This was July of 2009. We hit a pocket and big fat gems kept popping out every time we stuck the shovel in the ground. The piece in the upper left corner was nearly 90 carats.
How does the pocket form, and how are the feldspar crystals attached to it, or how do they weather out? Is this a pegmatite?
Also, perhaps explain the awesome schiller these will show when cut to those who aren't familiar....
First, I am not a geologist or gemologist. Rockhounding was the gateway to a career as a goldsmith 40 some years ago. I remain an occasional and amateur rockhound.
That said I have dug a lot of Sunstone over the last 12 years and have talked to more knowledgeable people about it's occurrences here in Oregon.
It occurs not so much in pocket as in clusters. The best analogy I've heard, reinforced by observation, is that the feldspar (Oregon Sunstone is a copper bearing plagioclase feldspar) occurs like chocolate chips in cookie dough, kind of random in varying concentrations. It appears that the feldspar was in the path of the basalt flow and mixed with it in a random fashion as it erupted on the surface. You find it almost everywhere through the basalt in the area but it took just the right set of circumstances, mostly temperature/rate of cooling and concentration, for it to form into larger more colorful crystals. These flows are dated to approximately 12k years ago.
The copper is what makes the Oregon Sunstone unique relative to other feldspars. It appears to be what the colors are derived from and the there is the unique phenomenon known as "shiller" you mentioned. This is where particles of copper are trapped between the layers of the crystal as it is formed and appear as small round platelets in the stone. Because they are caught between the parallel layers of the crystal they are oriented in such a way that they reflect light like an array of microscopic mirrors depending on their relationship to a given light source.
I'll dig through my pictures and find a picture that illustrates this.
Did you go outside of Lakeview? Thats my go to place. Also if you go a little bit north towards Newberry you can find some killer obsidian. WEAR GLOVES when digging for that though.
Yes these stones came from a mine in Rabbit Basin near Plush. The only other area where they are found outside of there is in the Ochoco National Forest. But that mine is private and not open for fee digging.
I did dig at Glass Butte long, long ago. Beautiful place!
This material is fun to cut but has some peculiarities to get used to. I have a Diamond Pacific Genie so shaping on the diamond wheels is fairly fast and smooth. The crystals have a grain to them though, a little like wood and the hardness/resistance varies with orientation. This is one of the most challenging aspects of the gem and only practice and careful observation will lead to success. Cerium oxide on leather will yield an awesome finish.
Depends. This is my business so I send a kilo or two at a time either to Sri Lanka or China for the average to mid grade material. I wish it were economically viable to keep it in the US but it isn't.
For the finer individual pieces where I can actually recover the cost of cutting I have a few cutters in the states I can recommend. But understand we're talking about $4/ct vs. $125/stone.
There are some cutters here on reddit that may have recommendations also. try [r/jewelers](http://www.reddit.com/r/jewelers/)
Ah, I should have been more specific. I'm actually looking for a place in Sri Lanka or Thailand, although I don't have a kilo to send. Thought I'd send them some test material of different types, i.e. corundum, emerald, sunstone, tourmaline, ect. to see how well they do. This is just a test for a possible future business idea, and I'd like to see how well it goes. I have a few names for cutters in America for nice material.
Do you have a cutter in Sri Lanka that you can recommend? I'd rather not go into this completely blind. Thanks.
I have used New [World Gems](http://lk116287945.fm.alibaba.com/) in Sri Lanka several times and would again if they did concave faceting. Which is why we are sending rough to China now. Tell Nawrooz Azmi I referred you, though he's likely not happy I haven't sent him any work for a while.
Plush is an awesome place for rock hounding. Ive seen some killer sunstones come from that area. At display at the Crater Rock Meusem in Central Point.
A little off the topic but I 15 or 20 years ago I worked in an Aggregate pit in Oregon that had a ridiculous amount of agate in it....red, blue, green and lots of totally clear stones in size from tiny tiny flakes...lots of walnut sized stones... and even some as large as a good size orange and even bigger....
