Tasting ore

I went to SCA meeting last night, and took the opportunity to ask one of the metalworking enthusiasts there about things related to blind metalworking. I had wondered if it might be possible to identify ores by taste, but I hadn't actually mentioned the question to him when he brought up that he thought it would be possible - he listed a bunch that he's tasted and said they all tasted distinctive.

I imagine this might potentially cause health problems if used on certain ores too much, such as lead ores (and yes, he said he had tasted lead ore). But it's good to know that it's a plausible technique.