Sapphire Rubyvale area

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A mate who had a machinery lease near Reward for a few years found a number of stones the exact same shade as the Autumn Glory, that beautiful fiery sunset colour. Some were a decent size but none approached the size of the original Autumn Glory rough.
 
So far I got a small Sgts stripe ( too thin to do anything with) the first day out then nothing for another 5 days digging until yesterday when I got a 2.4 ct gold zircon plus 2 small reds and a small parti (all less than 1 ct) - I was getting a bit disappointed but although none are worth keeping it is encouraging as I was starting to doubt my ability to identify stones in the predominant ironstone wash and wondering if I was wasting my time digging there.

BTW old claim owner came past and assured me I was in good gravel (I was worried it was too clean thus may have been removed, sifted and replaced in bygone years) - he said the wash was probably cleaner as it may have been an old creek bed so I am full of enthusiasm again. What worries me if that with all this digging I will have exhausted my digging ration for the next year or so - bugger - the garden at home will have to suffer as a result.
 
WoW, gunna be in Anakie for the gem fest in August looking for another AUTUMN glory. Starting at Nundle on 24th July then Lightning Ridge show, 8 day wait for our booking at Anakie, hoping to do abit of scratching in all those areas as we go, will follow local directions at each spot, Our house is on the market ATM so may not return to Sydney for a while if ever,,

ray :Y: :Y:
 
Moth.
I would take that 'old claim owner" with a very big pinch of salt.
What I was talking about was well over 25yrs. ago. The last time we went back to Washpool (2003) there were registered claims on areas we had dug out years before.
Spoke to a bloke who was digging exactly where we had started in 1988, and no....the sapphires/zircons had not grown back.
He had actually paid money for a claim which would have been a total duffer.

Why not next time take a walk up Retreat creek looking at old wash patterns running across.
The geology of the whole area/region indicates several tectonic shifts due to volcanic action.

The shallow washes are of a "pyroclastic" nature, like a big "burp" expelling magma debris without undue force. Then though climate action the catchment gutters evolved concentrating heavier minerals.

If you stand on the top of Graves Hill and look NW you can identify the way in which gravity would have distributed the washes.
Mike
 
Thanks ****ook

I got a 1.6 light blue stone yesterday (good shape to maximise the cutting yield) and the wash I am digging seems to have split into two definite streams about a metre apart, with bare ground in between and I appear to be now digging upstream as it has got shallower, however the clear wash is not rising at the same rate. Committed to the hole after moving so much dirt and spending so much time. I might not get any joy out of it but it is interesting to follow the wash and note how it is situated. BTW the 'streams' are not running in the same direction as the eroded existing streams but at 90 degrees to the visible watercourses in the immediate area - appreciate your thoughts on my observations.
 
Finally, after following a slight depression got a 7.6 ct good quality green and a 6 ct zircon - have to leave to move on but at least I have a stone to cut (almost cube shaped so hopefully will provide a good yield without too much wastage) which I can claim as obtained by my own efforts. The irony is though my wife got a bucket of gravel from a local outlet in Rubyvale and got, among several small cutters and stars, a 13.5 ct blue (well shaped for a good yield) and a 9.4 ct star also well shaped. Bugger life is not fair when I think about all the dirt I have moved in the past 4 weeks.
 
Well at least you got something to show for it Moth. Sounds like a couple of decent cutting stones there. As we say, the stones are there.....but there can be a helluva lot of dirt in between them :)

Thought I was on a good run out there at the Washpool - dad found a 9 carat zircon sticking out of the wall of an old hole, from which we dug about a wheelbarrow full of dirt from and which returned a nice parti, a star and a few more small cutters. Went back out there the next time and moved a heap of dirt in that hole.....nothing. We got it all the first time.

Damn things are definitely concentrated in runs and pockets here and there with plenty of fairly barren dirt in between! We had some really productive wash at the old claim at Russian gully years ago but it was 8 feet down, very hard and clayey - lotsa hard work. Was worth it though.
 
Left there reluctantly on 13/7- still convinced I was heading in the right direction with my digging however I thin you need to move a lot of dirt and have a lot of luck. BTW stopped off at Tomahawk Creek, only a few there - spoke with a bloke who had been going there over the past 30 years - he told me he had been there for 2 months on this trip and had worked hard without finding any colour whatsoever and was in the process of packing up when we spoke - he took the time to describe various areas there and of stones he had found in the past as seemed to have a very good knowledge of the immediate geography - he is only a hobby fossicker and I had no reason to doubt what he was relating.
 
