❓Your Mineral Identification Questions answered here

[intrinsicgems]

Thanks Rob. Im thinking maganese due to the pink glow. The area im digging is Mt garnet, there is a large magsnese mine there. I understand that maganese gives kunzite it pink glow. Ive been told by the gem club not to sell the cut gems as topaz but as beryl because the RI is 1.588.
Im confused..

Thanks for you time. I have another query regarding smokey quartz, i will post.

 

[Sandbagger]

Are these diamonds? I found them yesterday in my pan at Oallen Ford. Both are faceted and clearer than the camera shows. They are vastly different from any of the quartz in the area.

 

[Heatho]

Most likely not diamonds, the larger of the clear ones looks like quartz to me. Reddish ones look like garnet.

 

[Sandbagger]

Most likely not diamonds, the larger of the clear ones looks like quartz to me. Reddish ones look like garnet.

Can you please quantify why you say most likely not, based off a photograph? I know very little about these. I was told there were diamonds there, so I got a little excited. How can I be sure? Is there a simple test?

Baz.

 

[navieko]

Hi, any idea what these could be? Found while detecting with SDC 2300, they sounded off like gold/lead. Quite heavy for their size. Larger one 2.43g, smaller one 0.84g (feels about the same weight I'd expect lead or even gold to weigh for their size). Tried holding a flame to the smaller one to see if it'd melt to indicate lead, and after a few seconds a fragment of outer "crust" popped right off to expose a very shiny/metallic inner core. Hard to tell from the pics but under microscope the exposed metal almost looks to have tiny crystalline features (looks a bit like platinum).

Cheers.

 

[Sandbagger]

That last image of mine in the post above was a phone grab off the back screen of my DSLR.

Here's a processed image.

 

[Heatho]

Most likely not diamonds, the larger of the clear ones looks like quartz to me. Reddish ones look like garnet.

Can you please quantify why you say most likely not, based off a photograph? I know very little about these. I was told there were diamonds there, so I got a little excited. How can I be sure? Is there a simple test?

Baz.

There are reportedly diamonds in the Shoalhaven river though they are extremely rare I believe. The larger crystal appears to be hexagonal which is totally the wrong crystal shape of rough diamond. The inclusion on the crystal also looks more typical of quartz rather than diamond. If the crystals are large enough and you have some scales that will weigh down to 0.01g you could do a specific gravity test and that will definitely differentiate between diamond and quartz. Most jewellers have diamond testers as well, maybe ask your local jeweller if they can do it for you, only takes about 2 seconds to perform the test.

Specific gravity test procedure.
http://johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/specific_gravity.htm

 

[user 4386]

Thanks Rob. Im thinking maganese due to the pink glow. The area im digging is Mt garnet, there is a large magsnese mine there. I understand that maganese gives kunzite it pink glow. Ive been told by the gem club not to sell the cut gems as topaz but as beryl because the RI is 1.588.
Im confused..

Thanks for you time. I have another query regarding smokey quartz, i will post.

I would not think that ri is diagnostic at all - 1.59 as you have is not very different to the 1.61 that can occur in high-fluorine topaz. It is the SG that is anomalous, which is why I would be carefully determining it again.

 

[Newb]

hi, I found a quartz vein about 1m wide comprised of seperate wavy, vuggy veins separated by a fairly soft black mineral with a metallic sheen and slight iron oxidation (some parts almost looking like metal).

I melted down a sample into a nugget and ended up with the below. Non magnetic, extremely light and cant be scratched with a needle.

I'm guessing molybdenum from molybdenite, and a small amount of titanium to produce the iridescence?

thanks!

 

[Newb]

oh and pale grey streak test

 

[user 4386]

Molybdenite can be easily scratched with your fingernail. It has a specific gravity of 4.7 so is not all that light - just slightly less than pyrite or ilmenite.

 

[Newb]

hmm this would be more like can be easily scratched with an actual nail. its brittle and can be snapped easily and tends to fracture into layers. the mineral itself Id say would have a density somewhat less than pyrite, but the nugget I ended up with was extremely light... like aluminum (but much harder)

thanks!

 

[Sandbagger]

Most likely not diamonds, the larger of the clear ones looks like quartz to me. Reddish ones look like garnet.

Can you please quantify why you say most likely not, based off a photograph? I know very little about these. I was told there were diamonds there, so I got a little excited. How can I be sure? Is there a simple test?

Baz.

There are reportedly diamonds in the Shoalhaven river though they are extremely rare I believe. The larger crystal appears to be hexagonal which is totally the wrong crystal shape of rough diamond. The inclusion on the crystal also looks more typical of quartz rather than diamond. If the crystals are large enough and you have some scales that will weigh down to 0.01g you could do a specific gravity test and that will definitely differentiate between diamond and quartz. Most jewellers have diamond testers as well, maybe ask your local jeweller if they can do it for you, only takes about 2 seconds to perform the test.

