Malachite
SOME AUSTRALIAN GEM MATERIAL
COLLECTED OVER THE YEARS.
The gem material shown below was collected in 2018. It was found
by ‘specking’ while travelling through the Northern Territory and
South Australia. The rock was partially preformed and then tumble
polished. The rocks are jasper/chert in nature, basically silica rich to
varying degrees. They have a variety of local names but I will not list
those here. The colours and patterns truly reflect the nature of the
Australian outback!
Move the cursor over the large image to see a magnified image.
Click on the small images to change the large image. The
magnified images will show the different levels of polish achieved
on the gems, reflective of their hardness and silica content.
In 2018 I also visited the Narrabri region in northern N.S.W and collected some agates and carnelian. The largest of the
tumbled gems below is 55mm long.