a few amateur questions regarding sapphires at GG

Hey guys and girls
Just had my third trip to grabben gullen and we did ok. Im still pretty new to the gemstone side of things and I have some questions.
I understand if you dig at the correct gavel layer and your finding spinel your looking in the right place, but will the size of the spinel dictate the the size of the sapphire that you might find in that spot?
I found a dark rock that had a hole in it with some small green gems and a tiny red one on the inside of it. Does this happen often? Should I be cracking open other similar stones to see if anything is inside?
When finding the odd flake of gold is this also a indicator for digging in the right spot for sappires at grabben gullen?
Im finding Hundreds of the little green ones in my pan after I use the 1-8 sieve. What are they called? Also what are the red, pink and white ones called?
Sorry for all the questions and thanks for your time

Regards Greg

Hi Greg, the green one's most likely a tourmaline, red Zircon, pink garnet and white topaz.

it would be easier to identify if you have pics to go with the questions, because sometimes identifying gems is a little bit tricky

Cheers,
"B"

G'day Greg,

At GG the old story is ..If you're not getting spinel, then chances are you're not getting sapphires. The bigger the spinel the bigger the sapphires is the general rule. The gold will certainly be associated with the larger spinel areas. Occasionally you will find the gems in their matrix...especially the spinels and these make good species.

The green stones are mainly olivine and the pink, red and clear ones are all zircons. Occasionally the odd one is a diamond and these are generally very small and quite rare to find. You do get the odd garnet out there but they're in a ratio of about 1000:1 against the zircons.

Cheers Wal.

Thanks for that. At least I know im doing it right and what im taking home
As for pics I will need to sort through it one afternoon. I at the end of the day I just threw it all in a bucket along with all the heavies, just in case I missed something.