A GUIDE TO FINDING GEMSTONES & GOLD

In 1997, I decided to search the Leucite Hills in western Wyoming for diamonds. I didn't find diamonds, but mark my words - "DIAMONDS WILL BE FOUND HERE". This is a relatively easy prediction to make based on geology.

The Leucite Hills consist of several lamproite volcanoes & flows that erupted 900,000 to 3.1 million years ago. They started their journey under one of the thickest parts of the Wyoming Craton. Cratons are very old, cool, continental cores necessary for melting deep within the earth's upper mantle (where diamonds are formed). While exploring this region, I collected grab samples from lamproite in the northeastern part of the field & two samples yielded chromites with similar geochemistry to chromites found as mineral inclusions in diamond - thus this tells me some of the volcanoes began their journey at 90 to 120 miles beneath the surface where diamonds are common.

Diamondiferous lamproites are found at Murfreesburo, Arkansas; Argyle & Ellendale, Australia; Majhgwan-Chelima, India; Kapamba, Zambia; Aldan, Russia & Bobi, Ivory Coast. The richest deposits are typically found in olivine lamproites which often alter to serpentinite (a very soft material) when exposed to the atmosphere. The serpentinite will erode quickly, thus such deposits are usually hidden within a field of leucite lamproites (which are much harder rock). Thus, this suggests a few diamonds may be found in the obviouis leucite lamproites with the diamond-stability chromites that form distinct volcanoes and flows in the area, but the locations of diamond-rich olivine lamproites are likely hidden under a few feet of soil (after being eroded for a million or so years) or lie under the sand dunes in the Kilpecker dune field. Along the northern edge of this field, a large sand dune field that marks the location of a major continental shear - a favorable structure for hidden lamproites. I can almost guarantee there are diamondiferous olivine lamproites in this area hidden under a few feet of sand. Lamproites are also well known for colored stones - brown, yellow & the beautiful, extremely rare Argyle 'Pinks'. Some have sold for >$US1 million/carat!

While searching for diamonds in this area, I started looking for olivine. In 1997, I came across two green anthills at Black Rock - the ants had collected olivine from the immediate area & decorated their hills. So I collected the hills & processed them for diamond - but all we found were 13,000 carats of flawless peridot (gem-quality olivine). Some were 12 millimeters in length. I also found peridot in place that were nearly 0.5 inch across. Other material was found in the soil.

Some of the > 13,000 carats of facetable peridot from 2 anthills.

This is an amazing discovery. The area had been investigated by several geologists in the past, some very prominent individuals. For instance, the deposit was looked at by one of the members of the Clarance King Survey, the olivine was described by I. Carmichael of Berkeley, it was investigated in several MS theses and PhD dissertations, but no one paid any attention to the quality of the stones. I showed some material to the Wyoming State Geologist (who reportedly was a mineral collector) and I was told that this was not gem-quality. I knew better, so I sent some into the gem cutter in Sri Lanka, and low and behold, most of the material yielded very high quality gemstones.

Even though olivine had been recognized in this area >100 years ago, no one had ever looked at the quality of the olivine. Later, I mapped the Leucite Hills and identified all of the olivine bearing volcanoes.

HOW TO FIND PERIDOT

Peridot is typically found in deep seated mafic and ultramafic volcanic and plutonic rocks. Olivine basalts are good sources of the material. Most ultramafic rocks contain some olivine, but if they often are replaced by serpentine and thus good olivine in ultramafic rocks is hard to find. Search the old metamorphic terrains as well as some area that have had considerable basaltic (mafic) volcanic activity in the past. Some good olivine has been reported in Arizona associated with basalts and related breccias and also at Kilbourne Hole in southern New Mexico.

Below is a group of faceted and raw peridot from the Leucite Hills (Now if we can just teach ants how to facet gemstones, we can eliminate the middleman).