Im wondering if you can help me identify this mystery metal?

Hi guys.
Long time fossicker first time poster.
Im wondering if you can help me identify this mystery metal, I found it at Heathcote Vic last year?
It weighs 5.2 oz's and measures, 80 x 30 x 12mm average, there is no smell to it so it isnt lead.
Its definitely out of the ground and looks like its from a seam.



Regards, Allan

That's mighty heavy given the size! Steak color? Cut a small bit and see if it flattens when hit with a hammer? Specific Gravity test, Sounds like lead, SG test if lead will at least halve!
Magnetic?
More info Allan.
Cheers Chris.

Thanks for the reply.
Doesnt smell like lead and came out of the ground looking like this, lead is usually a bluey colour and stinks like, well lead, when rubbed.
Ill try the hit and flat test tomorrow.

iron ore. hematite, or kryptonite?

Looks layered, Have you tried the magnet test? That's a lot of weight for a specie that size!
Sylvanite, Calaverite,
More info man.

Just tried it, not magnetic.

I'd be taking it to one of the big uni's Monash maybe, saying you found it in Queensland and just want to know what it is? They have better than good facilities to identify what you have, May take some sweet talking!

Thanks Someday for your help.

Gday Brickie,
I have found similar bits of metal in deep lead mullock piles. It is most likely the remants of a cold chisel which has changed its composition due to the surrounding minerals in the ground. Its highly likely that it is so oxidised that it to has lost its magnetic properties as well,without becoming a mass of rust.
Just a theory,so dont put your house on it mate.

Interesting....I'd be keen to learn what it is when found.

crack it open and see whats inside! might be hiding a 5oz bit!!!

garretace150 wrote:crack it open and see whats inside! might be hiding a 5oz bit!!!

I had thought of that too..

Ive broken it open and its all silvery crystals inside, the rock and gem books Ive got point to Antimony.
SG 6.5 which it tested too, I just immersed the lump slowly in water and weighed the outflow, crude?
Hardness of Antimony is 3.5, Lead is 2.5 and the lump couldnt be scratched with a finger nail like unlike lead.

Ive picked up a bit of Antimony recently.
The Victorian Prospectors Guide of 1958 also says its found at Heathcote so Im guessing thats what it is.

Antimony with a SG of 6.5? I can't see that your sample size and weight of over 5 ounces can agree with an SG of 6.5!
One option for SG testing
http://www.lab-balances.com/acculab/density%2Bdetermination/specific%2Bgravity%2Bdetermination.html

You may need to copy & past the link?

Method of SG.
Displacement of water method.
Place paper kitchen towels which have been weighed into a large bowl.
Place lipped container full of water with a drop of detergent in said bowl, the detergent breaks the surface tension.
Slowly immerse specimen into water, the water will spill out of the container.
Weigh the water soaked paper towel minus the weight of the towel.
Specimen weight divided by the water weight should give you the SG which was 6.5.

Or is that wrong?

The biggest problem with the displacement method, IS, if your sample has any porous surface/features it will hold X amount of fluid, throwing your results out the window?

So 6.5 it is then.

someday wrote:The biggest problem with the displacement method, IS, if your sample has any porous surface/features it will hold X amount of fluid, throwing your results out the window?

I think that the porous surface hold air bubbles and can give a false reading.

This can happen when air bubbles are trapped in the specimen, when doing the SG when weighing specimen suspended in water.

cheers dave