After leaving Pit #1, we drove a short distance up to the top of the mountain
where the last mining operations at Gore Mt. ceased in the 1980s. After
parking, it was a short walk into the combined pits 8&9. A large
chasm separates the bench we walked on from the highwall at the left. |
Lots of small garnet fragments can be found lying about, many of them of
gem quality. But it still took careful searching to find larger fragments
that were unfractured, or lacking dark mineral inclusions. Most clear pieces
found would yield small cut stones of under a carat, although a few should
be a carat or more.
|
|
Nancy evaluating a piece of garnet. The rocks behind her contain numerous
apple-sized garnet porphyroblasts in black hornblende-rich amphibolite
rock..
|
This interesting bolder of gneissic amphibolite was found in the rock
rubble left in Pit #8-9. It has interesting flow banding, as well
as a large bleb of nearly pure hornblende and garnet (below the hammer).
|
Close-up of a large garnet porphyroblast with a hornblende rim.
|
View down the open end of the Gore Mt. mine from Pit #8-9 into the older
workings. The mine started in the distance and worked into the mountain
until the overburden became too much for mining to remain economical. Hence,
commercial mining moved to Ruby Mt.
|
