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Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums _ Gem and Mineral Specimen Finds or Processes _ Mineral/GemStone Safety

Posted by: ChrisSmith Mar 26 2017, 07:27 PM

I have been working with the following crushed stones (putting them into jewelry) and I wanted to ask if there were any known hazards from working with them or if there were any precautions or certain handling procedures I should be following (in terms of stones being toxic to use by mixing in resin or being wet ground/polished on a lapidary)? I tried to see if there were MSDS sheets for each stone- but I had no luck finding any. (Although I did find stories about malachite being toxic and pyrite releasing sulfuric acid when wet… but I'm not sure how to deal with any of these safely and would just like to make sure I'm doing the right thing!)

Here's what I have been using:

Bismuth
Jet
Amazonite
Pyrite
Howlite
Malachite
Tiger Eye
Sodalite
Peridot
Lepidolite
Lapis
Red Opal
Turquoise

I'd appreciate any help/advice you can give me!

Posted by: MikeS Mar 26 2017, 07:52 PM

Welcome to the forums Chris!!

I don't know of any specific problems with the stones listed.

Breathing any rock dust is not good for you so make sure you are working the stones wet.