 Breaking news for Jackson's Crossroads pay to dig amethyst mine updated JUNE 02, 2005 . I just recieved this link to more jxr specimens on the web for sale . Excerpt of text from the site ( The Arkenstone ) : " These stunning amethysts were recently produced out of a pegmatite that has produced on and off for decades, though in a spectacular find of Chritsmas 2004 it produced the best pockets yet - exceptional , colorful crystals with glassy lustre and large size. These are arguably the finest North American amethysts. Not only do these crystals have excellent color, generally aesthetic form and a superb luster, but it is nothing short of miraculous that they were expertly mined with little or no damage. The bulk of the main peg has been mined out, I am told, although there are other pegs which might produce additional specimens in the future. Regardless, these will remain the new standard against which North American amethysts are judged for some time to come, and they rank very highly even by worldwide standards. Very good large pictures , check it out by clicking the following link : http://www.irocks.com/georgia.html With all the recent rain, collecting conditions at jxr should be very good . Saturday I should have a big machine on site . We'll be working out back in a restricted area , but when I bring the machine in I'll move some fresh dirt in the pay to dig area . open dig Friday June 3 , show up at the site if you know where it is at ,otherwise, meet at the Dollar General on Hwy 17 in Tignall , Georgia at 9 a.m. and we'll convoy to the site. Open dig Saturday ,June 4 , call 404-520-5059 and I can meet folks at the dollar general but it will have to be EARLY becuase I'll probably have to meet the trackhoe . Only $25 per day per person for a chance to find gemmy mirror faced amethyst crystals with great gemmy internal clarity . Be sure to visit me at the RockFest at the Weinman Mineral Museum June 11 , 2005. I'll have a big selection of amethyst , with prices as low as $5 and some that range into the thousands. I'll have really nice Graves Mountain Rutile for sale Too ! Good bright shiney 1/4 " crystals for as little as $20 , 1/2 " crystals for $40 and bigger 1 " crystals for $100. I'll have lots of minerals collected from Southeastern localities as well as other American spcimens . Terry Ledford will be helping , and he tells me he will be bringing good Hiddenite crystals as well as emeralds from Hiddenite plus good quartz crystals from the same locality. My booth will be located on the left under a funeral home tent , and tables laid out with a staggering display of amethyst crystals ! A e-mail that came in today from a fellow who flew in from Wisconsin to visit jxr :
Hi Rodney, I wanted to thank you for the great experience we had on the weekend of the 22nd dig. I enjoyed meeting with you and the chance to do a little business as well. As I examine the specimens we found and purchased I am awestruck by just how fine they really are. You just don’t see this type of material out there and I’ve been to Tucson many times… I was able to complete a business deal in Atlanta will require my visiting GA at least twice a year. I would like to see if I could make your mine a regular stop and would love to try a visit sometime with the equipment running. The facet material and specimen you brought along were great, should you run across something in facet rough that you consider exceptional - I will be in the market for it. Russ P. Fulwiler Before you do ANYTHING , click this link to read Helen Nicholsons report from last week , it is outrageous ! http://onyxhollow.com/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?id=EEEyZpZVVFwTSowvEV=Default+News+Style&tmpl=news REPORT ON THE PAST WEEKEND : One fellow who attended on Saturday emailed me the following : Hi Rodney,
I finally visited the JXR site over the weekend with Warren's group. I just
wanted to thank you for letting folks visit your property and collect some
nice specimens. Although I didn't walk away with any phenomenal, museum-quality
crystal clusters, I was really pleased with what I found. Even the broken
pieces have some really nice color, and one large specimen in matrix that had
been run over by the tracks of heavy equipment was slightly cracked but
spectacular in its own right.
I hope to get down to Georgia again sometime and would enjoy another visit to
JXR. Several people in the group pulled out some nice single crystals, and
everyone seemed to have a great time.
Best Wishes,
Steve Barr
Anyone wanting to visit JXR to collect amethyst should call me at 404 - 975 - 8005 . The latest issue of the Gemological Institute of America 's "Gems and Gemology " has a article on the Jackson's Crossroads Amethyst , complete with a specimen picture by Jeff Scovill . To top that off, the latest issue of The Mineralogical Record that is just now hitting the newsstands features a write up of the JXR amethyst complete with yet more specimen pictures by Jeff Scovill . I have updated the www.dixieeuhedrals.net site with a killer photo gallery plus some other changes . New items always put on sale on ebay , including a killer super dark jxr amethyst , check it out here : www.stores.ebay.com/dixieeuhedrals Last Wed.,Thursday , Friday , a fellow named steve drove down from Vermont to visit jxr. He and his wife liked it so well , they called and wanted to dig yet a fourth day ! A couple from Augusta attended ( I didn't get there names ) on Saturday . It was there first time digging and they actually found some good stuff and were very happy . Helen , the lady that does my slick commercial version of this website ( www.dixieeuhedrals.net ) came out on Saturday with her son Matt. She found a killer double term amethyst on the tailings piles . Fred Boyd from Augusta came out too and he found a big crystal in tHE piles towards the end of the day . Special geusts Joe George from washington state ( www.cascadescepters.com ) , Paul Geffner from California , Ryan Bowling from Colorado , flew in from their respective homes under special arrangement to dig , buck wild , in the hole. I took the trachoe to the front hole and opened up an area for them to collect . Toward the end of the day I could here some shouts so I ran to see what was up . They had hit a pocket and had already found 4 good golfball size or better crystals . I went to a lot of effort to help these guys since they had all flew in from different parts of the country , and because the are supposed to hook me up with mines in other states that they own or have access to . A fellow named padgett attended for the last time in a while , since he is moving to California . Just so happened I had folks from Cali on site , so he talked with them and now has the hook-up on california rock clubs and digging . It'll be time to redo this page before long , but not before I add one last fantastic picture of the amethyst that was found on the tailings pile April 14 ( photo : Michelle Matthews ). Recent work has collecting conditions better than ever . Sometimes amethyst crystals at jxr are very deeply colored with a royal siberian purple that changes or " color shifts " to blue as you rotate the specimen. While these are not encountered often as large crystals in the pockets , it is even rarer to find them washed up on the tailings pile after a rain. The piece below was found yesterday , april 14 , by Michelle Matthews , as she walked over the tailings piles. This one was in the tracks left by the big trackhoe ! It is estimated that it could cut a fifty carat flawless stone of deep violet to tanzanite color.    |
