Sapphire education

Feel free to tell me im lazy and go and do my own research

Are sapphires ever found at the source or only in creek situations ?

Is there a host rock ? I have alwaysi found spinal when i get saphs

Are they from basalt , quarts or slate country ? I am ruling out granit as theres none in the catchment of my honey hole.

Is it possible they are formed deep below and the springs bring them up ? As the best spots for me are usually 50 to 100 yards below wet areas.

95% of my finds are broken and i move upstream they remain broken until i cant find anymore.

If broken spinal was worth something i would be rich its in greater quantities than black sand at oallen :lol:

Even a link to a easy read that answers all these questions and more would be great.

I know of one 'Pipe' near Inverell that is full of Sapphires. Straight from the source..... .... With a Big 6' fence, Motion Detectors, Cameras and a Grumpy Man with a Shotgun.... I think the Property was linked to Kerry Packer... now part of James's portfolio.... I have seen a pic of an Excavator's bucket full of Sapphires taken at this Location..
1000's of Stones in it.... Now that place would be good for a Fossick.. ... One of the last 'Pipes' in the area left I think....

LoneWolf.....

Any idea of the other materials in the pipe ? Was spinal there ?

I would say so... The photo showed the bucket was a blue colour with very little else.. I have Always found Spinel with Sapphires...

LoneWolf...

Watch some of Walz ''n Liz' videos on YouTube. They are phenominal teachers of their craft.

Would the zircons and red rubys etc more than likely have been in the same pipe ?
I really do need to read up :lol: but asking silly questions is easier , any idea what era these pipes formed ?
It makes me wonder if they were forced up like diamonds or if they grew as gems in these pipes.

Zircons, Rubys, Sapphires and Diamonds are formed in the same area in the pipe I think :/ ... ... It all depends on what Gases, Minerals and Heat are present and lots of other factors as to what stones are formed..... How old I don't know....I would say Forced up like Diamonds.... All this Tec stuff is Beyond me. 8) .. I just like Finding them... Others on here would know more about this than me

LoneWolf....

Yep it will be interesting what some of the more educated have to add , had a little dig today and as with gold my brain started on trying to nut out the wheres and whys hence the post.
will post some pics when i finish my clean up and you will see what i mean about the amount of spinal .

Also post pics of silverish metalic looking stones probly only a hard form of slate but just sloshed water back and forth over cons with led head torch on and these stones were nearly reflective not so much gemy but eye catching. Hope its kymberlite :lol: or what ever diamonds travel in :lol:

GoldCheddar2005 said:

Watch some of Walz ''n Liz' videos on YouTube. They are phenominal teachers of their craft.

Click to expand...

Yes god luv em , i hope they are stilling digging it, any reason for going walkabout ?
was it the repeated questions when the answers had been posted over and over or were they finding their spots being found and plundered or something else ?
Its a strange reality we are living in with cyber lives crossing real life and lets face it there freaks out there hopefully they are just pouring their time into their passion.

Gday af, I thought the story was that there were 4 mammoth sapphires found out tomahawk creek way, fully terminated, and that they were all sold to america where they were carved into 4 presidents heads. That's what I heard as a young man from a fella that used to go out that way each year for a fossicl in the cooler months.

Here you go ! 8)

http://www.australiansapphire.com/famous_sapphires.htm

Don't forget the Wally's Spearhead found at Oberon



Weight = the burden of knowing there is a bigger one out there

Barney's find

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8682

An interesting read

https://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/journals/17764/83_complete.pdf

This is an interesting read.

https://australianmuseum.net.au/gem-deposits

And this.

http://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/238204/Sapphire.pdf

This too. There are a few hard rock deposits of sapphire in NSW, this page shows where some are.

http://www.aussiesapphire.com.au/Fossicking/html/nsw_sapphires.html

Now we are cooking , good reading ,good pictures , but still the mind boggles.

i will start with the quantity of broken spinal , is this normal ? 2.5 hours sluicing and this is what is left in the pan after saphs were picked , probably done 20 pans at a cup full at a time and tipped spinals into the big pan , I would guess spinal is just under half total cons brought home. 2 buck coin used for scale

next is the metallic looking stones , the photos don't do them full justice as they are deffinently more silverfish and trigger my eye thinking they are grey blue saphs for a second, interesting that they stuck to rare earth magnet , what are they ?

now the fruits of my labours including 12 specs of gold 1 flake, half a dog tooth crystal , and some of the smaller saphs are the clearest quality I have had to date ,hopefully Barbie wants some jewelry cause there small :lol:




picked that grenade off the top and thought I was on the mother load :lol: :lol:

Some of those larger blue bombs can get the heart racing. Stick with it AF, you'll get a nice big clear one oneday, (so will I :lol: ) will make it all worthwhile. Mind you there is quite a lot of sapphire pieces in the plastic thing, is it a bread crate? Seems like it could be a great spot.

The black/silvery shiny stuff is Magnetite or a ferroan (ferrite) Spinel, they are both in the Spinel family of minerals.