Diamond indicator minerals

[Jim in Idaho]

I've been doing quite a bit of diamond prospecting In Wyoming the last 3 years. Still haven't found diamonds, but feel like I'm getting close. The pic with the penny is my largest hunk of chrome diopside. The gray material is the kimberlite matrix it came out of. That matrix, still being attached, is a good indicator I'm getting close to the source....probably within 1/2 mile, or less. The little gem weighs 3.8 carats, and is about 3/8" long.
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Here's a pic of some of the indicator gems sitting on a flashlight lens. The red is pyrope garnet, and the emerald green is Cape Emerald, or chromian diopside. There's also a piece of Olivine, or peridot at the upper right... a dirty olive green. These gems were recovered from a drywash using my homebuilt mineral jig.....and, of course, a lot of digging...LOL
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Here's a couple of pics of a faceted pyrope garnet. This little gem less than 1/8" across. It was my first attempt at a semi-precious stone.

 

[KinTN]

Nice looking stuff there, Jim. If I could ever convince the wife to retire, I'd be out in the desert seeking my fortune too.

 

[old lineman]

I don't have a faceting machine, I've had friends tell me that they like faceting more than other cutting. Looks like a really good job for a first cut. Did that come from Arizona? Where I Idaho do you live?

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I live in southeastern Idaho, about 90 miles north of the Utah border, and about 90 miles west of the Wyoming line. That gem came from Wyoming. It's a tyoe of garnet brought to the surface by the same magma that carries diamonds. You can have garnets with no diamonds, but you won't have diamonds with no garnets. The other obvous indicator is the chromian diopside. I got the gem pics mixed...those are actually two different stones...both cut from pyrope garnet rough.
Jim

 

[old lineman]

You must live close to Blackfoot. Worked up that way quite a few times.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Yup...live 5 miles north of Blackfoot, and 1/2 mile west of I-15.
Jim

 

[old lineman]

Went up there in 1996 when the line to arco burned down in a fire

 

[Ma Betty in MO]

collecting rocks of all kinds...just like my mother....When my ex and I used to travel in different states on our vacations, I and my kids would find rocks and bring them home! I have some in boxes but haven't looked at them for years! When it came to hobbies, I had several but my health and finances won't allow me to do much of anything any longer! Sure do miss MD'ing and rock collecting and etc.! Stay well and keep on keepin' on with your rock and gem collecting! Ma

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Thanks, Ma. Sorry to hear of your health issues. This getting old ain't for sissies, is it? I'm going to keep going as long as I have the legs to do it. I'm just waiting for winter to get over to get bacl out there. Around here the winters are usually close to 5 months long. I live at about 4400', and my diamond prospecting area is close to 7,000, so it will be cold and snowy there until at least mid-April, maybe later.
Jim

 

[Ma Betty in MO]

You are welcome Jim, and I hope you can continue going, searching and collecting for many, many years.. I just wish I still could but all things come to an end sooner or later and mine was sooner! :sad: Ma

 

[giuhalftrack]

very good !!!! chrome diopside is the thing that big companies are focused on

 

[D-Tex]

Jim in Idaho; The only Garnet that is of interest in diamond prospecting is a G10

and they can only be identified by the use of a Electron Micro-probe.

giuhalftrack; Chrome-diopside is only one very small piece of the puzzle not

"the thing" ,

If you really expect to find a diamond deposit, you really need to

study the subject a lot more than you have, and even them your chances

are so small that you would be well advised to be looking for something

less specialized. I'm not trying to sound like a smart ass but those are facts.

There is a lot of information out there that with out it your at " hobby level "

an yes, you could really find one someday, maybe if you live long enough.

