Kimberlite pipes Options

[Diamond Digger]

Astro,
As it is this deposit is quite some distance away from the state line, but so far the test we ran looks good, waiting on the bulk sample permits then we will give it a good going over.

Like your picture, that looks like a run to me, meaning the lava flowed away from the pipe and formed a thick layer of kimberlite that's now in the weathering process. Needs sampling!!

DD

DD,

Looks like you are onto a deposit with characteristics of the State Line Mining District. As far as I know, all kimberlite pipes in the district carry diamonds. Now you just have to wash the gems out of the sticky blue-green mud.

If you are in a crater lake setting, then the diamonds and garnets will be highly concentrated over the eons of wave action as they cannot wash out away from the pipe diatreme that is surrounded by granite walls. If you are in a stream setting that is cutting across the pipe, then the diamonds will concentrate as other heavy minerals do. They are just harder to collect the further away from the pipe that the stream travels. I've attached a photo of a stream that is developing a placer containing the blue-green clay that I discovered 10 or 11 years ago. You can see the close resemblance to what you've found.

I certainly am excited by the looks of your pit photos.

Congratulations!

[Diamond Digger]

A few Pictures of Pyrope Garnets in the Kimberlite nodule and out of it.
Have fun
DD

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[ASTROBLEME]

DD,

Those are very nice. Great work.

[Diamond Digger]

Astrobleme,

One of my young guys stumbled across this a few days ago... tested it. Diamondiferous Kimberlite exposed right on top of the ground.
Of course it is now claimed done and dusted.
Onward's and upwards!
Cannot wait to get my teeth stuck into this bit!
DD

Pic 1 Overview of the area
Pic 2 A few indicators.
Have fun out there!

[Diamond Digger]

Astrobleme,

One of my young guys stumbled across this a few days ago... tested it. Diamondiferous Kimberlite exposed right on top of the ground.
Of course it is now claimed done and dusted.
Onward's and upwards!
Cannot wait to get my teeth stuck into this bit!
DD

Pic 1 Overview of the area
Pic 2 A few indicators.
Have fun out there!

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[Musk_Rat]

[quote name='Diamond Digger' date='Aug 23 2015, 01:59 AM' post='39851']

New to group and am hitting the ground running.

What I wouldn't do to get DD and Astrobleme in the same room give them a topic for discussion and then just sponge it all up. DD I spent two stints in Southern Africa. Once studying black rhinos in Namibia and again working with Southern Ground Hornbills in Northern SA and Kruger. I have friends that still live in fear because of the violence and land reparations. Seems like just about everybody loses out...the people, the land, and the wildlife...sad. A piece of me will always be in Africa and I can't wait to be able to go back.

But back to happier things, those "indicator minerals" on the ground in the second picture, is that what I think I've read other people referring to in other posts as lava ash? Is this correct? Are these like xenoliths or do they form in the kimberlitic process. I'm so new to this and have been just read, read, read, reading and hound, hound, hound, hounding. I'm looking for heavy and shiny things , but also keep anything that looks out of the ordinary along with location in case later if/when I learn more, I can go back to sites I may have been too ignorant to know they were good in the first place lol. This seems to be the case with these. I found very similar looking stones in the past but because of how far back in I'd hiked, I only took a few small ones and snapped a gps point. Now of course I can't find the stones I took, but I have the gps and I don't need it because I remember right where they were. Tell me if I'm wrong or over-simplifying but to me they felt and looked like green, purple, yellow limestone that got thrown into lava for a bit, partially melted, and then yanked back out.

Thank you so much and I look forward to learning more.

[Diamond Digger]

Musk Rat,
Welcome to the forum!

Well what you suggested has been done! Astro and I have met and been together in my truck looking at possible Kimberlite pipes.
Was great meeting the guy even though our trip ended up with no Kimberlites or indicators found. Cost me a pretty penny but that's all part of prospecting.
That trip I did manage to find a kimberlite pipe and managed to secure it.



Here is Shea one of my guys sitting on top of the exposed Kimberlite




When prospecting for diamond bearing kimberlites this is what you are looking for, G 10 Pyrope (fire) garnets and Chromium diopside (green) crystals.
These have been weathered out of the host rock.




This is what they look like still in the host rock Kimberlite.



And the real thing you are looking for!


Hope this helps!
PS the light green CR crystals are very brittle and only travel about .75 miles away from a pipe in a river setting, before its crushed to powder.
So if you find them you are close!
DD

[Musk_Rat]

Hey thanks for the reply Diamond Digger. What a trip just finding that pile weathering out of the host rock . I haven't gotten that close, but have some very interesting things I've found while panning a few waterways up there. The fires (and my day job) made it really tough to get much done on public land this past season. But I'm excited to explore some targets more thoroughly and see what this summer brings.

Then what I hear you saying is don't bother looking for anything else other than what you pictured lol.

[Musk_Rat]

[quote name='Diamond Digger' date='Jan 31 2021, 03:11 AM' post='48826']

Diamond digger will you check out a post i put up on the member side? It's something I've found that I think is significant, but I'd like to know if you think the same.

[Diamond Digger]

Just copy the link here MR

[Musk_Rat]

Just copy the link here MR

http://www.coloradoprospector.com/forums/i...?showtopic=5664

Let me know if that works! Thanks again!

[Diamond Digger]

Let me know if that works! Thanks again!


no password protected so copy it here.
DD

[Denise]

Welcome Musk Rat!
That section of the forums is for CP club members only.
You are more than welcome to post your picture in this thread also though.

[Musk_Rat]

Let me know if that works! Thanks again!


no password protected so copy it here.
DD

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[Musk_Rat]

Specimen 1: I found this specimen in river gravels while panning and it stood out because it felt like glass in my hand and was very heavy but was covered in river scum. And honestly I wish I could say I'm some geological genius, but really I kept it because it was very heavy and different than anything else I'd seen. As well, I could feel the circular indentations you'll see on the one side of the stone. I'm hoping this wasn't the stupidest thing I could do but I used diamond polishing pads (for polishing marble counter tops) to clean it up to better see what it was composed of. Once I started to see what I had, I decided to stop in case I was ruining the specimen or doing something stupid. Additionally, it wasn't taking well to the polishing (very hard material) compared to other stones I'd polished in this manner.

The first two photos are with my phone. Then the rest are with my digital microscope. The last photo you can see the pyrope shining through the blue mineral (kyanite?, eclogite?)

Thanks for the help and anyone else out there that could shed some light.