Mine Your Own Montana Sapphire
Stay tuned for an announcement for 2019’s Mine Your Own event dates and details!
Here are some of our favorite photos from our first ever Mine Your Own event in 2017. Can you spot the REAL Montana miner, Russ?
Some of the world’s rarest sapphires are discovered right in our backyard, along with a stretch between Montana’s Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Many of the mines in these remote areas attract families all summer long, where they can pan for gems just as Gold Rush era pioneers did. Green Lake Jewelry Works will host a Montana sapphire mine right in front of their studios, where anyone can have their hand at finding a sapphire.
HOW SAPPHIRES ARE MINED
Unlike diamond mining, where gems are extracted from deep in the earth by creating enormous open pits, loose sapphire crystals in Montana are discovered within shallow alluvial deposits that were once ancient waters ways. Small batches of these tiny rocks are loaded into a sluice and trommel that separates out only the gravel most likely to contain rough sapphire – blue green crystals that could mistakenly pass for beach glass. Miners then sift through that gravel by hand, hoping to find the next big gem.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR MINE-TO-MARKET MONTANA SAPPHIRES
Montana Sapphires: From Mine to Market from Green Lake Jewelry Works on Vimeo.