Any rock hounds?

[bman3725]

Can anyone identify these black rocks? Im starting to find them in an area I've been searching/panning.

 

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[CoinFetcher]

leaverite.

What do you want it to be?

Are they magnetic?

Why are the photos so poor?

Do they feel heavy, like metal?

Nothing is popping out at me. I usually collect rocks for a certain reason, why did you collect these?

Maybe some Botryoidal hematite, but the photos just aren't working out.

 

[Gunrunner61]

look kinda like slag outta a firebox to me.........?

 

[rock]

I was thinking slag also. I find them in water and on banks

 

[bman3725]

These were found in some concentrate I've been panning thats been through a sluice I've started seeing these black pebbles. Yes they are heavy not magnetic and very hard

 

[bman3725]

I've got the same results no matter how I take a pic of them. This is what it is. Coming from a creek miles from nowhere black non porous heavy rocks all no bigger than a dime.

 

[Gold Maven]

hit one with a hammer, see if it crushes or flattens out.

 

[CoinFetcher]

Also, get jiggy with a scratch test!

steel knife
quartz crystal

 

[bman3725]

Ok what am I looking for with a scratch or hammer test. Lol

 

[Bajahunter]

Hardness/scratch test: take a piece of quartz and try to scratch one. Use a magnifing glass to see if you left a mark on the scratchie or if the scratcher was ground down. It can often leave a trail that looks like a scratch.
If it is scratched by quartz then it' s hardness is less than 7. If not scratched then it is harder than a 7. Use this info to narrow down posibilities. Hardened steel file is a hardness 6.
Hitting one with a hammer will only tell you how it cleaves. Should be able to tell by looking at some of the already broken ones.
They look like garnets to me. Can't tell by the photo. Try using natural light with rocks on a solid background.

 

[CoinFetcher]

Hardness/scratch test: take a piece of quartz and try to scratch one. Use a magnifing glass to see if you left a mark on the scratchie or if the scratcher was ground down. It can often leave a trail that looks like a scratch.
If it is scratched by quartz then it' s hardness is less than 7. If not scratched then it is harder than a 7. Use this info to narrow down posibilities. Hardened steel file is a hardness 6.
Hitting one with a hammer will only tell you how it cleaves. Should be able to tell by looking at some of the already broken ones.
They look like garnets to me. Can't tell by the photo. Try using natural light with rocks on a solid background.

You remember the game Mortal Kombat? You would have to break ever increasing in hardness stones.

You started with Glass - about a 5
move up to quartz - about a 7
then you go to ruby - 8
then you top out a diamond. The hardest at a - 10

You can narrow down the makeup of your unknown, by seeing what it can scratch, and seeing what scratches it. For instance, with a Ruby, you can scratch Quartz. But, you cannot scratch a diamond with that ruby. Also, glass will never be hard enough to scratch a ruby. Scratching is different from Smashing. you can take a steel hammer , and absolutely decimate a tiny diamond. That would be crushing it, not scratching it.

Also, when I find some kind of rock, it has to have some kind of attraction factor. Agates, clear quartz, gold, ect. When I find small ugly black pebbles that are not Metal, I call it Leaverite. As in Leave-her-right there.

Leave 'er right here.

you have now have the tools to determine if your chubs are valueable.

Also, with a bright LED, does it have a color? Brown/red/Green/Purple? Garnet seems like a good guess. NOT RUBY - I bet a quartz scratches these things.

 

[Gold Maven]

The hammer will tell you a lot more than how it cleaves, they may be metal, the black may just be a coating.......hit one, what have you got to lose? A black rock?

I love smashing rocks......don't we all?

 

[PYRATE]

Take photos on a darker surface in bright light - the rocks aren't being exposed enough because there is too much white in your photo.

 

[bman3725]

Ok smash test complete some looked like rust on the inside and some looked black with crystals of various color

 

[Gunrunner61]

You finding these things in alabama?

 

[rock]

Might be iron ore creek stained and water tumbled.

 

[Bum Luck]

Ok smash test complete some looked like rust on the inside and some looked black with crystals of various color

Hematite

 

[bman3725]

Yep found in central BAMA. I think iron ore could very well be a possibility considering there have been old ore mines North of the area, just funny that im seeing them now in my sluice and haven't before.