Now we're back after an wonderful week in Sapphire and Rubyvale, love the place!! Introductory day with Keith from Fascination tours, highly recommended for newbies, then started swinging the pick at Graves Hill, hell that red clay is hard to get off!!

Did a jaunt to the top of Policeman's Knob, what a view, then selected some ground near by with exposed wash, hacked at it for a couple of hours, then cleaned out some crevices but no time to clean whilst up there, did a quick test sieve at the camp site, flipped and had two beaut Garnets sitting on the top of the pile, so the rest of the wash is sitting at home waiting for our TLC, keeping fingers crossed....

Special place, loved it and will be back.
 
Thanks mate :Y: :Y: , Keith is a wealth of knowledge and for any newby will show them all the basic principals on good wash to get them started, sure they will experience a variety of differing opinions from others they may meet in the area, but snippets from all will build a picture of knowledge to move forward, Keith's brother Mike? is also one of the top cutters, based in Rubyvale he will give you an honest opinion if you find something special and will cut a beaut stone for a fair price if it's worth cutting. But don't compare his prices to Thai prices, he's an Aussie and you know a top stone will come back to you!
 
Hi all,
Back at Sapphire after a 2 year break - digging again to date without much luck. Have noted more cleared areas in the designated fossicking area at Reward/Washpool similar to the grazing land o the other side of the main track. Looking about all the gullies and dips and I wondered why some areas have been heavily dug for shallow wash whereas nearby the ground is untouched - is it a case of everyone only digging where others have been before or is there a more scientific reason - ****ook you may possibly have a better idea.
 
Moth said:
Hi all,
Back at Sapphire after a 2 year break - digging again to date without much luck. Have noted more cleared areas in the designated fossicking area at Reward/Washpool similar to the grazing land o the other side of the main track. Looking about all the gullies and dips and I wondered why some areas have been heavily dug for shallow wash whereas nearby the ground is untouched - is it a case of everyone only digging where others have been before or is there a more scientific reason - ****ook you may possibly have a better idea.
Click to expand...

Moth, I've lived at Sapphire for near on 30 years, done a lot of digging in most areas during that time and seen fossickers come and go. Some who started fresh diggings in untouched virgin ground were lucky enough to find good stone, but most found bugger all & left the fields disillusioned and disappointed considering the effort they put in.

In recent years there has been a shift more towards tourists finding a dig where somebody had already put in the hard yards in opening up a patch of ground that may yield some quality material. I've done it myself in years gone past when I have found a hole where it was obvious that whoever dug it had no idea of how to read the wash and had left the best of it to somebody like me to come along and finish what they had started. Some of these holes have produced very good stone.

My advice to anybody coming to the fields is that if you have a limited time frame, save yourself time and energy by finding a hole that you don't have to bust a gut to get to the wash, work it for a few days and if it shows promise then stick with it, if not, move to another hole - there are heaps of them.

Jeff
 
Thanks Jeff,
Appreciate your advice - it makes a lot of sense. I am willing to admit I have f-all knowledge with regard reading the area and, of course, no local knowledge of where to put in time to maximise my chances, so just blundering along in the hope of finding a stone I can cut for my 'Grandies' to remember me by. At the moment have started a hole and found rounded and ironstone pebbles and some billies down around 800cm just above hard clay so I will put in a couple of days expanding on that area (limited by the energy of an almost 70 year old) - noted several abandoned holes nearby where the wash seems closer to the surface so who knows. Will keep you posted. BTW if I could I would move here, love the place and the locals.
 
It sounds like you are on the right track there, Moth. You are getting the indicators that you are digging in what was once a watercourse, although not all watercourses will be productive unless there were natural obstructions such as large boulders, bends and dips to trap stone, but I figure you would already know that.

Dig a bit of the clay base as well, it might be hard now, but at one time it would have been soft enough for heavy material to become embedded and I've seen some big stone come out of the clay. Back in 1990, I saw a 792ct blue green parti pulled out of hard clay at Graves Hill and in the late 90's I spotted what I thought to be a small blue sitting in the hard clay base of an old hole at Divide that turned out to the top of a 145ct flawless blue crystal. Like I say, dig some of the base and if you are still getting ironstone, then keep digging it - you might just find something good. Good luck with it.

BTW, I'm 70 and most days I climb down a 50' ladder, put in some hours on the jack hammer and climb back out. You just gotta pace yourself.

Jeff
 

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