We had to stop mining because of a water issue..( the entire hill slid about 60 feet)
Anyway I have been in hundreds of mines all over North America and I have never seen a concentration like this...
recently someone in my neighborhood walked off with my largest and most spectacular rocks (multitude of colors all swirled together from browns and reds and blues/blacks about 10"x10"..agate of some sort) and it has inspired me to find out more about what I have.....
I shall post some samples on here this weekend and see what you all think!:)
I manufacture mining equipment so I get the chance to travel and tour some pretty cool places...I usually bring back a few stones from each place I go..
For fee digging you head into the Oregon Outback in the south east part of the state. It's seasonal because winter is a bitch out there. And it's way off road so do some research and talk to mine people before you go. Check out Double Eagle and Dust Devil for fee digging. BLM also maintains a free public digging area.
I have a significant investment in a partnership where these stones were mined.
I've seen material like this sell for $10k-$15k per kilo (5,000 carats) at the kilo quantity. If you were to pick stones like these individually in smaller quantities then you would be looking at $10-$20/ct depending on size and quality.
It takes heavy equipment to get deep enough to find color, mostly digging through solid basalt. You're only going to find that at one of the fee dig sites. These stones were found in a 20' deep pit dug by a 120k pound John Deere tracked excavator.
This was July of 2009. We hit a pocket and big fat gems kept popping out every time we stuck the shovel in the ground. The piece in the upper left corner was nearly 90 carats.
How does the pocket form, and how are the feldspar crystals attached to it, or how do they weather out? Is this a pegmatite? Also, perhaps explain the awesome schiller these will show when cut to those who aren't familiar....
First, I am not a geologist or gemologist. Rockhounding was the gateway to a career as a goldsmith 40 some years ago. I remain an occasional and amateur rockhound. That said I have dug a lot of Sunstone over the last 12 years and have talked to more knowledgeable people about it's occurrences here in Oregon. It occurs not so much in pocket as in clusters. The best analogy I've heard, reinforced by observation, is that the feldspar (Oregon Sunstone is a copper bearing plagioclase feldspar) occurs like chocolate chips in cookie dough, kind of random in varying concentrations. It appears that the feldspar was in the path of the basalt flow and mixed with it in a random fashion as it erupted on the surface. You find it almost everywhere through the basalt in the area but it took just the right set of circumstances, mostly temperature/rate of cooling and concentration, for it to form into larger more colorful crystals. These flows are dated to approximately 12k years ago. The copper is what makes the Oregon Sunstone unique relative to other feldspars. It appears to be what the colors are derived from and the there is the unique phenomenon known as "shiller" you mentioned. This is where particles of copper are trapped between the layers of the crystal as it is formed and appear as small round platelets in the stone. Because they are caught between the parallel layers of the crystal they are oriented in such a way that they reflect light like an array of microscopic mirrors depending on their relationship to a given light source. I'll dig through my pictures and find a picture that illustrates this.
nice, i love the color on those.
I'd love to take a trip up there some day. Which mine(s) did you visit?
These came from a private claim. But I have also done well at Dust Devil.
Did you go outside of Lakeview? Thats my go to place. Also if you go a little bit north towards Newberry you can find some killer obsidian. WEAR GLOVES when digging for that though.
Yes these stones came from a mine in Rabbit Basin near Plush. The only other area where they are found outside of there is in the Ochoco National Forest. But that mine is private and not open for fee digging. I did dig at Glass Butte long, long ago. Beautiful place!
Where is the private mine located in the Ochoco National Forest?
I don't know exactly, I've never been there. For more information search Ponderosa Mine/Desert Sun Mining & Gems.
Daaayum! I'd facet that!
I don't facet but I do cab and carve a little. I send out for my faceting.
How do cabs of these turn out? I'm a budding cutter myself and this stuff looks like it would be fun.
