Finding Sapphires at Two Sapphire Mines in Montana

Рет қаралды 128,214

11 ай бұрын

I spend 3 days at mines in Montana finding my own Montana Sapphires. I show how to find sapphires at the Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine near Phillipsburg, Montana and the Montana Blue Jewel Mine near Helena, Montana. Both are great places to find sapphires in Montana. Reservations are required for the Blue Jewel Mine. I got a good haul of Montana Sapphire rough for faceting after going to these places.
Gem Mountain Website: gemmountainmt.com/
Blue Jewel Website: www.montanabluejewelmine.com/

Пікірлер: 110

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 11 ай бұрын

I had a fun trip to the sapphire mines in Montana this year! I got a lot of sapphires for cutting!

@TomsBackyardWorkshop 7 ай бұрын

Very cool I'm going to order some gravel.

@lordeagle100 4 ай бұрын

What was the cost for all the material you searched compared to the cut value of the stones. An estimate is fine I'm not trying to pry into your personal business. Just wondering if it was worth a trip from NJ. Thank you in advance brother ✌️

@sarahsnow9088 4 ай бұрын

You are one of the most honest and transparent people on KZfaq. If your family were to go to either of these mines and find nothing after paying the bucket fee what would the miners say? Is it a sure thing to find something or would you just be out of luck unless you pay for more buckets?

@richardraymond9108 3 ай бұрын

Good question! Do all buckets guarantee sapphires?

@razzledazzle8948 13 күн бұрын

Have you any videos on treating

@drpk6514 6 ай бұрын

I wish you talked about the amount of money you spent and the possible value of of stones before and after cutting.

@korwl540 4 ай бұрын

he linked the website in the description. from the website: "The $40 Gravel Bucket is 2 gallons, approximately 25 pounds of 100% natural sapphire gravel and will fill the screening tool 3 or 4 times. " if he went through 12 screens, that makes it $120-160.

@richardraymond9108 3 ай бұрын

Thanks!! I was wondering too

@recoveryrocksgamer4748 3 ай бұрын

We went here for the first time last year and we are going back again this year we had them heat treat and cut ours. It takes about a year to get them back we should be getting ours back by the end of this week can't wait to see what they look like

@krisschockelt2722 2 ай бұрын

I mean he’s in immediate profit probably after 5-6 stones. Assuming they cut under 1ct finished

@iiniijewelry 2 ай бұрын

Money spent. Usually $40-$60 per bucket. Sapphires sell in rough $25-$100 per carat from Gem Mountain. They all need heat treatment and are small. El Dorado Bar is a great place. Clear, large stones. Rarely in need of heat treatment. Rough sells for $50-$1000 per carat. Gem Mountain is our tourist area. More meant for fun.

@PetaNScott 3 ай бұрын

This video is great! My family and I are heading off to Inverell (Australia) to fossick for sapphires in a few weeks. It was so helpful seeing your techniques. Thanks! 🙂👍

@agingerredhead9380 4 ай бұрын

objectively the coolest way to gamble

@deskmat9874 4 ай бұрын

You basically are more likely to get rich doing anything but gambling

@soHatey 4 ай бұрын

And it seems like a decent workout!

@w3vjp568 3 ай бұрын

@@deskmat9874Unless you're the casino. :D

@dawnmorning 4 ай бұрын

Having a uv flashlight may help to see the beaties. Awesome adventure.

@dbrance 5 ай бұрын

That pink sapphire was gorgeous!

@deantucker57 4 ай бұрын

Aka a ruby?

@paparunji2222 4 ай бұрын

@@deantucker57 sapphires can be pink

@DarthChrisB 2 ай бұрын

@@paparunji2222 No they can't. If it's pink, it's called a ruby. All the pinkish to reddish hues are called ruby.

@DarthChrisB 2 ай бұрын

It's a ruby. And it's not a good color for a ruby, you want deep red.

@paparunji2222 2 ай бұрын

@@DarthChrisBim sorry, but sapphires CAN indeed be pink. But so can rubies. Google it.

@rudiedcr 5 ай бұрын

Gem Mountain will also ship pay gravel to you if. We had a great time in 2021 when we visited.

