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Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums _ Gem and Mineral Specimen Finds or Processes _ What is this cheeto-orange mineralization?

Posted by: CrazySanMan Aug 4 2018, 05:09 PM

I was on a gold claim near Idaho Springs this morning and I came across this outcropping of the orangest rock I've ever seen. The outcropping hasn't been dug and these pieces were sitting on the surface. What kind of mineralization is this intense orange? It's a cheetos or cheese puff orange, very intensely colored. I've seen iron rust that is a dull orange, but nothing like this.

Here's a cell phone picture in the shade, the color is more vivid than it appears here.

http://s893.photobucket.com/user/crazysanman/media/Rockhounding/20180804_165434_zpss8uqvmhd.jpg.html

Posted by: EchoBravo Aug 6 2018, 07:30 AM

Uranium 285..? always hard to tell from a picture. But it does have that mustardy color.

Posted by: CrazySanMan Aug 7 2018, 05:49 AM

QUOTE (EchoBravo @ Aug 6 2018, 08:30 AM)

Uranium 285..? always hard to tell from a picture. But it does have that mustardy color.

I used my Geiger counter last night on the .1 scale and the needle barely moved when it was brought over the rocks, so thankfully it's not radioactive.

Posted by: EchoBravo Aug 8 2018, 07:23 AM

Was just kidding about the Uranium but you never know as I have seen old Uranium mines marked in a few researched places. I've also seen jasper as yellow.. have you tried to do a scratch test? See if its in the 6.5 - 7.5 range on the MOHS? Maybe do a streak test on a piece of ceramic to see if it streaks in another color? At least those will help narrow down the rock a bit. Just a couple of ideas..

Posted by: NewRockHounder Aug 13 2018, 09:50 PM

PHOTOS DO NOT DO ROCKS JUSTICE!!!

Take more pics!

Quick glance, it looks like leaverite. Pegmatite - decomposed granite. With some sort of coating - that'd probably come off with a 24 hour dip in iron out.