Hi and thanks for your comment! I’m fairly confident it’s brick. There were a couple other pieces around as well. I have recently come across an article by the Bundaberg foundry that mentions an incident where the entire workshop was flooded with molten metal. It’s possible this has something to do with this incident. But more research is required. I will do an update shortly on my findings. I have a phone call with the historical society tomorrow to see if I can find some more answers!
@@Remraf Interesting. I've just recently been collecting some industrial slag from along an old railway track and it's much different than the slag you've collected. It's extremely dense, quite magnetic, really heavy, and while there is some bubbling in it, the bubbling is fairly small, and not at all like the sponge toffee you've picked up. I'm wondering if the accident that caused workshop to flood also caused the amount of bubbling you can see in it. If it weren't for that one piece stuck to the brick, I would have assumed it was some lava or scoria as you mentioned. It's a pretty cool find.
Thanks for your input! Given all the clues (especially the brick) I was thinking the same thing. Maybe they were smelting on site back in the day. The only issue that remains, is that this is not the only site where I have found this material. About three kilometres away, closer to the coast I have also found this material on the edge of another cane field. Perhaps they had smelting sites set up around the place? I know that there is a quite a bit of magnetite around, so maybe they were processing this in pioneer times to make cane knives etc? Thanks for your input. I might need to pay the historical society a visit to see if they can point me in the right direction. There is also a smelting workshop (foundry) in town as well, it’s quite large. So maybe they are discharging the material into the cane fields? Very interesting!
@@Remraf another possibility is that it is just carbonized sugar on super heated substrate fused together from where piles of sugarcane were burned! I'm sure looking through a microscope would render More clues!
@genehasenbuhler2594 yep, I had a crack at it. It glowed but failed to burn. Decided to put a magnet to it. And it’s definitely magnetic. So it’s looking to be slag from an iron smelting process of some sort. Maybe they were processing the magnetite in the area and making tools. Whatever the case. It’s cool as! Now to track down the historical society!
How confident are you that the "piece of brick" is actually a piece of brick and not some clay that was baked by some hot lava or scoria?
Hi and thanks for your comment! I’m fairly confident it’s brick. There were a couple other pieces around as well. I have recently come across an article by the Bundaberg foundry that mentions an incident where the entire workshop was flooded with molten metal. It’s possible this has something to do with this incident. But more research is required. I will do an update shortly on my findings. I have a phone call with the historical society tomorrow to see if I can find some more answers!
@@Remraf Interesting. I've just recently been collecting some industrial slag from along an old railway track and it's much different than the slag you've collected. It's extremely dense, quite magnetic, really heavy, and while there is some bubbling in it, the bubbling is fairly small, and not at all like the sponge toffee you've picked up. I'm wondering if the accident that caused workshop to flood also caused the amount of bubbling you can see in it.
If it weren't for that one piece stuck to the brick, I would have assumed it was some lava or scoria as you mentioned. It's a pretty cool find.
That looks like smelt slag from a large kiln!
Thanks for your input! Given all the clues (especially the brick) I was thinking the same thing. Maybe they were smelting on site back in the day. The only issue that remains, is that this is not the only site where I have found this material. About three kilometres away, closer to the coast I have also found this material on the edge of another cane field. Perhaps they had smelting sites set up around the place? I know that there is a quite a bit of magnetite around, so maybe they were processing this in pioneer times to make cane knives etc? Thanks for your input. I might need to pay the historical society a visit to see if they can point me in the right direction. There is also a smelting workshop (foundry) in town as well, it’s quite large. So maybe they are discharging the material into the cane fields? Very interesting!
@@Remraf another possibility is that it is just carbonized sugar on super heated substrate fused together from where piles of sugarcane were burned! I'm sure looking through a microscope would render More clues!
@genehasenbuhler2594 if its carbonised sugar than perhaps it would burn with the help of my trusty blowtorch? That should help!
@@Remraf Worth a try for sure!
@genehasenbuhler2594 yep, I had a crack at it. It glowed but failed to burn. Decided to put a magnet to it. And it’s definitely magnetic. So it’s looking to be slag from an iron smelting process of some sort. Maybe they were processing the magnetite in the area and making tools. Whatever the case. It’s cool as! Now to track down the historical society!