Any rockhounds on board?

[billycap]

Well i must say after the last few years ive been bitten with the rockhound bug pretty hard... Have somewhat of Garnet addiction. Anyone else into collecting rocks/semi precious stones? Looking for like minded individuals to hit some new spots this year.

Have many albums of stuff i have come across in the past few years posted here:

http://s864.photobucket.com/albums/a...cpZZ1QQtppZZ16


http://s864.photobucket.com/albums/a...cpZZ3QQtppZZ16

[chain2]

what cha do with them? I pick up small red garnet in the sluice I just throw it back in the river...chain

[billycap]

Ive sent a batch of my biggest loose garnets to the states to have them checked for asterism (ability to show stars) and to have higher quality ones rounded into cabs or faceted. The larger chunks of matrix stuff (garnets in host rock) i usually sell to rock and gem shops (pays for gas and fishing trips). Depending on where you are sluicing there is a possibility you are picking up red corundum (ruby) as well as garnet so dont be too quick to throw away what you find after clean outs.

good luck out there!

[honda450]

I have some nice agate if anyone wants them. Found them in Southern Manitoba while working with a rock hound. Some nice colors.

[billycap]

Honda you should do a quick search of ebay to see what yours could be worth.. Quality agate can go for 20-50$ a pound

[honda450]

Originally Posted by billycap

Honda you should do a quick search of ebay to see what yours could be worth.. Quality agate can go for 20-50$ a pound

Like I said my co-worker was the rock hound think we came back with 2, 5 gallon pails of agate. Sirous, Manitoba is where we found them all, people come from all around to find them there. Its a tourist attraction actually.

They come in a wide variety of colours. I like the red ones. Rare though.

[Jayhad]

Originally Posted by billycap

Well i must say after the last few years ive been bitten with the rockhound bug pretty hard... Have somewhat of Garnet addiction.

wow do you ever, I pretty much only grab fossils, a few pirite(sp?) spheres but no real precious gems.... maybe this year

[WayneChristie]

Im a fossil junkie myself

[Kurt505]

I used to collect petrified wood when I worked off of a Swingstage on the high rises down town. I have about two or three 5-gallon pales of them. It's amazing how much petrified wood they use on the roofs of those buildings.

[ShawnM]

I've been involved in rock and lapidary literally my whole life. Now I facet gemstones (semi and precious) and collect interesting specimens. Finding garnet would appeal to me if I knew where in Alberta you could find it. Of course I'd be looking for gem quality, cabbing holds no interest to me...

[winger7mm]

Me I dunno what I pick up lol, But I always pick up nice and odd looking rocks and stones when Im out hunting and fishing, the last real sweet ones I pick up there appears to be some kind of snail like fossil and part of a leaf, picked up along the athabasca river near the berland river. Where would be a good online resource to look at pictures of raw rocks, so I can try and figure out what I got??

[Map Maker]

here is my daughter's little stash.
Most of the rocks were found on the Red Deer river banks (except the amethyst)



Bought a tumbler to polish them up.
Great fun.

[billycap]

Originally Posted by ShawnM

I've been involved in rock and lapidary literally my whole life. Now I facet gemstones (semi and precious) and collect interesting specimens. Finding garnet would appeal to me if I knew where in Alberta you could find it. Of course I'd be looking for gem quality, cabbing holds no interest to me...

well ive seen some nice quality garnets come from sluice boxes that run NSR dirt but they are very small... As for sources of high quality large garnets its probably cheaper and more efficient to buy them off the net as 3rd world countries have low wages.. The problem with them is they are almost all heat treated to improve quality.. I have to dig threw a lot of almandine to get any decent pyrope garnet on this side of the divide... although i hear there is some nice stuff further west of my location but these areas are mostly claimed land. My area has almost all the silica based minerals so im gathering what i can.. With almost 30+ of polished garnet i have more than enough to do some bone inlay work on some knifes im building.. the use of silver clay really makes making something nice much more easy for me.

Ill be sure n send u some samples if i find the motherload of gem quality goodness.

