Originally Posted by
alloy2
So true Scott only an assay will reveal the truth, as a preliminary pre process to assay I'm removing base metals from the sample then using a more aggressive leach cemented with copper should the copper show blacks I'll know this material warrants the cost of an assay.
From a previous assay via XRF from the ready mix plant in the same local which showed a significant amount of platinum. I'm not expecting any gold from the current sample but rather metals from the platinum group, hopefully one or more of the three species from the six platinum sisters that refinery's pay out on.
Johnson Mathey is to my knowledge the only refinery that pays out on all six of the platinum sisters but you need to be able to ship large quantity’s of concentrates with some regularity to qualify as a customer.
The current sample is a incomplete formed sandstone that once broken down and washed has a lot of milky white quartz with visible white metallics attached.
As any other prospector I would love to find my Eldorado, in the meantime I have learned to cope with disappointment.
A fool and his money are soon parted, prospecting keeps me broke but happy.
Well, there is only one place in the entire United States where you might expect very little gold, but are expecting more than one of the PGMs. Not that they are not often found together, because that's what PGMs just are, often together, but the deposits around the world are very few in number. If you are expecting your ore to have PGMs, then I might guess where you are, if in the United States.
If that is where you are currently finding your material, then it could possibly be very interesting indeed.
Johnson Mathey doesn't want to get caught up in the "tweeker" business, where people are stealing catalytic converters from cars, and then selling them directly to Johnson Mathey by the singles or doubles. Requiring people to have an established business, and able to prove it, and having a certain minimum amount before they will even talk with you weeds out certain customers. But there are plenty of Refiners on GRF that would be interested in refining it for you I'm sure. It's not often some of them are exposed to geologically virgin PGM ores. You might find there would be a lot of interest.
Be careful with XRF, it's only as good as the technology, but it can also lead you the wrong way. For example, Pb has a few closely related isotopes with Pt, and so does Tantalum and a few others. You can easily get a false hit on Pt, Pd, Rh, etc. To get a better view, and understanding of your ore, you might want to ask the operator to explain the graph of the isotopes for you. A good operator can show you where one hit is closely related to another metal totally different. And also remember that the XRF is only reading the very first atomic layers of whatever you test with the technology. Fire assay is probably best. But then again, you probably already know all this. =P
If you find any PGMs, will you please post it here. I would be particularly interested. Please post anyways, now that I am caught up in the story, I would love to see you prove out PGMs. It would make for an amazing story.
Just as an explanation, PGMs = Platinum Group Metals, those would include Pt (Platinum) Pd (Palladium) Rh (Rhodium) usually. Hit one and there is almost certainly very small amounts of the others. But it could also mean Ru (Ruthenium), Os Osmium and Ir (Iridium). XRF is a type of technology where an x-ray beam is shot at material, and the results read. Some are very sophisticated, some are built for exploration, some are just cheap knock offs. Some really good, and some not so much, but it is used commonly to quickly assay material for values or even toxic metals, etc.
Scott
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