Tell me a little a about gemstones

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I've never fossicked for gemstones before so here's a few questions I have about it.

What sort of gemstones do people like to chase?
What are the most common types?
How can you tell them apart?
Where can you find gemstones?
What equipment do you need?
Can you make money doing it?
 
Digger said:
I've never fossicked for gemstones before so here's a few questions I have about it.

What sort of gemstones do people like to chase?
What are the most common types?
How can you tell them apart?
Where can you find gemstones?
What equipment do you need?
Can you make money doing it?


most people like to find the eazy gems to find like smokey quartz crystals topaz tin fossil wood sapphires ect

the most common types of gems would be smokey quartz, rock crystal, amethest, tormaline falspar wich is found in granite tin,topaz garnet fossil wood wood thats turned to stone sapphires zircons spenel just to neme a few :D

you can find gems any where but it depends what gems you are looking for

you do not need much equipment just some sives and a shovel and some buckets

yes you can make money out of finding gems but most people like the joy of finding something really nice and like me don't want to sell it :D
 
Would you happen to know of any great books that shows all the different types of gems and where to find them?
 
Hey HTY. I have done a little bit of research it's tough to find in books or maps but quite a bit on the Internet. I have been primarily looking at shappires and diamonds. We here in Australia have a decent amount of diamond. Check out Information about the Argyle diamond mine in NT. In Victoria Beechworth is your go Doug Stone gold books have a map I am yet to get there and have a look. All so in the Dandenongs you can find some. Glenn Innes in New South Wales is quite famous for it sapphires but you'll find some diamonds around the area to according to some info I have seen. If it is you primary interest to fossick for gems I think joining a liapodairy or gem club is a good start to help learn where to find them and also what to look for. You'll also learn in a liapodairy (not sure I have spelt it correctly) how to facet what you find. Faceting some of your own roughs and then making a piece of jewellery from it would be amazing. I found a site that had some mud maps of glen innis on the net I am sure I you look hard enough you able to find them. I d pass the link on but I honestly don't remember or have it saved as a favourite. I received a book I ordered online "minerals and gem" by Kimberley tait it certainly gives a discription of what to look for interns of colour and shape has good quality pictures but not a lot of information about indicator rocks or anything like that. Happy fossicking be interested in how you go.
 
Newbie said:
Hey HTY. I have done a little bit of research it's tough to find in books or maps but quite a bit on the Internet. I have been primarily looking at shappires and diamonds. We here in Australia have a decent amount of diamond. Check out Information about the Argyle diamond mine in NT. In Victoria Beechworth is your go Doug Stone gold books have a map I am yet to get there and have a look. All so in the Dandenongs you can find some. Glenn Innes in New South Wales is quite famous for it sapphires but you'll find some diamonds around the area to according to some info I have seen. If it is you primary interest to fossick for gems I think joining a liapodairy or gem club is a good start to help learn where to find them and also what to look for. You'll also learn in a liapodairy (not sure I have spelt it correctly) how to facet what you find. Faceting some of your own roughs and then making a piece of jewellery from it would be amazing. I found a site that had some mud maps of glen innis on the net I am sure I you look hard enough you able to find them. I d pass the link on but I honestly don't remember or have it saved as a favourite. I received a book I ordered online "minerals and gem" by Kimberley tait it certainly gives a discription of what to look for interns of colour and shape has good quality pictures but not a lot of information about indicator rocks or anything like that. Happy fossicking be interested in how you go.
i all ready belong to a lap club and have been for 5 years now i am allso a fossicker wich means i have been looking for difrent types of gems as well as gold and have been from the age of 6 when i found my first rock crystal still have it and rember it and over the years i have been fossicking all over vic like mooralla vic smokey quartz and powelltown topaz smokey citrine i have been to glen inns and have found sapphires and zircons garnets and roar copper in quartz there
 
Hunting the yellow said:
Jenny said:
Would you happen to know of any great books that shows all the different types of gems and where to find them?

yes i do i have lots of books about gems but most of them wont tell you where to find them ;)

Thanks
 
Jenny said:
Hunting the yellow said:
Jenny said:
Would you happen to know of any great books that shows all the different types of gems and where to find them?

yes i do i have lots of books about gems but most of them wont tell you where to find them ;)

Thanks
sorry jenny i do know one of my books that tell you a lot on difrent gems and where to find them its called A field guide to australian rocks,minerals,and gemstones by wolf mayer black on fount cover and back
 
Hi folks,
New to the game myself but always been interested in scrounging around for little bits of precious and semi-precious gems.
Digger, I found quite a few old books on Ebay. Many of them go into detail about various gems and places they've been found in the past. Keep looking on Ebay and you'll find them. They are very informative.:)
 
I've borrowed many books from our goldfield regions library and as we have seven in the region, they send them to our Heathcote library where I can pick them up there. I have borrowed heaps of Aussie gem books. One in particular I can't recall the name LOL, but it's not just gem books to search gem stones in. Look at books on geology. That's a good start too.

The book I borrowed ended up having gem stone fossicking areas that included my town of Heathcote in Victoria and just down the road where we live at Ladys Pass is a well known area for them in dry creek beds and Toolleen also.

Eldorado, which is near Beechworth in Victoria, is another place, so is Anakie and steiglitz area, between Geelong and Bacchus Marsh in Victoria.

Hope that helps. If you are also a FB member of my group Bendigo and District Gold Prospecting club and Ballarat Gold Seekers, I highly recommend you join these groups and the Dubbo camping prospecting and gem stone group, as members can point you in the right direction.

Hope that helps

Cheers

GarrettGirl

;)


;)
 
Just also to add, as I forgot to mention DIGGER, that you just need, a gold pan, a classifier, or sieve, buckets, shovel and a bonus if the creek you are fossicking in, has water in it. LOL :D

Don't forget you can also find gold this way. But you do need to dig right down to the bedrock :). Maps are a huge help, cause you are wasting your time, digging just anywhere. YouTube videos are worth their weight in gold to resource how it is done :) and subscribe to their vids, cause they always put up new ones :) :)
 
GarrettGirl said:
I've borrowed many books from our goldfield regions library and as we have seven in the region, they send them to our Heathcote library where I can pick them up there. I have borrowed heaps of Aussie gem books. One in particular I can't recall the name LOL, but it's not just gem books to search gem stones in. Look at books on geology. That's a good start too.

The book I borrowed ended up having gem stone fossicking areas that included my town of Heathcote in Victoria and just down the road where we live at Ladys Pass is a well known area for them in dry creek beds and Toolleen also.

Eldorado, which is near Beechworth in Victoria, is another place, so is Anakie and steiglitz area, between Geelong and Bacchus Marsh in Victoria.

Hope that helps. If you are also a FB member of my group Bendigo and District Gold Prospecting club and Ballarat Gold Seekers, I highly recommend you join these groups and the Dubbo camping prospecting and gem stone group, as members can point you in the right direction.

Hope that helps

Cheers

GarrettGirl

;)


;)
i am allso a member with the bendigo gold group too and your book dose that tell you about the red and green jaster up at heathcote or is that the spot you are talking about above :)
 
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