@maxsmeraldi 7 ай бұрын

Very Nice video! Wonderfull precious stone!😊

@wolfeyez77 5 ай бұрын

Just to clarify, at Gem Mountain you guys went through 21 buckets (3 x 7 bucket rounds), and at Montana Blue Jewel Mine you went through about 12 buckets? It looks like the odds of getting bigger and more classic blue sapphires are better at Blue Jewel, but at Gem Mountain you can get more exotic colors.

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 5 ай бұрын

We spent 2 days at Blue Jewel and went through a total of 12 sets of buckets. Each set is 6 full buckets before running them through the jig. So that is actually 72 buckets of grave from there. You definitely have better odds of finding larger and naturally bluer stones there(not the real nice blue that everyone wants, but bluer), but it does take a lot longer to find sapphires, and you wont find as many. And yes, you are not likely to get very exotic colors from there either. Though the sapphires tend to be larger, they also have a higher tendency to be fractured. The Gem Mountain deposit is very dense with little sapphires, so you will find a lot of sapphires and faster being a lot less labor intensive. There set up is a lot more tourist friendly, but a lot of the sapphires that I find from there fall below the sizes that would be beneficial for me to cut.

@RecBr0wn 11 ай бұрын

Very cool stuff. I wish we had these kinds of places in the UK. We have semi-precious stone but I don't think we have any truly precious stone mines open to the public

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 11 ай бұрын

Yeah, I really appreciate the mines allowing the public to come look for sapphires! It is a great experience and I really enjoy doing it!

@canadiangemstones7636 11 ай бұрын

Looks fun! If I lived in MT I’d be washing gravel every weekend!

@chrisclunan5097 5 ай бұрын

There actually is a sapphire deposit in Scotland you may have some luck at

@robertbanks5762 4 ай бұрын

I used to live in Montana and found a lot of garnets and rubies mixed into the sapphires

@nancyhainline2517 Ай бұрын

I never found a ruby, only garnets.

@kaynefryday6637 3 ай бұрын

I think they screen them so they get all the big honkers lol

@katharinatrub1338 4 ай бұрын

It feels like I would enjoy finding some my self. But then, who will cut them ? Thank You Math for taking me to watch you find Saphires!

@fwiffo 4 ай бұрын

The Gem Mountain mine has a service for cutting and heat treating; you can read about it on their website. It's relatively inexpensive if you have a large enough parcel. If you do a lucky 7, you'll have enough to make it worth your while.

@katharinatrub1338 4 ай бұрын

thank you @@fwiffo for taking the time to explain ; )

@jgroskurth 10 ай бұрын

Awesome video. I'm currently saving for my faceting machine. I'd love to see a video of you cutting one of the sapphires you got. I'm looking forward to planning some trips like yours and getting my own stones to cut as well.

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 9 ай бұрын

Thanks! I have started on a film of a sapphire someone else found up there that was a little bigger than the ones I found. They found a 10 carat piece of Montana Sapphire rough.

@pkgoldopalhunting 4 ай бұрын

nice stones man

@mugogrog 8 ай бұрын

If you want a fancier word for "shaking" Aggitation works :) Thanks for a good vid!

@tsmith4338 3 ай бұрын

You get to process the stuff that's been screened to "remove all the larger rocks & boulders (and the really big sapphires)".

@goldcambodia 4 ай бұрын

Nice!

@richardraymond9108 3 ай бұрын

Im totally fascinated!! I see the large piles of material in the background, is that where the buckets of gravel come from?

@richardraymond9108 3 ай бұрын

Im totally fascinated!! I see the large piles of material in the background, is that where the buckets come from?

@kevinwhite9937 13 күн бұрын

Great video! The first place looked like you got paid. The second place looked like you were on the payroll😂 They should have it screened for you if the price is comparable.

@cheryl739 4 ай бұрын

We went on a trip to Gem Mountain from Colorado and I have several bags of Sapphire Rough. It was fun and not too hot as it is in the hills. My son enjoyed it also, even though he enjoys panning for gold more, back home.

@luanaco.5616 Ай бұрын

How much is it? I’m just a geology enthusiast and would love to go for fun.

