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Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums _ Gem and Mineral Specimen Finds or Processes _ Help me identify minerals
Posted by: Newbieguy Jun 21 2016, 10:24 PM
Found these in a tailings pile at a mine outside montezuma, in summit county. The mine records show it mined for gold, silver, lead, copper, and zinc, with ores of pyrite and sphalerite. A nearby mine said ores of arsenopyrite, galena, tetrahedrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite.
I know none are probably valuable, but I would love to know what they are made of. I did some research on my own and have some guesses
Questions, is the gold colored flakes pyrite? Some of them have the blocky shape, some are flake like. Could it be chalcopyrite?
The solid black coating, is that Galena?
The black crystals, are those Galena or sphalerite?
The white crystals are they quartz?
Also it may not show up well in the photos, but a couple rocks have silvery flakes mixed in. Are they arsenopyrite? Coloradoite?
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Posted by: MikeS Jun 23 2016, 03:44 PM
I know none are probably valuable, but I would love to know what they are made of. I did some research on my own and have some guesses
Questions, is the gold colored flakes pyrite? Some of them have the blocky shape, some are flake like. Could it be chalcopyrite?
The solid black coating, is that Galena?
The black crystals, are those Galena or sphalerite?
The white crystals are they quartz?
Also it may not show up well in the photos, but a couple rocks have silvery flakes mixed in. Are they arsenopyrite? Coloradoite?
Hello Newbieguy! Welcome to the CP forums!
The gold colored flakes you see are likely pyrite but could be chalcopyrite and/or mica.
The white crystals appear to be quartz. The black crystals appear to be quartz also but with a coating of the black mineral.
The black mineral might be galena but looks more like goethite or hematite.
The silvery flakes are most likely mica or galena.
I don't have much experience with the stuff coming out of metal mines so there are other minerals all that could be but I am quite certain about the quartz.
Posted by: Newbieguy Jun 25 2016, 02:15 PM
The gold colored flakes you see are likely pyrite but could be chalcopyrite and/or mica.
The white crystals appear to be quartz. The black crystals appear to be quartz also but with a coating of the black mineral.
The black mineral might be galena but looks more like goethite or hematite.
The silvery flakes are most likely mica or galena.
I don't have much experience with the stuff coming out of metal mines so there are other minerals all that could be but I am quite certain about the quartz.
Thanks.
I don't think its mica, only because I tried picking at the gold and silvery spots with a metal pick, and they don't crumble like mica typically does.
There is definitely sulfides in the rocks, because they have that slight rotten egg smell.
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