Central West Newbie

Hi All,
I'd like to start by confessing that I have an 'itch' I just can't seem to scratch. It all started about a year ago when I did some noodling out at Whitecliff and found a few potchy specimens. Since then I have been keen to get out amongst it and do some real fossicking. I have been reading many great threads on this forum regarding sapphire fossicking in NSW and have just received my 2 sets of sieves in the mail. So with next week off work I am hoping to head somewhere close to scratch this itch. I am curious, has anyone been out to Sapphire Bend or Porters Retreat recently and are these areas still producing. I live in Parkes and Oberon looks like it has the closest sapphire sites. I will post any finds in case anyone is interested.

Welcome to the site . Dont live near your area but am sure someone will respond back to you

Welcome Surfa.Jaros :Y:

Welcome to the forum Surfaholic, there are a few threads on the forum about the area. Sapphire Bend/Porters Retreat certainly still produce good gems, they can be small but there are of course bigger ones and the colours are great. The trick is to find the right layer in the wash, it's not overly deep either, you will more than likely see others workings. A little bit of rain lately so there should be some water down there to make things easier.

You have inspired me to head that way this weekend, might hit Native Dog in the morning then head down Black Springs way, it's a nice bonus finding a few sapphires or even nice zircons in the sluice while after gold.

Good Luck!

Welcome, looking forward to seeing your finds!

Not sure about producing Surfaholic, but you can certainly scratch some out of the right ground. As AC indicated, the stones in the region have some of the best clarity I have seen but they do tend to be smaller although I have seen a 12ct ripper pulled out of sapphire bend.

Have my brother and nephew visiting and will escort them over the mountain on Friday afternoon for a bit of a scratch over the weekend.

Had the same plan for the Saturday as you AC, am going to give the NoX a run in the creek to see if I can find a mixed treasure honey hole.

Anyone in the area should keep an eye out for a grey land cruiser and silver triton travelling together and say gday, will also hit the pub in Oberon for a steak on the Saturday night.

Thanks for the info guys,
I was planning on taking the family on this adventure, but the in-laws have turned up (last minute decision). I am now flying solo so I am considering heading up to Inverell and staying at Billabong Blue few a few days. Either way I'm going fossicking.

My brother in law is a Geologist for Sydney Water and back in 1996, he was in Oberon doing some work on the dam upgrade. He was onsite early morning after some heavy rain and noticed a glint on the ground, I'm guessing he knew what it was right away and picked it up tossed it in his pocket and didn't look at it until he was back at the motel.......turns out after a quick rinse in the motels sink it was a vivid blue-green sapphire worth $86,000. I don't remember the carat weight but it was a big one, I would imagine he still has it. I'd have to ask him about the details.

yes, you will :Y:

Welcome surfaholic. Enjoy your stay here. Plenty to read,plenty to post.

Well I went to Oberon and had a dig at a couple of places and found some stones. Would like to know what I have found.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm pretty certain the blues are sapphires not so sure about he greens, dark greens and reds though. Bought some wash home with me from the same hole most of the rocks came out of...... fingers crossed.

Blues and greens are sapphires, reds and oranges are zircons or garnets.

Thats a nice haul :Y: even more so for a newbie greateffort andsome fairly clear gems there :Y:

First picture has a red one on the left side , i swear it looks to have gold stuck to it 8) 8)

Thanks for the info.