[meteorite-list] Gold and Iridium content of meteorites(especiallyirons)

From: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 11:56:36 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <8CE50C53BB8F64A-17DC-4F82_at_webmail-m034.sysops.aol.com>

Mike referenced NWA 6932 (with the possible ug/g vs. mg/g issue):

"4.12 ?g/g Ir, and 1.49 mg/g Au ...
... no ungrouped iron has a Au content within 20% and only Guin and
Laurens County have Ir contents within 20% ..."

Wasson also analyzed the tiny, weathered ungrouped iron Lewis Cliff
85369 (LEW 85369), TKW = 6.3 g; Antarctica, and determined:

Iriduim 3.49 ug/g
Gold 1.49 ug/g

The Iridium is within 20% and the gold would seem to match exactly
assumping this is not the golden iron as discussed*, so that comment
also in the write-up would be interesting to follow-up upon. That,
however, doesn't mean that these two distally spaced meteorites are a
match since the Gallium differs by a factor of nearly two.

Reference:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/249/4971/900.full.pdf

Kindest wishes
Doug

*and if it were ...wow, what a marketing plug it will have




-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
To: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug at aim.com>
Cc: Meteorite-list <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 3, 2011 11:00 pm
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Gold and Iridium content of
meteorites(especiallyirons)


Hi Doug and List,

It sounded awfully high to me also, but what do I know? LOL

Quoted below is the text from the write-up. Notice, the gold content
is the only element listed in milligrams.

Here is the text from the Met Bull write-up :

Northwest Africa 6932 (NWA 6932)
(Northwest Africa)
Found: 2008
Classification: Iron meteorite (ungrouped)
History: Reportedly found in the Algerian Desert

Petrography: Plessitic octahedrite with isolated (<5% of area) sparks
and spindles of kamacite; longest bands are ~8 mm long and 0.2 mm
wide. The material may be reheated; the fine plessite has a granular
appearance and there are small dark ellipses that may reflect
resorption of phosphide. No heat altered rim was recognized. Stucture
Opl.

Geochemistry: Composition: 4.51 mg/g Co, 69.8 mg/g Ni, 82.4 ?g/g Ga,
380 ?g/g Ge, 12.0 ?g/g As, 4.12 ?g/g Ir, and 1.49 mg/g Au. The
meteorite has no close compositional relatives. For example, in the Co
range from 6.2 to 7.5 mg/g, no ungrouped iron has a Au content within
20% and only Guin and Laurens County have Ir contents within 20% of
that in this iron, but these irons differ in several other
compositional respects.

Specimens: Several additional masses are known.

Best regards,

MikeG

PS - I am having internet connectivity issues and my connection is
running about as well as a 500-pound man right now. So I think I will
sign off until tomorrow morning and hopefully it improves then. LOL