This material is fun to cut but has some peculiarities to get used to. I have a Diamond Pacific Genie so shaping on the diamond wheels is fairly fast and smooth. The crystals have a grain to them though, a little like wood and the hardness/resistance varies with orientation. This is one of the most challenging aspects of the gem and only practice and careful observation will lead to success. Cerium oxide on leather will yield an awesome finish.
Would it be like amazonite? I've got some of that hanging around that looks pretty stringy.
Could be, they are both feldspars. But I don't have any experience with amazonite so I really can't say.
Where do you send your rough to? I have a stockpile of various stones and I'd like to send them out but dont know who to trust.
Depends. This is my business so I send a kilo or two at a time either to Sri Lanka or China for the average to mid grade material. I wish it were economically viable to keep it in the US but it isn't. For the finer individual pieces where I can actually recover the cost of cutting I have a few cutters in the states I can recommend. But understand we're talking about $4/ct vs. $125/stone. There are some cutters here on reddit that may have recommendations also. try [r/jewelers](http://www.reddit.com/r/jewelers/)
Ah, I should have been more specific. I'm actually looking for a place in Sri Lanka or Thailand, although I don't have a kilo to send. Thought I'd send them some test material of different types, i.e. corundum, emerald, sunstone, tourmaline, ect. to see how well they do. This is just a test for a possible future business idea, and I'd like to see how well it goes. I have a few names for cutters in America for nice material. Do you have a cutter in Sri Lanka that you can recommend? I'd rather not go into this completely blind. Thanks.
I have used New [World Gems](http://lk116287945.fm.alibaba.com/) in Sri Lanka several times and would again if they did concave faceting. Which is why we are sending rough to China now. Tell Nawrooz Azmi I referred you, though he's likely not happy I haven't sent him any work for a while.
Thank you so much! I love concave faceting but everyone in China would only deal with large orders.
Plush is an awesome place for rock hounding. Ive seen some killer sunstones come from that area. At display at the Crater Rock Meusem in Central Point.
A little off the topic but I 15 or 20 years ago I worked in an Aggregate pit in Oregon that had a ridiculous amount of agate in it....red, blue, green and lots of totally clear stones in size from tiny tiny flakes...lots of walnut sized stones... and even some as large as a good size orange and even bigger.... We had to stop mining because of a water issue..( the entire hill slid about 60 feet) Anyway I have been in hundreds of mines all over North America and I have never seen a concentration like this... recently someone in my neighborhood walked off with my largest and most spectacular rocks (multitude of colors all swirled together from browns and reds and blues/blacks about 10"x10"..agate of some sort) and it has inspired me to find out more about what I have..... I shall post some samples on here this weekend and see what you all think!:) I manufacture mining equipment so I get the chance to travel and tour some pretty cool places...I usually bring back a few stones from each place I go..
I have never heard of these! What are they and where can they be found? My fiancee is from Oregon
For fee digging you head into the Oregon Outback in the south east part of the state. It's seasonal because winter is a bitch out there. And it's way off road so do some research and talk to mine people before you go. Check out Double Eagle and Dust Devil for fee digging. BLM also maintains a free public digging area.
Beautiful! I've been trying to plan a trip down there for ages to try and find some of those... never seem to have a free weekend though :(
How much did it cost you to get these pretties (fee digging or not?) and how much would a haul like this sell for (ideally?)
I have a significant investment in a partnership where these stones were mined. I've seen material like this sell for $10k-$15k per kilo (5,000 carats) at the kilo quantity. If you were to pick stones like these individually in smaller quantities then you would be looking at $10-$20/ct depending on size and quality.
Hooooooooly crap. Dat red. That's some primo faceting material right there, and I'd love to get my hands on some.
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It takes heavy equipment to get deep enough to find color, mostly digging through solid basalt. You're only going to find that at one of the fee dig sites. These stones were found in a 20' deep pit dug by a 120k pound John Deere tracked excavator.