⭐ Gemstone & Mineral Show n Tell

Prospecting Australia

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Most likely Spinel of some sort. There are quite a few different stones in the Spinel group, is it attracted to a magnet? Some are attracted to magnets such as Magnetite.
 
Jumps across the room at the wave of a magnet .. so is that a positive for magnetite or just a possibility ? Never seen it before looks nothing like what i thought spinel was
 
Most likely 5ft, still a possibility I'm not 100% on what it is as there are quite a few types of Iron Spinels. The Spinel from say Grabben Gullen is the typical Black Spinel which is a fantastic jet black gemstone which is Magnesium Aluminium Oxide MgAl2O4, looks awesome cut and polished, is non-magnetic. A lot of the Spinel from Nth NSW I've seen is very silvery looking and very magnetic, I've got some here from BB.

Check the link as it's not a bad read on the subject.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinel_group
 
Yeah , that link reminds me why i zoned out in school. Thanks though, not sure it is magnetite as apparently magnetites brown in sunlight, this is very metallic, pewter or silver looking
 
From what i have read this arvo richo, it changes a lot depending on where in the country you are ? Eg , tasmanian spinel, will look different to victorian spinel , and again different up at inverell to further northern nsw and so on
 
Heatho said:
Most likely 5ft, still a possibility I'm not 100% on what it is as there are quite a few types of Iron Spinels. The Spinel from say Grabben Gullen is the typical Black Spinel which is a fantastic jet black gemstone which is Magnesium Aluminium Oxide MgAl2O4, looks awesome cut and polished, is non-magnetic. A lot of the Spinel from Nth NSW I've seen is very silvery looking and very magnetic, I've got some here from BB.

Check the link as it's not a bad read on the subject.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinel_group

Black spinel certainly does make a very fine looking faceted stone. The fact it isn't transparent doesn't matter, I did a piece a while ago in checker cushion cut, didn't bother doing a pavilion as it can just sit down in a deep bezel. The stuff takes on a brilliant polish and looks particularly good in a blokes ring. Got a good hardness so it's pretty scratch resistant.

I think more use should be made of it :)
 

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