❓Your Mineral Identification Questions answered here

[Shaza1]

Hey everyone I finally got some time to myself yesterday and decided to go panning for gold ( no luck Im bad at it haha ) but.. I did find a lot of interesting stones, Im not sure Im hoping maybe topaz, sapphires and garnets, and a long shot diamond. Your opinions are most welcomed
Thanks from Shaz

 

[Firepanther]

Im no expert but i would say the ones i circled in blue are quartz and red are topaz. Nice stones :Y:

 

[user 4386]

Looks like waterworn smoky quartz, but you say it's too hard to be that?

I was shown some brown topaz crystals while digging kn far north QLD - the colour of them would have had me saying they were smoky quartz but the un-weatherd crystal in its perfect original shape showed that they were indeed topaz.

Interestngly, I believe that treated blue topaz is made that colour by first irradiatiing colourless topaz which turns brown in response. The brown topaz is then heated and turns intense blue.

That is my understanding re irradiation to get blue topaz. Heaps of it on sale in Rio and someone warned me that the colour was not one that occurs naturally but was induced. I don't know, but I have never actually seen it naturally that colour when prospecting.

 

[user 4386]

I can't see a diamond - which one?

 

[Shaza1]

I can't see a diamond - which one?

Haha goldierocks,, Im still sorting through thats only the start of sorting... fingers crossed there is one in there layful:

 

[Shaza1]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/13686/1541298938_20181104_133519.jpg
Im no expert but i would say the ones i circled in blue are quartz and red are topaz. Nice stones :Y:

Thanks Firepanther

 

[Joshlv]

Can anyone tell me what this may be? Or at least if it was manmade on natural.
It was found in the forest at hanging rock.

 

[Wally69]

I aquired a container of these minerals in a downsizing sale along with some other fossicking gemstone treasures :rainbow: :gemstone: :rainbow: , they all seem to be similar in shape but have some variability in crystal colour.

I have rough polished a cross section and it looks pretty cool. Any ideas what I have?

 

[Guessologist]

Any ideas what I have?

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...4094_a1eb1ad0-72d0-49ed-9485-5845b61a9d0f.jpg

Yep, you've got andalusite crystals, the chiastolite variety. I've collected similar up at Cloncurry, although most that are out there have been collected in SA not far from Broken Hill.

 

[Guessologist]

Can anyone tell me what this may be? Or at least if it was manmade on natural.
It was found in the forest at hanging rock.

I would be pretty surprised if that didn't turn out to be prehnite given the colour, botryoidal habit and internal structure. It's definitely a long way from home, nothing like that is known from the Hanging Rock area. If I had to guess, it's probably from somewhere up in mid to northern NSW, there's a few localities with nice prehnite out that way.

 

[Wally69]

Any ideas what I have?

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...4094_a1eb1ad0-72d0-49ed-9485-5845b61a9d0f.jpg

Yep, you've got andalusite crystals, the chiastolite variety. I've collected similar up at Cloncurry, although most that are out there have been collected in SA not far from Broken Hill.

Thanks Guessologist, thanks for the quick identification. They are a bloody hard stone and should cab up with a nice pattern.

Do you know if any of those deposits contain sections of clear crystal suitable for faceting, or are they all opaque ?

 

[Wishfull]

I aquired a container of these minerals in a downsizing sale along with some other fossicking gemstone treasures :rainbow: :gemstone: :rainbow: , they all seem to be similar in shape but have some variability in crystal colour.

I have rough polished a cross section and it looks pretty cool. Any ideas what I have?

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...4094_a1eb1ad0-72d0-49ed-9485-5845b61a9d0f.jpg

I had one of those for years. Didnt know what it was but....dont put it into a tumbler as I did. It broke up into small pieces.

 

[Wally69]

I aquired a container of these minerals in a downsizing sale along with some other fossicking gemstone treasures :rainbow: :gemstone: :rainbow: , they all seem to be similar in shape but have some variability in crystal colour.

I have rough polished a cross section and it looks pretty cool. Any ideas what I have?

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...4094_a1eb1ad0-72d0-49ed-9485-5845b61a9d0f.jpg

I had one of those for years. Didnt know what it was but....dont put it into a tumbler as I did. It broke up into small pieces.

