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Field CollectingAmazonite

29th Aug 2012 04:55 UTCSophiaJoy MB

Is the blue-green color of Amazonite from copper or lead? Or both??

Does the copper/lead in Amazonite dissolve in water?

How can I know if a material in minerals dissolves in water or stable? I like to make jewelry, and started using stones for that. So I want to be sure that the stones I use are safe...

Thank you!

29th Aug 2012 05:05 UTCWayne Corwin

Sophia

Amazonite is a stable stone.. it and it's elements won't dissolve in water from it.

Stay away from stones like Realgar with murcury, or raidoactive stones,,, they

won't disolve in water, but will be absorbed directaly by the body.

Wayne

29th Aug 2012 06:01 UTCRock Currier Expert

Dr. Gene Foord of the Geological Survey believed that the color of amazonite is caused by trace amounts of lead. However it is very tightly bound and can not be extracted by putting it in water, or even long immersion in strong acids. When you say you are using stones to make jewelry, does that mean you are using lapidary techniques to shape and polish the stones you are using in your jewelry? Just handling your stones is unlikely to expose you to anything toxic. I don't think there has ever been a reported case of a mineral collector or curator or jeweler having suffered any ill effects by only handling their specimens or stones.

29th Aug 2012 17:39 UTCSophiaJoy MB

Thanks!

Rock,

I polish them, make holes in them, break them on purpose, etc... So sometimes I end up touching crushed stones or need to use water to clean them.

29th Aug 2012 17:52 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Proper hand washing after handling stones will greatly decrease exposure (you probably don't want to ingest specimen material)

29th Aug 2012 18:13 UTCDennis Tryon

Polishing beryl can be quite hazardous, I believe.

Dennis

29th Aug 2012 20:42 UTCOwen Lewis

I frequently wonder about current health and safety standards.

I'm now 70 and, apart from arthritis, am fit enough. If the doctor had to rely on me for income he'd have gone broke decades ago.

For the first six years of my life I grew up in houses where the water pipes were made of lead and, for probably the next forty years, lived in houses where the water pipes were usually made of copper. For well over 40 years, most of my food, and that of my family was cooked in aluminium or copper utensils.

As a child I used to carry elemental Mercury about in a jacket pocket and chase blobs of it around with my fingers. These days, a spillage of Mercury in a street can cause the road to be closed and the incident dealt with by personnel in full protective clothing. Several of my teeth were filled with a Ag-Hg amalgam, crudely prepared and which used to leave me spitting particles of both materials on the way home.

For about three decades and on a weekly basis I'd melt lead in an unventilated room and burn flux off the surface to 'evaporate' oxidic compounds that had formed on the molten surface. I'd then polish the lead bullets I'd cast until my fingers were shiny with embedded lead particles. As a young man, I learned the skill of building up and 'wiping' a lead joint with fingers, a moleskin rag and tallow. Add about 50 years of occasionally breathing the smoke from the flux whilst working with lead/tin solder.

Problems? None to speak of - but I did contract TB as an infant (doubtless from drinking unpasteurised milk so fresh kit was still warm from the cow). This serious infection passed undiagnosed and healed itself (as in my brother also) until the site of the infections were discovered, in his case during abdominal surgery when he was about 12 and by ultrasound scan, in my case, when about 50.

I think we fuss too much.

29th Aug 2012 20:59 UTCDean Allum Expert

Sophia,

Amazonite is great to work with because it takes a good polish, but it is brittle, and difficult to put holes through. It will be a good complementary color to your lepidolite. If you add some purple fluorite and come "lemon calcite", you'll have a pastel rainbow.

-Dean Allum

30th Aug 2012 00:32 UTCDon Saathoff Expert

Owen, we are of a similar age and as a young rockhound growing up in Texas when in the field I never carried water.....too many streams to drink from. Lead was a favorite toy to work with (you could pound it into whatever you wanted it to be). Mercury was another favorite (use a needle to coax a bead to a hole in a card in the shortest time).

Although I have no knowledge of the facts, I believe that the over-protectiveness that currently rules has actually caused considerable harm in that our gut no longer has the antibodies to deal with critters found in natural water, foods, etc. We no longer have an immune system!!

Doing fire assay requires the use of lead.....I've been doing fire assay for 20 years with no ill effects. Maybe I'm "special".....

Don

31st Aug 2012 05:38 UTCRock Currier Expert

Sophia,

The only danger you might face from grinding and polishing stones is from the dust that is generated by the grinding and sanding process, but even then the danger is not very great. This can be reduced greatly if you grind, sand and polish them wet. This will cut down substantially on any dust that is generated. If you want to wear a simple dust mask, you can cut even that risk considerably. There are many people who have cut and polished stones for years with no ill effects. There are a couple of items that you might be particularly careful of. Malachite dust is quite toxic and if you breathe any of it is, you will know it immediately by the terrible taste that you will experience. I have also heard that workers who have worked with abalone shells have poisoned themselves. Amazonite is a feldspar and it would be hard to imagine being poisoned with that. Some times workers who do a lot of drilling and grinding of quartz can get silicosis, and workers who worked with asbestos can also suffer health effects, but it sounds like the amount of work you are doing on an occasional stone would not be a problem. If you are in doubt, you can also ask here about any strange mineral you might be working on.

1st Sep 2012 05:41 UTCSophiaJoy MB

Thank you very much!

Dean,

Rainbow! I love it! Thanks for the idea!

Rock,

The information was very helpful! Thanks a lot!

17th Sep 2012 19:21 UTCMad Zach

I have collected a good deal of Amozonite from a mine in Virginia. Used a rock tumbler and they polished rather nicely. I carry a large stone in my pocket at all times (supposedly protects against electro-magnetic energy) and I often wear a piece I made a necklace out of. It is a beautiful stone, and I agree with the other posters here about the fear and paranoia mongers today... they poison the air, put chlorine and flourine in our water, fill our homes with toxic chemicals and our cupboards with artificial, overly processed, genetically engineered, chemical filled foods and tell us to be afraid of rocks?

5th Sep 2016 08:47 UTCJessica floreslorca

Hi,

I fell in love with thd mystic beautiful minty tone of amazonite and thought about making baby toy with them ( make them as loose beads...) but i recently found that their beautiful colors are due to the trace amount of lead they have. I was wondering if it would be still safe to use for making baby toy. They are too beautiful...

5th Sep 2016 15:21 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

Chemically they are totally safe, but I would wonder about a baby or small child choking on them.

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