One pan, no gold but garnets galore!

[Steve1236]

I grabbed a pans worth of dirt from an inside bank of a tributary/wash last time I was out prospecting in the desert near the white tank mountains about 7 miles west of the white tanks actually, I just got around to panning it down this morning, no gold but a lot of pretty garnets, to small to be valuable but I thought I'd share...

 

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[hvacker]

When I had your picture up my wife asked what's are those. I said garnets but she asked if they could be spinel.
I also wondered as garnets in West NM the garnets are common but usually very dark and some lighter ones were thought to be rubies when first collected.
Spinel stones are lighter and a color similar to yours. You'd be lucky if they were spinel. Similar hardness but different chemically.

A story about NM garnets. They were found in ant hills. Still are. There were theories about why they were in the hills. Some thought they came from below and were just dug up. Others thought the stones were used to warm the ant eggs. Jim From Idaho had an interesting bit to add about a woman writing a thesis about it. Her studies showed the garnets along with diamonds were collected by the ants as far away as (I think) 100 feet. That would seam to indicate reasoning so maybe the ant egg theory has merit.

 

[Steve1236]

I haven't seen anything with a octahedral shape so that's why I ruled out spinel, even if it were spinel I still think they are too small to be valuable but they sure are pretty, that was only one pan of material that produced all those garnets, if I even found one a karat in size I'd be out there digging right now. We have ant hill garnets here in Az as well, its actually our most popular garnets found in Arizona but they are small rarely ever a karat in size.

 

[hvacker]

A few years ago I was at a mine where there were so many garnets that the place was being considered for making sandpaper.
They were very dark, almost black and mostly small. But not all. Still a long way from pyrope.
Yours have great color.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

When I had your picture up my wife asked what's are those. I said garnets but she asked if they could be spinel.
I also wondered as garnets in West NM the garnets are common but usually very dark and some lighter ones were thought to be rubies when first collected.
Spinel stones are lighter and a color similar to yours. You'd be lucky if they were spinel. Similar hardness but different chemically.

A story about NM garnets. They were found in ant hills. Still are. There were theories about why they were in the hills. Some thought they came from below and were just dug up. Others thought the stones were used to warm the ant eggs. Jim From Idaho had an interesting bit to add about a woman writing a thesis about it. Her studies showed the garnets along with diamonds were collected by the ants as far away as (I think) 100 feet. That would seam to indicate reasoning so maybe the ant egg theory has merit.

Yes...the ants collect the stones to protect the mound from the elements. The thesis stated that the ants, to maximize their foraging energy efficiency, had a genetic predisposition to collect the heaviest things they find....which explains why the gems are collected whenever they're found. The mounds have chambers inside (the reason they shouldn't be destroyed), and the ants move their larvae in and out of the chambers, to keep them at the correct temperature. The ants also do the same with the seeds they collect. They live on seeds. To prevent the seeds from getting damp and sprouting, they move them into the warmer chambers to keep them dry.
Some mounds are as many as 50 years old.
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

A few years ago I was at a mine where there were so many garnets that the place was being considered for making sandpaper.
They were very dark, almost black and mostly small. But not all. Still a long way from pyrope.
Yours have great color.

Yup...pyropes are some of most brilliant garnets. I've found many in Wyoming, but rarely any big enough to facet.
Jim

 

[Steve1236]

I like your pic Jim in Idaho, I have a little horned lizard friend out at my fire agate spot I always say hi to when I'm out there, I first saw him two years ago, he was tiny and every time I've been out there I've watched him get a little bigger, I know it's the same fella because he has one longer spike on his right side and I've never seen another horned lizard with that defect. Back to the garnets, something weird happened, I stuck a magnet over and on the garnets and they weren't magnetic, I mean at all. Any ideas why they wouldn't?

 

[Steve1236]

These were in the pan as well, the colorless one fluorescence yellow under a short wave uv light, any thoughts anybody?

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I like your pic Jim in Idaho, I have a little horned lizard friend out at my fire agate spot I always say hi to when I'm out there, I first saw him two years ago, he was tiny and every time I've been out there I've watched him get a little bigger, I know it's the same fella because he has one longer spike on his right side and I've never seen another horned lizard with that defect. Back to the garnets, something weird happened, I stuck a magnet over and on the garnets and they weren't magnetic, I mean at all. Any ideas why they wouldn't?

It amazed me when I found so many of the horned lizards in Wyoming, at elevations above 6,000'. In the Green River Basin, I'd see about a dozen every day. They live primarily on ants, so it's no surprise there are so many...there are many, many anthills.
Not all garnets contain iron. I think Alamandine's have the most. The pyropes have very little.
Jim