Gilvar Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Hey Everyone, I've just started to get into this kind of stuff and learned that you can find iron sources all around depending where you live. From what I've learned is you might be able to spot a source by what looks like oil on top of water. Where I live I can see some runoff water that looks just like the images I've seen online. In my images the white reflective is the oil substance. When it dries up it leaves what looks like a rust color on the ground (could be just dirt?). If possible, would anybody be able to confirm if I live near one of these sources? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Got a local college or university with a geology department? It's a definite maybe! Just remember that your ore needs to richer in iron than the slag that smelting the ore produces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilvar Posted September 17, 2020 Author Share Posted September 17, 2020 Unfortunately I don't have ties to one, but that's a good idea I could reach out to some around. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 hard to guess when you dont tell us where its at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Some elaboration on Thomas's comment on the richness of your ore can be found here: https://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/kap_a/backbone/ra_2_4.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilvar Posted September 17, 2020 Author Share Posted September 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Steve Sells said: hard to guess when you dont tell us where its at I live in Central Florida. I figured it might be since bog iron is apparently common around here. Thanks for the link Chris! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 It only takes a couple of percentage points of Fe to give a real good "iron stain" to things so you are hoping to get limonite to smelt rather than just iron stained sandstone or other. Central Florida; ouch. We used to live where you could drag a magnet through creeks and get iron sand, (magnetite), which makes a great smelting ore. It comes from igneous and metamorphic rocks and the ice age did a great preprocessing of those to free up the magnetite grains. If bog iron ore is supposed to be around there; find out where! We actually have an iron ore source in town out here, Goethite; also manganese which helps a lot more with coke smelted iron ores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00099286/00001/42j OCCURRENCE: Bishop and Dee (1961) reported that a deposit of limonite exists near Chiefland, Levy County. They also reported a deposit of yellow ochre in Flagler County. Limonite gives rust-colored stains to soils, limestones, and clays; in larger amounts it acts to cement sand grains and clay particles into hardpans or concretionary forms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Going to track down the old quarries? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 It might make sense to evaluate my cemented layer that is around 4-5 feet deep. It is a little yellowish. I had never given any consideration to it perhaps being iron containing. I'm certain that it has too much silicon in all of the sand that would accompany it though. I would have to add crushed shells to keep from losing too much iron to iron silicates. I would have to relearn my mass and energy transport material so that I can just calculate the right quantities if it turns out to be useful ore. As for the old sites - I am sure that records detailing the 1860s production can be had. That area is not too far north of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 It takes only a small amount of oxides to stain a large amount of rock. The old copper miners/prospectors said, "A penny's worth of copper can stain a ton of rock." Anything which is going to have a usable amount of iron is going to feel heavy in your hand, heavier than a normal rock of the same size. Limonite (yellow) or hematite (red brown) staining can be a good first indicator but there has to be more concentration to be even a poor ore. As Thomas said, magnetite is a good ore but I don't think you'll find much in Florida which is all sedimentary rocks and the glaciers never got that for south. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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