Need help identifying a pink stone found at Nundle.

Nugget said:

Incredible pics RS, I'll have to get on and order a UV light shortly.

Ben, unfortunately I probably won't be back at Nundle for at least a few weeks but I'll let you know when I'm going next.

A trip to the Barringtons is definitely on the to do list

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Hunter mate, I'll be in Singo from Tuesday working at HVO, maybe MAC.

Ben78 said:

I've just grabbed my blacklight and gone over the gems I have seeing as its dark and all. I have managed to pick out 3 that fluoresce orange, none others do. Of the three one is clear, one is yellow and the other is honey/red. The clear has the 'classic' sapphire crystal shape and is a half decent size. I have no idea where it came from though which is annoying - but it looks like I have a decent cuttable white sapphire!

I'll have a better look in the sunlight tomorrow and get some pics.

Nugget, I'm back in the hunter Tuesday if you want to meet up and cast my blacklight over your stone??

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Hey Ben, most Sapphs will not fluoresce, only a very few will very mildly, some Zircons do. Only gemstones I have that fluoresce are 2 Rubies I bought.

Did a bit of reading last night Heatho, yellow saphs can fluoresce orange. When I can get the pics done I hope you'll agree it is a saphire

Hey cool Ben, I didn't know that. I hope it is too mate, looking forward to pics. I'll dig out those Rubies I bought too and do a with and without UV pic.

Some info for you Nugget on Australian Sapphires

Sapphire is the gem quality form of Corundum. It is second only to Diamond in hardness. The hardness of corundum is due in part to the strong and short oxygen-aluminium bonds. These bonds pull the oxygen and aluminium atoms close together. This makes the crystal not only hard but also quite dense for a mineral made up of two relatively light elements.

Chemical Formula: Al2O3, Aluminium Oxide
VARIETY OF: Corundum , Al2O3 .
USES: Gemstone (for high grade material) and abrasive

BIRTHSTONE FOR: September

Main Colours:
blue, green, parti (a mix of colours), yellow, bi-coloured
Rare Colours:
Golden Yellow, orange, apricot, purple, pink, red (Ruby)
The pink to red colour of ruby stems from its chromium content, whereas the sapphire's blue results from its titanium content. Yellow and green sapphires contain variable amounts of ferrous and ferric iron.

INDEX OF REFRACTION: 1.76 - 1.78
BIREFRINGENCE: 0.009
HARDNESS: 9
Lustre is vitreous to adamantine.
Transparency: Crystals are transparent to translucent.
Crystal System is trigonal; bar 3 2/m
Crystal Habits include sapphire's typical six-sided barrel shape that may taper into a pyramid, and ruby's hexagonal prisms and blades.
Specific Gravity is approximately 4.0+
Cleavage is absent, although there is parting which occurs in three directions.
Streak is white.
Other Characteristics: Refractive index is around 1.77; pleochroic (meaning colour intensity is variable from different viewing directions); striations on parting surfaces

Source: http://www.australiansapphire.com/description.htm

Heatho said:

Hey cool Ben, I didn't know that. I hope it is too mate, looking forward to pics. I'll dig out those Rubies I bought too and do a with and without UV pic.

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Quick question guys for the uninformed [me]
Can a Black Light be used in the same way a UV light is used?
Cheers
Chris
[got an old 10'' 12volt black light bar sitting in the garage]

Black light = UV light

Rubies I bought under White light.



Same stones under UV, from Thailand I was told, although I've read Thai ones are not meant to fluoresce. Anyway these do. Not as bright as Barney's ones did though.

Just a quick one, would it be possible that it is a pink tourmaline?

note re magnet: As we have seen in several examples above, gemstones often look identical in color and can be difficult or impossible to distinguish from one another with the naked eye. As another example, Rubellite Tourmaline and purplish red Rhodolite Garnet can look like the same stone. Only Rhodolite picks up.

Magnets are the definitive GARNET IDENTIFIER, and parcel stones can be quickly scanned by sweeping a magnet over them. For example, a parcel of red gems such as Rubies, red Spinels or red Zircons can be quickly scanned for any red Garnets that may have been substituted by accident or intention. Impostors within a parcel may not be detectable with the naked eye, but any red Garnets will be picked up (or dragged if large and heavy). The video below demonstrates how easily a small parcel of Rubies can be scanned for Garnet impostors.

