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Astrobouncer
Sluice Master
Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 1801
Location: SC Upstate
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Posted:
Thu Mar 29, 2012 8:09 pm |
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http://abcnews.go.com/Business/emerald-mine-yields-thousands-dollars-worth-gems-amateur/story?id=16011008#.T3ThNYH-mSo
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By ALEXANDRA LUDKA
March 27, 2012
Jamie Hill thought he found a new way to make money by opening up his aging emerald mine to amateurs at $25 a head, and watched as a pair of couples quickly came away with tens of thousands of dollars worth of gems.
Libby and Kevin Barrieault were the first to strike gold – or emerald – on a group trip to the North American Emerald Mine in Hiddenite, N.C., last Friday.
The next day, Terry Lofgren and her fiance John Kehoe found a pocket of emerald crystals.
Hill, known in the area as the "emerald man," insisted today that he has no regrets.
"We did lose quite a bit of money, but that's okay because it was the experience of a lifetime for these people and it alerted me to another location I should explore," Hill told ABCNews.com.
Hill's amateur diggers were thrilled.
The Barrieaults went to Hill's mine on the group trip with the Mountain Area Gem and Mineral Association. They had only been in the mine for five minutes before Kevin flipped over a rock to find a 50.5-carat emerald.
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"My husband asked where we should start digging," Libby Barrieault said. "I said 'This looks like a good spot,' and turned around to get out our picks and shovels. Then he said 'What do you think we can do with this?' and flipped the emerald over to me," she said. "It was just one of those 'wow' moments."
Hill said the Barrieaults' crystal is worth upwards of $10,000.
The Lofgrens, who have been members of MAGMA for seven years, began digging the next day just a few feet from where the Barrieaults made their strike and found what Hill calls a pocket of crystals.
In that pocket, they discovered a 30-carat emerald, 240-carats worth of loose emeralds and about 160-carats of high quality matrix emeralds embedded in the rock.
"We hit the jackpot," Lofgren said. "It's so surreal…It's amazing to see so much green."
Hill said the Lofgrens' crystals could be worth $30-40,000 once they're cut and said they are ideal for cutting stones for jewelry.
The couples are trying to decide on what to do with their bonanzas, whether to keep them as jewelry or sell them.
The MAGMA trip was the first time anyone from the public was allowed in the mine in over 40 years.
Hill said he decided to let people into the mine because the economy was hurting his business and members of MAGMA had been very persistent.
"I haven't had a major find in a number of years," Hill said. "I figured, if you bring in a whole bunch of recreational miners in here and let them go loose, it's a great experience for them and they may just find something. It helps me too because it leads me to new locations. So it's win-win." |
Hows that for a day of digging? |
_________________
Gork wrote: |
An old-timer in the Klondike told me "gold is where it ain't." |
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jim1966
GPOC Club Member
Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1306
Location: Lexington,South Carolina
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Posted:
Thu Mar 29, 2012 8:21 pm |
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Tim
Dredger
Joined: 01 Sep 2011
Posts: 382
Location: Charleston, SC
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Posted:
Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:09 am |
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The official rules that were posted for the dig stated that no one would be allowed to keep more than $10,000 worth of gems. Anything over that was supposed to be tunred in to the owners who would sell them and give the finder $10,000. Does anyone know if the lucky finders were allowed to keep what they found, or had to abide by the official rules? I hope the owners didn't enforce the "official" rules.
Nice finds!!! |
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mitchnc
Dredger
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
Posts: 173
Location: Gastonia, NC
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Posted:
Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:13 am |
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I was on this trip and the place is just awesome. I stood there and watched the whole process as they extracted the pocket. I didn't find any emeralds but did come out with some nice specimens of quartz, siderite, rutile, mica and various other minerals. I'll some pics up of some my finds. |
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mitchnc
Dredger
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
Posts: 173
Location: Gastonia, NC
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Posted:
Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:27 am |
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Here are a few pics of specimens that I got at the North American Emerald Mine dig.
The first is a nice smokey crystal with a calcite inclusion.
This is a cluster of siderite cubes with rutile
The other side of the siderite cubes
Pyrite on quartz
Pyrite
Calcite, Felsdpar, Mica and Tourmaline
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mitchnc
Dredger
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
Posts: 173
Location: Gastonia, NC
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Posted:
Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:29 am |
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Tim wrote: |
The official rules that were posted for the dig stated that no one would be allowed to keep more than $10,000 worth of gems. Anything over that was supposed to be tunred in to the owners who would sell them and give the finder $10,000. Does anyone know if the lucky finders were allowed to keep what they found, or had to abide by the official rules? I hope the owners didn't enforce the "official" rules.
Nice finds!!! |
The mine owner did allow them to keep all that they found. |
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mitchnc
Dredger
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
Posts: 173
Location: Gastonia, NC
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Posted:
Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:41 am |
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Here are a few more pics from the dig.
"The Pocket"
One of the loose emerald crystals in the pocket
The crowd gathered around (that is me in the blue shirt with my hand behind my back)
A good view of part of the mine
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greendave
Dredger
Joined: 25 Mar 2010
Posts: 122
Location: Central NC
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Posted:
Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:07 pm |
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Just some more photos of finds from this past wknd.
