Jasper outcrop worth a look?

[Smokehouse_83]

Getting to be that time of year again. I was shown a large Jasper outcrop last summer kind of in the middle of nowhere. Looking at land matters the only mineral claims around are all uranium and one aluminum. It’s on a knoll right next to a large canyon and surrounded by sedimentary rock, kind of a head scratcher why it’s there. It is south of all the north eastern New Mexico volcanic fields. Is there any valuable mineral that runs with Jasper?

Also are large chunks of Jasper worth anything? Like 5-100 pound chunks.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[Clay Diggins]

Jasper is a very common rock. With the minor exception of some decorative varieties it has very little value.

Being a common variety mineral it can not be claimed or mined under the Mining Act.

Heavy Pans

 

[Bejay]

While this is a little off the subject of mineralization association I would offer the following:
While Jasper is fairly common it comes in a variety of colors and has a hardness that takes a nice polish if it does not have a lot of porous/cracks. I have often gone looking for good quality jasper. Often it has conchoidal fracturing and can be napped into arrowheads etc. If I were wanting to make jewelry I would focus on using jasper in silver mountings. I would focus on creating matched color sets ( earrings….necklaces.....bracelets)….similar to what you see being done with Turquoise. My reasoning is that women like color coordinated jewelry....to wear with their color coordinated clothing. So cabbing and slabbing would be a key element to creating jewelry out of jasper. It polishes very well. I have gone out of my way to get jaspers....such as Brenda jasper in Az...but it is hard to get good quality stones there.


Bejay

 

[et1955]

One of the places I mine has little gold but the fossils and Jasper are awesome, the colors are fantastic, one type of jasper I collect I call fire jasper because of the brilliant yellow, orange and red colors in it, like holding fire in your hand. Also I will note that another place I mine has jasper but It has bands of hematite in it.

 

[OwenT]

One of the places I mine has little gold but the fossils and Jasper are awesome, the colors are fantastic, one type of jasper I collect I call fire jasper because of the brilliant yellow, orange and red colors in it, like holding fire in your hand. Also I will note that another place I mine has jasper but It has bands of hematite in it.

Oooo, I'd like to see some pictures. I never saw any out there.

 

[et1955]

Cedar ponds area. south of the sultan, hopefully I get a chance to show you the area, Root beer falls is pretty awesome.

 

[et1955]

Horse tail fossil found in the area

 

[Smokehouse_83]

Just wondering. Seems like a weird place for a hydrothermal deposit and I was wondering if anything valuable comes in and deposits with melted silica.

 

[russau]

Here in St. Louis ,Misery along the old Mississippi River channel I used to frequent a sand and gravel plate that is 5 miles east of the current Mississippi River channel and I their talings off fall I've found buckets of red & yellow Jasper. I picked up about a 5 gallon bucket of it in maybe 15 mins. I wanted to get it made into some jewelry for my wife. Most stones cutters don't want to cut this because it makes everything around then red. But I did find someone in Kansas that made the jewelry if I got him a bucket load also! I got-r-done and my wife never wore any of it......................go figure! BUT I still had fun collecting it.

 

[mike(swWash)]

Horse tail as in animal or plant?
Very cool either way.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Horse tail as in animal or plant?
Very cool either way.

The plant. Equisetum (Horsetail)

It's considered a "living fossil" because you can still find it growing today. You've probably seen it growing in swampy areas.

Heavy Pans

 

[seafox]

if you can read dan hausels book gold he talks a lot about the 3.2 milion to 2.6 milion year old green belts heavily metamorphised and host to the richest gold mines in the world. he also talks about banded iron formations and mixed with jasper. he was wyoming state geologis you can gooble his site also and much of the book info is there.

 

[OreCart]

Here in St. Louis ,Misery along the old Mississippi River channel I used to frequent a sand and gravel plate that is 5 miles east of the current Mississippi River channel and I their talings off fall I've found buckets of red & yellow Jasper. I picked up about a 5 gallon bucket of it in maybe 15 mins. I wanted to get it made into some jewelry for my wife. Most stones cutters don't want to cut this because it makes everything around then red. But I did find someone in Kansas that made the jewelry if I got him a bucket load also! I got-r-done and my wife never wore any of it......................go figure! BUT I still had fun collecting it.

Dog Gang it...we have garnet here, and I was going to make the wife a ring out of a particular nice garnet I found, and now I am wondering if it is worth the effort! (LOL)

I am in no way saying garnet is the best gem there is, it would just be neat I think to give my wife a ring with a gemstone found on our farm. It is kind of like our Christmas Trees, most of them being Charlie Brown Christmas Trees, but the good Lord let them grow here, so we use what we were given.

