Polished Garnets

India and Idaho are the only two places in the world that star garnets are found.  They range in size from a grain of sand to golf ball in size.  Star Garnets display a reflection of the light with a four or six ray star, which is caused by an inclusion of rutile in the gemstone.  Idaho is the only known place where six ray star garnets are found.

The U.S. Forest Service operates a star garnet gemstone collection area at Emerald Creek Idaho.  For a fee of $10 per day the treasure hunter can search for garnets and remove a maximum of five pounds of gemstones.  Screen boxes, buckets and shovels are provided by the Forest Service; however you should bring drinking water, snacks, sunscreen, hat, gloves and a container for your treasures.  The treasure hunting season starts at the end of May and lasts until after Labor Day.  No pets allowed.

How Is It Done

Use the shovel and fill your five gallon plastic bucket with dirt and rocks at the mining area.  Next take your bucket to the screening area and sift all of the dirt and sand leaving only the rocks.  Next take your collection of rocks to one of the two sluice boxes to wash the material and look for garnets.  Any rock that appears to have a shiny plastic like shine could be a garnet.

Rough Garnets

The garnets found at emerald creek are nearly opaque and will be a dark reddish or purple in color.  Good quality large gemstones are rare and about one half of the gemstones you discover will not be of a quality suitable for cutting or polishing.  Many of the stones will show a four ray star but the six ray star is quite rare.  A good quality star garnet may fetch up to $100 per carat.

The garnet name is believed to have come from the pomegranate.  Many of the ancient pieces of jewelry have clusters of red stones that do look a lot like a cluster of pomegranate seeds.  Travelers often carried garnets to protect them from accidents.  Legends suggest that garnets will glow at night and will protect the owner from nightmares.  Noah has also been rumored to have used a garnet lantern to navigate the Ark at night.

Happy Treasure Hunting.

sluice boxes

Amethysts Ring

The Amethyst gemstones range in color from pale lilac to deep purple.  Gemstones with the deepest colors are the most valuable and some of these fine gemstones are featured in the British Crown Jewels.  Amethyst is a transparent quartz crystal and is used in many pieces of striking jewelry today.

Amethysts, Gold and other Gemstones can be mined by the public at the Gold’n Gem Grubbing mine in Georgia.  For a fee of $15 for a half day or $25 for the full day the treasure hunter can mine just like the ole timers did.  All tools needed for treasure hunting is provided by the mine operators.  You can dig the ore from the commercial mining pit which has been piled at the edge of the creek by dump trucks.  Fill up a couple of buckets and take your finds to the creek for panning and screening. 

Amethysts Rough

Amethyst, Emeralds, Sapphires, Topaz and Gold have been found by rock hounds at the Gold’n Gem Grubbing mine.  You never know what you may find so having a good gemology reference book handy can pay for itself very quickly.  Especially one that will show you what the rough gemstones look like right out of the ground.  I recommend bring a hat, gloves, sun screen, proper clothing, wading boots and a fold up stool.  Kneeling in a stream panning all day can be a killer on the knees.

Kneeling in a stream all day is not your idea of a fun time?  You can purchase buckets of ore and screen them at the convenient sluices.  Trained staff is always nearby to help you identify your treasures.  Buckets of ore can be purchased for $10.00 for a 1 gallon, $30.00 for a 2.5 gallon, $60.00 for a 5 gallon, and $100.00 for the Mother lode 5 gallon bucket.  Buckets of ore come with a $15.00, $30.00, and $50.00 credit towards having jewelry made with the gemstones you find.  The mine operators even have a Master Jeweler on hand to turn your treasure into a striking piece of jewelry.

Amethysts Rough Clusters

Myth And February

If you were born in February, then you will have a special reason to go Amethysts treasure hunting, because it is your birthstone.  It is also the stone to give as presents on your 33 Th wedding anniversary.  Legend has it that wearing or keeping an Amethysts on your person not only protects its wearer against seduction but is also a symbol of trust and piety.

Moses said that the amethysts gemstone is a symbol of the Spirit of God and the gemstone was often used in the official robes of the High Priest of the Jews.  The Greek word for Amethysts means not intoxicated and the popular belief is that the gemstone offers protection against drunkenness.  It is also said to protect crops against tempest and locusts, bring good fortune in war, inspire the intellect and if worn around the neck on a cord made from dogs hair it would protect against snakebite.

Amethyst will change color when it is heated.  This gemstone should not be worn while sunbathing or anywhere there is black lighting.  Sudden changes in temperatures can be harmful.  Smoky colored stones can become yellow to brownish red with temperatures as little as 250 degrees.  Stones with a high degree of transparency become yellow or colorless when exposed to temperatures of 400 degrees.

