Discussion: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings..

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harmonyor	Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 14 2008, 8:28 PM EST With the winter weather and my need to fill my rockhounding addictions, I was wondering if anyone has some suggestions of mines/sites that ship gem buckets... Especially any international mines that might ship gem tailings that I can wash at home. Post reply Do you find this valuable? Keyword tags: buckets gem dirt gem gravel. mail order mine at home ship tailings
pvjjh	1. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 14 2008, 8:58 PM EST Hi harmonyor, there is a page found on the left side menu that has a list of mines that ship tailings or gem buckets. We call the purchased mining buckets RMM or remote mining material. There isn't any international sites as if yet, but if you find some please add them to the list. Here is the link to the page: http://cash-and-treasures-wiki.travelchannel.com/page/Lapidary%2C+Jewelry%2C+RMM%2C+Resource+and+Buying+Page Just below that resource page, is the RMM finds page where some of us have posted our finds and such. I too order material buring the winter - to long and cold, but I also order them during the spring, summer and fall too. lol Hope this helps and if you have any questions please ask. Paul Post reply Do you find this valuable?
bucfanpaka	2. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 14 2008, 11:34 PM EST Here is one that isn't on the list that might be of interest too- http://www.rubycity.com/gem_buckets Post reply Do you find this valuable?
syonix	5. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 15 2008, 4:11 PM EST "Hey I still can't edit pages. Could you add this to the list please... :-) Thanks, Paul" Paul I have to ask, I've read all these sites listed, and something in my gut tells me not to get any dirt from them. What outfits do you specifically use to get material from? I've been talking to you for awhile now and trust your opinion.. On the face of it, putting myself in the shoes of someone with dirt to sell, i have a hard time looking at the whole process and not think to myself, but yeah, if you obviously are scooping dirt into a bag, and that huge rare stone is just sitting there, are you really going to just sell it? Is it in thier interest to? I figure that i dont understand the process that well. This is a facinating idea, being able to "rockhound from your couch".. Since some of us cant get to those mines.. Can you share some of your success/failures with this process and help those of us who are still a little edgy about the whole prospect.. -Jake Post reply Do you find this valuable?
syonix	6. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 15 2008, 4:12 PM EST "Paul I have to ask, I've read all these sites listed, and something in my gut tells me not to get any dirt from them. What outfits do you specifically use to get material from? I've been talking to you for awhile now and trust your opinion.. On the face of it, putting myself in the shoes of someone with dirt to sell, i have a hard time looking at the whole process and not think to myself, but yeah, if you obviously are scooping dirt into a bag, and that huge rare stone is just sitting there, are you really going to just sell it? Is it in thier interest to? I figure that i dont understand the process that well. This is a facinating idea, being able to "rockhound from your couch".. Since some of us cant get to those mines.. Can you share some of your success/failures with this process and help those of us who are still a little edgy about the whole prospect.. -Jake" Now on the other hand, I am planning a trip to Montanna as soon as spring hits .. :-) I hear there are sapphires in dem dar hills ... Post reply Do you find this valuable?
pvjjh	7. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 15 2008, 7:21 PM EST "Paul I have to ask, I've read all these sites listed, and something in my gut tells me not to get any dirt from them. What outfits do you specifically use to get material from? I've been talking to you for awhile now and trust your opinion.. On the face of it, putting myself in the shoes of someone with dirt to sell, i have a hard time looking at the whole process and not think to myself, but yeah, if you obviously are scooping dirt into a bag, and that huge rare stone is just sitting there, are you really going to just sell it? Is it in thier interest to? I figure that i dont understand the process that well. This is a facinating idea, being able to "rockhound from your couch".. Since some of us cant get to those mines.. Can you share some of your success/failures with this process and help those of us who are still a little edgy about the whole prospect.. -Jake" Hey Jake, I guess you have to be willing to take a chance with this things. SInce I am a gemmy sort of guy, I like buying material that has gems in it. Most if not all of the mines on the list are gems mines. It depends on what you want to find. For instance, there isn't a lot of tourmaline in WA state, so if you want to get tourmaine specimens you buy from the So CA mines. If you go to the RMM finds page, you will see some pics of the finds. I have my favorite mines I purchase material from. All gems. RMM finds: http://cash-and-treasures-wiki.travelchannel.com/page/Your+RMM+Finds+%28Remote+Mining+Materials%29 One thing that that affects me over most people is that I can't get out very much and if I do, I need it has to be level and preferable flat. Not to many collection sites like that. So for me to find things I have to bring the material to me. I sometimes buy gold cons as well to run in my micro sluice I built. That is something one really has to watch is the gold cons. My family and I like searching the material. Some of the mines off the material and a faceting and/or cabbing coupon with it. I have had several stones faceted that way. When i had stone appraised,m I was quite surprised as to the value of some of the finished stones. I know that they paid for the bucket and faceting. But there are no guarantees. I have tried many places and I have my favorites. It is always fun to search the material and get a pike of gemstones - some facetable and many specimens. What I do is search the material, grab the facet grade material and then tumble the rest of the stuff. Once tumbled I will look for pieces large enough to facet. The rest makes nice displays of tumbled stones in some of my turned bowls. Paul Post reply Do you find this valuable?
