Gem Silica - Many Aren't Aware Of A Very Valuable Mineral

[jasong]

Gem silica is more rare and generally more valuable than chrysoprase, the next most vaulable chalcedony. It can sell for hundreds, or even thousands of dollars and ounce for prime, gem grade pieces.

2 years ago I discovered some old workings which I assume were initially copper prospects. A bit of research showed that an old gem chrysoprase mine from the 50's had been located a few miles away. I was unable to find the chrysoprase mine so I think that it was mislocated by authors of the paper, and I also think the owner and the authors misidentified the gem material, and the discovery I made is likely this mislocated "chrysoprase mine". The material at my discovery is what is called "gem silica" though.

Chrysoprase gets it's green color from nickel. Gem silica gets it blue color from copper. I zapped the gem material with my XRF and it shows a healthy dose of copper and silicon, with minor impurities, meaning that my material is definitely gem silica. Gem silica has a hardness the same as quartz so it is resistant to scratches and good for jewelery.  It resemebles chrysocolla which has similar colors (but less transparency) but chrysocolla only has a hardness of 2-4, meaning it makes a poor jewelery material as it can be damaged easily compared to gem silica with a hardness of 7, which is one reason why gem silica is valuable, aside from it's rarity.

I removed this material with a rotary hammer and feathers and wedges. It causes it to fracture a bit more than I'd like. Next time I plan on taking my concrete saw out and trying to remove it in blocks. 

Much is fractured, so getting large, continuous pieces is difficult. Also, many parts of the vein end up with either iron or manganese impurities in it, causing a blackish tint and this reduces the quality according to traditional measures. Though, I think some of the blue/black pieces could be fashioned into some desirable jewelry as it is very unique.

Interestingly, I did find some copper ore nearby that registered up to 150 ppm nickel. So, there may yet be a chrysoprase mine nearby for me to discover still. Either way, gem silica is a very rare and valuable material that few have heard of, so I thought I'd share a post on a bit of work I did at my mining claim to remove some samples for economic and scientific analysis.

[phrunt]

That's really cool Jason, thanks for the post.

[Wendell Clark]

I had never heard of it. I did my obligatory google image search and saw the beautiful, finished pieces and the even better prices.....wow. Good on you, best of luck with it.

[Elbert]

Thanks... Good read. This one maybe a little pricier. Benitoite

[YubaJ]

If you can drill that rock with a 5/8" or larger" carbide drill in an electric hammer drill, you can pour an expandable grout into the holes call Dexpan--Home Depot--or? It's reputed to break rock with a minimum of violence. I haven't tried it. Also your gemstone with inclusions should bring some good $$ from all the people taking up cabochon cutting whether as a hobby or business. Plenty of wild rough stone being sold on eBay. But if your stone turns out to be really gemmy, then to Tucson, and you'll probably sell out.

[jasong]

16 hours ago, YubaJ said:

If you can drill that rock with a 5/8" or larger" carbide drill in an electric hammer drill, you can pour an expandable grout into the holes call Dexpan--Home Depot--or? It's reputed to break rock with a minimum of violence.

I drilled about 15 5/8" holes before my rotary hammer ran out of batteries. I prefer feathers and wedges over Dexpan because they are quicker though. And I find the tap-tap-tapping of the hammer and cracking of the rock to be relaxing. 🔨

Two of the feathers/wedges are visible in this picture.

Next time I'm going to get some bigger pieces out with my concrete saw though, which is the opposite of relaxing to run.