[billycap]

Originally Posted by winger7mm

Me I dunno what I pick up lol, But I always pick up nice and odd looking rocks and stones when Im out hunting and fishing, the last real sweet ones I pick up there appears to be some kind of snail like fossil and part of a leaf, picked up along the athabasca river near the berland river. Where would be a good online resource to look at pictures of raw rocks, so I can try and figure out what I got??

There is an outfit called Mindat on the net.. they have an identification help section... take some good pics and post them there would be your best bet.. be aware these guys/gals are pretty serious about minerals and dont have a sense of haha so be sure and read the "how too" before you post anything unless your wearing flame retardant coveralls.

Good luck with your IDs

[billycap]

Originally Posted by Map Maker

here is my daughter's little stash.
Most of the rocks were found on the Red Deer river banks (except the amethyst)



Bought a tumbler to polish them up.
Great fun.

Nice Stash!

[thumper]

It's a rare fishing/hunting excursion for me that I DON'T come home with a cool rock or two, and often my pockets are so full, and pants hanging so low that I look like a wanna-be gangsta!
I tumble the smaller ones, and they're always a hit with any kids visiting.

[AppleJax]

I collect petrified wood. 2x 300 pound stumps in my front yard, as well as lots of 1-10 pound pieces and hundreds of small pieces i find in the gravel. My wife tells me im not aloud to bring any more home but I still do!

[plinker]

When we lived in Riondel in BC I used to go out and get pails of crystals from the pit run from the Bluebell, Kootenay, and Comfort mines. Pretty cool stuff. The BC govt did a major cleanup out there a few years ago and when we went on holidays in Riondel last year we couldn't find a single one for the kids. Kinda sad. But I do still have a pretty good stash of them.

Heres a link to the cool stuff we used to find in Riondel.
http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?loc=8749

[billycap]

Originally Posted by plinker

When we lived in Riondel in BC I used to go out and get pails of crystals from the pit run from the Bluebell, Kootenay, and Comfort mines. Pretty cool stuff. The BC govt did a major cleanup out there a few years ago and when we went on holidays in Riondel last year we couldn't find a single one for the kids. Kinda sad. But I do still have a pretty good stash of them.

Heres a link to the cool stuff we used to find in Riondel.
http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?loc=8749

Thats cool stuff... to bad its all mined out cause id love to rockhound that local

[cody c]

is your garnet spot from near golden, ive gone there 2or 3 times and come home with a bunch of similar sized stuff, a few bigger ones on the last day trip and a half bucket full of small stuff gathered in a couple hours.

Apparently there is a claim for saphires down in southern BC somewhere as well.

[Red Bullets]

I have found a location quite close to home where I can find perfect 12sided garnets to 3/16" that are not fractured. They are not in gravel or rock but in clay and mud. I also have a location within 30 miles of Edmonton where a friend and I have found numerous dinosaur footprints, and dino skin imprints in the sandstone. A few teeth and bones. The area within 50 miles of Edmonton is really still to be properly prospected for minerals and fossils.

In 1958, Entwistle resident Einar Opdahl found a diamond in the banks of the Pembina River. The diamond weighed 0.83 carats (170 mg), and was described as being “a perfect octahedron with eight faces; a clear, colorless stone.”[5] Opdahl sold the diamond to gem cutter Ed Arsenault for $500. It was later claimed that Arsenault discovered the diamond.

Things are where you find them.



Opdahl and Arsenault’s discovery and the mini-boom in diamond prospecting led Entwistle to claim the title Diamond Capital of Canada in 1994.

[billycap]

Originally Posted by cody c

is your garnet spot from near golden, ive gone there 2or 3 times and come home with a bunch of similar sized stuff, a few bigger ones on the last day trip and a half bucket full of small stuff gathered in a couple hours.

Apparently there is a claim for saphires down in southern BC somewhere as well.

Kinbasket lake is where i do most of my adventures and find the majority of my garnets. You know the difference between a ruby and a sapphire? Just color.. they are just different colors of corundum. Ive looked at MTO and the area the sapphires come from is pretty claimed up so your liable to get shot at for prospecting there. Ive found lots of corundum but its clarity is lacking... so far anyway.

Happy hunting!

[billycap]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I have found a location quite close to home where I can find perfect 12sided garnets to 3/16" that are not fractured. They are not in gravel or rock but in clay and mud. I also have a location within 30 miles of Edmonton where a friend and I have found numerous dinosaur footprints, and dino skin imprints in the sandstone. A few teeth and bones. The area within 50 miles of Edmonton is really still to be properly prospected for minerals and fossils.

