❓Your Mineral Identification Questions answered here

[user 4386]

What is this rock?...Kinda looks like quartz in some white coating then there is brown coating that
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/11203/1543123029_rocks.jpg

chalcedony

 

[user 4386]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ges/14087/1543437473_20181125_081902.jpgHello goldierocks and fellow prospectors.
I've looked at trillion bits of quartz in my amateur prospecting efforts trying to find pure forms of crystal quartz and amongst being successful in finding some nice bits I've found this one bit that has a blue type of gemstone that has unfortunately broken off but a small part has remained in which how I found it.. any ideas what it could be?https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14087/1543436831_20181125_081824.jpg

Is it really a gemstone - eg is it transparent? Photos are never fully diagnostic - if people could have a go at things like transparency, hardness, streak and SG it makes it so more reliable.

 

[user 4386]

That could possibly be a sapphire in the quartz, errr umm which would make it very very rare, would be good if Goldirocks would give his opinion on it as I'm baffled. Could be some other gemstone though, weird but very nice.

It certainly would be rare - sapphire (corundum) and quartz tend to be incompatible together.

 

[user 4386]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ges/14087/1543437473_20181125_081902.jpgHello goldierocks and fellow prospectors.
I've looked at trillion bits of quartz in my amateur prospecting efforts trying to find pure forms of crystal quartz and amongst being successful in finding some nice bits I've found this one bit that has a blue type of gemstone that has unfortunately broken off but a small part has remained in which how I found it.. any ideas what it could be?https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14087/1543436831_20181125_081824.jpg

I need more than just a photo to help (eg I can't see if it is transparent or not, and whether it is possibly metallic)

 

[user 4386]

Hey all,

These are some stones (and a ton of pyrite) the girlfriend and I found in a pre-prepared pan at an old gold mining town while on holiday in Arizona last month. Just wondering if anyone can help identify some of the stones?

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...9242_6ff79b2a-b2eb-4a92-8dda-dd6e7a7e0f35.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...9242_daab0791-7fc4-4cb6-9214-354d8e5b97e1.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...9242_b39d8811-536e-4a81-8065-504a3b5541e0.jpg

Got an hour or three - yes some turquoise, pyrite and lots of other things. Fairer on the identifier if you just photograph one sample on each (not a magician)

 

[user 4386]

Hey all
Any idea on what this rock could be, I found it in a river bed, its kinda heavy and non magnetic
Thanks shaz

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...0169_841702f4-1f2e-4e8c-afb3-2853545337b0.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...0170_e3da10ad-eacd-4f29-bf0f-b9133d17950e.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...0172_08560dcd-b3e2-4937-84df-1ea4ee236f20.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...0172_8f0c1ed5-2b8a-4d7b-b609-976d49068286.jpg

Very difficult to identify a water-worn pebble - what does the rock itself look like inside (crack one in half and photograph it)

 

[MegsyB007]

Hey Goldierocks, what's the one from BenDigo at the top of the previous page? Post 501 - I've been waiting to see what you think it is. Curious!

 

[user 4386]

Your opinions would be appreciated regarding a target I dug up recently. Could this be silver? It's very heavy, almost as heavy as gold and my little Monster 1000 reacted very positively to it on the "non-ferrous" indicator.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...s/13476/1543299132_silver...question_mark.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/13476/1543299189_silver_3.jpg

Is it really nearly heavy as gold? What is its SG? If you had not said it was so heavy I would have thought it to be an iron mineral replacing a former silicate mineral or (knowing it is Bendigo) pyrite. Streak, hardness?

 

[user 4386]

Prehnite or Chrysoprase.

Well done to you Sir
I found a more greener bit which google would tell me is most likely chrysoprase
Thanks for the help!https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/11203/1543636026_green_rock_in_white_suff.jpg

Chalcedony - far from chrysoprase in colour

 

[user 4386]

Fellas, you just make it too difficult. Photos alone are rarely fully diagnostic and often of little help at all (especially when out of focus).

Rocks are not minerals - to identify a rock, we first have to identify the minerals it is made of. To identify minerals we use things like hardness, streak (its powdered colour), colour, lustre, is it magnetic and whether it fizzes with acid to do this. If a rock is made of more than one mineral, we need a hand lens to be able to see the properties of each mineral separately. I have described how we do this in detail in about eight detailed accounts, each numbered. Do a search on this site of "Series on identifying minerals" under my name.

Tests like hardness and streak require nothing specialised to determine them, so if you could at least have a go at these before posting.

 

[Omni]

Haha, my bad Goldie. I haven't got around to taking them out and snapping some better pics. Those image were just after we'd finsihed bottling our little haul. Found some minuscule gold flakes in another tiny vial as well, along with some silver maybe.

 

[user 4386]

Haha, my bad Goldie. I haven't got around to taking them out and snapping some better pics. Those image were just after we'd finsihed bottling our little haul. Found some minuscule gold flakes in another tiny vial as well, along with some silver maybe.

A lot of these don't appear to be alluvial, but would appear to be simply mineral specimens put into a bottle of water to show them up (which it certainly does well). The only problem is that the water (and the oxygen in it) will soon tarnish and discolour the specimens. If you have got silver (which In am a bit doubtful about - native silver is never alluvial, not particularly easy to obtain and tarnishes in air like Grandma's butter dish) - then it won't stay shiny for even many months but will turn black. Many look nice, so they really should be dried (you could always put them back in the bottle with a clear, non-oxidising liquid if so inclined).

 

[MegsyB007]

My dad gave me a bucket of interesting rocks on Christmas day, that he said were some his dad had found years ago (he died in 1991, so he wasn't kidding!).
Unfortunately dad didn't know from where he got them, but I'm pretty sure it's not pyrite on it, that he said someone had suggested.
It's not brassy enough for pyrite, or the right shape, in my opinion.
I think perhaps it's tin. Which I thought was strange when it peeled away into clear layers. Can someone please confirm this a characteristic of tin? (See pic in hand).
And is it likely to have gold mixed with a tin deposit like this one, to crush and pan it?

Thank you.
Cheers,
Megsy

 

[goldtrapper]

Could it be silica?

 

[Dron]

looks like a type of mica, probably muscovite? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscovite

 

[XIV]

I've had these for years, sitting in my top draw.
Was given to me by my father then a family member past away.

 

[MegsyB007]

Hi XIV,
I'm no expert, but I'll have a go at some of these for you to look them up.
The first one looks like malachite (or an unusual black opal with only a green flash), the second one looks like opal potch, don't know the third one (opalised wood maybe?), and the fourth one looks like Amazonite.

Perhaps the experts can confirm or give alternatives?

Cheers,
Megsy

 

[grumpygold]

first one looks like matrix opal imo :Y:

 

[Pete's Pick]

Found this specimen in at Tingha today.

Could it be casiterite?

Cheers peter

 

[RockRat]

Looks like Schorl Peter.