@mary-ruthflores4107 4 ай бұрын

You should get tweezers that they use with pearls. They have a round scoop instead of a point. If you grab the stone, or if it is very round, too hard they can shoot out of the pointy tweezers

@user-do5hd7zb4x 2 ай бұрын

Thank you!😅

@zacharyrandell-fancey3462 9 ай бұрын

I wish we had mines like that in Alberta Canada too tbh because I am a big fan of gems and fossil and other stuff like that and I love the hunt for them my dream is to get to the diamond state park in Arkansas before I die

@jasonbuzzalini5174 7 ай бұрын

Dan Herd has a sapphire mine in Alberta

@BrandonTrumbla1 4 ай бұрын

do you heat treat the pretty pink ones or do they lose color during the heat treat?

@chilosuarez6022 2 ай бұрын

Gracias por compartir, pude corroborar con tus imágenes qu el que creí q era un zafiro amarillo que encontré en la playa en efecto si lo es. Ahora estaría genial saber si encuentro mas donde los podría vender😊🤗

@w3vjp568 3 ай бұрын

Do the mines supply all of the screening equipment, or do you need to supply any of it yourself?

@justdea5757 4 ай бұрын

LOOKS LIKE FUN BUT HARD WORK!

@ron.v 4 ай бұрын

That was a beautiful pink sapphire @8:43 you showed. I had to look it up online because I thought a pink sapphire was the same thing as a ruby. It appears that a ruby had to be darker red. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

@lordeverybody872 Ай бұрын

Nope, you are right.

@ron.v Ай бұрын

@@lordeverybody872 Thank you.

@richardraymond9108 3 ай бұрын

I do like the red/pink colors. Aren't the red sapphires rubies?

@susanfarley1332 8 ай бұрын

That looks a lot more satisfying than trying to find diamonds in the Crater of Diamonds state park. If you heat treated a pink sapphire what would it look like?

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 8 ай бұрын

I think that the color could vary from stone to stone. It could make the color more rich or possibly even dull the color. The color would also depend on the way it is heated. I know at Gem Mountain, they do two different heating burns. One is at lower heat to try and bring out fancy colors, and then there is a higher heat burn that will more likely turn the stones a bluer color.

@susanfarley1332 8 ай бұрын

@@MattsCornerofGemCutting thank you for the reply!

@_sandy_ 11 ай бұрын

great video! however, some critiques: some of the camera work is really shaky and unfocused in this video, and doesn't do these beautiful gems justice! i would recommend setting the camera down/using tripods for most of the shots and making sure it's focused. you also have a habit of repeating yourself a little bit and i feel like around 5-10mins of the video could have been cut, making a shorter, more widely palatable video your channel is super underrated, and i'm looking forward to seeing some of these gems being cut :D keep it up!

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for your input!

@kristibbradshaw 3 ай бұрын

You should take a uv flashlight with you.

@joeyholloway1515 5 ай бұрын

have you thought about putting a thin layer of wet gravel on a screen and holding it up to look through and pick out crystals with the sun shining through them

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 5 ай бұрын

I've tried that a little bit. Though, shaking and flipping the pans works well for going through lots of material quickly if you are able to get down the method right since it brings that sapphires to the center and top of the gravel after the flip.

@indigo_pawfection 2 ай бұрын

What does heat treating do for them?

@oregonaje4827 11 ай бұрын

I like it!👍By the way, where is a located the place? I want to have some experience.

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 10 ай бұрын

You can find the addresses on their websites in the description. One mine is near Philipsburg, Montana. The other is near Helena, Montana.

@oregonaje4827 10 ай бұрын

@@MattsCornerofGemCutting thanks

@oooxmisterxoo 2 ай бұрын

How do you identify the gemstones as sapphires? especially if they have different colors

@user-zx4gn9so3j Ай бұрын

Can you heat them at home?

@robinson3065 4 ай бұрын

Tremendo muito é muita cachaça 😂😂😂😂

@novelties-Antiques 7 ай бұрын

I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction where I can get my rubies and sapphires heated and also how much it costs thanks Matt

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 5 ай бұрын

I've only had sapphires heated from Gem Mountain. Here is a link to there webpage about heating. You can contact them if you want them to heat anything for you. gemmountainmt.com/heat-treating-faceting/heat-treating#:~:text=The%20cost%20of%20heat%20treating,price%20breaks%20for%20larger%20quantities.

