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A Farmer has come across an ancient, unrefined silver ore rock on his land. It cuts through like solid silver.

It was probably left over from medieval coinage times. He did get a small amount of dust.

Is this dangerous?

I hear it can contain arsenic, etc when heated, but I mean is it just generally dangerous to handle without gloves, does ashing after make it safe, or just generally have around the house on display?

The bare silver face is exposed to the air.

peterh
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HarryHogwash
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    I am not an expert in geochemistry; however, I have worked with arsenic in the past, so I might be able to answer a few of your questions. To start, having the raw ore on display should be perfectly safe. Historically, the only problem with arsenic-based compounds was with Paris Green paint because the mold Scopulariopsis brevicaulis was converting the arsenic paint into toxic arsine gas. In your case, I highly doubt there would be enough arsenic (in the right form) or enough mold to cause any problem. I think it should be find to handle without gloves. Generally, silver ore contains only ... – Eli Jones May 18 '20 at 08:36
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    ... extremely small amounts of arsenic (and generally in its less form). There are really only specific types of ore that contain significant amounts of arsenic (arsenopyrite, realgar, orpiment, etc.); however, he probably does not have these. It is never a good idea to breathe in any dust from metallic ore; however, I don't think this would necessarily be of serious concern -- as long as he wears a dust mask in the future. Again, I do not know everything about his situation and cannot be sure about any of this without testing his sample, but I would be fairly certain he would be fine! – Eli Jones May 18 '20 at 08:42
  • Argyria – Nilay Ghosh May 18 '20 at 11:26
  • I've collected rocks and minerals. I wouldn't worry about it. The only precaution that I'd take would be to wash my hands after handling heavy metal mineral specimens. – MaxW May 18 '20 at 19:26

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