Cakewalk Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I picked up this little guy from the Date Creek Ranch area today. I guessing the small, darker stones are garnet. I have found a bunch like this and am wondering if you can confirm my suspicions? They are all Deltoidal icositetrahedron shaped. ( thats google, not me... Im not THAT smart! )If I did an Oxalic acid bath for the quartz, would it damage the other material?Sorry if this is a newbie question.... Thanx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Nice crystal , whats the dimentions?They certainly look like garnet , however one of the most common minerals associated with the crystals there is a Pseudomorph of Limonite after Pyrite. Your crystal habit though says Garnet. What variety , I wouldnt know. It there any color to it? it is opaque or translucent?No, I dont think oaxalic acid would hurt anything. but I would suggest CLR & tooth brush for the material there.Did you find that in one of my fresh tailings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nugget Shooter Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Wow very nice specimen! I will wait for more experienced answers, but is it reddish like Garnet or could it be Hematite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cakewalk Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 Nice crystal , whats the dimentions?They certainly look like garnet , however one of the most common minerals associated with the crystals there is a Pseudomorph of Limonite after Pyrite. Your crystal habit though says Garnet. What variety , I wouldnt know. It there any color to it? it is opaque or translucent?No, I dont think oaxalic acid would hurt anything. but I would suggest CLR & tooth brush for the material there.Did you find that in one of my fresh tailings? Actually I found a pocket of them by accident.... stopped to drink some water, spotted a nice speciman and began digging. They were all floaters... Yielded quite a few good ones. Dimensions are about 2 inches wide and about 2 inches tall. All the garnets I have found at date creek are very dark and opaque. Some are actually free formed, not attached to any matrix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockhunter1620 Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Hey Cakewalk, ya know there are about 15 known garnet species, with the 3 most common bein Pyrope, Almandine and Spessartine, and yers lookin like Spessartine. A little further north in Montana in the Eldorado Bar area, gem quality Spessartine has been mined. It's a manganese aluminum silicate, leaves a white streak, 4.2 sp. gr., 7-7.5 hardness, could be combined with Almandine, thats not uncommon. I'm guessin you cut it from a granite or a granitic pegmatite, or some other type of metamorphic host rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihailovici179 Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Pyrite and quartz, I think.Best regardsMihail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldfinger Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 What a nice specimen. Looks like garnet to me also. What is the size of the crystal?Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cakewalk Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 The cluster is about 2 inches square and was not cut from a host rock, it was found with other similiar specimans, but seperate from each other a few inches below the surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haderly Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 That is very nice specimen. I’ve wanted to go out to Date Creek but never got around to it. That piece sure is some motivation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Refering back to my comment , and the fact that I have never found a garnet out there (now that I think about it) I will have to say that it is most likely limonite after Pyrite. The place is littered with unique specimens of this mineral and is very commonly associated with the quartz there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haderly Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I was a little puzzled since I usually think of pyrite in the cubic form. After looking pyrite also comes as pyritohedron crystals which look like what you have. So Adam may have nailed it as limonite pseudomorph after pyrite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigrex Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Garnet is about 6.5 to 7.5 in hardness, Limonite is about 4.5, so if you can scratch is with glass (5 in hardness) or if you can't, you'll probably have your answer with that test. I would pick an inconspicuous spot to test it if at all possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cakewalk Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 Garnet is about 6.5 to 7.5 in hardness, Limonite is about 4.5, so if you can scratch is with glass (5 in hardness) or if you can't, you'll probably have your answer with that test. I would pick an inconspicuous spot to test it if at all possible.They do not scratch glass..... So I suppost the final answer is not garnet! Still pretty cool though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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