Yes - even though freshly cracked open, the sulphide minerals that used to be there have weathered out leaving the cavities.Bizmark said:Thats freshly cracked open the light green stuff is a mystery to me
Bismuth sulphide is not yellow and waxy, but more silvery and metallic:jethro said:I have found mineral similar to what you have in the photos in cavities in quartz. some lemon yellow waxy material was heavy enough to be right on the bottom of the pan mixed with the gold. I assumed that it was some form of Bismuth sulphide. The Green is maybe a Decomposition product of an Arsenic Cadmium Sulphide. Is there any gold in your sample?
It could be so many things. Without a flame test or chemical analysis it is hard to pin down. Often remnants of the original sulphide that it is forming from is easier to identify, and the new mineral will contain metals that were in the old mineral.jethro said:Sorry my bad I should have refreshed my memory before posting could it be this OXIDE of bismuth antimony and Iron. http://webmineral.com/data/Bismutostibiconite.shtml#.XGnBybhxXIU.
Do a search for Series on identifying minerals - part 7 FLAME AND BEAD TESTS under me (goldierocks)jethro said:I have a table of results expected, for blow pipe work drawn up for the Melbourne Technical Collage. It assumes that the user knows how to carry out blow pipe work but I would think that the required equipment is very hard to come by. Is there a modern technique that will give an indication of the elements present without the cost of expensive Xray Defraction machines. About the limit of my abilities is reducing Casiterite to metallic tin using Charcoal, Bycarb soda and a mapgas torch. Or oxidizing Arsenopyrite. under a flame (small piece with good ventilation, don't try this at home kids). :argh:
Lots of fun minerals to find around Mitta. Cassiterite, bismuthinite, native bismuth, stibnite, gold, rare earth minerals, silver minerals - probably the best part of Victoria for variety.jethro said:Cheers Goldierocks Ive had a read through that, great resource for those of us interested in identifying metals, metaloids, and some of the other elements. Ill be getting a couple of blowpipes at least. and maybe some platinum coated nickel wire and an alchol burner, It'll give me something to do whilst sitting around the fire up at the hut near mitta, apart from whisky appeciation. :Y:
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