I know of a small discus sized and shaped piece found on the river edge where shotover jet runs below the oxen bridge tunnel on the shotover. Guess the glacier transported it there like it did with all the other rocks. Also found in same area was several mudstone rocks with fossils of plants. Dredging there I’ve also found small red gatnets. And the odd green ones. About 1mm cubes.
No JADEITE is NOT a variety of ponamu.
There is NONE in NZ and the best comes from burma.
Co.pletely different stone with a different chemical makeup and much harder than nephrite.
Also more brittle.
When i get home from work ill post a photo of some jadeite i have.
This is Emporor green jadeite.
This is the type that chinese go gaga over.
Not the best example of it but still not bad.
Had it for quite a while now.
To scared to cut into it yet as its so dam expensive and i cant “see” a piece in it yet.
IMHO our inanga is far nicer
Dam thats beautifu chatoyant jade.
Thats rather hard to come by
Keep the green ones and get them valued maybe.
Garnets are a dime a dozen,especially on tge west coast.
I think the type is pyrope garnet.they mostly have a little black spot in the middle making them unsuitable for cutting(facetting)
Good for drilling and stringing though