Diamonds? Options

[Frenchman]

So I finally got around to looking more closely at the heavies from last years panning season. I was originally panning for gold but later discovered after some research that there's almost no gold in the area where I live. However, after even more research I discovered there are numerous known kimberlite and lamproite intrusions in the crust in my area. So I went to one of these locations with my gold pan and shovel and started digging and panning in a creek downstream. I should note that my panning skills aren't the best and I might have been too careful and leaving quartz in the pan.









Pictures taken with a samsung s6 through a 15x loupe.
Thoughts and feedback are greatly appreciated!

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[timloco]

Cool! I live in the Fort and I've been pouring over geo maps scheming places to pan diamonds. bunch of diamond pipes west/northwest of town. I'm pretty new to panning in general but it's pretty much the same as gold?

[Frenchman]

Cool! I live in the Fort and I've been pouring over geo maps scheming places to pan diamonds. bunch of diamond pipes west/northwest of town. I'm pretty new to panning in general but it's pretty much the same as gold?

Just like any heavy material, diamond will stay longer in a gold pan than lighter material. Keep in mind diamonds have a specifc gravity of about 3.5 which means it's about 3.5 times as heavy as water whereas gold is 19.2 times as heavy as water. This means loosing diamonds in the panning process is much more easy than loosing any gold if you're not careful.

[leonard]

Just like any heavy material, diamond will stay longer in a gold pan than lighter material. Keep in mind diamonds have a specifc gravity of about 3.5 which means it's about 3.5 times as heavy as water whereas gold is 19.2 times as heavy as water. This means loosing diamonds in the panning process is much more easy than loosing any gold if you're not careful.

Panning for diamonds is kind of misleading. It works by weight separation but not quite like gold panning. Take a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEmRpGuVw5Y I know it for sapphires but the process is about the same for diamonds. This was at Gem Mountain in Montana. It demonstrates the same process taught at https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&a...ZNFewAaLECYIRGw Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. The type of screen may vary but the process is about the same.

Leonard