Fossicking for Peridot (Olivine) at the Mount Shadwell Quarry

For the second weekend in a row we found ourselves out in the elements fossicking. This time we were at the Mount Shadwell scoria quarry where gem quality Olivine, or Peridot, can be found.

We attended this trip with other members of the Essendon Gem and Lapidary club.

Olivine, or Peridot, occurs within scoria bombs that must be opened first. The quality of the find varies from none to gem quality with the latter being rare. The act of opening the rock, with a small hammer, renders much of what you find shattered. We had a great day and our one and only cutter was a small piece that Bianca found whilst specking the ground. I will try to get it cut for her but the size of it is currently beyond my skill.

Overall we had a great day and i think everyone came away with something.

 

Fossicking in Powelltown

We managed to get away with the Goulburn Valley Gem Club on a fossicking trip this week end. The trip was well supported with about 10 car loads of people heading up into the hills north east of Powelltown, Victoria.

Powelltown Hall Carpark

Carpark / Clearing near our fossicking location

Bianca, Our Mining Supervisor for the day

The location, once an old Tin mine, was said to have many varieties of Quartz (clear, Smokey and Citrine) as well as Topaz and Tourmaline.

In our car, our being Bianca and Myself, we had Chris and John. As a team we also ended up working the same hole for the day with Margaret joining us after lunch. Working the one hole meant we were able to work over much more material in our sieves and plenty of stone was carries back up to the cars for investigation, not all of it keepers though.

Some of the dense bush we needed to get through to find the creek

Apparently its time for lunch

Some of our haul

Yep, another Leech

In the end we managed to find plenty of quartz, of various colors and quality and some good samples of black Tourmaline. I don't believe we were lucky enough to uncover any Topaz, which i a shame. Still, that just means there is some there for us to find next time. Leeches were the only issue for the day, many of them finding their way over to me for a feed.

Smoky Quartz Points

A Large Smoky Crystal i grabbed for the garden

All in all it was a great day out. Thank you to the Goulburn Valley Gem club and Margaret from the Essendon Lapidary club for a great day out. I am looking forward to the next trip to Stratford.