# Any Rockhounds around?



## acpeacemaker (Apr 8, 2015)

Yesterday my son and I, went walking at a creek by our house. I stumbled across a railroad spike which there are no tracks around. When I went to bend down to pick it up I noticed a spot of blue in the dirt. Picked it up and saw some green as well. Which is the pic with all the little pieces. I'm not sure what they are. They look like dyed quartz, and look a lot like aquarium gravel for fish tanks. I broke a couple open and their transparent color goes all the way through. It doesn't make since because we are literally miles out in the middle of nowhere up in the mountains. I can't see someone coming out here to dump/clean a tank? 
A few more yards away we started finding a lot fossils, a lot of petrafied wood, and some type of spongy metamorphic outcropping. Started flipping them over and a lot of them look like poor quality turquoise. Which around this area is supposed to produce some really nice stuff.. They say that's how some of the gold mines started up here. Where there was turquoise the gold followed.

Thanks 
Andrew


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## Golddigger Greg (Apr 8, 2015)

Very interesting find! 
I've found unusual is good when it's comes to prospecting, follow up on your hunch by first visiting the County Recorders' office to see if there are mineral claims in the area you are interested in. Hopefully the ground is open for you prospect! In gold country gems are often passed over for richer diggings. Good Luck!


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 8, 2015)

It's funny that you mentioned aquarium gravel. That was my first thought about the first picture, even before I read you post. With a natural mineral, I would expect some pieces to be a mixture of the two colors, but there seem to be distinctly blue pieces, and distinctly "turqoise" colored pieces. 

Are the second and third photos the same material with different lighting, or is it different material?

Dave


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## acpeacemaker (Apr 8, 2015)

Thanks Golddigger  I have looked for claims in this general area and there aren't any. The spike made me think there is an old abandonded mine, maybe collapsed, somewhere around. 

Dave, the first picture is completely different material than the other two pics. They were buried on top of a wash where the water rode high. The green is almost malachite green but its transparent. The blue is almost a lapis blue but transparent as well.
The other two pics resemble a lot like really poor quality turquoise I've seen before. A lot of this is attached to a black porous material. Which there is a well known turquoise mine up here. We found it mostly sun dried a few yards away. Found a few agates as well. Then my son got into a trail of petrafied wood and I couldn't make him leave it. He brought like ten lbs of it home. Sigh....

Thanks 
Andrew


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## Richard36 (Apr 8, 2015)

Emerald and Saphire ... possibly? 
See if a broken edge of each color (green/blue stones) will scratch a quartz crystal, if so, do further investigation.


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 8, 2015)

Ok. They looked quite different to me. There is one piece in the first photo that looks more like the second and third pictures. There are quite a few copper based minerals that can occur together, including turquoise, malachite, azurite, chrysocola, etc. There are other rockhounds here that are more current than I am. I've been away from the rock hobby for a long time.

The rock hobby isn't as strong as it once was, but there are still plenty of collectors who will pay for better specimens.

Dave


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## acpeacemaker (Apr 8, 2015)

Richard,
Thanks for the reply. Do you know if we have emeralds here? I haven't found anything on mindat that would suggest it. We do have peridot as I have found them here. (Not gem quality) 

Ill do as you suggested though and see what happens. Can you tell what the last pic might be?

Thanks
Andrew


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## acpeacemaker (Apr 8, 2015)

Dave,
Your absolutely right that one good chunck in the first pic is from the others in the bottom pics. Whoops..sorry  
Thanks 
Andrew


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 8, 2015)

Depending on the size and quality, some might consider that as cabachon grinding rough. Colorado hosts the the number two gem and mineral show in this country. You can Google it, but I think they run a show twice each year. You might be able to score a little gold for that blue. 8) 

Dave


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## Richard36 (Apr 8, 2015)

The second and third photos are of a ferro-magnesian mineral, at least the portions that are blue green. The brownish translucent material is zinc-rich silicate. The presence of these materials indicates an area of enrichment on the outskirts of a magmatic pluton that came close the surface creating hydrothermal vents systems, and are the source of emplacement of various metallic oxide and sulfide minerals.

All lead and zinc bearing minerals are prime material to have assayed/tested for gold and silver content, 
as lead and zinc work in hydrothermal solutions as collectors and precipitants of precious metals the same way those metals work in refining and assaying.

Sorry that I've been gone for so long everyone, but I'm still around, and likely back.


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## Richard36 (Apr 8, 2015)

I'd love to have a gram of each color from the first photo to look at and post my findings on.
Message me for a mailing address if interested.


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## Richard36 (Apr 8, 2015)

acpeacemaker said:


> Richard,
> Thanks for the reply. Do you know if we have emeralds here? I haven't found anything on mindat that would suggest it. We do have peridot as I have found them here. (Not gem quality)
> 
> Ill do as you suggested though and see what happens. Can you tell what the last pic might be?
> ...




What area of Colorado? 
According to what I know, Rubies, Saphires, and Emeralds are intimately associated with Syenite and Nepheline Syenite, which are magmatic differentiation products of a Granitic magma, or as a contact remelt product in association with Gabbro and Granite. Colorado has both, Granite and Gabbro.


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## acpeacemaker (Apr 8, 2015)

Dave
I just went through Denver and actually seen signs up for it a while ago. I used to frequent the Tuscon show quite a bit, but now kind of out of the loop. Gold is where you find it, perhaps someone else's pocket.  

Richard, 
I'm in the Cripple Creek / Victor mining district. I just did a scratch test on glass and of course it did. Then quartz and it did. Then paper. The green left a faint green mark with continuous rubbing. The blue wouldn't do anything. I don't mind sending you some. I have a 32 oz cup full and there was a lot more out there. Send me an address. But would like to save face when they come back as aquarium gravel. :lol: Honestly it would make no sense for it to be for where I found them.

Thanks for all the info as well, that helps a lot. Do you have any good reads for field guides?

Thanks 
Andrew


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## Richard36 (Apr 9, 2015)

I'll pm you my mailing address. Thanks for sending a sample.
Here are the field guides that I recommend.

Simon & Schuster's guide to Rocks and Minerals.
National Audubon Society field guide to North American Rocks and Minerals.
Dorling and Kindersley Handbooks - Rocks and Minerals, by Chris Pellant.


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## METLMASHER (Apr 9, 2015)

I'll guess aquarium gravel first pic, ( After viewing magnified; looks likely to have been dyed. The color range is exterior, and very uniform. ) 

Agate with copper content ( and likely small amounts silver ) in the second, and third pics. Good color like that, plus size, and like you say, gold is where you find it. 8)


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