Fieldtrip Report:
Diamond Hill Quartz Prospect Photos by: In early April, 2009, the Diamond Hill dig crew conducted another machine dig at the famous Diamond Hill Quartz prospect in Antreville, SC. Since last April, 2008, we have been chasing a vein of spectacular amethyst and smoky quartz which has produced some fantastic specimens. The April, 2008 dig was documented in the January/February 2009 issue of Rocks and Minerals magazine. As with the previous machine digs, the MAGMA club was invited in to collect immediately after the dig was finished. During the past two digs for our club, collecting was limited to the dump piles surrounding the area as the pits and veins were covered over for future machine digs. Even though the club members were only collecting the dumps, many excellent specimens were found on these digs. April, 2008 dig , November, 2008 dig
Brian and a big plate.
Ron hard at it!
Having fun!
Dave After we had completed our dig, I began preparing for the club dig. There was a big plus for this trip, Chet had decided to leave the amethyst pit open to the club, this payed off greatly for many of our members who found numerous amethyst and smoky quartz veins and attacked them.
By Friday morning, the parking lot was at it's limit as more and more members rolled in to try their luck finding crystals. The members were thrilled to learn they would be working the veins when they arrived.
There are a lot of specimens pictured that the members collected, most are still iron stained and I hope to add many more pics of cleaned pieces as I receive them from the members.
Matt Rosone's big crystal.
Pages: (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) |
