Great geology in AZ

[Titanium700]

Wow!

That is awesome looking.

Yeah I'd go ape over it too.

Thanks for posting.

[Mocha1545]

That is a special find.

 

Independence day? Waiting for little ships to fly outa there!

 

I'll bet storing it in your gun safe helps with that long distance shooting you do.

[PhxDT]

No pic's but I've been picking up cool looking rocks for years! I just checked out a book at the library called "Gem Trails of Arizona", by James Mitchell. It's got lots of good info and maps to gem rich areas. You might want to check it out.

 

TJ

Love the recommendation. Thx!

[TRKHNTR]

Cool pics, great story thanks for sharing.

[PelaPapas]

So here it is. And the story behind it. Dubbed "Kenyonite" by my Granddad and Dad.

 

My Granddad worked in the smelter in Douglas for Phelps Dodge smelting the copper ore. Huge furnaces were utilized to melt the ore, separating rock from metals. Every so often, they would have to clean the furnaces. They would pump extra fuel and oxygen into the furnaces and burn off all of the slag that would accumulate on the walls. Then they would let the furnaces cool for a couple days, and go in with a 4ga. shotgun on a tripod and shoot the walls to get the remaining slag that did not melt off.

 

Only one time in my Granddad's 30+ years did they ever find anything like this. It was on the back wall of one of the furnaces next to a gas port when the furnace cooled. Never seen before, and never seen again.

 

It is very heavy, has to have a high metal content. My Dad never got it sampled, but you should see the gemologist and geologists eyes when they see it. Priceless. My Dad has had it down to the Tucson Rock & Mineral show a few times, and those guys go ape over it. I have had my piece for 10 years or so. My Dad has had his for 30+ that I can remember. Not a spot of rust or corrosion over all that time.

 

Here is my piece, the smallest of the "Kenyonite" pieces. Check out those crystals....

 

 

This is the kind of stuff that amazes me. That is very cool looking. Thanks for sharing!

[PhxDT]

Thank you all for the tips. Love this forum.

[Titanium700]

Do you think this might have been something such as a meteorite?

[PhxDT]

 

It looks like bismuth.

 

I wonder if the intense heat of the smelter altered the chemical or crystal composition.

 

Neat stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Similar to Bismuth crystals. But Bismuth are square pyramidal crystals, these are triangular pyramidal. And Bismuth is multicolored, this is black. But fantastic eye for similarities. Good call.

 

have you taken this to the material science engineering group at ASU? That is was my major and I could put you in touch with guys over there to characterize it.

 

PM me if interested.

[Big Browns]

That's one Amazing rock!!!!!!

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Here is a few of the rocks picked up by our clan. If you look at the top right corner.....is looks like one of those trilobite cool looking critters if you look at both sides.

In the 4th row from the top that black rock with the white stripe we call an Arizona Lucky rock guaranteed to bring you luck if you are packing one of those around.

That row of white roundish rocks we call Ghost Poop.......meaning that ancestors have been there before us.

6th row from the top, far left white looking rock I swear is a dinosaur testicle which my wife says there is no way........but honestly it really could be!!!

Couple of those in there have the little clam shells in them found most of those up in unit 10.

Always fun to clean out the pack after a while and find these buggers have somehow found their way into my pack so we just add them to the rock bowl.........fun times.

 

[ready2hunt]

 

 

It looks like bismuth.

 

I wonder if the intense heat of the smelter altered the chemical or crystal composition.

 

Neat stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Similar to Bismuth crystals. But Bismuth are square pyramidal crystals, these are triangular pyramidal. And Bismuth is multicolored, this is black. But fantastic eye for similarities. Good call.

 

have you taken this to the material science engineering group at ASU? That is was my major and I could put you in touch with guys over there to characterize it.

 

PM me if interested.

 

 

 

I hope you do this. That is just crazy looking. Let us know what they say. My father in law and his father ran sluices in the Yukon for a while. I love seeing the stuff they came back with.

 

Good luck.

[PhxDT]

 

 

 

It looks like bismuth.

 

I wonder if the intense heat of the smelter altered the chemical or crystal composition.

 

Neat stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Similar to Bismuth crystals. But Bismuth are square pyramidal crystals, these are triangular pyramidal. And Bismuth is multicolored, this is black. But fantastic eye for similarities. Good call.

 

have you taken this to the material science engineering group at ASU? That is was my major and I could put you in touch with guys over there to characterize it.

 

PM me if interested.

 

 

 

I hope you do this. That is just crazy looking. Let us know what they say. My father in law and his father ran sluices in the Yukon for a while. I love seeing the stuff they came back with.

 

Good luck.

 

i ran it past my professor. He actually remembered me after 13 years. That a good or bad thing??

 

Confirmed: it is Bismouth. The interesting finish is either a sulfide compound, or the natural oxide of the bismouth. no way to tell unless you do some destructive testing.

[Titanium700]

Pretty cool

[rcdinaz]

I am pretty sure that is the key to the "Fortress of Solitude" now all you need is a trip to the north Pole!

 

Take your gun, make it a polar bear hunt combo!

[bojangles]

diamond point has lots of quartz, but the digging season is closed, you can pick up stuff that's laying there. also, the paleo site on 260 has lots of aquatic fossils. i take my kids there quite often, it's always a blast for them.