Is it an Emerald..

[Sackett]

A buddy and I went out yesterday gold prospecting in the Western part of South Carolina. I set up my Angus McKirk sluice box and we began to dig. As I was "glancing" through the rocks that did not pass through the classifier I found this? My best guess is that it is an Emerald,,they are heavy! Very green in fact deep green...I know nothing of gem stones, as all I've done is prospect for gold, but I've decided that I need to know,,lol

 

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[nsdq]

not sure

 

[jfeeney]

You can use a scratch test to see if it's the right hardness for an emerald. See details here http://www.mineraltown.com/infocoleccionar/mohs_scale_of_hardness.htm

 

[cti4sw]

Emerald is a beryl compound that contains chromium, which gives it its green color. In its crystalline form it's hexagonal, and despite beryl's 7.5-8 on the Mohs hardness scale, emerald tends to be very brittle.

Non-crystalline emerald looks like this:

Yours seems to have some crystalline structure but is not hexagonal, which makes me think it's not emerald. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

 

[Sackett]

It is an EPIDOTE....Confirmed today.....oh well at least I'm getting good GOLD out of the hole...LOL

 

[smokeythecat]

Epidote is a nice find. That looks like a good specimen too.

 

[IAMZIM]

Yep looks like epidote to me. Emeralds are not heavy. They are not like diamonds or sapphires that you can find easily in a sluice box. Im not saying they cant be found with one, but thats not how they are normally found.