This morning we went to the Diamond fields hoping to escape the heat and it worked pretty well. We had some rain in the early morning about 4am and it was still overcast when we hit the fields.
A few people were out there. Dummy me wasn't thinking about everything I would need when we left, I got the shovel and a few digging tools but totally forgot to bring a bucket. SO we had to rent a stupid bucket! $2.50 rental for a 3 gallon bucket for the day. A sifting screen is $3.50 a day. Sad thing is I probably have 20 buckets at the shop and I have classifier screens that I bought for when I go gold panning. Shoulda coulda, don't mean spit now! So we went to the dollar store to buy a bucket and maybe one of those spagetti straining thingys, NADA, so I go to the grocery store NADA, what is there, a law that says they cant sell buckets! :)
Well fortunately Deanna remembered seeing a hardware store on the way in, sure enough we found it and right out front is a sign saying diamond mining supplies, better yet when I come out of the store across the street is a Mining specific store! Anywho, I got 2 5 gallon buckets and a double sifting screen to sort the big stuff out and then the small stuff. Now we have it all. We went back out about 4pm till 6pm hoping it would be a little cooler and it was bearable if you were out of the sun. Fortunately the water troughs are under a roof and that helps a lot.
Other thing I didn't think about was glasses! Since I had my eye surgery 4 years ago I can see great far away but can't see poop to keep from stepping in it up close! Fortunately Deanna had a pair of old glasses with bifocals in the truck so she went and got them and bought a magnifying glass also. Pretty hard to look for small diamonds without either of those. There are a zillion little rocks and a lot of them look like diamonds. We had them look at our stuff and we had borite, calcite, quartz and another one but don't remember what it was. I had a couple that I would have sworn were possibly diamonds but were just crystal clear quartz!
So anyway, there was one diamond found yesterday at 29 points (however big that is) don't think it is very big but still a diamond. None were found today as of the time we left. If someone finds one they set off a siren to let everyone know about it.
Admission to the fields is only $6.50 per person but if you come and are gonna spend a few days bring your own stuff. They charge you a deposit on anything you rent, imagine a $10 deposit on a stupid 3 gallon bucket! Hell if I was gonna steal something it damn sure wouldn't be the bucket! They charge $20 for the screen, that is at least understandable as the one I bought cost $22. I bet they hope and pray you won't bring the bucket back!
Tomorrow I think a little sightseeing is in order and maybe a little hiking down to the river.
1 comment:
...law that says they cant sell buckets! :)
I thought only my country have stupid laws :)
This diamonds fields look like very good business - for owner.
I told you,come over and hunt real stuff with me.
Best Regards
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