Lost Mine

Lost Mine

By Corey Lablans

 Sonya places a stack of sticks along the vein face to prevent damage of the feldspar crystals once the micro blaster fractures the face.

 

Alfred blows out the dust from the whole that he had drilled (centre and right) to place the charge for the micro blaster. In order to have it detonate properly the whole must be dry and dust free (Left).  

 

Alfred places in the charge for the micro blaster (Centre). The goal is to create a fracture line behind the vein face in order to chisel off the face and preserve the beautiful feldspar crystals (Left). The right photo shows the mud after the rain.  

A series of colourful raincoats and ponchos scatter the Lost Mine digging area on Sunday, as they look for apatite, titanite and feldspar crystals. There are other minerals to be found but those are the common ones. 

 A twin feldspar crystal sits on top of a vein of calcite. The task for the day for two were to remove the face of the vein to get the crystals and remove this beautiful specimen; it was achieved.

It’s the Indiana Jones of the natural world. Venture into semi-remote areas and find nature’s treasures. This past weekend various geological clubs ventured into the Lost Mine near Eganville, approximately two and half hours from Kingston.

I have been up to the Bancroft area five times this year, seeking out nature’s beauty in the form of rose quartz, titanite, feldspar, apatite and others. This was my first time visiting the Lost Mine.

What draws many collectors to this local are the numerous veins of calcite, which can contain nice specimens of apatite and titanite. Unlike the Bear Lake Diggings, where the apatite is brittle, at the Lost Mine they are solid, keeping them beautifully in shape. Another common crystal found at this location are the feldspar crystals, which line the vein walls. Although they are common, finding a beautiful display quality sample can take some time and a lot of work to remove.

Alfred and Sonya, spent a good chunk of four hours working on a vein wall containing some really nice specimens. After cleaning the top of the vein and its side, they moved to the micro blaster to help fracture behind the crystals and remove the face. A beautiful three-foot specimen was removed, containing some really well formed double terminated ends.