I was digging Friday only over in the exploratory saprolite area. I noticed alot of quartz crystal faces on top of the dumps in one specific area. Using some previous knowledge of digging alpine fissues, I located a vein or fissure and followed it down. Hit a small pocket of quartz about 2-3ft below grade, dug it for about 3 hours, it ended up about the size of 2 shoeboxes. No green in this material, and just as most quartz digging goes, sometimes things look alot better in the dirt than when you get them home and cleaned. No complaints, this stuff is awesome, its just that the bigger pieces that wow'd us in the field, ended up being sub-par to some of the smaller specimens. Alot of this material you can see just how fried,re-fried,baked,chewed up, spit out, flattened, glued back together the hiddenite geology gets. Almost every piece had rutile, siderite, tourmaline, green mica, clay inclusions, etc. here's a few photos.
enjoy!
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madhatter
Dredger
Joined: 28 Feb 2011
Posts: 2497
Location: NC eastern gold belt
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Posted:
Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:11 pm |
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AWESOME mitch and greendave! Good looking stuff! Thanks for sharing guys. I love gems/minerals and I want to go sometime and try one of these places. |
_________________ Now where did I drop that 10lb nugget... |
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loki258
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Mar 2011
Posts: 1342
Location: Anderson, SC
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Posted:
Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:16 pm |
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Ya I would have loved to went on that trip that is too cool. |
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buckshot
Dredger
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Posts: 125
Location: Western, NC
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Posted:
Sat Mar 31, 2012 2:04 pm |
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Was there Friday, didn't find anything interesting but met some nice folks, had picture made with Jamie & Mr. Finger at same time, Mr. Finger made the first big emerald find at the mine, I believe it was around 1970 or so. I did get to hold the 50+ carat emerald. Sorry I missed Sat. when they found the pocket. |
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Candy
GPOC Club Member
Joined: 05 Mar 2011
Posts: 578
Location: S.C
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Posted:
Sat Mar 31, 2012 5:25 pm |
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NICE......
Thanks for the pictures I love gem and hunting for them.
I love to even look at the pictures.....lol
There has never been a rock or gem I didn't like....lol |
_________________ "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." |
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Candy
GPOC Club Member
Joined: 05 Mar 2011
Posts: 578
Location: S.C
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Posted:
Sat Mar 31, 2012 5:29 pm |
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Thanks Astro for the link
I have been to that mine with my sisters. I will forward that link to them...
You always have so much great info.. |
_________________ "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." |
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gary
Dredger
Joined: 09 Feb 2011
Posts: 487
Location: ohio
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Posted:
Sat Mar 31, 2012 6:51 pm |
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all wonderful finds ... great pics guys !!!!!! |
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Southern Prospector
Dredger
Joined: 06 Jul 2009
Posts: 1568
Location: Maiden North Carolina
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Posted:
Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:38 pm |
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jim1966
GPOC Club Member
Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1306
Location: Lexington,South Carolina
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Posted:
Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:14 pm |
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Wasn't Sam at Hiddenite last weekend? |
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mitchnc
Dredger
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
Posts: 173
Location: Gastonia, NC
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Posted:
Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:03 pm |
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jim1966 wrote: |
Wasn't Sam at Hiddenite last weekend? |
Sam was there too. I have never met him and was hoping to run into him. |
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Member of the Angus sluice lovers club! |
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Bobg
Dredger
Joined: 26 Dec 2010
Posts: 974
Location: S/E coast of NC
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Posted:
Sun Apr 01, 2012 6:44 am |
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mitchnc wrote: |
jim1966 wrote: |
Wasn't Sam at Hiddenite last weekend? |
Sam was there too. I have never met him and was hoping to run into him. |
You can't miss him if you know what to look for!!! |
_________________ Obama.......Why stupid people shouldn't vote.
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Picker Pete
GPOC Club Member
Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 1707
Location: Conyers, GA.
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Posted:
Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:29 am |
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Man, couldve happened to any one of us too, thats what I like about these stories. Gives me hope! |
_________________ GPAA/GPOC/WEGM
Have found gold in GA/TN/SC/AL/NC
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jim1966
GPOC Club Member
Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1306
Location: Lexington,South Carolina
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Posted:
Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:38 am |
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I'm gonna have to add this place to my bucket list. |
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mitchnc
Dredger
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
Posts: 173
Location: Gastonia, NC
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Posted:
Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:06 am |
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We are having another dig there April 20th and 21st. You have to be a MAGMA member to attend. They have a free membership and also a membership that costs $15 per year. You get various discounts with the paid membership. It really is worth going to this place. It is considered hallowed ground among rock hounds. It's a lot of work, but anyone who has prospected knows how much work that can be. Jamie is planning on pumping out the entire quarry for the next dig, so it should be good. |
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Member of the Angus sluice lovers club! |
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jim1966
GPOC Club Member
Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1306
Location: Lexington,South Carolina
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Posted:
Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:08 am |
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I have a batchelor party for my buddy that Saturday, Daughter's birthday that Sunday. I will make it there one day. |
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