Garnet as gemstones. The gemstone varieties occur in shades of green, red, yellow, and orange. In the US it is known as the birthstone for January. It is the state mineral of Connecticut, New York's gemstone, and star garnet (garnet with rutile asterisms) is the state gemstone of Idaho. Garnet sand is a good abrasive, and a common replacement for silica sand in sand blasting. Alluvial garnet grains which are rounder are more suitable for such blasting treatments. Mixed with very high pressure water, garnet is used to cut steel and other materials in water jets. For water jet cutting, garnet
Mount Garnet, Queensland boasted a water source that never ran dry. Now it is used for a water supply to the township. Fresh water is continually pumped from the Herbert River into Warruma, then pumped out of there into holding tanks for the town supply. At the 2006 census, Mount Garnet had a population of 458. The Mount Garnet area has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Mount Garnet State School opened on 22 January 1901. A railway was authorised to be built from Lappa, on the then Chillagoe Railway and Mines Company's line, to Mount Garnet by the Mount Garnet Freehold Mining