Blue asbestos ?

Hi all. About a week ago I ordered some rocks for tumbling in my new machine as I am very new to this hobby. Today I received them along with grinding compounds. This particular rock is a concern to me as I recon it may be blue asbestos. Can someone please identify it. I don't think it would be a good idea to tumble it if it is.

i think you got that one mate time to rethink an how to get rid of it

BLUE (RIEBECKITE) ASBESTOS: Blue asbestos comes from Africa and Australia, and is most often believed to be the most dangerous form of asbestos. It is well known to cause serious medical conditions such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.

looked at some pictures and that is what it looks like to me

Hmmm now why would this particular gemstone dealer from NSW send me something like that when they would know what it is. Seems I have a problem.

mate i would be on the phone to him tomorrow and find out what the go is
we may be wrong but i dont think so

That looks pretty ugly to me, that dealer might have some hard explaining to do :N: :N: :N:

Yeah well I am very surprised and annoyed at the same time. Makes me shudder to think that our little 6 year old charge could easily have got hold of that before I realised what it may be. Someone has some serious explaining to do. Also you may have noticed that the specimen has been cut on at least two faces. Who would do that !!!! :N:

Edit I will be taking specimen to the schoolthat I work at and showing our science teacher to see what he says it is. It will be in a plastic container of course.

Hmmm, where is this dealer's duty of care?

Cheers

Doug

That's actually scary mate.

It could have been part of a host rock and fell out it's not too obvious from the flat side.
Jon

Rockhunter62 said:

Hmmm, where is this dealer's duty of care?

Cheers

Doug

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Seems it does not exist. How could a gemstone dealer miss something like that. Ok it may have been bought in from somewhere but, someone from their establishment has packed it to send to me. So whoever sent it is in the wrong job and obviously know nort about gemstones and or rocks. Can you imagine what woulds have happened if I had tumbled that asbestos and then washed the tumbler out in my back yard. Not happy Jan.

Have a look at tiger's eye, hawk's eye and crocidolite.

Its hard to tell from the photo, but the stuff on your rock almost looks like a secondary growth as oppose to the rock being fiberous, but if at all unsure or concerned get rid of it.

Looked at all the above shivan but it doesn't really look like them. You can pull strands of the stuff off of it just like asbestos. Very fibrous and blueish looking.

blisters said:

It could have been part of a host rock and fell out it's not too obvious from the flat side.
Jon

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Don't think it fell out it has 3 now that I've had a good look at it flat cut sides on it. It didn't fall out.

shivan said:

Have a look at tiger's eye, hawk's eye and crocidolite.

Its hard to tell from the photo, but the stuff on your rock almost looks like a secondary growth as oppose to the rock being fiberous, but if at all unsure or concerned get rid of it.

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You can scratch the rock with your fingernail and pull off strands of the stuff. It definatly isn't a secondary growth.

Don't be tempted to snort it mate. Blue isn't the only health hazardous asbestos around. I remember when I was in Wittenoom the asbestos was quite a vibrant blue but that doesn't mean what you have isn't. :| Stuff it in a zip lock bag :Y:
Jon

Can be stabilised by keeping ot wet/submerged, or coating it with PVA glue

I don't like the look of that stuff! Keep it in an airtight container (I'm sure you have already) and take it to someone qualified to identify asbestos - there would have to be somewhere that would do the test in Adelaide I would imagine.

Blue asbestos is quite a pretty rock. We collected a bit from Wittenoom for our rock and gem collection. Now that you have a bit you might consider sealing it with a bit of clear acrylic or keeping it in a fluid to prevent any chance of inhaling the dust.

Keep in mind that the majority of us have lived in homes with asbestos sheeting, asbestos roofs, asbestos pipes, asbestos fences, asbestos classrooms and the likes and very few have developed adverse affects from the dust. Our old house was made with material from old army huts so the interior walls, ceiling and roof were all asbestos and only the kitchen and dining room were painted. Mum, Dad and seven kids lived there for the first half of our lives and thankfully none of us have suffered from the asbestos at least to this day and we are all beyond 60 now.

I'm not saying it's not dangerous but if we are not altering it and creating dust then it's not as bad as the media reports over the years would have us believe. I would consider your little sample as a very low risk and perhaps many of the other rock samples we collect may be more dangerous. How many of us collect lead bullets and then go and grab a sandwich while failing to take precautions?

Phil