What mineral is this???

[SCC]

Hi guys need a little help on this one i picked up a while ago, originally thought it was just an unusall rock (was a shiny smooth light rusty brown color on the exterior) then I discovered it was metal like mineral inside when i cut a small piece off.

What i know -
Strong magnetic attraction
Black exterior (after it was washed)
Silver/gray interior with what looks like small holes full of red stuff
Streak - Rust Red
SG - 3.77
Very low thermal conductivity (can hold on belt sander with bare hands, and it only get "warm" to mildly hot, not burning hot like one would expect from a metal)

Has the streak of hermitite with the magnetic priorities of iron but the specific gravity of a..meteorite...im stumped?

Thanks

 

[aussiefarmer]

Magnetite maybe , kinda looks like it maybe

 

[Rockhunter62]

Meteorite.

Cheers

Doug

 

[user 4386]

Magnetite is SG 5.1, hematite 5.2, mahemite 4.9. Iron meteorites are 7 to 8 (not 3.8, that is more the SG of a stony meteorite).

The SG that you give is possibly incorrect - I know of nothing that looks like that and has such a low SG. Limonite has SG 3.4 to 4 but does not look like that, does not have a red streak and is not magnetic.

I suspect an intergrowth of magnetite and hematite, or maghemite. Try doing the SG again.

 

[Guessologist]

I suspect an intergrowth of magnetite and hematite, or maghemite.

Think you're on the money here, magnetite for the strong magnetic response and a good shake of hematite to give a confusing streak.

 

[tailormarc]

meteorite 100% just dont take it to any Government place to be checked

 

[user 4386]

meteorite 100% just dont take it to any Government place to be checked

Although it looks a bit like one externally, it would require a huge error in SG measurement to get an SG of 3.8 instead of the SG 7 to 8 of an iron meteorite. It simply requires another careful determination of SG to be confident of the SG value, rather than guessing (if the original SG of 3.8 is confirmed it is nothing that we are discussing - but I greatly doubt that it will be confirmed). Until then further discussion is a bit pointless (but go ahead ;-))

One cannot determine an iron meteorite simply from a photo (in fact only a few minerals can be correctly guessed that way alone). And not only the SG would be wrong for an iron meteorite but also the streak.

 

[golddiggerart]

Mix of Magnetite and Hematite going by the photo only and as above, very hard to but not impossible to determine a meteorite by a photo.... Looks cool though...