Almandine Garnet + Pyrite Cubes vic

[Manficat]

Bit of a specific question today,
I was reading a book on geology and came across a picture of a beautiful soccer ball shaped garnet and was wondering if anyone has a place where I could grab myself one of these. The caption of the image said "almandine garnet on matrix" if that helps.
Like any fossicker, I have many many tiny garnets, but they are all waterworn from the creek and don't have that amazing shape anymore.
Does anyone know where I could find one of these non-waterworn garnets?
Thanks-
Manficat 

[Bucket]

Most of the locations I've heard of are in outback W.A., N.T. or Qld. If you do a search here you should bring some results for you to trawl through.

[Manficat]

Ok, i did some research and there is a place at Wangaratta where they were found, i think it was lady Franklin hill. Does anyone know about this place?
Also, does anyone know if there are pyrite cubes in Victoria? They also have such an interesting shape.
Thanks again,
Manficat

[Rusted]

I don't know about the Garnet location at Wangaratta but I can tell you Pyrite cubes are easy to find in slate and shale around the central Victorian Goldfields, I was wandering through the Dai Gum San Chinese museum precinct in Bendigo recently and noticed that the slate used all over the place is full of lovely Pyrite cubes. That Slate came from Castlemaine. Collecting Pyrite cubes from mine dumps in Ballarat is how I got started in rocks.

[Manficat]

Interesting! I was walking through the Cranbourne gardens and noticed that the pavers made of slate also contained pyrite cubes. It took every fibre of my being not to chisel them out! Do you know which dumps contained pyrites? Or was it just any mine dump in that area? I am planning a trip to Castlemaine already and grabbing some pyrite cubes along the way would be amazing.
Thanks,
Manficat

[Rusted]

Give Pyrenees Quarries a ring, I think they are the supplier of Castlemaine slate, they might give you access to a reject pile. But basically anywhere you see slate outcropping, or in mullock heaps would be worth a look. Keep your eyes open for large clusters of crystals as well, most of these are weathered to Goethite but are nice specimens. Commonly squash ball sized clusters.
Also if you are interested in fossils the road between Forest Creek and Fryerstown has cuttings that expose good Graptolite fossils. You should be able to google the exact location.

[Manficat]

Thank you so much! Will definitely take a trip here one day 

[Manficat]

Had a chat with the quarry. Turns out they don't allow public access as it is a dangerous site. I will still try to find pyrite in some old mullock heaps though. In where exactly did you find your pyrite? Could you give me a relatively precise location, because last time i went looking for an obscure place i was stumbling around the bush for hours.
Thanks again for your help
Manficat 

[Rusted]

All the places I used to find it are now carted away and the sites are housing estates. I cringe when I see houses built in some of these places, these were seriously deep mine shafts, they capped them and allowed houses to be built.
One place I remember from when I was a kid they capped the shaft, bulldozed all the engine foundations and everything ready for building a kindergarten. We were delighted to have a fresh supply of rocks to check out, I flipped over a big slab of Slate and the thump of it hitting the ground was enough to collapse the complete shaft cap, it took a long long time to hit the bottom, We looked up the details of the mine and it was 3000 feet deep. The deepest shaft in Ballarat.

Sometimes I wonder how I am still here.

If you can't get into the quarry how about seeing if you can buy a piece from one of the places that sell it.

[Manficat]

Those houses better have good foundations

[Manficat]

I guess I'll just go to Castlemaine and search for some heaps of slate. If they are finding pyrite in the quarry, the old miners must have been digging it up too.