Montana Nugget

[arniehoutx]

I took my new Ace 250 with me on our Montana fly fishing trip. The fishing was great and I found this nugget along with someother cool little items.
What is the best way to find out what kind metal it could be, I am now back in Houston? I can tell you it's 17 grams, very hard, non-magnetic and looks silver-ish under the dark exterior.

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

Definitely a cool find. I don't know if I can be any help. Did you find it with the Ace? Where did it hit on your Ace, in the silver range? If it is very hard, we know it is not gold. Have you scratched a piece of it? Is the scratch silver? I found something that looked like a black nugget and it was a piece of brass.
If it doesn't register on the Ace, then it isn't metal. You then need to check out the rocks of that area. It looks to be igneous.

 

[arniehoutx]

I did find in with my ACE 250. It showed up in the silver area bouncing between the dime and quarter. It looks like bright light silver under a scratch I made on the bottom. Rocks in the area did not give any readings. I tested rocks of all sizes to make sure.

 

[Uncle Willy]

It could be silver or platinum. To bad it ain't a chunk of black gold. But if it's platinum that stuff is going for close to $1300 per ounce right now.In the Gold Rush days miners and prospectors threw platinum away as it was worth nothing back then. I'd get it checked out.

Bill

 

[awhitster]

aluminum?

 

[arniehoutx]

I am pretty sure it's not aluminum. It is heavy for the size and too hard.

 

[shootist-id]

found around a camp spot melted beer can or could be melted lead its all over camp spots in Idaho hard to m d in.