Hematite, Cuprite, Something else??

[Steve1236]

I couldn't wait and I went back to that small wash tributary for two hours real early this morning, I found some blue and green secondary copper minerals and some other neat specimens as well, I'll post some pics as soon as I figure out how I'm gonna clean them, any ideas on secondary copper minerals would be greatly appreciated? So I'm stumped on this specimen and I dont trust my scale for specific gravity test, it's brittle and super heavy, some pictures are wet and some are dry, anyone know what this is?

 

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[Steve1236]

Another specimen I'm not sure about, mainly those ruby red crytals, not the quartz crystals. Also any ideas on cleaning this specimen? Thnx..

 

[dsrtdwg1]

Nice stuff Steve. I live in the desert also....won't be long before the outings can go long than an hour or 2 in the morning. Looking forward to seeing more fire agate. As you know, take lots of water.glhh

 

[Steve1236]

I was sweating more water than I was drinking lol, the temperature wasn't to bad but the humidity out where I was was awful, any idea what that stuff is? The first one pictured I found a huge one, probably 20lbs, its not magnetic so it's not iron mineral but I don't know if its anything special or not or worth going back to get. I found it with some of these secondary copper minerals.

 

[BC1969]

Love that deep crimson color!
Wonder if that would cab well.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Steve1236]

After seeing those gemmy crystals, I'm thinking I should grab a bunch of deep inside bank gravel and sieve it, again if it's rare enough.

 

[BC1969]

Does it stick to a magnet ?
I zoomed in on the bottom of one of the pics.
That round part ?
Melted or a botryoidal?

 

[BC1969]

Btw nice photos!

 

[Steve1236]

I think it was just an effect, here's another shot in sunlight, do you know what it is, it's not magnetic at all. Also any ideas how to clean these?

 

[BC1969]

I'm an iron out kinda guy myself, but I'd wait on that until you have an identification. Iron out can and will dissolve rocks.
I'm leaning towards hematite too.

 

[Steve1236]

I'm an SIO guy to but these were with copper minerals so I'm kind of scared to use it, some of those crystals on that second specimen are gemmy but not very big, the ones towards the bottom, not the red hematite quartz crystals but the other kind of crystals, picture 4 shows a ruby red one and the ones coming out of that brown/black mineral? Those are what I was thinking of using a sieve for, maybe there's some bigger ones, I dont think hematite has gemmy crystals like that but I could be wrong. Oh should I go grab that large one or is it dead weight?

 

[BC1969]

I can't offer advice on that.
Personally I would grab it lol

 

[Steve1236]

I'm gonna

 

[fuss]

if it streaks red its probably hematite.

 

[fuss]

I think they are all quartz crystals....I think..

Another specimen I'm not sure about, mainly those ruby red crytals, not the quartz crystals. Also any ideas on cleaning this specimen? Thnx..
View attachment 1753577 View attachment 1753578 View attachment 1753579 View attachment 1753581 View attachment 1753582

 

[DDancer]

See what a streak test does for your black stone. I suspect its a mix of hematite in chalcedony. As for the ruby red stuff I'm of the same opinion as Fuss, quartz with some really nice color ; but I wont rule out some deformed garnet as well. Its a pretty compacted mass an I can see a number or deformed crystals.

 

[Steve1236]

Reddish brown streak, I did specific gravity 3 times, once I got 4.2 and twice I got 4.10****dont remember the other numbers, I'm thinking geothite limonite, maybe psuedomorph? Oh I went and grabbed that big one lol...

 

[Steve1236]

I'm thinking its quartz as well after looking at them through a magnifying glass, just some are really gemmy, the red could be hematite on geothite limonite but it's not valuable enough to send it off for an evaluation. This is either chalcopyrite or rainbow geothite?

 

[DDancer]

Chalcopyrite on the last one. Definitely looks like limonite on the big one so your smaller one is probably similar composition~

 

[Steve1236]

Same specific gravity (sphalerite)