Finds from Sapphire bend, Oberon NSW

[YIPPEKAIAY]

Hey ppls am new to this n wondering if anyones interested for meeting up to hit bingara barraba areas along the serpentine i have alot of maps of the old workings up here n i know not many ppl on this forum know the area i do as i live up here n want to swap ideas n knowledge !!
If interested semd me a PM n il get back to you

 

[enigmaticgnome]

I went out to Sapphire Bend yesterday, which was our first proper attempt at fossicking for sapphires. We didnt find anything. There were lots of clear stones in our sieves, which I can only assume were quartz. Some yellow and red varieties too... yellow I assume is quartz, the red not sure if they were zircon or quartz, but probably quartz. A little disappointing, but will have to get back out and try it again! A nice old man came along and pulled up behind us and showed us a few holes others had been digging and pointed out some wash that we could try to dig out, but we still didnt have any luck. Maybe before we go out next time, I'll ask around and see if anyone else is heading out and can show us the ropes

 

[Heatho]

I went out to Sapphire Bend yesterday, which was our first proper attempt at fossicking for sapphires. We didnt find anything. There were lots of clear stones in our sieves, which I can only assume were quartz. Some yellow and red varieties too... yellow I assume is quartz, the red not sure if they were zircon or quartz, but probably quartz. A little disappointing, but will have to get back out and try it again! A nice old man came along and pulled up behind us and showed us a few holes others had been digging and pointed out some wash that we could try to dig out, but we still didnt have any luck. Maybe before we go out next time, I'll ask around and see if anyone else is heading out and can show us the ropes

Sapphire fossicking can be like that some days, can be hit and miss, if you were getting Zircons there's no reason sapphires would not have been found, just seems like it was not your day.

 

[enigmaticgnome]

I went through all the stuff my fiance and I picked out of our sieves and took a couple of photos. I assume its all quartz, even the things that I thought (more like hoped) were zircon. Though I did notice two stones that were different to everything else I picked. One of them looks yellow in the photo, but a little more green in real life and then this little pink one which is a lot smoother than all the quartz, kinda with a frosted look.
The picture below shows representatives of all that we found. The red ones though they dont show it here, look red when lit from behind

This picture is as close as I could get to the pinkish looking one

Any help identifying would be great!

 

[Heatho]

In the bottom pic it seems the middle stone is a Zircon and the Greeny Yellow one at bottom left could be a Sapphire, it may not be a Sapph but there is a good chance it is. The bottom stone in pic 2 top group is a Zircon also.

 

[enigmaticgnome]

Thanks so much Heatho! I potentially have found my first sapphire Even if it's not, I'll settle for the zircons. Just out of curiosity, so I can learn to pick out the gems and not have to rely on bothering everyone on the forums too often, what makes you say you think its a sapphire and not a citrine? Also that other zircon, I think I can see how it's different from the quartz, but not sure I could apply that to all the little bits of quartz I have. I know by experience, I'll get there eventually

 

[richo966]

is it the colour change that makes you think it is sapp

 

[Heatho]

Thanks so much Heatho! I potentially have found my first sapphire Even if it's not, I'll settle for the zircons. Just out of curiosity, so I can learn to pick out the gems and not have to rely on bothering everyone on the forums too often, what makes you say you think its a sapphire and not a citrine? Also that other zircon, I think I can see how it's different from the quartz, but not sure I could apply that to all the little bits of quartz I have. I know by experience, I'll get there eventually

The Reason I think it's a Sapph is

1: Because of the type of Yellow it is, looks very Sapphireish, Sapphire crystal structure is generally considered to be Hexagonal.

2: It's very clear by the look of it.

3: Can see a bit of a rough Hexagonal shape to it in the bottom pic

I was think maybe Citrine but I'm pretty sure it's a Sapph, I've head of nice yellow ones in the area.

I could be wrong as it's hard to tell from pics.

is it the colour change that makes you think it is sapp

Could be right there too Richo, it does change a bit with the angle.

Sapphires are Dicroic, each axis generally looks a different shade of colour, or different colour as in say one axis will be green and the other blue. Or one axis light blue amnd the other axis a darker blue.

 

[enigmaticgnome]

Thanks so much for your in depth reasoning Heatho I'm finding it difficult to locate information online for differentiating certain stones, such as quartz from sapphire for example. At the moment, I'm just trying to use minerals.net with images and their descriptions until I can get my eye in.. or I get bigger stones that I can do some SG testing on.
Cheers again

 

[Heatho]

Thanks so much for your in depth reasoning Heatho I'm finding it difficult to locate information online for differentiating certain stones, such as quartz from sapphire for example. At the moment, I'm just trying to use minerals.net with images and their descriptions until I can get my eye in.. or I get bigger stones that I can do some SG testing on.
Cheers again

No worries mate, doesn't take long to be able to tell the difference between a lot of different types of stones, look at some of my earliest posts on here and I was just as unsure. 2 years down the track and I'm a lot better informed.

Best thing I can recommend for stone Identification is to get a few ceramic tiles for streak testing and a good set of scales for Specific Gravity tests, from ebay for about $30, ones that do from .01g to about .05g increments work the best. Then learn how to perform a specific gtravity test, this one is very easy to do. http://johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/specific_gravity.htm

These simple tests can get you pretty close to IDng a lot of different stones. Especially differentiating between quartz and heavier minerals and gemstones.

 

[Matturbo]

I'll meet you at SB one day mate and share what little knowledge I have

 

[Nicko98]

Hey guys, the results of my last few trips to sapphire bend.

Bunch of littles with my 5 biggest being 1.10ct, 2.20ct, 3.65ct and a whopper 6.75ct. All from Sapphire bend.

 

[Heatho]

Nice stone that big one, will hopefully cut a very nice gem. Don't send that one to Thailand.

 

[phantom83]

Agree with Heatho, that big one is a ripsnorter, particularly for Sapphire Bend.