Central Highlands Adventure Part 2

The Gemfields

September 5, 2011. It was a monday so we were up early to earn some money. Fossicking in Sapphire starts at 8am! Sapphire is just over 40 km west of Emerald. "The Sapphire Gemfields cover almost 900 square km of one of the world's most significant sapphire-bearing grounds and takes in the delightful townships of Anakie, Sapphire, Rubyvale and The Willows."

Having read an article a day ago about a tourist who accidentally found a huge rare sapphire in 2006 which was worth almost 90 grand, we were thrilled so we approached the guide right away as soon as we arrived at the fossicking park. We grabbed a bucket of wash and tried our luck. We could be the next lucky gem seeker!

 

Buckets of wash. Grab one for $20.



 
Now what exactly are we looking for? What is a wash? What do we do?  "Sapphires are found in a layer of gravel refered to as "wash". The depth of the wash layer varies from one area to another, from being right on the surface to as deep as twenty meters or more. Once the topsoil has been removed to expose the layer of wash, you dig out and sieve the wash using a willoughby to make the job much easier. The action of the sieve plunging up and down in the water brings the heavier stones like sapphires and zircons to one spot in the center of the sieve. From there, the stones are easy to find either by flipping the sieve upside down on a sorting table or just working through carefully from one side of the sieve to the other."

"Sapphires formed in a six-sided crystal formation deep in the Earth. It is generally believed that they were spewed out of volcanoes and then cooled tumbling along watercourses. Because of the tumbling effect on the stones, and the flaws in some of the crystals, many of the pieces broke apart. Many pieces can be found showing some of their original sides although on some pieces none of these sides are clearly visible. Rough sapphire generally looks very dark but some light colours, like yellow, can be seen without holding the stone up to the light. Generally, you look for dark pieces of stone that usually have some sparkle as you turn them in your hand."

After 2 buckets and more than 2 hours under the sun we were surprised of what we found. The guide had a look of the pile we got (mostly pet stones) and she was amazed with the good quality stones we found. We have 2 gems cut and polished which cost $25 per carat. Below are photos of the good gems we found.



This is called a star sapphire because it "exhibits a star-like phenomenon
known as asterism" The largest black star sapphire which weighs 733 carats
was discovered in Anakie in the 1930s.  It is named the Black Star Of
Queensland which in 1949 has an estimated value of $1M.




Zircons




Green Sapphire







We have this cut and polished into
 .9 carat green sapphire and 1.5 carat blue sapphire



Rubyvale



Beware! Fossicking can be very tiring and addicting. We got too engrossed of prospecting that we forgot it was almost noon. I was hungry and thirsty by the time we arrived in Rubyvale - another famous fossicking destination. But nah. We were done fossicking. We reckon we got our money back anyway with all the good gems we found. We head to Rubyvale to have lunch and visit an underground mine.

Rubyvale is approximately 61 km west of Emerald. It has 2 underground mines and 6 fossicking parks! We went to Miners Heritage which is Australia's largest sapphire walk-in mine.



Miners Heritage Mine and Jewelry Shop





Fossicking park just outside the mine.



The mine is 45 meters deep.




A mascot miner with his tools.

 



During the mine tour i learned that sapphires are not always blue. It also comes in black, yellow, green, pink, brown, red and even multicolored which they call rainbow sapphire. There are also colorless sapphires which is sometimes used as a diamond substitute in jewelries. When it comes to hardness, sapphires are only second to diamonds. Because of its hardness, sapphires are also used in scientific instruments, elecronic wafers, infrared optical and high-durability windows. Did you know that a ruby is in fact a red sapphire? This fossicking adventure isnt just fun but enlightening too.