Happy Treasure Hunting.

underwater metal detector

Emerald

As with most gemstones the emerald can be created as the result of volcanic activity, where the extreme pressure and heat creates the gemstones.  Another process knows as hydrothermal circulation, which in the most general sense is the circulation of hot water containing dissolved minerals passing through pockets in the underlying bedrock, evaporate caused the stones to cool as large crystals.

Emeralds belong to the beryl family of gemstones.  This family also contains aquamarine, goshenite, morganite, heliodor, quartz, ruby and red beryl to name a few.  The emerald has a hardness of 7.5 to 8 and is composed of chromium and vanadium.  When iron sulfate pyrite is entered into the mix the result is the rich green color traditionally associated with the emerald.

Trapiche Emerald

The very rare Trapiche emerald displays a pattern of dark lines radiation from the center of the crystal like the spokes of a wheel.  The term trapiche is derived from the miners belief that the spoke design reminded them of the processing wheel that is commonly used in Colombia that is used to extract the juice form the sugar cane.

Energy healers believe the emerald can heal relationships of the heart, health, clear vision, faith, intelligence, memory, inspiration, love, romance, cleansing and clairvoyance.  It is believed to have more metaphysical properties than any other gemstone.

Emeralds can be found in Hiddenite County in North Carolina.  The Emerald Hallow Mine will allow treasure hunters a verity of techniques when searching for this precious gemstone which is more valuable per carat than diamonds.  The fees vary based on the type of hunting you plan to do.

Creeking:

Prospect by collecting sand and gravel from the creek bed, and then using a screen to wash the loose dirt away from the gravel and gemstones.  Be sure to look at the material left in the screen from all angles including from underneath.

Picking:

Take a shovel, pick ax and a 5 gallon plastic bucket to the mine area and pick your area.  Fill the bucked with loose dirt and gravel.  You could then use the screening method or you could take the bucket to the stream or the sluicing area and then wash the material collected and look for your treasures.

Sluicing:

You can purchase pre-loaded buckets of gemstone bearing material from the mine operators and simply sit down at the sluicing area and wash the loose dirt away.  Roll around the remaining material looking for the elusive green color.

Screening:

Loose dirt is shoveled onto a screen and the screen is then shaken to remove small particles and sand.  Watch the screen while shaking it, emeralds will often flash as they roll around.  Always examining the screening area with the sun facing you.  The sunlight will reflect through the emeralds making them easier to spot.  Examine the screenings from various angles and roll the gravel around while doing so.  Before discarding the screenings always look from underneath the screen with the sun at your back.  Many dusty stones can be missed until you see the light pass through them.

Tools are available for rent at the Emerald Hallow Mine, but should you decide to bring your own be sure to include, shovel, pick, screen, gloves, bucket, and safety glasses.

Happy Treasure Hunting.

underwater metal detector

Benitoite polished

Benitoite is a rare blue silicate mineral, found in hydro thermally altered serpentinite.  Hydro thermally altered serpentinite is science speak for a type of rock that formed by cold submarine volcanoes that rose from the ocean floor.  This layer of rock is full of faults and is weak and easily eroded.  When mineral laden water fill the cavities the minerals dissolved in the water sometimes crystallizes and is left behind when the water leaves.

Benitoite was named after the county where it was first found, San Benito County, in 1907 and to this day San Benito County is the only place in the world that you can find this gemstone, making it among the rarest gems on the planet.  Benitoite became California’s official state gemstone in 1985.  The price of this gemstone is between $500 and $3,000 per carat depending the quality of the stone and most of the gems found are less than one carat in size.

Benitoite rough

This crystal is often confused with a sapphire and if the jeweler that is cutting your stone does not know the difference, he can damage the stone with the heat from their torch.  The gemstone will turn orange or in the worst case break.  Always use a jeweler that is familiar with this type of gemstone.

Another unique characteristic of this rare gemstone is its has a very unusual crystalline shape called ditrigonal-dipyramidal (pyramidal).  It is the only known crystal to take this shape naturally.  Benitoite fluoresces very strongly under short wave ultraviolet light (UV), appearing light blue in color.  Treasure hunters search at night for this glowing gem with UV lights but beware, scorpions also glow at night under UV lights and some hunters have been stung by them.

Benitoite rough

Benitoite have a very high dispersion which makes them very bright.  They have a refractive index of 1.757 to 1.804.  This characteristic makes sparkle brighter than diamonds.  They have a hardness rating of about 6.5 on the Mohs scale which is not nearly as hard as a diamonds that has a rating of 10.

