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John, Many thanks for the information below - most interesting. We have sent a small sample off for XRF analysis. Where do you suggest we can obtain a petrological investigation of a small sample? Kindest regards, Trevor ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Mason" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 8:52 AM Subject: Re: Fahlerz ore Fine-grained galena is (or was) common at some of the Mid-Wales mines, where the miners referred to it as "steel-ore". It long had a reputation of being richly argentiferous with grades in the tens of ounces per ton. In mineralogical terms this is a recrystallisation texture. Steel-ore samples from the Darren and nearby mines have been examined in polished section and the reason for their richly argentiferous nature is that they contain lots of little inclusions of highly argentiferous tetrahedrite (15-20 wt% Ag). Whilst I appreciate that you might not want to chip a bit off your sample, it would nevertheless merit petrological investigation. Tetrahedrite is certainly known from the Combe Martin mines. Cheers - John