In 1958, Entwistle resident Einar Opdahl found a diamond in the banks of the Pembina River. The diamond weighed 0.83 carats (170 mg), and was described as being “a perfect octahedron with eight faces; a clear, colorless stone.”[5] Opdahl sold the diamond to gem cutter Ed Arsenault for $500. It was later claimed that Arsenault discovered the diamond.

Things are where you find them.



Opdahl and Arsenault’s discovery and the mini-boom in diamond prospecting led Entwistle to claim the title Diamond Capital of Canada in 1994.

Whats the clarity like on the garnets you have found? I would like to see some pics if possible. Im getting into diamond prospecting a bit at a time. My next investment will be this : http://www.uvlp.ca/HD%2035%20SWUV.htm
Very helpful for all kinds of minerals

Good finds! and close to the city too

[Reeves1]

billycap - old John Brown still above dirt ? Funny guy !

[billycap]

Just moved here in the late fall. Havent met too many of the locals yet.. Ill ask around

[Reeves1]

Originally Posted by billycap

Just moved here in the late fall. Havent met too many of the locals yet.. Ill ask around

Best place to look is the bar. Unless his liver failed

[KegRiver]

I'm not a rockhound, but I do look for agates when I get the chance.

To be honest I don't even know if what I am picking up are really agates, but that's what I was told they are.

They are semi opaque, light tan to toffee coloured. And they break in very predictable patterns. Usually sort of flat and smooth. Not like a stone, that breaks rough and ragged.

I do know where one can find large coiled sea shells in rocks along the Peace River. I was told they are Nautilus shells but again I don't know if that's true.

And I found this rock while hunting for agates;





I tried to have it identified, but no luck. So I did a bunch of research and as near as I can tell, it could be a Zircon. It appeared to be harder the quartz, other then that, I'm just guessing.

I would like to get it cut into a gem stone, but I have no idea who would do that for a private individual. I did a bunch of google searches but found nothing.

I forgot, I know where there are some rather large deposits of quartz that looks a lot like this.

[billycap]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I'm not a rockhound, but I do look for agates when I get the chance.

To be honest I don't even know if what I am picking up are really agates, but that's what I was told they are.

They are semi opaque, light tan to toffee coloured. And they break in very predictable patterns. Usually sort of flat and smooth. Not like a stone, that breaks rough and ragged.

I do know where one can find large coiled sea shells in rocks along the Peace River. I was told they are Nautilus shells but again I don't know if that's true.

And I found this rock while hunting for agates;





I tried to have it identified, but no luck. So I did a bunch of research and as near as I can tell, it could be a Zircon. It appeared to be harder the quartz, other then that, I'm just guessing.

I would like to get it cut into a gem stone, but I have no idea who would do that for a private individual. I did a bunch of google searches but found nothing.

I forgot, I know where there are some rather large deposits of quartz that looks a lot like this.

Have you tried putting up pics and info in the help ID section of mindat.org for your zircon? There is a web site called gemology online and they are mostly all gem cutters.. just be sure you have a proper identification before you send it away to be cut! Very nice quartz clusters too

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by billycap

Have you tried putting up pics and info in the help ID section of mindat.org for your zircon? There is a web site called gemology online and they are mostly all gem cutters.. just be sure you have a proper identification before you send it away to be cut! Very nice quartz clusters too

Thanks for the info. I had not found those sites.

Yeah, I soon found out that there are lots of folks who would gladly take it off my hands for free, if I would allow them to. And some wanted to even without my permission.

The quartz and the Nautilus shells are easy to find. The agates are a bit harder to find. But if anyone is interested, and in the area, I would show them where to find the agates and the shells. The quartz is a bit far though.
I found those in the pits up at Pine Point, in the NWT.

[Erik]

I haven't done any rockhounding in Alberta, but I did lots growing up in B.C. There is lots of placer gold in the Omineca with lots of of garnet, some nifty agate and even the odd diamond. If I had spare time I'd love to get back into this, but hunting and fishing usually eat up all my spare outdoors time.