Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphires?

[userangl28212003]

Hi I am far away from MT but I just ordered a bucket from gem mountain. I have panned for gold many times, and am excited to try to find my own rough montana sapphires in which some are gemy enough to heat/or not heat and cut. I was wondering is anyone has visited this place or bought gravel online, and had some good experiences in finding nice sapphires? If so, please share

 

[SapphireStyle]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

I visited with my children last summer. They do salt the buckets, but mainly with small greenish rough. We bought a couple of buckets and had fun learning to sift through them, but we didn't find anything worth polishing.

 

[pregcurious]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

Hmm, I've never tried this. I sounds like a fun activity for the kids.

 

[SapphireStyle]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

It is pretty fun. It is located in the town of Phillipsburg, Montana, a tiny place you'd only really visit if on your way to Yellowstone, (as we were). My kids liked the panning, but honestly, they liked the amazing old fashioned sweet shop there way more.

 

[userangl28212003]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

it's somewhere I always wanted to visit but living in mass, it would be a nice hike to get to. I was really excited when I realized that you can buy the same buckets of dirt you would get there and find them. Also you can still mail them to them to be evauluated, heated, and cut. I hope I find some nice ones

 

[userangl28212003]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

So I got my bag last night and I already have found about 9 sapphires. They are all probably to small to be worth cutting, but some of them are quite clear, and i got a nice deep blue color one too (to bad not big enough). I have been doing little scoops at a time, and am maybe about 1/4 of a 25 pnd done, So I am hopeful

 

[chrono]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

I think these are more for fun and would not be surprised if the bucket was deliberately "sprinkled" as most panning places are.

 

[SapphireStyle]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

They are deliberately "sprinkled". They call it "salting" and are very up front about it.

 

[userangl28212003]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

Really? Cuase I purchase the unsearched buck I am pretty sure, and it said that they can't be sure what you might get. I know other buckets for sale said they did salt the bag, but not on this one . I might be wrong though

 

[mtsapphirelovingannie]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

So I got my bag last night and I already have found about 9 sapphires. They are all probably to small to be worth cutting, but some of them are quite clear, and i got a nice deep blue color one too (to bad not big enough). I have been doing little scoops at a time, and am maybe about 1/4 of a 25 pnd done, So I am hopeful

I hope you have better luck with the rest of your bag. I think it is always a fun thing to do.

I've done bags at the mine and at the Sapphire Gallery in town...and mined directly at a claim near Pillipsburg. It is always fun but I've never found anything very large. My best were 5 to 6 mm once cut. I do have a hot pink untreated that I'm happy with...but of course none of these are the size and quality of sapphires that you see on PS. I hope you have fun!

 

[userangl28212003]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

So I got my bag last night and I already have found about 9 sapphires. They are all probably to small to be worth cutting, but some of them are quite clear, and i got a nice deep blue color one too (to bad not big enough). I have been doing little scoops at a time, and am maybe about 1/4 of a 25 pnd done, So I am hopeful

I hope you have better luck with the rest of your bag. I think it is always a fun thing to do.

I've done bags at the mine and at the Sapphire Gallery in town...and mined directly at a claim near Pillipsburg. It is always fun but I've never found anything very large. My best were 5 to 6 mm once cut. I do have a hot pink untreated that I'm happy with...but of course none of these are the size and quality of sapphires that you see on PS. I hope you have fun!

Hi. Thank you . To me a 5mm stone once cut must have been a decent size if you get %20 of the stone back once cut, from what ive read researching. I just found my biggest sapphire so far today, it is more of a yellowish rectangular shape 7x4x4mm, which I think is somewhere near 1ct. It is fun, id figured at the very least I might get a nice cut sapphire or diamond as a center stone, and then have a halo of my small round sapphires made around it, becuase even though these are small the clarity is really nice(sparkles a lot), and the pastel colors are nice to. this will go with my more nature rustic theme I have been making, and then these small sapphires won't go to waste, and ill have a sentimental ring

 

[userangl28212003]

Re: Has anyone been to gem mountain MT and found good sapphi

I wanted to update on some of my bigger findings so far.. Color wise some yellows, greens, a couple of blues, and a light pink. I found a bunch of smaller gemmy sapphires to, but to small to cut.

Starting on top left 1. a light yellow 3ct (will hopefully be my one cut stone I was looking for),The shape to me is call cushion, what do you think? . I am still not done with the bag yet so hopefully there will some more nice ones

2, A green 2 ct round sapphire

3. light yellow 1.5ct rectangular sapphire

4. the rest are either around 1ct or under.