Gentle Ruby & Garnet Extraction Techniques

Question

Sorry about the lighti   QUESTION: I have been finding a lot of rocks containing small stones that appear to be ruby  or ruby like. I am curious as to how to get them out with as little damage as possible. There is a lot of them in the one particular stone and I noticed there is some larger ones. They appear as garnets. They all grow seperately and are in a matrix of what appears to be some kind of black conglomerate type of stone with white and clear streaks going through it. I live in Central Alberta Canada and this is where I found it just laying around. I am also finding a lot of petrified wood and of great quality. I am convinced this was an ocean at one time as I am finding a lot of shelled fossils here also.I have attached a photo of a few samples of what I am finding. Thank you so much, James.

ANSWER: HI JAMES,

WOW HOW EXITING IS THAT? IT LOOKS TO ME THAT YOU ARE PROBABLY RIGHT, THEY LOOK LIKE GARNETS. THE ONES WITH CRYSTAL FACES AND LARGER IN SIZE WOULD BE VALUABLE TO CUTTERS AND MORE SO TO SPECIMEN COLLECTORS. IT LOOKS LIKE THE MATRIX IS QUARTZ BUT WHAT YOU WOULD NEED TO DO IS GET SOME SAMPLES OF THE ROCK AND AND TEST IT WITH DIFFERENT ACIDS OR ROCK SOLVENTS. MAKE SURE THAT IT IS NOT HARMFUL TO THE CRYSTALS. OR, YOU COULD GET SOME DENTAL TOOLS AND A DRILL AND START GRINDING AWAY LIKE A DENTIST TO REMOVE THE MATRIX. THERE ARE ABRASIVES THAT WILL REMOVE THE MATRIX EASILY BUT IT MAY ALSO REMOVE THE CRYSTALS SO BE CAREFUL AND WORK AT IT WITH CAUTION. THERE ARE PROBABLY LARGER AND MORE WELL DEFINED PIECES DEEPER IN THE STONE. HAVE A GREAT EXPLORATION AND GOOD LUCK.

PETER

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Just about but not qui   QUESTION: Hi again and thank you so much for your helpful tips. I went around the Garnet with dremel tool like you said but I have no idea how to go about getting it out as I cannot get at it from the other sides. Also, is there a cheep way of dissolving rock like quartz and if so is the quartz not going to be harder to dissolve than that of the garnets? I have safety equipment and am very familiar with the dangers of hydrochloric acids but I am not sure what to do as to make sure I have the right amounts of anything or of what to do with the acid once it is used..Thank you once again and if you don't have the answer for the acid part, no worries I just hope to get pointed into a direction where I might be able to find the answer. This took some time just to get around it. Is there a technique for this kind of thing? Should I risk breaking it up smaller to get at the inside?

Answer
HI AGAIN JAMES,

TRY BREAKING IT UP A LITTLE MORE AND DO WHAT I SAID, USE DIFFERENT STRENGTHS OF ACID SOLUTIONS TO SEE WHICH ONE WORKS THE WAY YOU WANT IT TO. THE GARNET SHOULD NOT DISSOLVE LIKE THE QUARTZ BUT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE MATRIX IS SO BE CAREFUL AND GO SLOWLY WITH IT. YOU CAN DO IT JUST TAKE YOUR TIME. GOOD LUCK.

PETER