Are the Tourist Fossicking Sites at Emerald and Sapphire QLD worth it?

[Rumply22]

Hi,

As the topic asks, are the designated tourist fossicking sites worth going to still? Have they been dug to death or is is there still a chance of finding some scraps?

Would love to hear opinions on the region.

Thanks!

 

[XLOOX]

Depends what you mean by "tourist sites" and "worth it ".

If you mean the various places in town where they give you a bucket of wash and you process it there then well you will definitely get sapphires and they will definitely be small. you would be very lucky to find one worthy of cutting.

If you mean going out to GPAs like Tomahawk Ck, Glenalva, Willows etc and digging your own dirt then what you get out greatly depends on what you put in !.

All those places can & do produce gem quality sapphires and cuttable size sapphires and given a full day digging sieving & washing you will definitely find quite a few gem quality ones and quite a few cuttable size ones. Whether you find any that are both cuttable size AND gem quality is the luck of the draw.

They havent been "dug to death" as unlike gold prospecting where everyone is searching the same surface, sapphire fossicking means digging down to teh wash layer then working your way across. Most folk just jump in a hole someone else has started & continue up or down stream. It would only be "dug to death" if all the wash layers had been accessed & processed and it is FAR from that in any of the GPAs.

 

[sand surfer]

they have not been dug to death as xloox said dig down to the wash to find the sapphires
do your homework ,if you are there for a week or two look for the shallow wash areas (ie 1 to 2 feet deep )
there are plenty of areas with shallow wash
there is not much sense in chasing the river wash if it is 4 or more feet deep when you have only have up to a couple of weeks at the most to chase the sapphires you will spend 90% of your time removing overburden instead of river wash which holds the sapphires
as xloox said pick a hole someone else has started (as long as there is no bucket in the hole) a bucket upside down with rocks on it or a bucket upright with rocks in it, that indicates that someone is still working that hole so you wiil have to choose another hole ,don't worry there is plenty to choose from

i go to the willows area when i get a chance to go
as the wash in the area i go to is about 2 feet deep max ,gives me plenty time to chase the wash

example above ,the billy boulders (overburden) removed from a hole approximately 2 feet deep by about 6 meters long at the willows area
dug to death no way ,still plenty out there to find

 

[Rumply22]

Thanks so much for the info, that's really positive. I was thinking of Glenalva might be a good place to start.

its funny you mention gold, as that's what I used to fossick for. Gemstones are a whole new process! Happy to put in the work if there is a good chance of finding something.

 

[sand surfer]

if you go to glenalva rumply ,don't park on the edge of the main through dirt road as a lot of trucks use it as a short cut to the capricorn highway
it would not be the first time that people have returned to the car/caravan after a look around in the scrub to find quite a few windows smashed from rocks

 

[LONEWOLF]

The 'pay to dig' mines are well worth a visit as well... They always find some good stones... And No they are not a pile of wash that you go through, You actually go underground and dig into the Wash layer..... Seen some beauties lately....

LW...

 

[XLOOX]

A couple give you a bucket full of screened wash to play with
A couple give you a bucket and point you at at a pile of their wash already heaped up
A couple take you out to a GPA and teach you how using their equipment.
A couple let you dig your own wash in their lease / mine

Increasing personal involvement as you go down the list and increasing chance of a winner

 

[LONEWOLF]

So True XLOOX..... I always like the last on your list.... It gives you the best way to spot wash layers and that info can then be used in the Field... All the others are just luck...

LW...