Mike referenced NWA 6932 (with the possible ug/g vs. mg/g issue):
"4.12 μg/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 <[email protected]>
To: MexicoDoug <[email protected]>
Cc: Meteorite-list <[email protected]>
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 μg/g Ga,
380 μg/g Ge, 12.0 μg/g As, 4.12 μg/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 <[email protected]> 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 ( μg/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 <[email protected]>
To: Sterling K. Webb <[email protected]>
Cc: meteorite-list <[email protected]>
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
--
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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
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On 10/3/11, Sterling K. Webb <[email protected]> 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
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-
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stuart McDaniel" <[email protected]>
To: "Michael Gilmer" <[email protected]>;
<[email protected]>
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: [email protected]
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
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Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Meteorites & Amber (Michael Gilmer)
Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
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