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2nd trip to crater of diamonds with a few pics

VRB apparently I have "diamond fever" lol. I love the energy at the crater.

If you ever want to go, just give me about 3 days notice and I'll meet you up there with my equipment!
 
I would love to do this!
when I saw all the wet mud & sieve my eyes lit up, so thank you a TON for sharing.

Maybe we CAN have a GTG there - it would be a blast. No diamonds here in the NC Piedmont, but I do have a bushel of arrowheads and stone knives from my field that are purportedly 14k years old. and of course, the hunt is the thing, so finding anything is entertaining ..but
finding a nice diamond would be the ultimate! I am betting you will. Fingers crossed.
 
jimmianne, you can mine for sapphires, emeralds and rubies in NC!!

http://geology.com/gemstones/states/north-carolina.shtml

I'm totally up for a get together. You can rent everything you need at the crater. If I can learn how to tow my 37 foot RV and set it up, I can sleep 7 easy and 9 with a blow up mattress lol!!

And, yes, I will get a diamond because nothing will stop me. One year I watched Kentucky Derby and told my son, "that looks fun. I'd like to have a horse in the derby. I'll give it a try." And he said (about 9 years old)don't be silly that would never happen. Well, it took two years after I said I'd like to try before a horse I bought in to made it to the derby AND came in 2nd!!!!!!!!!

83 more buckets of material? It's nothing!
 
I said I wasn't going to go through the gravel until next week, but I took two gallon bags with me to visit family. Lol.

Going through some now...

image_4527.jpg

My bowl of Quartz: image_4528.jpg
 
image_4529.jpg

I found this today when going through some gravel. I think it is a tiny sliver of peridot but I'm not sure.


ETA: it's green garnet! "cape emerald"
 
this is so cool! i had no idea this even existed. thanks for sharing! (and good luck!)
 
I am so envious! I have wanted to do this for years but somehow could not convince my family that this would be a cool way to spend some vacation time. Looks like fun!
 
Hmmm... I might be able to convince my boyfriend to join me for an Arkansas vacation if there are some mountain biking challenges nearby... hmmm!
 
Aac, this is why I take solo vacations (my kids are late teens now). If I did what everyone else wanted to do, I would never be able to do what I want to do.

VRB, its in a state park, so I imagine there are mountain biking opportunities. I know from the campground, there is a 1 or 2 mile down slope hike to the river. I imagine there must be more hiking opportunities as well.
 
Wish us luck! My friend and I are going back this weekend! Something like 4-6 inches of rain is expected to fall between now and Monday, so we will be digging in the rain and slop. I hear this is when amethyst and larger diamonds are found.

I think last trek got me lots of shiny quartz, but I'm bringing them to be checked out by staff.

Our rainsuits will be here tomorrow. Some of the regulars will be at the crater this weekendtoo. One said if we see each other, he will show me where he finds ameythist --he usually hands them off to kids!!!!!
 
The green stones I found are Chromium diopside.

This time I tried to get over to the area where Esperanza was found (the pig pen), but this happened: image_4533.jpg
image_4534.jpg
image_4535.jpg
image_4536.jpg

It's the wet season. We worked in the rain. The crater kicked my butt this time.

Those pics are of the pig pen area. I have gravel I need to look through again.

My friend renting screens: image_4537.jpg

Once again, I have no idea why some pics turn out sideways
 
Well, its not exciting but I wanted to show you what a nerd I am. I started taking home larger rocks covered in clay last time; I soak them and then clean them off.

This is lamprolite-- this is where it all happens. Diamonds are formed inside of lamprolite. The really cool thing is when I look in the holes with a 30x loupe, I see jewel toned tiny crystals (teeny tiny).img_2245.jpg

And this is spinel: img_2246.jpg

I have some pieces I am bringing back next time for identification, which should be in a week or two. I bought a saruca (finishing screen) and some regulars took me under their wing last time and showed me technique and gave me thoughts on where and how to dig. They said you have to go through 15 five gallon buckets of processed material (gravel) to find a diamond. I am around 6-7 buckets I have gone through. (I think the original old timers in post one said 100 buckets of dirt).

They also got on me about taking too much gravel home-- said it was unnecessary. I like the cool rocks (I call it "getting to know my gravel") and am filling in erosion by my driveway (lol) with the rocks, but they said that is what home depot is for and if I want to find a diamond I have to get serious and stop willy nillying around with the rocks. Saruca the rocks and take the centers home (the guy who was helping me the most gets there saturday at 8 and works all day long nonstop and he tends to find one diamond each time (like a 30 point).