--
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On 10/3/11, MexicoDoug <mexicodoug at aim.com> wrote:
> No way Mike, that there are 48 grams of gold in that 32 Kg hunk of 
tkw.
>
> ... Unless this is such an anomoly that comes from the Star of the
> Woman of the Golden Atom, I think none of this makes any sense and 
that
> the units are micrograms per gram ( ?g/g ), and if that is the case
> there is not 48 grams of gold in them thar TKW, haha, more like a 
total
> of 0.03 grams in the whole 32 Kg mass to go refining.  And if you read
> it somewhere, there is the possibility that the reference is wrong.
> Was the article peer reviewed?  (my comment isn't ;-))
>
> Kindest wishes
> Doug
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
> To: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
> Cc: meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Mon, Oct 3, 2011 9:45 pm
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Gold and Iridium content of
> meteorites(especiallyirons)
>
>
> Hi Gang,
>
> I was just curious about exactly how much gold is bound up inside a
> meteorite with a higher than average content, like the one in this
> example.
>
> Personally, I share the same sentiment as most of you - it would be
> heresy to destroy a meteorite to extract something that is available
> here on Earth, even if it wasn't cost-prohibitive.
>
> At 41 years old, I have made it this far in life with terrible math
> skills, so this old dog isn't going to take any refresher courses.  I
> was hoping one of the more skilled (and intelligent) members would act
> as a human calculator and cipher this question for me.  :)
>
> So in this particular case, the 32kg iron meteorite contains ~1.5 troy
> ounces of gold, with a current market value of ~$2550.
>
> What sparked my curiosity was the apparently high gold content that
> was measured in milligrams and not the usual micrograms one expects to
> see.
>
> One last question, perhaps rhetorical in a sense, has anyone ever seen
> gold in a meteorite?  I mean, has there ever been a visible "bleb" or
> gold inclusion in a meteorite?  Or is all of the gold bound up on a
> molecular level and invisible to the naked eye and 10x loupe?
>
> I guess there won't be a gold rush to the asteroid belt....
>
> Best regards,
>
> MikeG
> --
> 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
> Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Meteorites & Amber (Michael Gilmer)
>
> Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
> Facebook - http://tinyurl.com/42h79my
> News Feed - http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516
> Twitter - http://twitter.com/galacticstone
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http://www.encyclopedia-of-meteorites.com/collection.aspx?id=1564
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>
>
>
> On 10/3/11, Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> 1.49 mg per gram is one part in 671.
>> 1/671 of 32 kg is 47.7 grams of gold.
>> There are 31 grams per troy ounce; gold
>> is priced in troy ounces; there are 1.537
>> troy ounces oif gold in that 32 kg, or
>> $2551.94 at today's (10/03/11) price.
>>
>> Cost you more than that to extract it...
>>
>>
>> Sterling K. Webb
>>
> 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Stuart McDaniel" <actionshooting at carolina.rr.com>
>> To: "Michael Gilmer" <meteoritemike at gmail.com>;
>> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 7:57 PM
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Gold and Iridium content of
>> meteorites(especiallyirons)
>>
>>
>>> Oops, I was wrong.....It would be
>>>
>>> 32,000gr / 1.49mg = 21475 mg
>>>
>>> 21,475/1000 = 21.475 gr
>>>
>>> Right, anyone??
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Stuart McDaniel
>>> Lawndale, NC
>>> Secr.,
>>> Cleve. Co. Astronomical Society
>>> IMCA #9052
>>> Member - KCA, KBCA, CDUSA
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Michael Gilmer
>>> Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 8:33 PM
>>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Gold and Iridium content of meteorites
>>> (especiallyirons)
>>>
>>> Hi List,
>>>
>>> In perusing through the latest additions to the Met Bulletin today, 
I
>>> was reading the compositional data for NWA 6932 (iron, ungrouped).  
I
>>> noticed that the gold (Au) content was listed at 1.49mg/g.  Is this
>>> sort of data as straight-forward as it appears, or is there more to
> it
>>> that this layman is missing?  In other words, how much gold is in
> this
>>> meteorite?  The TKW of this meteorite is 32kg.  So, with 1000g in a
>>> kilo, and 1000mg in a gram, how much gold is in this celestial hunk
> of
>>> iron?  (my math is horrible)
>>>
>>> Second question, what is highest known gold content in a meteorite
> and
>>> what meteorite is it?
>>>
>>> Third question, some meteorites also have high iridium content.  
What
>>> is the highest known iridium content in a meteorite?
>>>
>>> I am not suggesting in any way that meteorites should be refined or
>>> melted down to extract their precious metals content, but given the
>>> high value of metals such as gold and iridium, has any profiteer
> tried
>>> such an endeavour?  Or would the process be too complex and
> expensive?
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> MikeG
>>>
>>>
> 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>>> Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Meteorites & Amber (Michael Gilmer)
>>>
>>> Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
>>> Facebook - http://tinyurl.com/42h79my
>>> News Feed - http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516
>>> Twitter - http://twitter.com/galacticstone
>>> EOM -
>>> http://www.encyclopedia-of-meteorites.com/collection.aspx?id=1564
>>>
> 
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Received on Tue 04 Oct 2011 11:56:36 AM PDT


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