Source: http://gemstonemagnetism.com/how_to_pg_4.html

Glad I'm not at Nundle at the moment...



Got the photo off a weather page on Facebook. Kinda weird with the kid in the majority of the picture.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3437.its all about chromium ...

WalnLiz said:

You can cut stones half that size. If it's a sapphire it would certainly be worth the effort. As a garnet it would make a nice shoulder stone for the next Sapphire you get from Nundle. Looking at the shape it has enough depth to cut a "brilliant" cut, and with the clarity it would sparkle extremely well on a ring.

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In a few other posts it's stated you can expect (on average) a cut gem to be around maybe a quarter of the roughs original size. Is the same true for a small stone like nuggets here?

Cheers,
Laurence

Finished size of stone depends on original size and shape. If you had a round stone like say a marble, and you cut a "Brilliant Cut" from it, you will retain well over 50% of the original stone. Similarly an "Emerald Cut" or "Square Cut" on a stone already close to this shape will not lose much weight when cut.

Where the biggest losses occur is when the stone is irregular in size, or thin on the edges, as in all cases the stone requires enough thickness to cut the crown and pavilion with the correct facet angles.

A general cross section of stones will result in around 50% loss when cut, but with the right shape some lose as little as 20%. Fractures and imperfections need also be taken into the equation, and this element can substantially decrease the size of the faceted stone.

Cheers Wal.

It could be a Garnet or Tourmaline Twapster but I don't think so, pretty sure it's Pink Sapph/Ruby. That's why UV is a pretty good first test for Ruby, not many other gems will glow like that under UV. Even taking a Ruby out in the Sun will make it glow a bit due to the UV content of Sunlight. It's the Chromium that causes fluorescence. If Iron content is high in a Ruby fluorescence will be less or none at all.

Every Ruby I've seen fluoresces to some degree, some very strongly like the ones Barney has and others weakly like a small Ruby my friend has in a ring. I know that some don't but I have not seen 1 that doesn't yet.

I'm pretty sure the Peel and Nundle area are known to contain Rubies/Pink Sapphs also.

Agree Heatho that the colour has that "slight fluro pink" look about it which you see in uncut ruby so my first bet would be pink sapphire. I'm sure nugget is scrambling to get a UV light to do this test. I'm no expert but have obviously dug into some gem research to better understand what's what, and the more I dig, the more substitute stones come out of the traps. It doesn't have a usual garnet colour, however if you google uncut pink garnets...there's a striking resemblance. The same can be said for pink tourmaline and several other stones.

I wish I knew Nundle had more than gold last time we were there. Would have paid a bit more attention to my concentrates as I was stuck on finding gold only it narrowed my vision a little and I didn't pay attention to anything else in the pans. My bad!

pet shops have uv lights

Yeah I'm getting you totally Twapster, for every precious gem there is a semi that looks identical. To me though Aussie Pink Sapphs/Rubies just seem to have a certain colour to them. UV and SG test would go a long way to confirming it is a Ruby though, 99% I reckon.

It sure does pay to check everything in NSW, you just never know when some nice gems will be in your sieves, Nundle has plenty in certain spots, I havn't been there yet but have done plenty of research on the area. Hopefully heading there next week for some detecting and gem hunting.

When classifying material for panning a quick sieve and centre and flip it over doesn't take long to check for gems, I like classifying into buckets and run everything from under the 1/8 inch through my AM sluice or pan if in Gold country. I always use a 1/2 in, 1/4 and 1/8 sieve, getting rid of the over 1/2 inch stuff makes it a lot easier for the heavies to sink and check quickly without displacing gems.

richo966 said:

pet shops have uv lights

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I got the Streamlight Twintask 3C. Was 50 bucks on Amazon Richo. But yeah you can get much cheaper ones, just this one is a pretty good torch also.

I reckon the magnet test wouldn't go astray either. Heatho, have you ever used a spectroscope?

http://prettyrock.com/spectroscope-instructions.htm

It does look like the rough rubies/pink sapphires I've seen. Sadly, we don't get them up here on the central QLD gemfield - only a handfull have ever been found in over 100 years of sapphire mining. Chromium was obviously all but absent from our volcanoes. I was shown one a while ago by a bloke who has a claim not far from mine - mostly blue but with some ruby on the end. Red bit was too thin to cut a stone from.