He actually works the dirt where the wash stations empty because his theory (and he seems to be right) is that most newbies are looking for a shiny diamond and not the metallic BB feeling that is the stone. I certainly didn't know what I was looking for until I was able to hold a raw diamond and inspect it. So the newbies leave their gravel behind and then it all gets flushed into a gully of muck and that is where he works. Its ironic because where he works is where other people have told me not to dig.

Most newbies don't rent the saruca either because it has a 60 dollar deposit (refundable at end of the day). I now understand that a saruca is necessary, and I paid about 80 for mine at saruca.com.

My saruca: img_2247.jpg

Most find 30-50 points but I have met numerous people who have found over a carat. So its a lot of work and its really not going to be an Esperanza experience, but I just want to be able to say that I dug this diamond out of the ground myself.

Onward to my 5th visit!
 
I'm enjoying following along with your digging adventures! Good luck!
 
Very cool! And good luck in your diamond searching..The other stones are very pretty as well.
 
Thanks to both of you. I can't stress enough how relaxing and peaceful it is there, even though I have to start taking anti inflammatories the night before I go. :dance:
 
I have to say that I'm like you - all gemstones fascinate me, and finding spinels and chrome diopside etc. would be pretty cool too. Since I'm a west coaster, it's a little discouraging to hear that for many people it takes multiple trips to find a diamond! :sick:
 
Yes, I am lucky to live so close. What most people from out of state/country do is come for 5 days and work 8-5 every day. You can go in and out each day if you need a break, but when I go I bring lunch foods, protein drinks and fruit. I only stop to take some bites (apparently one woman watched me all day and around 3:00 told me she couldn't get over how I didn't take a break). You get in the zone: it's very goal orienting. I'm in it to win it. :naughty:

With a saruca, you can move much more gravel faster than just renting a screen set. It's a big newbie mistake to not rent one. My mistake: next visit will be the first time I bring one. Karl took time before he left to show me why I needed one. I thought that was nice of him. Everyone is so nice.

How to use a saruca: https://youtu.be/u-ap9Y_ANuE

(Saruca.com doesn't work. I bought mine from Mike, the guy taking the video. There is no sound until the end)

And here is Robert using his at the crater-- I might be meeting up with him next time as he is going for a month. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LLF8RwAxUKE
 
whitewave|1483211989|4111122 said:
jimmianne, you can mine for sapphires, emeralds and rubies in NC!!

http://geology.com/gemstones/states/north-carolina.shtml

I'm totally up for a get together. You can rent everything you need at the crater. If I can learn how to tow my 37 foot RV and set it up, I can sleep 7 easy and 9 with a blow up mattress lol!!

And, yes, I will get a diamond because nothing will stop me. One year I watched Kentucky Derby and told my son, "that looks fun. I'd like to have a horse in the derby. I'll give it a try." And he said (about 9 years old)don't be silly that would never happen. Well, it took two years after I said I'd like to try before a horse I bought in to made it to the derby AND came in 2nd!!!!!!!!!

83 more buckets of material? It's nothing!
Click to expand...


I've been to the Hiddenite mine in Hiddenite, NC. We found beautiful quartz and amethyst crystals and ruby in zoisite. Also Jasper as well. We were next to people who found tourmaline crystals and garnet. There are people who had staked claims and had the areas roped off. You have to know a bit about the geology and history of the area to know where to dig. For instance, that area was covered by a sea for awhile, so to find the gemstones, you have to dig below that sediment level. You can search the creek, dig or purchase buckets of sediment to sluice. It was fun... and dirty!
 
Really cool, DAF. I will have to keep that in the back of my mind. The canadians in the news video I posted were driving around the US in their RV to mine stones: they were headed to Texas for turquoise mining next.
 
I had heard about the latest find, and mentioned it in the esperanza auction thread. I didn't want to post more because they were probably letting the family get home (which is what I would want to do) before they made a press release.

I was last there in mid-january. I just finished up with my last batch of rocks yesterday (drives DH crazy that it takes so long). I hope to get in one more visit before it gets really hot: I still have some rocks to take back for identification. I do not believe so far that I have found a diamond.

Spring is really busy for me... kids tournamants and spring break etc. crater of diamonds is going to be my colder weather activity.

This is the last of it from my last run: (instead of doing centers, I wanted to go through this like I used to).



image_4548.jpg
 
This was found the other day too: img_2355.jpg
 
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