Crystal Dig Report:
Diamond
Hill Machine Dig! Report by: Richard Jacquot Photos by: Sandi Hill and Richard Jacquot Not long after we began the dig, we were having the machine moved to get a better angle at removing more overburden from the amethyst bearing pit. While scraping a level area for the machine to work on, Chunky, the machine operator, observed a large crystal in his bucket. This discovery led to the recovery of the largest and most spectacular smoky/amethyst crystals ever mined at the site.
Bryan Major working on a crystal.
The above two pics show what turned out to be one of the largest crystals clusters we discovered. The piece is a stack of double terminated crystals that weighs in the 125-150 pound range
Once the crystal cluster was discovered, it took Romin and some of the other diggers several hours to remove the piece. The rest of us gathered around to observe the piece while it was being removed. By the end of the dig, numerous huge single crystals weighing between 10 and 25 pounds were removed along with many huge clusters and plates of crystals. All the pieces from this area are smoky with amethyst tips. The pieces are shiny and gemmy, the amethyst color looks like grape jelly in the tips.
Steve and Austin working a wall in the amethyst pit. |
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