It contains at least 10 pounds of raw gravel concentrate from the famed El dorado Bar near Helena, Montana. Concentrate means, that it has been washed to remove most of the dirt and large rocks. It goes into a drying pile and then shipped directly to us from the mine. Perfect for in home mining.
This gravel is filled with great colorful river worn rock from the Missouri River. You will find all types of agate, hematite, fossils, garnet, other minerals and of coarse, sapphire.
Eldorado Bar sapphire comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. The most common colors are blue, green & clear, but red, pink, yellow, orange and violet can also be found. Sizes over 1 carat are fairly common. Clarity ranges from heavily included, (hazy, fractures,) to IF or clear as ice. Our largest sapphire find to date was 23 carats but it was heavily included. Our cleanest was 11.5 ct, clean as ice.
In the past we have even found a gold nugget now and then, along with dinosaur teeth and bone, all types of fossils, and other types of gemstones occasionally.
Like any type of treasure hunt, you never know exactly what you will find. To enhance your hunt experience, we are adding 25 carats of rough Montana sapphires. No one else can guarantee you that much sapphire, not even in larger 40 pound bags, and that is in addition to what ever is in the raw gravel!
We are not "Highgraders", we do not search thru the gravel. We get it directly from the mines, package it for you and then add to it. So we have no idea what could be in each sack aside from the add we put in, and our adds are also random scoops. Many people have found some remarkable rough gemstones.
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All you need to start your home sapphire mining treasure hunt.....
A fine wire strainer, tweezers, a spray bottle, something to hold your find in like a baggy or plastic vial, and something like a kitchen cutting board to search on (white works best).
First empty a small amount of gravel into your strainer (about 1/2 cup), and rinse it well with water to get off any remaining dirt.
Now flip your cleaned gravel onto your search surface and look thru it slowly for your sapphire. The sapphire will be shiny and have a glass like appearance. As the gravel drys, spray it with some water to give it that wet look which make them easier to find. Have patience and save your gravel to go thru a second time, even experienced people can miss some now and then.
It is much easier to find your sapphire with bright sunlight but do not wear sunglasses as they can make it very hard to see the sparkle of the raw stones.
We hope that all this information is enough to get you started on your way to finding your sapphire treasure. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to email us!
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