@rickjohnson6559 5 ай бұрын

840$ of buckets. The pink one is paparadasa. They are pricey. Orange is the rare one too.

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, it is an investment for sure! But I get my return off the sapphires I cut.

@rickjohnson6559 5 ай бұрын

@@MattsCornerofGemCutting do you charge to cut for others

@Damonnanashi 4 ай бұрын

Got a question. If you were to heat treat that beautiful pink stone, do you have any idea what color you would get? Is it even able to heat treat? I would assume it doesn't work for every stone. Its crazy what kind of color changes you can get with just heat.

@fwiffo 4 ай бұрын

Pinks usually stay pink but might get better clarity. It's an unpredictable process though, so it could do something else.

@Damonnanashi 4 ай бұрын

@@fwiffo I remember seeing in another video how a bunch that looked similar before heat treating all turned out different, so that makes sense.

@fwiffo 4 ай бұрын

@@Damonnanashi There's a good video by the GIA about heat treatment of Montana Sapphires, actually at Gem Mountain. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nJeeZKmnvKi1dZs.html

@mmw55122 4 ай бұрын

Have you cut any of the pink ones?

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 4 ай бұрын

I've cut two pink ones from that trip, but not that nicest one yet. maxfieldlapidary.etsy.com/listing/1613660829 maxfieldlapidary.etsy.com/listing/1582027392

@amymarkham5149 7 ай бұрын

How many did you find the were quality and each location 🤔

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 7 ай бұрын

If you watch the end of the video where everything is laid out on the table, I talk about what I found at each location and how much material I went through to find it. Between the jugs I purchased at Gem Mountain and the 21 buckets we went trough, we managed around 235 stones I would consider cuttable, but a lot of those fall under a carat rough weight. We did 12 sets of buckets at Blue Jewel and came home with about 115 pieces that I would consider cuttable. Between both places, there were 350 stones of which only about 150 were even over 1 carat and not very many over 2 carats. I'll be cutting mostly from the 1 carat and up stones. So there may be between 125-175 stones that I will actually cut from the trip. Most of those will only yield stone around the half carat range.

@cadecorneliusen3047 7 ай бұрын

Gem mountain has more colors but tend to be smaller, El Dorado area is paler in color and will tend to be bigger.

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 7 ай бұрын

Yep

@rnash999 7 ай бұрын

We only have sand here so we have to buy the waste stones you wiped off the table.

@h2s142 7 ай бұрын

Did you bypass black sapphires?

@MattsCornerofGemCutting 5 ай бұрын

I did not find any black sapphires at these locations.

@SnowTiger45 3 ай бұрын

So my question is >> How Much did you have to PAY to find all these Sapphires ?

@williamthomson638 3 ай бұрын

I wonder how many satires are at the bottom of that mud pond

@nancyhainline2517 Ай бұрын

Me, too.

@AdenicesantosSantos-ww5uy 8 ай бұрын

Olá jair Monteiro, boa tarde! Meu nome é Deni , admiro seu canal tem coisas incríveis. Gosto muito do que você nos apresenta, é surpreendente. Quero falar com você,Tenho muito interesse em falar a esse respeito se for possível , agradeço desde já .

@williamthomson638 3 ай бұрын

Aren't satires blue 💙

@paulabrauer5660 3 ай бұрын

I always thought sapphire was blue?

@chasecarlson4900 5 ай бұрын

I’m surprised that you heat treat the green ones; I rarely see green sapphire gems and would think an untreated green is more valuable since it’s so hard to come across them even in specialty shops

@fwiffo 4 ай бұрын

Most Montana sapphires are some shade of green; it's the most common color by far. They don't really come in bright emerald green; it's usually a pale green, olive green, or yellowish green. You probably see less for sale because they're less popular in that color and most will be heat treated to increase their value. Trust me, if you get some Montana sapphire gravel, you'll have your fill of green ones.