Evil Dwarf
April 22, 2006 by rockwatching
The Saxons believed that there was an evil little dwarf that skulked around in the dark recesses of their silver mines. They called him a Kobalt. Any form of mischief was blamed on the dwarf. When the silver yield began to decline the miners said that it was the Kobalt that had stolen their wealth. They assumed that the Kobalt had seeded their mine with this worthless mystery metal.
It was not until 1730 that this “mystery metal” was identified. It was a unique element all of it’s own. Today we use it as a catalyst in the petrochemical industry, a “super alloy” in gas turbines and a radioactive trace in cancer treatment.
The pink rock in the picture is what is commonly known as “cobalt bloom”, it is a hydrated cobalt arsenic that sometimes appears as an ornate pink rosette. These neon shards lie all over the countryside. They are a good indicator of the presence of silver in the rock. As mentioned both cobalt and silver are usually mixed together and so by association, “pink is silver”.
