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Author Topic: Proston garnets  (Read 17040 times)

Lefty

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Proston garnets
« on: January 12, 2016, 07:06:00 PM »
I just heard a rumour from a bloke who heard a rumour :)  - the Proston garnet dig site has be re-opened.


Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Findem

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2016, 08:31:41 PM »
I don't know anything about it, but to have a site open instead close is something we all want to hear.

Lefty

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2016, 10:40:49 PM »
Absolutely! Proston was a fantastic site, was sad to see it closed. It seems the people who bought the place concluded that they couldn't afford public liability insurance. Australia's litigatious culture has wreaked havoc an many things, including fossicking :( It would be nice if someone has decided to re-open it.

Jimnyjerry

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2016, 03:19:16 PM »
Will second what you said.


Very sad about its closing. Meant to stop there for the first time, on the way back south years back but did not. A few months later it closed  :'(
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.

Rayzr

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2016, 11:50:36 PM »
I just heard a rumour from a bloke who heard a rumour :)  - the Proston garnet dig site has be re-opened.


Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Hi Funny that; Been researching about Proston and end up calling a couple of locals up that way and yes from what they understand still closed .
 From when some turkey undermined a bank and strange as it might seem it collasped on him and broke his arm as they story goes was going to sue
 
 That was at what they call Leura joy is the name of property  Brigooda is the locality
  I believe it has been sold twice since being closed.
 
 Apparently there has been 17 inches of rain over the last few months and the grass is a metre + tall
 
 Spoke to the lady that used to run Sidcup castle but now has bought it

Gem Ranger

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2016, 05:10:10 PM »
I was going through my rough today and came across the garnet preforms from Proston that I had from years back and figured I'd post a few pics. As you see they are dark but the size, clarity and amount found made up for it. The large triangular preform is 10mm from tip to base.

I can only hope it re-opens one day.



Jimnyjerry

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2016, 05:13:01 PM »
good to see them.  :)

pity the site is closed  :'(
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.

Wwoofa

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2016, 02:30:09 AM »
Hi,
I was very lucky to have the chance to go just before it closed.  It looked quite safe to me but people did tend to undermine the bank quite a bit to follow the wash level.  Every sieve had LOTS of garnet ... more than any other place I've been to.  They also provided a tanker full of water and up-turned 44 gallon drums.  Nice place  :D
Regards, Paul

Lefty

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2016, 09:44:01 PM »

A Proston garnet - the rough stone was given to me by ktmman.






It isn't really this colour which makes it look like a Rhodolite garnet, for some reason my camera sees it's actual colour - an intense, glowing red - as this pinkish shade.

I have had some partial success in getting these dark garnets to display some colour as long as the light is good. This one is cut in a Standard Round Brilliant with the pavilion mains at 37 degrees and the breaks at 40 degrees. The crown is the Lowboy variation of the SRB. With both crown and pavilion at much lower angles than usual, the resulting stone is very shallow and light can penetrate the dark material a bit more easily. Garnet has a critical angle of 34.5 to 35 degrees approx so you can make the stone this shallow without turning it into a fisheye. I tried shallowing other a couple of other shapes but none seemed to have much effect. Only a shallow round seems to let the amount of light in to get back at least some colour.

With the next one I will eliminate the pavilion breaks altogether and just have mains at 37 degrees. I won't say it's perfect but these stones didn't pass the white paper test and yet they have still finished as worthwhile stones.

Gemster

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2016, 10:40:53 PM »
 :o Now you are talking... I love the colour of Garnets from Proston and Fullerton River... ;D
  But Please stop teasing us with these Brilliant Stones ;D ;D ;D

 So is it open or still closed?..... any ideas?


      Gemster..... beers
I swing a 12-pound hammer,smash gibbers by the ton
I used to think it convict work,but now i think it's FUN

Lefty

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2016, 10:29:46 AM »
Quote
So is it open or still closed?..... any ideas?


Still don't know :( In this day and age of everyone wanting to sue everyone because they tripped over in the bush and twisted an ankle, I don't think too many people with a gemmy deposit on their property would be keen to take the risk of opening it up to the public :(

Lefty

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #11 on: January 30, 2016, 10:37:22 AM »
Quote
With the next one I will eliminate the pavilion breaks altogether and just have mains at 37 degrees

Well duh Lefty, that was a mistake - it was supposed to be the other way around, just cut the breaks at 37 and leave out the mains. Now I have a pavilion with an octagonal profile while the crown will be 16-sided. Wouldn't have mattered with a ground girdle but I faceted it. I guess all I can do is try it - line up the outer edges of each break facet with each corner of the octagon. The outside of each pair of breaks should meet the girdle facets but where the breaks meet each other there will be nothing. I tend to suspect the result will be that each pair of breaks ends up with a little triangular facet between them. I guess I'll find out. Hey, might look alright - a mistake that creates a consistent, recurring pattern often looks like it's actually meant to be there.

But I'll get it right next time.

col

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2016, 08:38:29 PM »
I would love to go have a dig up there again, now that I'm older. My old man took myself and grandfather there when I was about 12. Now I'm 36 and I'm sure I would be more useful on the shovel and sieves. I still have my garnets I found

MakkyBrown

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2016, 12:11:55 AM »
Quote
With the next one I will eliminate the pavilion breaks altogether and just have mains at 37 degrees

Well duh Lefty, that was a mistake - it was supposed to be the other way around, just cut the breaks at 37 and leave out the mains. Now I have a pavilion with an octagonal profile while the crown will be 16-sided. Wouldn't have mattered with a ground girdle but I faceted it. I guess all I can do is try it - line up the outer edges of each break facet with each corner of the octagon. The outside of each pair of breaks should meet the girdle facets but where the breaks meet each other there will be nothing. I tend to suspect the result will be that each pair of breaks ends up with a little triangular facet between them. I guess I'll find out. Hey, might look alright - a mistake that creates a consistent, recurring pattern often looks like it's actually meant to be there.

But I'll get it right next time.
I'll get you some optimized angles tomorrow Lefty. RI 1.73?

MakkyBrown

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Re: Proston garnets
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2016, 09:35:46 PM »
If you go mains only(Or 16 breaks only) at 37, leave crown as is. Going that low on the main looses a bit of iso but pattern is not that bad. You could try C29.8,26,12, P mains 40.7.  Looking at the srb again reminds me how I don't like it  :)
Cheers
Andrew

 

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