The Benitoite Gem Mine has field trips open to the public.  You will need to make reservation in advance and in the winter or rainy season, because of the bad roads; you will need to reconfirm your reservations 1 or 2 days prior to your trip.  No services other than a porta-potty are on site and the nearest food and water is at least three hours away.

Benitoite rough

The mine opens at 8:00 AM and closes at 4:00 PM.  For about $100 per day per person you are allowed to take home a five-gallon bucket of material.  Night field trips are also available where you can hunt for benitoite with black lights.  A mine guide there to help and explain what to look for, how to operate the screens, how to night hunt using a black light and other information.

The roads to Benitoite Gem Mine area are very rough and suitable for 2WD vehicle with a high clearance during the dry season.  A 4WD is always the preferred automobile and never try to make the trip in the family sedan.  Campsites are available on the surrounding BLM land except in the summer months when camping is prohibited on BLM land.  If possible drive in one day and camp overnight and then take the full day treasure hunting.

Happy Treasure Hunting.

gold prospecting gear

This article is about the H1N1 and China travel. You can find some useful information in it if you are planning your China vacations now.

The A(H1N1) quarantine policy (from several big Chinese web sites) in China:

1. If you don’t have a fever when getting off the plane in the airports of China, you don’t need to worry about quarantine policy of China at all. If you do have a fever, you will need to do a medical examination in the city where you enter China. This is to make sure that you don’t get the A(H1N1) flu.( more info about “Travel To China, H1N1,China vacations” at Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM )

2. If there is some people having a fever in your plane to China and your seat is very close to him/her (less than 3 meters away), you will need to do the medical examination in the hospital when this people is confirmed as a A(H1N1) flu patient. The Chinese Malaria Control Center will contact you when they find some confirmed A(H1N1) cases in the plane you take. If you sit far away from the A(H1N1) patient (more than 3 meters away) in the plane, you don’t need to worry about this issue at all. No one is going to ask you to do a medical examination even when there is some confirmed A(H1N1) cases in your plane to China.

3. Some people did the quarantine for a week in Beijing and Jiangshu when they got to China. They only did this voluntarily. One one is going to ask you to do this. But in my point of view, this can be good both for your family and your friends. You don’t wanna your close people to be threatened by the A(H1N1) flu too, right? ( more info about “Travel To China, H1N1,China vacations” at Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM )

Some personal experience when people arrived at the airports of Beijing,Shanghai or Hongkong:

1. My parents traveled to China last Monday. All they got in the Beijing Capital Airport is to go through a Temperature Monitoring Device. That’s it. When they stayed in the hotel, the Malaria Control Center didn’t contact them. Now there are more than 200 A(H1N1) cases in China and the Chinese people don’t pay so much attention to this flu as they used to be. (I think it is very natural for the Chinese people to be very nervous about this A(H1N1) flu. The SARS was such a disaster here in the year of 2003. )

2. I flied to China last week and I am in China now. I am not very familar with the A(H1N1) quarantine policy in China. I will only talk about my personal experience here. I entered China in the Shanghai Pudong Airport. In the plane, the airhostesses helped us to do the body temperature check once. When we arrived at Shanghai, some “astronauts” checked our body temperature again. When I left the U.S., my body temperature was about 37 Centigrade. (because I was sleeping poorly these days) But they didn’t find me out. Maybe I was not having a fever when they checked my body temperature in the airport. I then transfered to another plane. No one contacted me about the A(H1N1) flu issue any more. I can do whatever I like in China. By the way, I left my address in China and phone number in the Shanghai Pudong Airport of course.

3. I visited Hong Kong last week. All I did is to fill out some forms. No body temperature check at all. When I arrived at Shenzhen, some people asked me to go through the Temperature Monitoring Device and fill out some other forms. ( more info about “Travel To China, H1N1,China vacations” at Travel2ChinaInfo Dot COM )

By 06/13/2009, there are 293 A(H1N1) flu cases in China. ( Beijing: 38, Guangdong: 37, Fujian: 25, Shanghai: 17, Sicuan: 15, Hubei: 9, Zhejiang: 6, Tianjin: 4, Shandong: 3, Hunan: 2, Henan: 1, Jiangsu: 1, Shanxi: 1, Liaoning: 1, Guizhou: 1, Jiangxi: 1, Hainan: 3, Hongkong: 84, Taiwan: 44 )

By Shane Lee. Date: 06/14/2009.

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Symptoms of H1N1