Half gram picker! Also I need some help identifying strange ore..

[Steve1236]

Nice little half gram picker I found blowing out bed rock cracks this morning, also I came across a bunch of this qaurtz with something I need help identifying? If you blow up the picks its has small specks of gold also but too small to persue I think?

 

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[laidback4sho]

Possibly garnet.

 

[Steve1236]

Is garnet and qaurtz mixture known to have gold? Thinking about crushing it and panning it out.

 

[laidback4sho]

Quite possibly. The area where I pan for gold is loaded with both quartz and garnet.

 

[Caleb12]

Nice. Those go for good money as collectible specimens

 

[Caleb12]

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Nice little half gram picker I found blowing out bed rock cracks this morning, also I came across a bunch of this qaurtz with something I need help identifying? If you blow up the picks its has small specks of gold also but too small to persue I think?

Be very diligent when prospecting. You dont want to move any sediments until you exactly know what you have. You could've blown gold dust right from your wallet

 

[DDancer]

Definitely Garnet. Yes it is quite common to find garnet with gold in some locations. Garnet also occurs with a variety of other minerals like the quartz you have there. Good finds

 

[IAMZIM]

Awesome picker! Yes, again, here in Alder gulch their was (and still is) gem quality almandine garnet associated with the quartz where they were dredging for gold. Corundum is also found in this deposit, in fact, in many of the deposits here in Montana, the miners were dealing with garnets and sapphires plugging up their sluice boxes! Many of them threw out the sapphires in annoyance because they didn't know what they were, "just pretty annoying rocks". They just wanted the gold! When I pan here, I would say about 85% of the time I am pulling garnets out of my pan with the gold I find!

 

[Steve1236]

You live in the ultimate rockhounding state, they've got everything out there, diamonds, opal, sapphire, jade, you name it, you guys have it. Not much here in Az but it is good for gold and amazing for semi precious stones. Do you ever suruca for diamonds and sapphires IAMZIM? If so would you try something for me next time your out, dig up a big fox tail root system but big one and suruca that. Up in Prescott Az I noticed in every root system are a bunch of heavies and in certain areas I've found little crytals with micron gold specs concentrated in the big fox tail roots, no big gold ever but lead, iron pyrite, qaurtz crystal with small gold, basically heavies ya know, so it dawned on me that maybe diamonds, sapphires etc might concentrate in those roots as well!? Worth a shot ya know, if it works I'll see ya soon lol j/k

 

[IAMZIM]

I am unsure about what you mean by "suruca"? Isn't that a place in Brazil? lol! I have found gold here by "mossing", if that is similar! As far as foxtail, the area I live in does not have much foxtail, that is mostly in eastern Montana and in the northern parts on the plains. I have found gold in tree and plant roots, but no diamonds or sapphires. I would say 99% of the sapphires I have found are way too deep to be near any root systems, and really most I find are in creek beds under the water behind large boulders. One lady a few years back was jogging on a gravel road north of Great Falls Montana, and she found a 14 carat diamond on the gravel road! I however have not found any diamonds. I know they are here, but they are pretty rare to find. So, is "suruca" like when you use a sieve? I mostly will use a sluice box, then I'll use a sieve on the material from the sluice, then I pan it, that way I get sapphires AND the gold, both big and fine. Sometimes I'll re-pan my tailings too! I find all kinds of stuff, garnet, sapphire, unknown crystals, agate, even hemetite fossils! One of these times soon, I'll get some material and take a pic after I pan it to show you all the interesting stuff left in the pan! One thing I have not found, but hope to soon is platinum. There are a few creeks by Phillipsburg Mt that are supposed to have some fine platinum!

 

[Steve1236]

Sorry its saruca lol, I mean the foxtails along the creek, lowest to the water the better, it's not good for gold, gold is too heavy, I only find small flakes but a lot of heavies I mentioned, if you see a fox tail it cant hurt to try ya know. I don't gold prospect too much anymore unless its simple panning or blowing out bed rock cracks in desert washes, it's too much work lol...I've never had too much luck with gold, maybe found a few grams over the last year and a half but that's it. I like to look for interesting volcanic looking areas on sat map and then go check them out, I follow washes and drainages, blowing out cracks and if I find something rare stone wise, I trace it back to it's source, its how I found that fire agate spot.

 

[Steve1236]

Oh by the way, do you have any pics of a sapphire you've found? Id love to see a rough Montana sapphire.

 

[BIGSCOTT]

A saruca is a shallow bowl shaped sieve, you bounce it in the water and twirl it at the same
time the heavys go down from the bouncing and the water agitating the material and the twirling
creates a slight centrifigual force thats sends the heavys slightly out ward in a ring, after bouncing
and twirling you flip it upside down and look at the top of the pile.

 

[IAMZIM]

Oh by the way, do you have any pics of a sapphire you've found? Id love to see a rough Montana sapphire.

I do! Here ya go! the large ones are actually corundum, not considered sapphire because they are not transparent, some of these however can have a "star" in them if cut right! I've only had one faceted, (in the ring) it was also heat treated. The corundum I have had cabs made of a few. The rough ones you see here have not been heat treated. Still looking for a "special" one to have faceted other than the one in the ring!

 

[IAMZIM]

A saruca is a shallow bowl shaped sieve, you bounce it in the water and twirl it at the same
time the heavys go down from the bouncing and the water agitating the material and the twirling
creates a slight centrifigual force thats sends the heavys slightly out ward in a ring, after bouncing
and twirling you flip it upside down and look at the top of the pile.

Thanks! I use a home-made sieve, but it is square. Same concept except maybe a different technique.

 

[Steve1236]

Wow those are beautiful! I love gemstones, great finds!! Wish we had them here, we have garnet called ant hill garnets that are pretty but rarely even a karat in size. The qaurtz with the garnets I found, big rocks of it, I just grabbed some small peices there's drainages at the bottom of the hill do you think its worth grabbing a bucket full of sand/gravel and going through to see if there's any gem qaulity ones?

 

[DDancer]

I would.

 

[RTR]

Thats a Nice looking picker you have there Steve

 

[BIGSCOTT]

Steve, if the quartz isn't to crumbley you could cut it into slabs and polish it,
but that quartz looks a little crumbley.

 

[Steve1236]

Some is crumbly but some isn't, it was a big outcrop of this stuff sticking out of the ground so it probably goes into the hill a bit.