Tiny metal ball identification (found while panning for gold)

[navieko]

Hi guys -- hoping you can help me identify this little tiny ball I found sitting at the bottom of my pan. In a small creek that I doubt very few people have been let alone mined (or so I'd hoped), dense rainforest and quite a difficult hike to get there. I found some gold flakes in the same hole/crevice this thing came out of. I don't know the name of this creek, but I've dubbed it "Magnetic creek" due to the massive amounts of magnetite rocks/boulders (from small pebbles to big boulders) all along the length of the creek. Instead of black sand, my pans riffles get filled with almost 100% magnetite pebbles (and if I'm lucky some gold flakes).

Anyway here's a few pics I got of the mystery metal ball. Not completely round but round enough to easily roll on the slightest incline. Very magnetic, which rules out lead and tin? You'll note the gold tinge on one side (pic of it sitting on 20c).

Any ideas? Could it have occurred there naturally or unlikely? Pics below.

Cheers.

 

[Jaros]

Maybe it comes from an early firearm like a musket.

 

[Smoky bandit]

More than likely just steal bird shot matefrom a 12g or something similar .Looks like a number 4 shot.

 

[navieko]

Yeah that sounds about right, I'll probably come across a few more of them when I finish cleaning out that section I'd say... cheers! :Y:

 

[aussiefarmer]

The bubbles make me think weld spatter , you didnt make a new digging tool by any chance ?

 

[navieko]

The bubbles make me think weld spatter , you didnt make a new digging tool by any chance ?

Nah, same old tools I've used many times prior without seeing anything similar but I see what you mean and that's also not a bad guess. I'll inspect the little pick/mattock I used just to be sure.

Pretty certain though that this ball came out of the hard packed (almost clay-like) material that I dug out between tree roots right on inside bend of the creek. Probably been there for quite a long time -- would love to know it's story!

 

[Greenhornet_au]

It looks very clean for steel, and rough for a ball bearing, did you clean rust off of it ?

 

[Ded Driver]

this could be another story line for 7.62Marksman to solve layful:

 

[Manpa]

Fossilised dag? layful:

 

[savage bitter]

shot gun shot

 

[mbasko]

Steel shot :Y:

 

[Greenhornet_au]

Got access to a good microscope ?

I came across something where a guy is researching micro meteorites.

If you are so inclined you could send it to him and maybe have it tested
but the things he looks at are usually significantly smaller.

Some of them look very much like what you have but very much smaller.

Interesting guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc

https://www.youtube.com/user/Mrhotclub/videos

 

[navieko]

Hey that's an interesting possibility Greenhornet_au, it does look very similar to some of those in the video albeit a little bigger. A lot of the ones in the video even have similar gold/copper tinge on isolated parts of the balls. I didn't end up finding any more of them and I did clean out that area pretty good but I suppose that doesn't rule out a steel bird shot as the most likely option, just thought I'd have found a few more if that was the case.

I'll just go with the micro meteorite theory as that's a lot cooler sounding!

Edit: By the way was no rust at all, pulled it out of the pan as it is in the pictures. Didn't even occur to me until I saw you ask, does that rule out steel/bird shots? It was pulled out of wet clay that remains under water level pretty much all the time I'd imagine.

 

[mbasko]

Steel shot is corrosion resistant/anti corrosion

 

[SteveG]

Navieko, I found one of these in the bottom of my pan recently as well, from the Hodgkinson River FNQ and was totally stumped by it. I've seen millions of steel shots etc and this is nothing like it. Interesting