2009-Jan 13th Umba River mining camp

Since we had a reasonable outcome the day before, several from the team decided to purchase the next days’ truck haul to be placed through the washing plant. Fred, Beatrice, Michael, Thomas and Monika joined together to purchase the next batch from the wash. The balance of the crew continued to work their existing pits, or chose new locations.

As daylight was coming to an end, the cut-able’s from the days’ machine wash were now separated on the sorting tables for all to see. They did well, much better than our take on Monday. The photo below shows their selection from the wash. A nice batch of rough.... I'm a little jealous!

Today, from my pit, there were several nice crystals. The batch including a larger light blue Sapphire over 2 grams and several red Garnets over 3 grams, plus a dozen or so of smaller Garnets. Several green Tourmaline pieces were also found but were probably not cut-able for me.

The view from here is.... "are you sure there's something in there worth keeping?" Well, after cleaning the rough, washing it actually, the workable goods become more apparent with shiny surfaces now exposed.