❓Your Mineral Identification Questions answered here

[Lefty]

The old timers were caught out at Ruby Hill in the Harts Range NT too.... Anything Red in those days was called Ruby...

LW....

Be devastating after you,d already sold everything you had and made the trek out to the centre, only to find the stones were essentially worthless.

Actually, I think real rubies were found near Hartz range in the 70's but they were not gem quality.

 

[Mr Magoo]

The old timers were caught out at Ruby Hill in the Harts Range NT too.... Anything Red in those days was called Ruby...

LW....

Be devastating after you,d already sold everything you had and made the trek out to the centre, only to find the stones were essentially worthless.

Actually, I think real rubies were found near Hartz range in the 70's but they were not gem quality.

https://www.mindat.org/loc-17640.html

 

[Chlomax]

Hi everyone,
Thanks so much for the insight. It is sooo tiny so I had trouble getting a clear picture. We got the camera out and this is the best we got! Its a darker pink in person but hard to capture. Next time Ill aim for a bigger one ?

 

[LONEWOLF]

Amethyst Chip ?.....

LW....

 

[snafu]

You ever found any garnets there Jeff? We never have , same mate said he found one about the size of a grape - the only one he ever found there.

No, Lefty, no garnets here that I've ever heard about.

Jeff

 

[user 4386]

The old timers were caught out at Ruby Hill in the Harts Range NT too.... Anything Red in those days was called Ruby...

LW....

Interestingly despite the large garnets at Harts Range fooling people, there were large rubies there (very flawed but centimetres in diameter, we unsuccessfully tried heat treating).

 

[user 4386]

Amethyst Chip ?.....

LW....

Wrong colour for amethyst...

 

[user 4386]

The NSW museum says:

"Ruby is found at various sites in New South Wales, including the Macquarie and Cudgegong Rivers, Tumbarumba and the New England area. The most significant occurrence is near Gloucester, in the drainage of the Barrington volcano. The Barrington/Gloucester area has been fossicked and mined for gold, ruby and sapphire.
Rubies and pink sapphires are occasionally found in the New England area".

 

[Heatho]

Rubies are prolific in the Cudgegong River but are very small, I've seen quite a few of them.

 

[LONEWOLF]

Amethyst Chip ?.....

LW....

Wrong colour for amethyst...

I have some Amethyst from Northern NSW(Ewingar SF) that is of a simular colour.... Just a thought..

Headwaters of the Manning River, West of Wingham also has tiny Rubies....

Im heading off on a 3 month red centre tour next year and intend to spend 2 of them around Harts Range... I have 'Special' Permission to go to a really Hot spot that has been Closed to Public for over 15 yrs (mining operation)... Should be some nice goodies there, going by the pics I have seen...

On the way over I also will be going to visit Rocklands Mine(Cudeco), near Cloncurry for a large chunk of Malachite... I was told to bring a trailer... What-ever that means... Hopefully I may be able to get a piece of these core samples taken out last year...

LW...

 

[user 4386]

Amethyst Chip ?.....

LW....

Wrong colour for amethyst...

I have some Amethyst from Northern NSW(Ewingar SF) that is of a simular colour.... Just a thought..

Headwaters of the Manning River, West of Wingham also has tiny Rubies....

Im heading off on a 3 month red centre tour next year and intend to spend 2 of them around Harts Range... I have 'Special' Permission to go to a really Hot spot that has been Closed to Public for over 15 yrs (mining operation)... Should be some nice goodies there, going by the pics I have seen...

On the way over I also will be going to visit Rocklands Mine(Cudeco), near Cloncurry for a large chunk of Malachite... I was told to bring a trailer... What-ever that means... Hopefully I may be able to get a piece of these core samples taken out last year...
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/7355/1530512102_imagesfg49k5x6.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/7355/1530512143_images7fljhrak.jpg
LW...

Gems like amethyst are the mineral quartz. If the quartz is purple it is called by the gem name amethyst. If it is yellow or yellowish-brown it is citrine or cairngorm, if it is pink it is rose quartz....not sure how one could therefore have pink amethyst.

 

[Lefty]

Not uncommon for amethyst from Lowmead to have a pinkish tinge, though not quite the same colour as the little specimen in question.

 

[LONEWOLF]

....
Lefty is correct as I have some that is not quite purple, more pinky... There are many colour variations in the Quartz range.... Rose Quartz isn't found at Ewingar... but Amethyst is... and Smokey Amethyst as well...
So what would you call this ? Not mine but a pic I found of Amethyst...

LW...

 

[Mr Magoo]

....
Lefty is correct as I have some that is not quite purple, more pinky... There are many colour variations in the Quartz range.... Rose Quartz isn't found at Ewingar... but Amethyst is... and Smokey Amethyst as well...
So what would you call this ? Not mine but a pic I found of Amethyst...

LW...

Rose de france :lol:

 

[LONEWOLF]

And is a variety of...? Amethyst... ]
Actually its a Amethyst Sceptre Crystal from Harts Range NT found by Patrick Gunderson...

LW....

 

[user 4386]

It is a bit like red sapphires (i.e. the mineral corundum, the only difference being colour and the names given to it by gemmologists). i.e. there is strictly no mineral amethyst, it is one colour of quartz. Ruby is red corundum, sapphire is blue corundum....The problems of nomenclature - why give it a different name...because of its colour. So, it could equally be purplish rose quartz.....

 

[LONEWOLF]

:lol: Like 'Smokey' Amethyst.... ?

LW...

 

[user 4386]

:lol: Like 'Smokey' Amethyst.... ?

LW...

An additional descriptive term preceding the gem name, like flawed, rutilated, cloudy etc. Often made up on a particular mineral field (like champagne diamonds, that became marketable because of an intensive marketing campaign). Although I am to a significant degree a mineralogist, I see new names every few weeks that I have never heard before, but of course they are invented for marketing (particularly common in relation to place names in the USA).

 

[Lefty]

Yes, I've seen crystals from Lowmead with a similar colour as the one you posted there LW.

Also plenty of what I call "smoky amethyst" , has a very definate smoky-tinted purple tone.

 

[Lefty]

Also found some ametrine there, a crystal that was very clearly part purple, part orange in actual colour, not just amethyst with iron staining in cracks. Very pale compared to the Brazillian stuff that has been enhanced by treatment and not faceting grade but over time I have found quartz crystals in a wide variety of colour shades there - all are quartz of course but I've found everything from completely colourless crystal, to amethyst varying from the bare slightest tint of Rose-de-France through to a deep Royal purple, light pinkish purple, magenta, smoky purple, smoky rannging from just barely coloured through to a deep bronze, brown.

I have a piece that I'm hoping to be able to cut a half colourless, half purple step cut from.

GR - is it correct that the quartz variety we call amethyst is coloured by iron while smoky quartz is coloured by alumium? Can a crystal contain both - because Ive seen plenty therethat sure look that way.