Platinum?

Today while processing my cons i was panning my larger gravels looking for pickers i got to the last little bit of my first pan and noticed a bright shiney mangled piece of metal, it isnt gold its not lead and i dont think its silver since silver would tarnish. I know from research of the minerals of the area on minedat.org that there are some occurances of platinum. I have very little knowledge of platinum and have only seen pictures of natural platinum. It is very shiney almost polished looking, the color is best described by me as a bright silver chrome. I thought it looked a little like a small piece of melted solder, but im pretty sure solder would be very oxidized and dicolored if left in the river sediment in an area extremly heavy with black sands especially rich in iron sands. Does anyone have expirence with natural platinum? I would really appriciate any info, ill post a pic with my gold when i finish running my cons, some time tomorrow thanks Scott n.

Replies

Carl Mauritz July 1, 2012 at 5:40pm

Here is a picture of some that I found near the Scott River in CA back in 98.

p-g_ca.0002.JPG
- scott > Carl Mauritz July 7, 2012 at 11:35pm
  
  Nice find carl! The piece i found is almost like chrome it seems that platinum has a darker hue to it when its shiny. So im thinking its probably merc gold but i really have no idea. Its pretty tiny hard to focus the camera on it. When i get a chance ill get a test and let you all know what i find out
dick Scheihing June 19, 2012 at 4:11pm

heres a test for PT becarful with the acids

Dick

PT test.JPG
- Spur > dick Scheihing June 19, 2012 at 7:14pm
  
  Have you tried this ????''' I have read it seams like a lot of hoops to jump through.. Will it work on native ore. "....
  - dick Scheihing > Spur June 20, 2012 at 2:47pm
    
    Yes It will work on ore that is what its really for its a Qualitative anlysis
    Do this outside as you are dealing with strong acids.
    Dick
    - scott > dick Scheihing June 22, 2012 at 1:18am
      
      Thanks everyone, sorry i havent been replying but ive been pre- occupied with my 4yo son he was climbing on the footboard of his bed to get a dvd off his dresser fell and spraind his thumb pretty bad then my 9yo daughter got a sever case of swimmers ear. I thought that was a wives tale. Or just a pimple in the ear, i guess it is a real condition, certainly didnt think you could get something like that from a small 30"deep kids pool! As soon as things get back to normal ill look in to some of those tests. I have a lot of what i think is lead that i would like to test. You never know i might get lucky lol!! Ill letyou know what i find out.
Howard Hadsall June 4, 2012 at 3:44pm

Scott the biggest help I have found Idenifying Platinum was to google Images like gold It comes in many colors and forms, so far I have come up with 2 small platinum nuggets both silver with a bit of a gold tint.
- scott > Howard Hadsall June 4, 2012 at 4:21pm
  
  Ya i did the same. All i found were marble size nuggets. And they were not as shiney. What i found is tiny about 1/4 the size of a bb. Im really perplexed i thought it might be mercury over gold but the vial i put it in has a little gold dust in it and it should coat the gold if its mercury. I tried to take a pic but its so small i cant get a close up to focus from my phone cam ill try my digital cam when i get a chance. It totally behaved like gold when i panned it. I find a lot of natural lead and lead shot where im digging and its all oxidized. It really looks like white gold. Its just big enough to pick up with my fingers but barely. I thought it might have come of one of my mesh screens but its non magnetic and the screens are galvanized steel and are magnetic. Im thinking its platinum that kind of got polished by the sand when the river is up. It turns the whole area im working into a big eddy with a lot of sand in solution. Ive put my sluice in clean and seen gold and sand get caught just from the water running through it. So i thing it kind of acts like a sand blaster and polished the metal, what ever it is. Thanks for your input and searching howard ill keep you all posted on what i find out. Ill figure out a way to get a photo of it posted asap
  - Flour (Indy Jones) Mike > scott June 4, 2012 at 5:26pm
    
    Scott, there are lots of cheap test kits out there. The guy who used to buy raw gold never even tested them or weighed them. I turned in 5 or 6 smaller flakes and two smaller than picker nuggets. He would say yeah he wanted them and toss them in a different cup then at the end add 1-4 dollars depending. I was happy to get rid of them. gold people understand. Trying to explain any of the other metals under the crystal black sands is a little tough.
    
    This is a nice little set to have. If it doesnt test and its dense with the gold, then rhodium, palladium or some other. most are over 800 per ounce anyway so save them.
    
    http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Testing-Kit-Silver-Platinum/dp/B000OVHWL...
    - scott > Flour (Indy Jones) Mike June 4, 2012 at 6:25pm
      
      Kool, thanks mike. I was going to save it, i always save the interesting stuff i find. I also found a piece of crystal, i thought it was beach glass at first and started to show my wife and tell her this is why i wear gloves then i noticed its shape. Its not the prettiest piece ive found but still cool. I found a much larger crystal that was a very pale green i think hedontite but dont know for sure and i foung two clear upside down pyrmid type crystals that are really neat. I even have a leverite collection lol. No matter how hard i try to not bring more rocks home some are so interesting i just cant help it. I think i have a genetic disposition to rock hound my kids and nephew are the same way i find all kind of rocks in the washer and dryer after i take the kids on a trip

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