Friday's Rock! - Bumble Bee Jasper

A miner that I am dealing with has a ton of this material, literally. He deals in tonnage, not pounds. When I was over at his place the other week I decided to pick some up and see if I could off load it. He only had large pieces of rough and these easier to sell slabs.

I was there shopping for other minerals and this material was not on my list, but seeing it in person peaked my interest. As I was buying several pounds of boulder opal and other goodies I just grabbed 3 slabs and told him to toss them onto the tab. I had no idea of how expensive the material was! This slab would retail somewhere around $60!

The material comes from Indonesia and actually is not a jasper, but a limestone containing calcite other minerals. Many sources also say that it is a toxic mineral containing arsenic and sulphur, but Mindat.org says it contains realgar, a different toxic mineral so care should be taken when handling rough. Now excuse me while I go wash my hands!