what are those tiny red crystals in my gold pan?

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I'm panning in victoria, around creswick and daylesford regions, and i find lots of tiny red gems in my pan with the black spinel. are these garnets? mostly they are double pin head size but any that are half a pea size are much less translucent. is this terrible poor description enough for anyone to hazzard an informed guess?

tyvm in advance
 
StirFX said:
Are they as red as a ruby?

i think so, but i've never seen a ruby that wasnt cut. they are so small i dont think i could even get a good photo of them but i will try.
 
Sounds like garnet to me
sand sized garnet is used in sand blasting
so if you save them up you might be able to sell them to a sand blaster
problem is tho. you need a ton of it :p
 
1430101491_img_3633.jpg


i hope that picture works.
they look much more vibrantly red in the pan, though a few have been more orangey.
 
rockerfella said:
Could be fine Rose Quartz or small garnet.

If it's in the final pan along with gold and black spinel (SG 3.5-4.1), any quartz (SG ~2.65) should have already been washed away. Garnet (SG 3.1 - 4.3) is more likely, I believe.
 
they are in the final pan grub
they start to move in the water just before the spinel.
 
Hopefully you find some some bigger ones mate, it's always a nice suprise to find a gemstone in the bottom of the pan. Where I am I sometimes find topaz. :)
 

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