Good for you for making them for your wife!

 

[Mitch Dickson]

Jasper is hard to work for gold. Look for a broken bar. Sometimes you can't see quartz vein but gold may still be there in contact zones and breaks. Even if you crush some float and find that the jasper contains color it may not pay because jasper is very hard and yeilds come hard!

 

[Bejay]

Dog Gang it...we have garnet here, and I was going to make the wife a ring out of a particular nice garnet I found, and now I am wondering if it is worth the effort! (LOL)

I am in no way saying garnet is the best gem there is, it would just be neat I think to give my wife a ring with a gemstone found on our farm. It is kind of like our Christmas Trees, most of them being Charlie Brown Christmas Trees, but the good Lord let them grow here, so we use what we were given.

Good for you for making them for your wife!

My wife and I dug garnet in Ely Nevada on our way home from Rich Hill Az. We also dug Oregon Sunstones out of Lakeview Oregon. For Christmas I had some of my gold smelted and cast for a pendant that would hold a nice faceted sunstone and a couple of small faceted garnets. having been a gold miner and rock hound for almost 50 plus years I always enjoy doing things with those materials I find. I wish I had gotten into faceting a long time ago...but I let others do it now....it changes a rock like no other.


Bejay

 

[OreCart]

My wife and I dug garnet in Ely Nevada on our way home from Rich Hill Az. We also dug Oregon Sunstones out of Lakeview Oregon. For Christmas I had some of my gold smelted and cast for a pendant that would hold a nice faceted sunstone and a couple of small faceted garnets. having been a gold miner and rock hound for almost 50 plus years I always enjoy doing things with those materials I find. I wish I had gotten into faceting a long time ago...but I let others do it now....it changes a rock like no other.


Bejay

I would have liked to do that as well, but that is beyond me now. I am not well health wise, and so from medications that I take for my seizures, it makes me shake! It is great for welding...gives me that nice little weave without trying...and panning for gold...who needs to swirl...but I am only making a joke here. My hands shake a lot! :-(

But who knows. My wife is pretty crafty and wants to look for gold on us here, and loves to look at rocks and polish them up. Maybe if I cannot do it, she can?

And before I forget, good for you for doing that for your wife as well. It really shows your integrity and character!

I hate to say that my wife is underappreciated, but she has done so much for me. I could not begin to repay her...I mean we do have four daughters.

(Us on a winter hiking trip, making a survival shelter, kindling a fire, and making cocoa from a nearby stream)

 

[russau]

The memories will never be forgotten by your family! SALUTE!

 

[Bejay]

OreCart: Keep up the spirit. things change over time for sure and our health is an issue. Along the wife thoughts though: While I was down mining my AZ claim I had I met a guy and his wife and she faceted Apache Tears. She then made jewelry out of them. I bought 2 sets of earrings she made......gave them to my 2 grown daughters. No doubt your wife could learn to facet. In Portland Oregon there is a faceting guild club...and they teach members/people to facet. I have been a rock polishing guy for a long time ( I cut and polish a rock....not slab or tumble). Hope you get to share such experiences with family....it gives a purpose to our madness and "fever".



Bejay

 

[63bkpkr]

Hi OreCart, making Cocoa from a stream, likely you were in the Chocolate Mountains. If I see that picture correctly, there are three girls with grinning faces and your smiling wife is holding another daughter. Just having them willing to come out with you in winter conditions says they love and trust you a LOT. Having a loving, caring family means so very much for all of you, Congratulations! I enjoyed you teasing yourself and us about how you use your natural shaking! Keep on smiling as the other option is not worth bothering with................63bkpkr

 

[OreCart]

We are a Christian Family so we have a lot to be thankful for, and know who to thank.

We have been battered around a lot, but how can someone have a Testimony without enduring a TEST?

There is always property taxes which are an honor to pay since all of society runs upon those monies, but often difficult to come up with sometimes, a logger-friend of mine clearcutting and stealing 70 acres of our woodlot, us having to sell a pile of equipment to pay for our property taxes since we never got paid for our harvested wood, selling some of our flock of sheep off to pay bills, cancer of course, moving into a Tiny House and selling our other houses, and even enduring the loss of our youngest child (what would have been our 5th). So it has been a tough year for sure.

But through all that, I still prospected, and while I found gold, I found family and a relationship with God was even more precious. So much so, I think I am going to write a book about it. It has been quite the adventure.