Sphalerite?

I started finding some really pretty gems on my walks which has led me to lots of reading and trying to learn to identify. There are these rocks that I’m starting to find more often now I know where to look and I’m really curious what they are. From what I’ve researched I’m wondering if they could be Sphalerite? I live in Tasmania and find these in the swampy part of the river edge. They are covered with all sorts of algae and some sort of black stuff when I find them, they usually look like a normal dirty rock and I have to feel for the crystals under the algae and guess which ones might clean up well to reveal crystals. I use detergent and then soak in citric acid to clean them and there is a noticeable smell during this process which is one reason I thought they could be Sphalerite.
I’m finding it hard to capture on camera but they have a gorgeous shimmer, like tiny stars in the light. The small chips broke off some that I split.Uploading: B07FB4FF-799E-42B1-8E50-A644720EA32C.jpeg… Uploading: 5D16214D-5CDE-4DB0-9D4C-86950A960595.jpeg…

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1 Like

Hi Carolyn - These are DEFINITELY NOT sphalerite and from the photos they appear to be quartz crystals. The smell is from whatever environment
they are in, not from the stones!
Joel Arem

Thank you for replying Joel.
I thought it was unlikely due to the quality I’ve found but that smell and brilliant shimmer made me wonder, but what you said makes sense…it’s not as easy as it looks to identify stones as a newbie😅. Thank you again for taking the time to reply.

I completely agree! It is so hard to identify and there are so many and so much research involved! lol… But interesting and I would have guessed like you. I love this site for all the feedback. It helps!!

I agree, I haven’t been a member for long and am still navigating the site and information but it’s so much easier to understand than all the google searchers and YouTube videos I was relying on for information before finding this site :blush:

Same here… Have had some info here and there… But this site gives feedbacks and that’s just great… Well though I’m too a newbie… But have seen a lot of similar specimens like these… Looks more like the quartz… .

About the smell… Few days back I found a stone which on rubbing on quartz did make a H2S kind of or more like rotten egg smell… I was expecting some sparks… To to my surprise it gave a smell of H2S. … Never thought something like this is even possible… But it is though…