Field tests for the common mineral elements

Roseveare, G.H.

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Author

Roseveare, G.H.

Issue Date

1966

Keywords

Arizona Geological Survey Bulletins
antimony
barium
asbestos
arsenic
field tests
common minerals
mineral identification

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Description

The most important antimony mineral of commerce is stibnite (antimonite, antimony glance, gray antimony, or antimony sulfide). Beginners practicing the following tests should use antimony sulfide. 1. Antimony can usually be detected by the dense, white fumes given off and the heavy, white coating formed near the mineral when it is heated on charcoal with the blowpipe. To make this test: Transfer to a flat stick of charcoal a little of the mineral to be tested for antimony. Use about the amount of powdered mineral that can be held on the tip of a knife blade or a piece of the mineral about as large as a grain of wheat. Heat the mineral in the oxidizing (bluish) flame of the blowpipe until the material is thoroughly fused. By this treatment, most antimony minerals give off dense, white . fumes which often continue to rise even after the heating has ceased. These fumes deposit as a dense, white sublimate (coating) on the charcoal near the mineral; the outer edges, where the coating is thin, appear bluish-white. The bluish-white coating of antimony must not be confused with those of lead or zinc which are very similar on the outer edges.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10150/629743

Additional Links

http://repository.azgs.az.gov/uri_gin/azgs/dlio/88

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Series/Report no.

Geological Bulletin No. 175

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Documents in the AZGS Document Repository collection are made available by the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) and the University Libraries at the University of Arizona. For more information about items in this collection, please contact azgs-info@email.arizona.edu.