pvjjh	8. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 15 2008, 7:34 PM EST "Now on the other hand, I am planning a trip to Montanna as soon as spring hits .. :-) I hear there are sapphires in dem dar hills ... " You betchya there be sapphires in them thar hills El Dorado and Spokane bar mines are near Helena and Gem mtn at Philipsburg. I have heard b`etter reports of the latter than the first 2. I was plnaing on a trip last summer but the friend's son got sick right before we were to leave. It was a bummer. When are you heading over?? Paul Post reply Do you find this valuable?
washingtoncougar	9. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 15 2008, 9:36 PM EST Syonix, Paul is right with location and find results on sapphires in Montana. The material from Helena doesn't hold alot of shapphires or color in the ones you do find, but you have a chance at finding a larger karat sapphire with that area. the sapphires from Gem Mountain near Phillipsburg are smaller (most are less then 1 karat) but have more color and you find alot more in your material. Livy and I have been to both places personally and we like Gem Mountain better, but there are a few people we have talked with that prefer the Helena area. I guess it is more about where you first started looking and finding those pretty pieces of broken glass looking gems. Livy and I have around 10 five gal buckets of Gem Mountain material still that we will work and play with through out the winter and 1 five gal bucket and one El Dorado bag (about 3 gal) from the Helena area (Livy has been wanting to get this material out of the way so we can get back to the Gem Mountain material). If You have questions about either area Livy or I will be more then happy to try and answer them. Dave Post reply Do you find this valuable?
syonix	10. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 16 2008, 10:09 AM EST "You betchya there be sapphires in them thar hills El Dorado and Spokane bar mines are near Helena and Gem mtn at Philipsburg. I have heard b`etter reports of the latter than the first 2. I was plnaing on a trip last summer but the friend's son got sick right before we were to leave. It was a bummer. When are you heading over?? Paul" Not sure yet. I have been to Montanna during the winter months and its not exactly a place i would be down for hunting for stones. So im thinking the first chance in spring when the snow is gone and they are up and running. I need to do more research.. We're not really that far so it should be dooable without much work on my part. I also am looking into going down to the Oceanview mine in southern california... My father lives in LA and i go down there a few times a year to visit.. that looks very interesting .. Any suggestions on times Montanna is best? Maybe a group trip would be in order .. I have a pretty flexible paid time off system at my work . Hey Dave, Did you and your lady purchase those bags directly at the mine when you were there, or via the mail? Have you had real good success with them so far? would you do it again? I've gotten my wife to buy into the idea that looking for rocks isnt always about muddy cold wet pits and agates, and some of these "pay to play" experiences at the end of a nice road trip might just be what she needs to kick start that hound in her .. :-) One thing is for sure. I know what to ask for my birthday this month lol ;-) Now that was easy. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
RockPuppy	11. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 16 2008, 12:01 PM EST All the stuff we get from the Phillipsburg area at Gem Mt came directly from there. It's a lot cheaper cause you don't have to worry about shipping being added into the price. This material requires more washing but there's lots of smaller sized sapphires in this. Lot's of blues and greens and if you're really lucky you'll find a nice pink or yellow. Planning on taking some back to Michigan with me here in a couple of weeks when I go visit my kids. Wonder if TSA will give me a hard time if I claim it as carry-on...otherwise I'll have to mail it. As for Helena's Spokane Bar Mine, the stuff we actually dug there hasn't had much of anything in it, guess we were digging in the wrong area. While we were there I did go ahead and purchase an El Dorado Monster Mine Bag which is the same stuff they would send through the mail. The kids aren't allowed to even touch this bag. I'm really looking forward going through this material, just haven't gotten around to it yet. The summer before last I had ordered a regular bag of Monster Mine and there was a nice large blue, unfortunately a younger offspring plucked it away and kept it...yes cougar, I'm still sore about that one. Hey Paul, have you ever ordered any of that Benitoite RMM? I did once but didn't have any luck...of course I don't have a shortwave light either so I kept the material just in case we get one. Rockin' from my chair RockPuppy Post reply Do you find this valuable?
