Tuena creek cinnabar?

Hey all, I was at tuena creek today for my first official panning session (usually hunt sapphires) when I noticed a few rocks had a distinct red staining on them. Thinking back to a few things it reminds me a lot of cinnabar which is mercury sulphide I believe. Can anyone give input on this?

Interesting, is it really soft? Cinnabar is listed around 2 on mohs scale and should have a scarlet streak.Though you may have to isolate a red section to test.

Not sure about the hardness, a little hesitant to test it since if it is cinnabar then it could potentially be toxic. I'm aware that as a sulphide it's not very water soluble but it's still not something I particularly want to maybe breathe in if I were to crush it. There's a particular video on YouTube by a rather smart fellow showing him converting it to its metallic form. He crushed it up then used a gold pan to seperate it from the host rock since it's apparently as heavy as iron. Makes sense that it would work seeing as things like ironstone/black sand are often the last thing in the pan along with gold. Something interesting to think about I guess, though it could just as easily be something as trivial like iron oxide or less likely jasper. But it's very reminiscent so the curiousity lingers. I have a photo of a larger piece that I left in the creek but the file size is too large for some reason, perhaps because the sunlight was extremely bright and it somehow affects it.
Another curious thing about this creek is that pretty much all the quartz rocks have cavities in them with some showing incomplete crystal structure. File is again too big to share but if you ever go there you'll know what I mean. You'll probably also see friendly leeches. I was skeptical about their existence until one jumped in my pan... Anyways that's enough rambling lol, just a few odd things to think about.

With a hardness of 2 you should be able to scratch it with a fingernail. More likely going to be a hematite inclusion i would think, but you never know.
Don't have to worry about toxicity too much unless you are roasting it, scratching it will not do anything harmfull.

The thing that drew me away from thinking it was something like an inclusion is that rather than going into the rock it's like a stain... However you could very well be right.
This cinnabar rock (from google) shows similar red staining which of course is the actual cinnabar, however the host rocks do indeed differ. I'll look into it tomorrow by maybe chipping off a little and trying to produce a red streak like cuttlefish suggested. An update will be posted once I've investigated it a little more.

Red Jasper
Have found plenty of it at Tuena :Y:

Also found a patch of it still in host bedrock at Nundle
Heavy aren't they
Reeko

Agree , heaps of Red Jasper at Tuena

Just checked what it does to a piece of paper. It leaves a dull red line when its ran across it but its not quite scarlet. The red was particularly noticeable on the gloves I was using when I scratched the rock through them. Are there any others tests that can be done to it to figure out whether its cinnabar that don't require crushing/heating the rock?

With a hardness of 2 and SG over 8 and a characteristic streak it is not too difficulkt to identify. If it leaves a line on paper it is obviously soft - broken china (porcelain) makes a better streak plate, or the rough back of a floor tile. A lot in the Kandos area to the north.

Hi rileymcsmiley. I was just wondering if you found out what this rock was. Took a trip up to tuena in the holidays. I found my first yellow. But I also found a rock that looks just like yours. Would like to know if you have found anything else out about it. Thanks

I still am unsure about what it exactly is, lots of mixed feedback from people and small scale tests that I have done. I'd still be inclined to say its cinnabar but without any proper tests there's no way to know for sure unfortunately.

Thanks. I might take my rock to my lapidary club and see what they come up with. If they have any answers I will let you know.

Hi me again.
I finally got to ask 2 people from the lapidary club. They went off the wieght and colouring of my rock. They said it is red jasper with iron and hemotite. Hope this helps.