:argh: :awful: let me know if you need a replacement resent:

 

[Lefty]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591513_2018-11-07_22.50.06.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591513_2018-11-07_22.49.49.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591514_2018-11-07_22.49.19.jpg

Can anyone tell me what this may be? Or at least if it was manmade on natural.
It was found in the forest at hanging rock.

Looks like a botryoidal chalcedony - don't they find something similar to chrysophrase near Hanging Rock?

 

[user 4386]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591513_2018-11-07_22.50.06.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591513_2018-11-07_22.49.49.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591514_2018-11-07_22.49.19.jpg

Can anyone tell me what this may be? Or at least if it was manmade on natural.
It was found in the forest at hanging rock.

Put a tiny drop of acid on a part that is not important - looks like calcite to me and should fizz. Hardness 3 so should scratch with a gold coin but not with your fingernail. Doesn't look like chalcedony to me - chalcedony won't fizz and is harder than most pocket knife blades - hard anyway. Yes it will be natural

 

[user 4386]

I aquired a container of these minerals in a downsizing sale along with some other fossicking gemstone treasures :rainbow: :gemstone: :rainbow: , they all seem to be similar in shape but have some variability in crystal colour.

I have rough polished a cross section and it looks pretty cool. Any ideas what I have?

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...4094_a1eb1ad0-72d0-49ed-9485-5845b61a9d0f.jpg

chiastolite (andalusite that shows a cross in cross-section)

 

[Lefty]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591513_2018-11-07_22.50.06.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591513_2018-11-07_22.49.49.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591514_2018-11-07_22.49.19.jpg

Can anyone tell me what this may be? Or at least if it was manmade on natural.
It was found in the forest at hanging rock.

Put a tiny drop of acid on a part that is not important - looks like calcite to me and should fizz. Hardness 3 so should scratch with a gold coin but not with your fingernail. Doesn't look like chalcedony to me - chalcedony won't fizz and is harder than most pocket knife blades - hard anyway. Yes it will be natural

It looks very similar to some chalcedonies I've picked up. But yes, if it can be scratched with a gold coin then it can't be chalcedony.

 

[Guessologist]

Do you know if any of those deposits contain sections of clear crystal suitable for faceting, or are they all opaque ?

Don't know of anyone doing anything with these guys, I'd never say they never have clear portions but it doesn't seem like anyone's given it a go on Australian andalusite.

Looks like a botryoidal chalcedony - don't they find something similar to chrysophrase near Hanging Rock?

There is jasper and occasionally green chalcedony in the Cambrian greenstones at Mt William about 20km away. The colouring in that chalcedony is more due to chromium from the greenstones instead of the classic nickel for chrysoprase.

 

[user 4386]

Do you know if any of those deposits contain sections of clear crystal suitable for faceting, or are they all opaque ?

Don't know of anyone doing anything with these guys, I'd never say they never have clear portions but it doesn't seem like anyone's given it a go on Australian andalusite.

Looks like a botryoidal chalcedony - don't they find something similar to chrysophrase near Hanging Rock?

There is jasper and occasionally green chalcedony in the Cambrian greenstones at Mt William about 20km away. The colouring in that chalcedony is more due to chromium from the greenstones instead of the classic nickel for chrysoprase.

The geology at Mt William is of course completely different to Hanging Rock.
What is your source for the information that the colouring is caused by chromium and not nickel at Mt William?

 

[user 4386]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591513_2018-11-07_22.50.06.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591513_2018-11-07_22.49.49.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ages/11777/1541591514_2018-11-07_22.49.19.jpg

Can anyone tell me what this may be? Or at least if it was manmade on natural.
It was found in the forest at hanging rock.

Put a tiny drop of acid on a part that is not important - looks like calcite to me and should fizz. Hardness 3 so should scratch with a gold coin but not with your fingernail. Doesn't look like chalcedony to me - chalcedony won't fizz and is harder than most pocket knife blades - hard anyway. Yes it will be natural

It looks very similar to some chalcedonies I've picked up. But yes, if it can be scratched with a gold coin then it can't be chalcedony.

I am not dismissing chalcedony as an alternative - the lustre just looked rather pearly.