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Gold/Mining/Energy : A New Age In Gold Refining -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JACK R. SMITH JR. who wrote (458)	1/16/1998 9:28:00 PM
From: Bill Jackson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 672

Metallic clusters exits, but I think they will not endure in nature, and exist as a lab artifact only. There are what are called intermetallic compounds(such as the Gold, Tellurium, Silver ones). They are not microclusters as the bulk properties and the micro properties are the same. They are compounds and not alloys as they are in sets of proportions as whole number ratios. Walk around this URL in the mineral sulfides and you will see. un2sg1.unige.ch Metallic clusters where they are pure metals in clusters of a few hundred atoms exist, but are not found in nature, they are lab creations. Check recent Scientific American for the past month or two. Those clusters do differ in propeties from the bulk metals. In nature most refractory ores are the assorted intermetallic compounds referenced in the athena URL. Some are hard to assay and extract, especially in low concentrations. They can be assayed, but it is costly, and dirt sampled with fire assays might show no plat or gold if tellurides are present. An experienced lab will do a qualitative test to show hard to assay compounds, and they use a different assay procedure. You can expect to spend $100-200 per sample for some hard assays. So in effect some precious metals can be hidden, and the land passed by. How did they find the precious metals in the first place if they are so hard to assay?, why did they not walk away? I suspect that if an assay lab took the trouble to get the nickel sulfur fusions down to under $20, they might get a huge volume of assays as many DD were prowled and assayed. As it is who wants to spend $130 to assay a pounbd on dirt from some desert place with 100,000 similar places close by? 100,000 samples?= $13,000,000, not me. So we are faced with a chicken and egg situation. If it was like the klondike, gold found, and you could see it. we would have a bonanza, they would be all over the desert like flies on honey. It is hard to find. Is it there?, or is it a scheme? I suspect if I lived in the South wets I would get out there and prospect a bit. Bill