Specific gravity test procedure.
http://johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/specific_gravity.htm

Hooley dooley! That specific gravity test is so simple! Thanks mate.

I'm on my second set of scales that is also not working. I'm not buying any of those Ebay rubbish scales for $12 again.....

As soon as I get a functioning set of scales, I want to try that. I wonder if it would work on something so tiny though? They are the size of grains of sand, with the bigger one being about 4mm across.

In the meantime, I might take them to a jeweller.

Cheers,

Baz.

 

[user 4386]

hmm this would be more like can be easily scratched with an actual nail. its brittle and can be snapped easily and tends to fracture into layers. the mineral itself Id say would have a density somewhat less than pyrite, but the nugget I ended up with was extremely light... like aluminum (but much harder)

thanks!

Fracture into layers certainly suggests molybdenite. Try scratching it with a $2 coin.

 

[Heatho]

Most likely not diamonds, the larger of the clear ones looks like quartz to me. Reddish ones look like garnet.

Can you please quantify why you say most likely not, based off a photograph? I know very little about these. I was told there were diamonds there, so I got a little excited. How can I be sure? Is there a simple test?

Baz.

There are reportedly diamonds in the Shoalhaven river though they are extremely rare I believe. The larger crystal appears to be hexagonal which is totally the wrong crystal shape of rough diamond. The inclusion on the crystal also looks more typical of quartz rather than diamond. If the crystals are large enough and you have some scales that will weigh down to 0.01g you could do a specific gravity test and that will definitely differentiate between diamond and quartz. Most jewellers have diamond testers as well, maybe ask your local jeweller if they can do it for you, only takes about 2 seconds to perform the test.

Specific gravity test procedure.
http://johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/specific_gravity.htm

Hooley dooley! That specific gravity test is so simple! Thanks mate.

I'm on my second set of scales that is also not working. I'm not buying any of those Ebay rubbish scales for $12 again.....

As soon as I get a functioning set of scales, I want to try that. I wonder if it would work on something so tiny though? They are the size of grains of sand, with the bigger one being about 4mm across.

In the meantime, I might take them to a jeweller.

Cheers,

Baz.

They are probably a bit small to do an accurate SG test without some very expensive scales. I'm sure a jeweller would test them for you just out of curiosity. Failing that you can buy diamond testers on ebay for about $30

 

[Newb]

yup, a coin scratches it... ok mineral identified I reckon, thanks!

Now all I have to do is to forge myself a molybdenum titanium pickaxe and dig my way down to the gold

 

[Jacqui]

Just what I need! I will have plenty to ask and some pics as well.

The 3 stones in the pic, 2 of which I have no clue!
The wee one is a garnet, and it scratched the green rock, but not the purple/lilac one! What the hell are they....

 

[user 4386]

Most likely not diamonds, the larger of the clear ones looks like quartz to me. Reddish ones look like garnet.

Can you please quantify why you say most likely not, based off a photograph? I know very little about these. I was told there were diamonds there, so I got a little excited. How can I be sure? Is there a simple test?

Baz.

There are reportedly diamonds in the Shoalhaven river though they are extremely rare I believe. The larger crystal appears to be hexagonal which is totally the wrong crystal shape of rough diamond. The inclusion on the crystal also looks more typical of quartz rather than diamond. If the crystals are large enough and you have some scales that will weigh down to 0.01g you could do a specific gravity test and that will definitely differentiate between diamond and quartz. Most jewellers have diamond testers as well, maybe ask your local jeweller if they can do it for you, only takes about 2 seconds to perform the test.

Specific gravity test procedure.
http://johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/specific_gravity.htm

Hooley dooley! That specific gravity test is so simple! Thanks mate.

I'm on my second set of scales that is also not working. I'm not buying any of those Ebay rubbish scales for $12 again.....

As soon as I get a functioning set of scales, I want to try that. I wonder if it would work on something so tiny though? They are the size of grains of sand, with the bigger one being about 4mm across.

In the meantime, I might take them to a jeweller.

Cheers,

Baz.

They are probably a bit small to do an accurate SG test without some very expensive scales. I'm sure a jeweller would test them for you just out of curiosity. Failing that you can buy diamond testers on ebay for about $30

Very accurate scales are only tens of dollars in price - I posted on this elsewhere (accurate to two decimal places in grams).

 

[user 4386]

Just what I need! I will have plenty to ask and some pics as well. https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...1690_e7447bf4-8471-43e7-a977-72531e869063.jpg

The 3 stones in the pic, 2 of which I have no clue!
The wee one is a garnet, and it scratched the green rock, but not the purple/lilac one! What the hell are they....

Purple-lilac one almost certainly some type of silica mineral judging from the conchoidal fracture. You need to scratch the other one with quartz, a sewing needle and with a "gold" coin to get a better idea of its hardness. Search my name and "hardness".

 

[Jacqui]

Thanks Goldilocks, stay tuned lol!