syonix	12. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 16 2008, 3:59 PM EST "All the stuff we get from the Phillipsburg area at Gem Mt came directly from there. It's a lot cheaper cause you don't have to worry about shipping being added into the price. This material requires more washing but there's lots of smaller sized sapphires in this. Lot's of blues and greens and if you're really lucky you'll find a nice pink or yellow. Planning on taking some back to Michigan with me here in a couple of weeks when I go visit my kids. Wonder if TSA will give me a hard time if I claim it as carry-on...otherwise I'll have to mail it. As for Helena's Spokane Bar Mine, the stuff we actually dug there hasn't had much of anything in it, guess we were digging in the wrong area. While we were there I did go ahead and purchase an El Dorado Monster Mine Bag which is the same stuff they would send through the mail. The kids aren't allowed to even touch this bag. I'm really looking forward going through this material, just haven't gotten around to it yet. The summer before last I had ordered a regular bag of Monster Mine and there was a nice large blue, unfortunately a younger offspring plucked it away and kept it...yes cougar, I'm still sore about that one. Hey Paul, have you ever ordered any of that Benitoite RMM? I did once but didn't have any luck...of course I don't have a shortwave light either so I kept the material just in case we get one. Rockin' from my chair RockPuppy" Thanks for the info.. Much appreicated I think we're going to try and make a trip to the Montanna places in early-mid May, that should give the snow time to go away enough to drive hopefully.. When it comes closer im sure i'll have loads more questions .. Until then, i'm looking at the southern california places since the weather is so much nicer this time of year .. It sure is cooolld outside here today.. My agate piles out back are solidly frozen over :-) Maybe january in the LA area... Post reply Do you find this valuable?
WizardOfTheStone	13. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 16 2008, 9:22 PM EST Two placed we have depended on for just this are: Gem Mountain, Spruce Pine NC, and VaCity Gem Mine.. I recall one snowy day (We called In advanced) and Connie Met us out on the road.. We drove down from Maryland, Just to buy a 100.00 bucket.. Because it was going to be an Xmas gift to one of her family members in Western NC. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
pvjjh	14. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 17 2008, 12:10 PM EST "All the stuff we get from the Phillipsburg area at Gem Mt came directly from there. It's a lot cheaper cause you don't have to worry about shipping being added into the price. This material requires more washing but there's lots of smaller sized sapphires in this. Lot's of blues and greens and if you're really lucky you'll find a nice pink or yellow. Planning on taking some back to Michigan with me here in a couple of weeks when I go visit my kids. Wonder if TSA will give me a hard time if I claim it as carry-on...otherwise I'll have to mail it. As for Helena's Spokane Bar Mine, the stuff we actually dug there hasn't had much of anything in it, guess we were digging in the wrong area. While we were there I did go ahead and purchase an El Dorado Monster Mine Bag which is the same stuff they would send through the mail. The kids aren't allowed to even touch this bag. I'm really looking forward going through this material, just haven't gotten around to it yet. The summer before last I had ordered a regular bag of Monster Mine and there was a nice large blue, unfortunately a younger offspring plucked it away and kept it...yes cougar, I'm still sore about that one. Hey Paul, have you ever ordered any of that Benitoite RMM? I did once but didn't have any luck...of course I don't have a shortwave light either so I kept the material just in case we get one. Rockin' from my chair RockPuppy" Hey Rockpuppy, yeah you guys got all them sapphires and all I got is ol' junky sunstones in buckets of dirt. lol ;-) Hopefully this summer will provide time and resources to make a trip to MT and get some of that dirt ourselves. Gotta love them sapphires! As for the Benitoite dirt, yes I have purchased some as well. I didn't find anything that I would say look all that good. Even with a blacklight, though I don't know if it long or short wave I didn't see anything that got me excited at all.. I did find one crystal that had the right shape but is just brown and grey. Maybe it needs to be heat treated. Anyway, I was rather disappointed with the dirt, but those are the chances you take buying this type of stuff. But I must admit, I have had many more good buckets of material than bad for sure! Lets get that sapphire mine of yours going in the rec room. lol Man I want to see pics!! Have fun! It is tooo cold and snowing like crazy and I gots to get some more wood turned before Christmas. I am not looking forward to the garage. Maybe I will sit here and type all day long where it is warm and comfy. lol Paul Post reply Do you find this valuable?
pvjjh	15. RE: Mining from home...suggestions for mines that ship tailings.. Dec 17 2008, 12:17 PM EST "Two placed we have depended on for just this are: Gem Mountain, Spruce Pine NC, and VaCity Gem Mine.. I recall one snowy day (We called In advanced) and Connie Met us out on the road.. We drove down from Maryland, Just to buy a 100.00 bucket.. Because it was going to be an Xmas gift to one of her family members in Western NC." I have ordered from both places as well. Both have great dirt, though I think I like Gem Mtn a bit better. That was nice that they met you out on the road with your bucket of material. Everyone I have had dealings with back there have been great folks, friendly and very wiling to help. Meeting you on the road doesn't surprise me much. That must have been one important Christmas gift to go through all that on snowy roads. Very cool! Paul Post reply Do you find this valuable?
