Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[irockhound]

I normally don't post in spheres since i still don't have a machine.  However the local city was putting in a new berm up above the beach next to the road.  I have taken a flake off a piece down there and polished it up and it took a great polish.  I was looking closer at the material last time I was down there last week and it almost looks like a banded Rhyolite.  It has nice grey and white bands and then some Yellow and Pink.  This piece is 5" thick but there is larger down there MUCH larger, I just grabbed one that was easy enough to throw in the truck.  I took a wing on this one and it took a very good polish the sun washed out the look of the polish but is is very well polished.  Anyone interested I can give you the location.

I just surface ground the chip so didn't try to grind to go past the surface pits, it actually is pretty dang solid

[Ryaly2dogs]

I am guessing that you acquired that somewhere near Pt. Mugu or thereabouts.  Some Ventura club members reported seeing similar material used as rip rap near the coast of US hiway 1.  This material came from the Santa Paula quarry and from there originated from the Silver Queen Mine in Mojave, CA.  Now that the quarry owner is aware of its beauty I think he raised the price so it will not show up as engineered road base or erosion protection for much longer.  It does make some most excellent spheres, some of which I have previously posted on.  It is a flow banded rhyolite and does contain trace gold as it is the overburden to an active gold mining operation.

[irockhound]

Exactly. the spot.  Glad you were aware of it, thought the makers here would want to know.

[R.U. Sirius]

Beautiful! Are those small vugs in your polished sample?  I have a lovely hand specimen of a similar rhyolite, with tiny vugs, and also some micro faults. It's just so rich with features and geology conversation starters!

I wonder how that quarry owner markets the material, does it get sold as dimensional stone? Facades, fireplaces, floors - where does it end up?

[irockhound]

I'd have to grind further I was just putting a very quick polish on a rought broken surface.  The vugs are probably just that I didn't grind all of the rough surface away.  The large piece looks pretty free of vugs.  Look back Ryaly2dogs sphere she made out of it.

[Ryaly2dogs]

The material also contains actual gold in it, as it comes from an active gold mining operation, the Golden Queen Mine (renamed after the original Silver Queen Mine) .  In my experience, it seems to preside in the flow band lines near the gray coloration, if it is to be found at all.

The quarry owner partnered with my friend who runs TD-Rocks and they presented this material to the public in Quartzite by running a booth at Desert Gardens.  The material was originally sold as just another form of gravel or road base but now that the intrinsic beauty has been noticed by the quarry owner Mile after I produced a couple of spheres for him, he is upselling for a variety of purposes, including building facades.  He apparently is doing lots of business up in Silicon Valley.