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Newbie needs help from diamond prospectors, Haven't been able to find someone to positively identify
TheRookie
post Aug 8 2015, 08:07 PM
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Okay, to start off with, this is my first post, here. I'm not from Colorado, and neither are the minerals I'm asking for help with. I hope that's not a rules violation. To make a long story short I was doing some gold prospecting in NE Illinois. Yes, Illinois. In with my black sands, which turned out to have some gold, but not enough to mess with, I found these:

Attached Image


After doing a little research, they look to be pyrope, I think. Let me know if you disagree.

Then I found a few rocks like this:


Attached Image


So, I extracted a bunch of the small crystals. Which look like this:


Attached Image


A lot of them still have a bit of the host rock still stuck to them, but, as is, I did a Specific Gravity test and came up with between 3.1 and 3.2 with less than lab-grade equipment. I'm working on cleaning them up some more & when completed in a day or so, will redo my SG test. I also did check the SG of the host rock and that came back at 2.5. My guess is that the cleaning will raise SG to 3.5, or so. The way I did my SG test was to weigh out a sample, then put them into a graduated cylinder half full of water to see how much water was displaced. Using water I had a bit of a problem with air bubbles that just were a bear to get rid of. Would it be better to use a light oil when I rerun my test? I've also subjected them to scratch tests up to mohs 8 (beryl). I don't have any corundum to check further, unfortunately. I've also soaked them in strong, hot acids, and also in lye, none of which has any affect on them. The only thing I've done that had an adverse affect was to heat a couple of them over an open, natural gas flame, 'til they were red-hot, which turned them an opaque white. I've taken these to jewelry shops, rock shops, and a lapidary museum. So far, no one has been able to positively identify these crystals.


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Denise
post Aug 10 2015, 08:25 AM
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Welcome to the CP forums TheRookie. Make yourself at home around the site, we have several threads that could also be helpful to you.
Some great questions and no worries, no rule violations here. It looks like Astrobleme has given you some great info. He would definitely be the man to talk to about Diamonds. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif cool.gif

Good luck out there and stay safe. We would love to hear how it turns out.


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TheRookie
post Aug 10 2015, 08:58 AM
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QUOTE (Mrs.CP @ Aug 10 2015, 10:25 AM) *
Welcome to the CP forums TheRookie. Make yourself at home around the site, we have several threads that could also be helpful to you. Some great questions and no worries, no rule violations here. It looks like Astrobleme has given you some great info. He would definitely be the man to talk to about Diamonds. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif cool.gif Good luck out there and stay safe. We would love to hear how it turns out.





Thank you. I've been lurking, on and off, for a while now. Have perused some of those other threads, was hoping for feedback from Astrobleme, and a few others, actually. If anyone has any tips, suggestions, whatever, I'm pretty open. So far, I've only screened a couple yards of sand/gravel, & found about 2 lbs. of the reddish colored rock above. As of right now, I have around 12 grams of the crystals extracted. What I haven't broken up looks like it contains about 6-8 more grams. Depending on what they turn out to be, I've got 50-75 more yards of material to go through. The larger gravel is going in my driveway, the smaller gravel on a separate pile, in case it warrants further processing. Large rocks will be used for landscaping. The sand, I'll use to break up the hard clay soil we have around here. The hole that will be left will get lined & filled with water, for a small goldfish/irrigation pond. If nothing else, I have my own, personal, gravel pit, right in my backyard.

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Posts in this topic
- TheRookie   Newbie needs help from diamond prospectors   Aug 8 2015, 08:07 PM
- - ASTROBLEME   Hello Rookie, Illinois could have glacial drift d...   Aug 8 2015, 10:55 PM
- - TheRookie   QUOTE (ASTROBLEME @ Aug 9 2015, 12:55 AM)...   Aug 9 2015, 04:34 AM
- - ASTROBLEME   TheRookie, If you have some larger crystals, I...   Aug 9 2015, 11:32 AM
|- - TheRookie   QUOTE (ASTROBLEME @ Aug 9 2015, 01:32 PM)...   Aug 9 2015, 04:12 PM
- - ASTROBLEME   TheRookie, I don't know about how holding the...   Aug 9 2015, 06:53 PM
|- - TheRookie   QUOTE (ASTROBLEME @ Aug 9 2015, 08:53 PM)...   Aug 9 2015, 08:40 PM
- - Mrs.CP   Welcome to the CP forums TheRookie. Make yourself ...   Aug 10 2015, 08:25 AM
|- - TheRookie   QUOTE (Mrs.CP @ Aug 10 2015, 10:25 AM) We...   Aug 10 2015, 08:58 AM
- - TheRookie   Some of the small ones after soaking for a couple ...   Aug 12 2015, 01:38 PM
- - Diamond Digger   Hi, First picture is garnets but not Pyrope G10 th...   Aug 14 2015, 07:19 AM
|- - TheRookie   QUOTE (Diamond Digger @ Aug 14 2015, 09:1...   Aug 14 2015, 08:12 AM
- - Kim Shaffer GG   I just happened upon this discussion in the proces...   Nov 14 2015, 08:06 PM
|- - MikeS   QUOTE (Kim Shaffer GG @ Nov 14 2015, 07:0...   Nov 15 2015, 11:56 AM
|- - Kim Shaffer GG   QUOTE (MikeS @ Nov 15 2015, 11:56 AM) Wel...   Nov 15 2015, 12:43 PM
- - GRenee1980   Hii rookie, looks like I'm not too far from yo...   May 7 2016, 08:20 PM
- - rrhobdy   Astrobleme is giving you good info. He has helped...   Aug 12 2017, 09:30 PM
- - Clay Diggins   Not all Whink is created equal. Only the brown b...   Aug 13 2017, 12:41 AM


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