RockPuppy	16. RE: Mining from home... Jan 21 2009, 12:24 PM EST Paul, Our snow is gone and I just finally got around to asking David to bring our sapphire work station inside yesterday. He set it up in the downstairs living room with a nice bright light above it, gotta love the concrete floors while we still have them. He started working on the remaining 1/2 bucket of Helena material just to get it out of the way, but it was frozen. Should be thawed by now though. Gotta a question for you or anyone else who has an answer. Can sapphires be clear? That seems to be just about the only thing we're getting from the stuff we dug ourselves. I'm pretty sure a lot of what were pulling out is just quartz or agate, but some of the clear stuff still has the appearance of the smaller sapphires you usually get out of Gem Mountain, just clear... disappointing for sure. We'll be working on the Eldorado Monster Mine bag by this weekend. Can't wait...hope we find something good! Livy Post reply Do you find this valuable?
pvjjh	17. RE: Mining from home... Jan 21 2009, 1:46 PM EST New with the snow gone, you should be able to work outside. ;-) to dang cold up here. Still a patch of snow here and there but just above us is still all white. I like the idea of indoor mining. lol I am sure I have seen clear sapphires. If the crystalian structure looks like that of a sapphire, I would say yeah, it is a clear sapphire. It would be interesting to heat treat the clear ones to see if there isn't any color hidden in them. I know working material from the Spokane Bar and El Dorado, there is always small pieces of clear quartz. But the shape was not anything close to a sapphire. I have yet to work anything from Gem Mtn MT. Have fun and good luck with the El Dorado material. I was rather disappointed with the last stuff we got. But it only takes 1 really nice one to make all the difference. :-) Remember - pictures! :-) Paul Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Geno7	18. RE: Mining from home... Jan 21 2009, 9:49 PM EST I purchased a bag of sunstone concentrate from specturm mine at least I think it was called sunstone concentrate. I don't know if any of the sunstones we found were valuable but the kids and I had a blast going through it. We hadn't been out in a while rocking and it kind of gave us our rock fix lol. It was only $6.00 so not the big investment like some of the material you can get but I would definitley do it again. We purchased it at the rock show at the Puyallup Fair Grounds. Gene Post reply Do you find this valuable?
pvjjh	19. RE: Mining from home... Jan 21 2009, 10:00 PM EST "I purchased a bag of sunstone concentrate from specturm mine at least I think it was called sunstone concentrate. I don't know if any of the sunstones we found were valuable but the kids and I had a blast going through it. We hadn't been out in a while rocking and it kind of gave us our rock fix lol. It was only $6.00 so not the big investment like some of the material you can get but I would definitley do it again. We purchased it at the rock show at the Puyallup Fair Grounds. Gene" Hey Gene, It is a kick to me too. Jeff and I like buying material from different mines. Lots of fun and you can get some many different gems and such. You get any good sized sunstones? Take a pic and post it. I would like to see what you got. We got pounds and pounds of them from the mine this last summer. I still have like 14 buckets of material here at the house to sort. A $6 inivestment was somewhat cheaper than mine though. lol RMM is a kick. Paul Post reply Do you find this valuable?
RockPuppy	20. RE: Mining from home... Jan 25 2009, 3:16 PM EST We got the sapphire work station inside just in time, it's snowing again. It's so nice having it inside. We just went through our El Dorado monster mine bag and I'm impressed. Check out the beauties we found!!! Starting to work on the Gem Mt. material and we're finding some real pretties, though of course not nearly as big as Big Blue. I just about hyperventilated when I saw it. The reds are amazing too. Need to get a backlit shot of the big blue and there's also a nearly black blue one I need to back light. Almost didn't see the dark red and blue one. Did a second sifting on the entire bag just in case we missed something...only one small light blue so we did pretty good. Livy Post reply Do you find this valuable?
pvjjh	21. RE: Mining from home... Jan 25 2009, 3:40 PM EST Way cool! You guys done good. When you get a chance post your findings here: http://cash-and-treasures-wiki.travelchannel.com/page/Your+RMM+Finds+%28Remote+Mining+Materials%29 Good luck with the Gem Mtn stuff! Paul Post reply Do you find this valuable?

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