Ujina
Mega Ions are detectable and can be photographed using focused XRAY (XRAY laser). That is true for only the ones that are not destroyed under the intense energy focused on the critter.
I read awhile back that metal clusters are the controling catalysts in 30% of enzymes. The other enzymes are all organic, but carbon also makes clusters. C60, C40 and C70 are now classed as allotropes of carbon. There fore other non metallic clusters might also be cluster driven.
You are no country bumpkin geologist. Asking about tri-valent gold you say. I believe valence is not the problem with cluster gold. Trivalent and monovalent gold will behave normally in the fire assay and in hydrochemistry. That is why we have had such a difficult time with these critters. We keep trying to fit them into convention. I don't think bivalent gold has ever been shown to exist, yet. Here is where the physisist takes over your chemistry book. Microclusters under tunneling electron microscopy show up on the readout as zero valence. A metal to metal bond has been theorized that is more powerful than the common three bonding types. I have heard the statement that gold as a microcluster is unstable gold. I object, clusters are the true stable gold and therefore may actually be the common form.
I don't know about enzyme leaching, but Dr.Parker of the Oceanic Institute after discovering platinum in sea nodules sediments by Scanning Electron Microscopy, said the critters would not assay, he said that he believed they were made stable by enzymes. If his hypothesis is correct, then why couldn't enzymes take them apart?
I agree, no one uses fire assay for background gold assays. But I can assure you AA and ICP will not show these guys up either. Let me say this, a researcher named Buchannan at Kennecott in the late 1930s or 1940s developed the multi-fusion prepeat slag correction assay. Het demonstrated that by starting with a total reduction fire assay using a slightly acid flux, the slag would still contain appreciable amounts of gold. Sometimes all of it. Upon reassay using a series of phase separation fluxes, along about the forth reassay, presto, here comes the gold. After the big gold drop, no more gold. The secret here, I believe, is the imiscible melt expells the gold during differentiation.
The US mint found that by taking 60 grams of lead or button lead and inquarting it with 400 mg of gold and 800 mg of silver, the total gold in the sample lead would report to assay. This would never work with geochemistry trace gold analysis. If you add gold to a sample , say 1 mg, and then do a standard fire assay and the gold shows more than 5% is lost from the assay, you have a sample that is a likely candidate as a cluster problem. The gold in the sample stole some of the gold you put into the sample. Remember, under conventional fire assay theory, the excess litharge assay is supposed to be uneffected by interferences such as tellurium. Than where did the gold go? Do a duplicate assay. Only this time have the gold introduced into the assay at the point of lead dore' just before cupellation. The fusion must be a total reduction method with balanced to subsilicate glass. If the ratio in parting is greater than 4 : 1 silver to gold, throw out the results and start over. This method will work. I worked with the chief chemist at the Globe Plant for Asarco for four or more months. He had won more than 2000 umpire assay contests in the past. After three months, he finally agreed that, yes there is gold in the particular rhyolites that is brought out with gold. Its the Roman rule of Inquartia which states the silver must never be greater than three parts to one of gold. {1/4 } The US mint went even tighter, 1:1 to 2.5 to 1 at parting or redo the assay. My hypothesis is this, microcluster alloys favor small atoms going together with big atoms. You eluded to this in your post. Physical chemistry. If you read some of my other posts, you learned that superconductors, the clusters are mono-polar. They repel each other. Yet the literature says they will collect larger masses of lead. Let the silver ratio be such that upon cooling the gold atoms can't hide from each other. They are forced into contact with each other, what do you have? Gold that will show up on the AA, ICP, cyanide circuit or any other method. If you are still getting problems the deep dish refining method will prepare the lead for cupellation. With platinum I would suggest palladium as the collector in a ratio of 1.8 to 1, palladium to platinum or there abouts. If you don't have enough platinum, add it. There are a number of fluxes that work. Each flux should be formulated to meet the requirements of the general rock chemistry. Assays the old fashion way. There are numerous books that say how to do the whole process. Different ratios of gold to silver, for instance are as preferred by the specific authors. Most people think that silver is included to gather the gold. No, in my opinion thats wrong if they think that. Inquarting is done to correct the ratios of silver to gold in the in the assay. Another method is to boil the sample in nitric acid before assaying. Remove all of the silver you can. The ratio of gold to silver will improve and the gold will report to the assay, at least some of the time.
to prospect for these critters you must work in the low sulfur environments. The sulfur environments seem to have only the assay problems as are already described in the texts. Its the ultra-basic
intrusives, the non sulfur mega volcanoes that blew their water rich sulfurous tops totally off, cindercones with subsequent steam venting and the Abercrombie basin model recently developed by the geological survey in Canada.
One of the problems is that the mineralized hosts for these rocks are not altered as we generally expect, instead trace metals like barite, fluorite, rare earths and other guides have to be used.Selenium and tellurium can be trace indicators. Do not use base metals. Lac had a sample of limestone. The scanning electron microscope indicated 1% lead. The geochemistry indicated 250PPM. The fire assay by an 1890s smelter method produced a small lead button. The button was analyzed by Skyline Labs. Calculated back to the head, the sample contained 3% lead, .5% copper and other base and precious metals. Sorry if I messed up your base metal beliefs. The texts tell us that most of the transition elements make either mono-elemental microclusters or alloy types.
I think I have given you a lot. I held back only one indian trick in the fire assay. I wouldn't want anyone to get more consistent fusion results than I get. At least not too quickley. Good luck, you will need it. Have a nice week end. Mike |
