crystals as it's crystal structure which this looks like. It can also be silvery in color. I collected rocks and minerals for a long time so I have a little credib
ility. Meteorite, highly unlikely cause of shape and texture...I could be wrong.
How deep was it?
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Valued Member
United States
67 Posts |
it was only about 4 inches deep. I have a cheap radio shack detector from when I was in grade school 20 years ago that I pulled out of the closet. I'm not sure it would have got it much farther than 6 inches when I hold the rock up to it in the air.
the area is basically an abandoned army train depot. there is a giant water tower in the woods that has a plate at the botton with the date 1940something. I would imagine that the land may have been excavated to build the water tower back then so it might have been stirred up from its original location 70 years ago. The soil was muddy so I'm suprised such a heavy object could stay so close to the surface for that long. hmm.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
67 Posts |
should I wash my hands after touching it? the whole time I had it in my backpack I thought it would either be magnetic and break my ipad screen or be poisoness and I wake up with no eyebrows. it def looks way more like galena than pyrite now that I had something to research. I found a peice on ebay exactly like it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Galena-Crys...172764638131 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
573 Posts |
I pulled out my Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals and have to agree with galena. Most pyrite will have yellow to gold to brown tones, thus the nickname "Fool's Gold." From the pix, doesn't look like gold.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Galena is safe to handle as long as you do not stick your fingers in your mouth after handling it  I just happen to live about 1hr north of the world's largest lead district so I have been around galena since I was a kid. And yes, I was quite the geology nerd as a child, even going as far as building a rock and mineral display case in a junior high school shop class(rural schools for the win!). Interestingly enough, the area has some very fascinating geology with large iron ore deposits as well and a couple companies are currently exploring the possibility of beginning commercial mining of rare earth deposits(the vast majority of which are currently in China). Pictured below is one of my nicest examples of galena, it is studded with calcite crystals(flash drive shown for scale)-  Edited by biokemist6
04/24/2012 11:01 pm
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Moderator
United States
16679 Posts |
Cool find BTW!
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Valued Member
United States
67 Posts |
contrary to popular believe the rare earth minerals are everywhere. not just china.
the problem is they are in such low densities that it is not economical to mine them anywhere except china
because its one of the last places on earth where you can pay people pennies a day to work long, hard hours.
china basically supplies most of them because no one else is willing to to bother with it at current prices.
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Moderator
United States
16679 Posts |
Kind of hard to see Bob are the pinkish crystals feldspar?
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5837 Posts |
Labor cost is raising in China for the past few years, I believe in 5-10 years China and India will become the new capitalists, possibly surpassing the US for labor wages, or about even.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Dave, Nope, all of the crystals are nice white calcite. Any pink you see is just from bad lighting during a quickie photo  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4078 Posts |
Galena was also mined for its silver content. I was a miner/shift boss underground and did see galena in the ore body.
A nice keeper and Biokemist was right dont lick it. Only geologist do that, rock lickers.lol
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Replies: 15 / Views: 3,037 |
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Posted 04/24/2012 7:56 pm
