Area Photos
| Typical hand digging areas with levels going from near the surface to several feet deep. This digger kindly posed for us. |
| Facilities at the Anakie caravan park for sieving the bearing material. |
| Deep Shaft Lease Digging at Rubyvale. |
| The Big Pick, Shovel & Sieve just outside the Sapphire Caravan Park |
| Typical view of the material you have to hand dig through. |
| We use this tripod setup for all our on field sieving adventures. |
| Petrified Wood Logs Outside the Emerald Town Hall. |
Queensland Sapphire Fields
2007 - By John Boom
This Anakie Sapphire Fields Pictorial includes information on Anakie, Sapphire
and Rubyvale as all these fields are basically joined together in the same area of
Queensland. Most of these areas have some caravan parks and stores.
We stayed at the Anakie caravan park on our first night and did some digging at
the Willows and Sapphire areas for a couple of days. We stayed at other parks in
the Sapphire areas as well. We found these areas to be of future interest and will
no doubt go back there and spend a week or more there. These type of areas you
need to spend substantial time because it takes time to dig decent holes and get
established in the areas you want to dig in. The Willows and Sapphire areas have
some shallow areas where to dig and sieve.
Tools Needed:
I good large pick and long handle shovel.
One quarter and eighth inch sieve.
I used 500 mm round ones suspended from a tripod.
You will need water and a drum for the final sieving to see if you have anything in
your sieve. You could make your own sieves as well. A Hessian bag on a table is
good to tip the final sieve lot onto to see if you’ve found anything. All tools can be
purchased at the town of Sapphire if required.
No power tools are permitted on any of the fields unless you have a lease and
then only limited power tools are permitted.
Although we didn’t find any sapphires on this trip we feel these areas are well
worth spending a few weeks holiday on. You need to put in the hard work and
plenty of time. Try and pick the cooler times of the year to go as it can get pretty
hot.
The sapphires are located in the old wash river beds, which is made up of small to
very large pebbles, sand, dirt and clay. It’s very, very hard work digging. The
depth varies from field areas from near the surface to around 40 foot deep
around the Rubyvale Fields. All the fields are located near each another so you
can try different areas if you’re interested. But even the surface areas are still
hard work though. You could reach most areas by car but a 4x4 would be better
for going down most tracks.
2007 - By John Boom
This Anakie Sapphire Fields Pictorial includes information on Anakie, Sapphire
and Rubyvale as all these fields are basically joined together in the same area of
Queensland. Most of these areas have some caravan parks and stores.
We stayed at the Anakie caravan park on our first night and did some digging at
the Willows and Sapphire areas for a couple of days. We stayed at other parks in
the Sapphire areas as well. We found these areas to be of future interest and will
no doubt go back there and spend a week or more there. These type of areas you
need to spend substantial time because it takes time to dig decent holes and get
established in the areas you want to dig in. The Willows and Sapphire areas have
some shallow areas where to dig and sieve.
Tools Needed:
I good large pick and long handle shovel.
One quarter and eighth inch sieve.
I used 500 mm round ones suspended from a tripod.
You will need water and a drum for the final sieving to see if you have anything in
your sieve. You could make your own sieves as well. A Hessian bag on a table is
good to tip the final sieve lot onto to see if you’ve found anything. All tools can be
purchased at the town of Sapphire if required.
No power tools are permitted on any of the fields unless you have a lease and
then only limited power tools are permitted.
Although we didn’t find any sapphires on this trip we feel these areas are well
worth spending a few weeks holiday on. You need to put in the hard work and
plenty of time. Try and pick the cooler times of the year to go as it can get pretty
hot.
The sapphires are located in the old wash river beds, which is made up of small to
very large pebbles, sand, dirt and clay. It’s very, very hard work digging. The
depth varies from field areas from near the surface to around 40 foot deep
around the Rubyvale Fields. All the fields are located near each another so you
can try different areas if you’re interested. But even the surface areas are still
hard work though. You could reach most areas by car but a 4x4 would be better
for going down most tracks.
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