Everywhere There Are Diamonds

One man's quartz is another man's diamonds.

Some years ago, I was employed at the Wyoming Geological Survey as an economic research geologist, and much of my work related to diamond deposits, gold, colored gemstones, Archean greenstone belts and other Precambrian geology, igneous petrology, as well as metallic mineral deposits. Sounds like a mouthful, but it was perfect for me. 

Some other work that often hit me included writing grant proposals, books and professional papers on our research, and answering my phone. Much of the time, I looked forward to phone calls because it was like metal detecting for gold nuggets - every once in a while, I would hit the jackpot! Well, today was the day - I hit the jackpot again!

A prospector called from along the roadside in Jeffrey City, across the highway from the Granite Mountains in central Wyoming. If you are unfamiliar with the place, grab your Google Earth and search for “Jeffrey City, WY” - its the State's largest town in central Wyoming. Some outstanding cultural features of Jeffrey City include the Split Rock Bar and the Top Hat Motel (apparently renamed as the Green Mountain, Motel). Yes, the Top Hat was quite a place when I lived in Wyoming - just visualize a 30-year old, single-wide trailer, with paper thin walls, radioactive rugs, and lots of wind - only a fool would stay at the Top Hat - and yep, I was fooled once.  Anyway, enough of culture! 

The prospector wanted to know what he should do with all of the diamonds he was finding. I was impressed, so I asked, "How many are you finding?"

“Thousands! There are thousands all over the hill-side!" He responded.

Now this was getting downright interesting. So, I asked him, "how are you verifying these diamonds?" His response was wonderful, "I just scratch the windshield on my truck, and most leave a nice scratch". 

I responded, "Can you see out of your windshield well enough to drive home?" 

I continued, "by the way, diamonds will scratch glass including windshields, since glass has a hardness of only 5.5 to 6 on the Moh's hardness scale. Many things will scratch your windshield including pyrite, feldspar, corundum, and even plain o’ quartz. How do you think people get all of those pits in their windshields during sandstorms or just by driving around Wyoming? No answer, but I assume he got home ok.

Then there was another prospector who called and told me he had been diamond hunting south of Laramie near the State Line (40°59'45"N; 105°30’30"W) for years and never found a single diamond. After talking for awhile, he described his method for diamond testing: "I put them on an anvil and hit them with a hammer and if the crush, they are not diamonds!" 

He mentioned he had picked up octahedral crystals in the Colorado-Wyoming State Line district (where there are several known diamond deposits) but none were diamonds because they all failed his hardness test!

I told him about the difference between hardness and mechanical brittleness, and that all diamonds break when struck by a hammer.  You could hear that sound of ... well, it sounded like muffled swearing in the background as he hung up.