spokane bar sapphire mine & gold fever rock shop
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spokane bar sapphire mine & gold fever rock shop印象
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I took an out-of-state guest, as I thought sapphire mining would be both fun and make a great story when she got home. It was, and she did, but I didn't expect was to develop such a huge sapphire mining bug myself.We found quite a bit, including one that is too big to fit in through a 1/4 inch bottle neck.Now I severely have the bug. Come on Spring, so I can go find more beautiful sapphires.
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I had promised my kids that I would take them to a Sapphire mine while visiting Helena, MT. I was somewhat worried about it being a tourist trap but was pleasantly surprised by the Spokane Bar Mine. We got there on Oct 1st so it was a little out of the tourist season. The staff, sorry I forgot their names, were great, friendly and informative. I bought a bag from the Spokane Bar Mine and worked through it the way we were taught by the staff. Not only was it fun and kept the kids interested we found some cool sapphires and other gems. I ended up with a total of over 10 carrots of jewelry worthy sapphires and another 20 carrots additional sapphires. I also bought a bag of dirt for some rock hound friends of mine to go through. If I get to go back I will take the time to dig my own dirt and see how I can do.
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July 4th weekend with family. Purchased a concentrate bag. Sat down on the picnic tables they provide. Went through the bag. Found a few sapphires. Overall enjoyable. The store had a functioning soft drink machine. Bring your own lunch. They have air conditioned office room where they review the stones and covered porch. Would not recommend on rainy days.
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Educational/unique experience. Lots of hard work mining your own, but worth it. Found fossils, and beautiful Missouri river sapphires. Largest was 11 carats!
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My parents and I were in Montana visiting family. I ran across an advertisement for a couple of these sapphire mines. We were in Helena so we decided to go to the Spokane Bar Mine. The drive down the long gravel road kind of built up the anticipation of getting to the mine. Pulled up to a small operation with a few smallwooden buildings, picnic tables, and a large piece of digging equipment running up the hill. Went inside, the guy who worked there was very friendly and informative. They had bags of gravel for $50, $75 & $100. I felt kind of silly buying a bag of dirt, but oh well. We went outside, he showed us how to wash the gravel. Then we sat down at the picnic table and started sorting through the pile of gravel. Found some sapphires, not big, but sapphires. Took the rest home with me. I noticed as I got farther down in the bag--the gravel changed drastically. It was now alot of flat shale pieces and alot of white sedimentary chunks. This stuff wouldnt have "fallen to the bottom" because it was lighter in weight than the top portions had been. The sapphires are supposedly heavier than the rest of the gravel, how come none of them were at the bottom? I enjoyed my overall experience. But for $50 a bag, the gravel could at least been consistant all the way through the bag.
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I've done sapphire mining in many other areas and know the going rate. You're going to pay $75 for a bag of dirt here and likely wont find a single gem in it. I hate to say this, but the man who was at the counter smelled so badly of B.O. you didn't want him to help you. (sorry if you're that man and you're reading this). Go to Phillipsburg if you want good sapphire mining at a fair price. I think we spent $30 on a bag there and had so many different gems, amethysts, agates, garnets, sapphires, fools gold, and more!
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We went there expecting something different then last time. Not a single thing has changed. We bought a mother load and eldorado bag. Got 1 5ct gem outta the whole deal. Was not worth the trip. We were contemplating going to the mine this time around but alas it was rainy. Next time i pass through i might try the eldorado mine for 300 (plus 10$ a bucket after to a max of 5 buckets) since their top of the hill mine is played out.
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My wife and I have been rock hounds for many years and we were excited to have a chance to find gem quality sapphires. We were not disappointed. The men who run the mine were very helpful- anyone can be a successful miner with their coaching. We went through 3 bags of gravel and got lots of stones,about 6 of which will be faceted into gems worth several times what the gravel cost. It was cold and rainy and they even gave us hot coffee.
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I decided to try their mine run special for professionals. I paid for 40 yards of virgin material from their advertised spokane bar "Mother Load pit" they said averaged 40 cts per yard(no guarantees). The cost was $3000.00 for the material and processing etc. I got only 11.68 cts per yard far below their advertised average, and including the cost of travel and lodging I lost quite a bit of money, time, and the sapphires collected were only about 5% cuttable into jewelry stones. I wrote them with full analysis of my results including that I found a modern bent nail in the paydirt indicating they sold me previously mined material, I received no answer of any kind. I would strongly reccomend against anyone trying their mine run special.
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I would only recommend the mother load bag of concetraite me and my four kids and my wife each got a bag now I am totally addicted I have had four cut and have many many more waiting to be cut it was well worth the money the people that work there are very helpful and super friendly I go every time I am even near the state