Leaning about gem stones

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:28 am

Here is a great site about the differant gems stones. It even has the Moh's scale. I know you all will be finding them while you prospect. You may not have found alot of gold but you may be throwing out rare gems or gems that are worth as much or close to gold. This site can help you next time you are out. When in doubt....don't throw it out.....bring it home and check it out.... lol

http://gemologyonline.com/bigframe.html

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 10:05 am

Thanks for posting the link. I need all help I can get on this subject. Smile

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 10:08 am

http://geology.com/

Here is another good site that I have recommended to others.

Dickb

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:06 am

dickb wrote:

http://geology.com/

Here is another good site that I have recommended to others.

Dickb

That is another good 1. Appreciate it. Cool

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:54 am

Borders and barnes and nobble has some good books on gemstones...

thats what I was into before gold prospecting. Got me a field guide and another gem book that are very informative. I am sure all the same info can be found on the internet if not more..just thought I would throw that out there.

-Brian

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 12:04 pm

There is no more interesting industry than the Gem industry.

Long before the there were oil and drug cartels, there was the diamond cartel. Specifically the DeBeers family! They ARE the Diamond Cartel!

They regulate the diamond industry closer than Stalin ever did the USSR! Diamonds aren't even the rarest of all the gems, but they would have you believe they are. In fact, it wasn't until they started a campaign in the early 20 Century that diamonds were "Are a girls best friend!" (The most successful ad campaigns EVER in the history of the world!)

There is such as thing as a Red Emerald (also known as Bixbite) that is THE rarest of all the gem stones! (Yes Red not Green!)

"To date, there is only one known location of gem-quality Red Emerald gemstones in the world: The Ruby Violet Mine, in the Wah Wah Mountains of South West Utah, USA."

About 5 years ago Russia, who have one of the largest reserves of diamonds, decided to sell off some of their stones in order to paydown their national debt. The DeBeers family were furious and threathened legal action. (Russia is not under the DeBeers Family/Cartel's control. LOL) Russia basically told them to go pound salt. (Russia has the salt mines. LOL)

I have a White Sapphire in a antique 24K gold setting that I have been told that is it too valuable even to re-size. (IF I ever get married again, (BIG "IF") it's hers! LOL)

Gems are fascinatng. It's always fun to run across them when you are gold prospecting.

(Y'all probably didn't want a history lesson today. Laughing

)

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 12:09 pm

yeah Brian, I love gems too.

I have found a yellow diamond here in NC. its good size but not lab grade....

I need some freakin batteries for my camera. I keep forgeting to get them.

I loved the movie 'blood diamond'(I think thats the name of the movie) with leonardo decaporo sp? sorry lol

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:22 pm

Thanks for the post Candy. My daughter is into the gems, not me. I guess I should take a little time and learn them since I spend all day digging them up for a few flakes of gold.

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:54 pm

cool site, now all them dark red stones i have now i think are garnets or maybe dark rose quartz. hecl who knows

james

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:04 pm

sysbee wrote:

cool site, now all them dark red stones i have now i think are garnets or maybe dark rose quartz. hecl who knows

james

garnets.

they are garnets if they are in your pan after you panned it down a good bit.

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:19 pm

yes they were with the gold in the bottom i have about 30 of them BB size and bigger, some are square and some are like perfect circles but im no rock genuis,they were cool so we kept them Smile

james

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:05 am

sysbee wrote:

yes they were with the gold in the bottom i have about 30 of them BB size and bigger, some are square and some are like perfect circles but im no rock genuis,they were cool so we kept them Smile

james

oh yeah, garnets are neat gems.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:34 am

I use to find a lot of small spinels (MgAl2O4) in my pan with the gold also.[/img]

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:42 am

See that is my problem with gold panning. I am a rock hound...lol I gotta stop to look at them. I don't care if it is just a "rock" or gems. Now I bring an extra bucket so I can put them in there and look later...lol If not I'll end up just looking at them and forget about the gold Embarassed

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:12 am

Candy wrote:

See that is my problem with gold panning. I am a rock hound...lol I gotta stop to look at them. I don't care if it is just a "rock" or gems. Now I bring an extra bucket so I can put them in there and look later...lol If not I'll end up just looking at them and forget about the gold Embarassed

I spend to much times looking at rocks too lol. Especially if its a cool gem or just a unique rock.

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:53 am

Great site Candy...

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 5:55 pm

I found this while dredging here in Tennessee three years ago.

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 6:38 pm

Quote:

"ProspectorAl"]I found this while dredging here in Tennessee three years ago.

I'm not for sure but that is REALLY cool how the curret tumbered it like that. I find alot of topaz that are rounded in creeks and streams. I guess they were timbled like that as well. Do you know what it is? If not does anyone out there know what it is?

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 6:47 pm

madhatt3r wrote:

Candy wrote:

See that is my problem with gold panning. I am a rock hound...lol I gotta stop to look at them. I don't care if it is just a "rock" or gems. Now I bring an extra bucket so I can put them in there and look later...lol If not I'll end up just looking at them and forget about the gold Embarassed

I spend to much times looking at rocks too lol. Especially if its a cool gem or just a unique rock.

Glad to here others have my same trouble...lol

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:58 pm

Yes, I know what it is. I was pretty sure that I knew what it was when I found it. But I took it to a local jeweler and they tested it and confirmed that it is a diamond. Then I took it to some geologists that I know to confirm it. They did. Then I bought a diamond tester (the one that tests thermal conductivity) and confirmed it for myself.

It is a diamond, but not gem quality and only weighs 1/6 carat. The shape is not the result of tumbling or attrition, but rather the actual shape of the diamond crystal itself. The ridges that you see are either growth planes or the result of resorption during it's trip to the surface in the CO2 rich environment of the Kimberlite pipe that it traveled up in.

It's not worth much monetarily, but it's priceless to me as a specimen.

Al

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:18 pm

i like it. i wouldn't have known what it was if i had found it.

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 11:26 pm

I was thinking water worn topaz too just for the color, but then when you mentioned diamond I went back and looked at it more. That is so neat. I love finding gems like those zircons I found awhile back. I found some small kyanite crystals too out of another small creek not long ago, and that was exciting almost as exciting as finding a picker to me.

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:01 am

Oh wow a diamond. That is so cool. I have heard that diamonds are found alot by prospectors and they are tossed away because they ate looking for only color. I have a tester myself and have a small undut raw diamond that I had mounred in a cage type setting and I wear it as a neckless at times. You are right Pricless

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 12:51 am

as soon as I saw the first pic I was thinking that was a diamond.

sometimes the shape(and alot of other words that would mean nothing to some people lol) is a pretty dead give away(though, I would have had to have that checked myself because it is alittle odd for a diamond).

like I said I have found 1 diamond that I know of...it is actually quite large for the avg size diamonds found in NC but its flawed... Sad

or else it would have some good value to it.

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:19 am

madhatt3r wrote:

as soon as I saw the first pic I was thinking that was a diamond.

sometimes the shape(and alot of other words that would mean nothing to some people lol) is a pretty dead give away(though, I would have had to have that checked myself because it is alittle odd for a diamond).

like I said I have found 1 diamond that I know of...it is actually quite large for the avg size diamonds found in NC but its flawed... Sad

or else it would have some good value to it.

Can you post up a pic? Trying to figure out what these stones look like.
Maybe then, I won't be tossing them back.