Silver ores, Silver Rocks and Minerals are easily fused before the blowpipe flame, either with or without carbonate of soda. The resulting globule of metal, of its characteristic white colour, can be readily hammered out or cut by a knife. If the powdered mineral, supposed to contain silver, be dissolved in nitric acid and the solution … Read more
If heated in a glass tube together with carbonate of soda, mercury compounds yield a sublimate of mercury on the cold part of the tube. Native Mercury Is sometimes found as fluid globules of a tin-white colour. S.G-.—13·6. Is volatile before the B.F., and easily dissolves in nitric acid. Cinnabar (sulphide of mercury) This is … Read more
To test the presence of nickel in a mineral, by means of the blowpipe, requires great care. If heated on charcoal, together with carbonate of soda in the inner flame, a grey metallic powder, attractable by the magnet, is formed. If heated with borax on platinum wire in the outer frame, a hyacinth red to … Read more
Lead compounds part of the Lead Mineral Group, if heated with carbonate of soda on charcoal before the blowpipe flame, yield malleable metal, and also a yellow oxide of lead incrustation. If dissolved in nitric acid, the white sulphate of lead may be thrown down as a precipitate by adding sulphuric acid ; or as chloride … Read more
If you wonder whether Iron a Mineral or Rock, here is your answer: IRON IS A ELEMENT! found IN ROCKS AND MINERALS. When heated before the blowpipe some of the ores are infusible, while most become, if not naturally so, attractable by the magnet. When the test is not destroyed by the presence of other … Read more
Panning for Gold allows you to detect free or native gold in a piece of specimen rock, in sand or gravel, the sample should be carefully examined by means of a magnifying glass, if the eye is insufficient. The particles of gold, if present in the free state, will probably be distinct, whether wet or … Read more
As mentioned before, in the last chapter, any one who searches for useful minerals is chiefly attracted by their colour; the lustre, and perhaps streak, may assist him in the determination of their nature. Still, doubts may suggest further investigation. The hardness and the specific gravity may guide him, though it must be confessed, in … Read more
In prospecting a country for Prospecting for valuable minerals wealth, it is most important to search very systematically and carefully among the sands and rocks of river beds, in dry creeks, and at the bottom of valleys, as well as on the sea-shore. Not only does the action of running water and glaciers grind down … Read more
The following are the various divisions under which rocks may be classified: IGNEOUS Rocks which have been subjected to heat. Volcanic (those that have been cooled at or near the surface) :— Trachyte (rough, greyish in colour, and light in weight). Basalt (blackish or brown, heavier and with fewer holes in it than trachyte). Phonolite, … Read more
In the process of discovering the nature of a rock and Identifying Minerals, the mineralogist may derive the necessary information by a careful study of its external appearance and characteristics; the form of crystallization, hardness, specific gravity, colour, streak (the colour when scratched, or when rubbed on a piece of porcelain), and also from its … Read more