Hi All, Stu.

[Stu]

Hi Guys and Gal's, my name is Stu and I live in a busy regional city Northwestern NSW (quite close to Nundle).
ive been reading with great delight many of the threads you all have posted over time and i'm really enjoying the information that is readily available on this site, given in detail and with much care, passion and precision.
I see also that there are some colourful characters who regularly post here and who seem very knowledgeable (to say the least) in prospecting and overall field craft. I'm somewhat a newby in to prospecting but I live and work in the outdoors. Add to this a fiesty wife and with 3 sons and 3 daughters, I'm always busy in the outdoors creating something fun to do and of late, we hunt Gold and Gems.
WalnLiz are celebs in our houshold, kids annoying me with a new WalnLiz post which drives them out into the hills looking for a Saphire or a lonely nugget or two. That rotten Saphire that they got at Grabben Gullen is causing me big pain (Family wants to travel).
We originally built a HiBanker with a Grizzly system but after watching some of WalnLiz's stuff, we are currently decommissioining the Header Box and adapting to a WalBanker.
i do have a question though .... How do i quickly tell between all the red gems Wal/Liz? We are at times and in certain layers picking up red gems (and especially shards in the HiBanker) and we don't know what they are. I'd never heard of Rubies in region but one of the hard rock Gold Pro's told me he ahd just sent a few Rubies off to be cut and wanted to have a look at what i have. I see that as an issue and have avoided the topic.
Anyways, i hope i can extend hospitality to some city folk sometime, see you all soon, Stu. P.S, Glenn Innes is looking very interesting for Saphires. Lots of pipes.

 

[WalnLiz]

Welcome to the forum Stu and great that prospecting is becoming a family affair in your household. Plenty of interesting reading here on the forum and a great bunch of guys and gals willing to help out with any questions you may have.

The red gems you're picking up in the high banker are almost definitely either Gannet or Zircon. Rubies are not a gemstone found in numbers and are always associated with Sapphire wash. They are a red sapphire of a "Specific" colour (true Ruby) and should not be categorized with the many shades of pink and violet sapphires more commonly found and referred to as Rubies.

Grizzly's work great for "gold" high bankers, but I'm glad you're changing the system for your sapphire version.

Best of luck with the prospecting and hope to catch up on the stream some day.

Cheers Wal.