Garnets? Rubies? or Other?

[Ragnor]

These stones appeared after roasting some sulphide ore I crushed. They were colorless before roasting though they are relatively common in some river gravels in the area.

Magnification is about 175X
Image slightly photoshopped to show both stones in focus.

 

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[Ragnor]

does this help?

does this help?

 

[RockerFerg]

Could be garnet. When I gold pan, I pick up a ton of garnet in the black sand.

 

[Ragnor]

Could be garnet. When I gold pan, I pick up a ton of garnet in the black sand.

I have found allot up in the Mt. Ranier drainages (much deeper red), but none in the Mt. Adams drainages where this material comes from. I was pretty surprised to see colored stones after the roast, as the material was colorless before hand. Just figured I'd make sure they werent somthing worth pursueing.

I know garnets are common at blewett and around priest river.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

The longish one towards the rear makes me think sapphire or ruby, rather than garnet, which tends to be more cubic, or rounded. Too bad they're not as big as your fist....LOL
Jim

 

[Buckshotnc]

The longish one towards the rear makes me think sapphire or ruby, rather than garnet, which tends to be more cubic, or rounded. Too bad they're not as big as your fist....LOL
Jim

I'm thinking pink sapphire or Pink quartz rather than garnet based on what I see here in Western North Carolina. Sometimes the black sands are full of micro gems like this.

 

[rodoconnor]

They look like a lot of the sapphires I've found around here. Kinda purple/pink

 

[Ragnor]

The longish one towards the rear makes me think sapphire or ruby, rather than garnet, which tends to be more cubic, or rounded. Too bad they're not as big as your fist....LOL
Jim

The elongation is what drew my attention also.

 

[Backcountry]

Looks a little bit like a fluorite crystal, blocky and I believe they can change color from the sun, not sure about the roasting process though. Pretty cool though.

 

[Ragnor]

There is a fair amount of fluorite present here at lower elevations.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Second one certainly looks like garnet while the first ones are more like sapphire.
So the question I guess is, are the first ones just "oddly shaped" garnets? Could be.

 

[DDancer]

No fluorite there. It would not have survived a roasting. Between garnet and sapphire~ not sure that garnet will change color after a heat treatment but sapphire will. Very well defined crystals though. Gonna think about this myself between work and sleep Topaz will as well..... hrm.... about the right shape....

 

[smokeythecat]

Quick easy test. Lay a piece on a piece of picture frame glass and rub it onto the glass. If it scratches the glass, it's sapphire (corundum). Garnets do not generally turn color upon heating.

 

[DDancer]

Garnet will scratch as well but yes they dont tend to change colors. Lots of things will scratch glass.....