The known diamond bearing areas in Wyoming have been eroded an

estimated 4000 feet and any diamonds that were in that ground are

scattered for un calculated miles, and the indicator minerals that were

with them. I to have searched for Wyoming diamonds but I studied

the subject very hard to start with so I know what is involved. Again

I will recommend you obtain all the information you can get your hands

on from those that are the ones that learned the long hard way and found

them, and your chances will go way up in the time you have left to hunt them.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

WELL...I guess you've made the assumption I have done no research, and know next-to nothing about what I'm doing. Your statement doesn't agree with all that I've read. I already knew about the erosion of pipes in the "known" areas. I'm not working in a "known" area. I've yet to see anybody making a big discovery in the "known" area, other than a couple of spots, and they haven't been big enough to run commercial operations, other than Sloan Ranch, which is not running now. I guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing, until I see somebody else doing better. So far, that hasn't happened.
I would be the first to say I'm not an expert. But, it's pretty presumptious on your part to assume I've done little, or nothing, to increase my knowledge.
Jim

 

[giuhalftrack]

giuhalftrack; Chrome-diopside is only one very small piece of the puzzle not

"the thing" ,

ohh interesting !! I'm not so specialized in this kind of prospecting only have read 1 or 2 papers about it

 

[D-Tex]

My reply was not to imply you know no thing about it , just that there's are a lot of " bits " of

information that a person will not know about unless they do a great deal more research than

normal. The knowledge that has been published in books, special reports , company files ,

government reports ( our own and others world wide ) is available if one hunts it down, ( no

easy job in some cases ) nor cheap in any case. But that's what a person needs to study

to improve there chances of locating any diamond deposit ( other than pure blind luck ).

You said you have yet to see anybody make a big enough deposit to support a commercial

operation other than Sloan Ranch, true ,they are not in operation at this time, but it's not

because there is no diamonds in there ground, but problems in there company that is not

open for public view. Very few " pipes " found ( something like 2% ) have a tonnage grade

large enough to support a commercial operation even a small one. I know of three major

players in diamond mining that have hunted in Wyoming and failed to locate a deposit of

any size worthy of spending more than exploration money, and they spent a very large

amount doing that. Was I being " presumptuous " in my " assumptions " about your knowledge ?

Not at all, I have no way to know what your IQ of the subject is or where you got it from, I

am only trying to point out that at very best, most people have really very little knowledge

about how diamonds are formed and why they are found where they are , and most

importantly what can help to locate them in an amount that can support mining them.

This applies to some trained geologist as well for the simple fact that the hunting and finding

of diamonds is so specialized and entails process's that everyday prospectors have no

access to due to there cost ( as in E.M.P., large tonnage samples, geophysics, there chemistry,

and the chemistry of the all important " pathfinder elements " just to name a few ).

As to hunting for them in an "un-known" area, unless your standing on a pipe, any other area

could be called an un-known area, hunch, long-shot, feeling or what ever you want to call it,

It has been done before and will most likely be done again by someone, somewhere, sometime,

and I wish you all the luck in your quest, GOOD LUCK !

.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

OK...here's where you got on the wrong side of me. First, you suggested I had intimated that chrome diopside was the only important gem in finding pipes. I never said that. Second, you said if I was going to find anything I was going top do a lot more study and research than I'd done already. You don't know anything about me, or what I've studied, or haven't studied, to make that statement. I'm trying to figure out why you even posted, other than to make yourself look "expert" at my expense. You haven't increased anyone's knowledge on the subject....simply mocked me for my thread. I appreciate the "good luck" you wished me. I'd feel better if I thought it was sincere.
Jim

 

[D-Tex]

Sorry Jim ; My reply to your post was not intended to " get on the wrong side of you or any one else.

I wish you would read my reply again with the thought in mind that I only trying to point out that what

is in it was put in it with good intentions not to belittle your knowledge or effort and most certainly not

to make myself out as some sort of " expert " . You said I haven't increased anyone's "knowledge" on

the subject, well I think that depends on how you look at the content of what I posted. You took offence

at my reply as "mocked you and your thread", to this I will only comment that if a person post anything

on a public forum they should be of thick enough skin to expect replies that don't agree with them and

that they are not being " mocked " because of there replies. And yes my " Good Luck " was sincere or

I would have said " Lots of luck fella " .

 

[OCDfinder]

That faceted gem is great! inspired my interest, always wanted to do something with the rocks filling up my house...What is your story, how did you get to the point to create something that nice?