Sapphire Gemfields Geo Journey

The largest sapphire fields in the Southern Hemisphere lie here in the Sapphire Gemfields and its towns of Anakie, Rubyvale, Sapphire and Willows Gemfields. Like many of the wonders along the Tropic of Capricorn, the Sapphire Gemfields are a product of incredible time and drastic changes in climate and environment…

70 to 40 million years ago. As the Earth’s crust shifted, moving Australia closer to its current position, hot spots developed below. Volcanic eruptions in the Mount Hoy area sent out basaltic ash and lava. Abundant sapphires and zircons that had formed deep in the Earth’s crust were blasted out as crystals in the volcanic ash. 

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2 million years ago…to today. Sapphires released from volcanic material by weathering and erosion were transported by old streams or ‘paleo drainage’ systems. They are concentrated in layers of gravel known as wash in bed and bank deposits.

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1938. Twelve-year-old local Roy Spencer discovered the largest black star sapphire in the world in the Reward area. The Black Star of Queensland weighed a remarkable 1,165 carats. Locals claim that when young Roy took the treasure home, his father did not recognise its value and used the sapphire as a doorstop.

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1970s to 80s. Australia produced about 70% by volume of the world’s sapphires. 1979. Smiley Nelson, another fortunate schoolboy, found the world’s largest yellow gem-quality sapphire – the 2,020 carat Centenary Sapphire. 

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Today. The machinery-mining boom of the 1970s and 80s brought large open cut operations to the Sapphire Gemfields, using heavy earthmoving equipment and mechanised plants. Only a few of these big mines operate today, with most activity now small-scale or tourism-based. Miners are required to take responsibility for the environment and rehabilitate land affected by their operations.

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5 Fossicking tips 

Essential Tools: You will need a pick and shovel, sieve and a drum of water. A willoughby is a handy optional extra. This spring-loaded device sits in the drum and vigorously shakes the sieve to help concentrate the gems. These tools are available for hire from various operators.

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Specking: Searching for sapphires on the surface of the ground is especially rewarding after rain and requires no tools except for a keen eye. 

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Digging: Locate an unoccupied hole and remove overburden or dig to expose virgin ground. Occupied holes will often have a bucket or similar left beside them. 

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Processing: Processing requires you to screen out the oversized gravel and separate the fine sand from the wash. The most common method of separation is called the wet sieve or gravity method. As the sieve or willoughby is gently agitated, the wash separates, sending heavier stones to the bottom. 

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Identify: Take care not to overlook your treasure! Be sure to sky all potential stones by holding them up to the sun or a light source to reveal the colour. 

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“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Henry David Thoreau, author and philosopher
A pick and shovel are essential fossicking tools
A willoughby is a handy device for washing gem-bearing gravel

How the sapphire washing plant operates 

Before the machinery used today, miners used simple hand tools. Surface or shallow deposits were hand raked, with material handpicked or sieved to separate the stones. Some miners sank shafts to locate the gravel layer (called wash), which was systematically removed by tunnelling, and hoisted in a bucket to the surface.

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While some hand miners still use the same basic techniques, they are now able to use powered machinery such as a jack pick and bucket hoist. Once hoisted to the surface, the excavated material is treated by rudimentary hand sieving or in small, powered washing and separation equipment. Gravity separates any sapphires and the concentrate is later sorted by hand.

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Dig the tropic 

Discover a whole new meaning to the land Down Under.
Welcome to an ancient and mysterious land, hundreds of millions of years in the making.

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The Tropic of Capricorn is one of Earth’s major circles of latitude. It lies 23.5 degrees south of the equator and marks the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon. Running through 10 countries, including Australia, Chile, and South Africa, it links extreme conditions and dramatic landscapes.

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The Tropic of Capricorn reveals a host of geological wonders across Queensland – from the vast Outback, through the Central Queensland Highlands, to the stunning Capricorn Coast and Great Barrier Reef. Their contrasting panoramas showcase the results of drastic climate change over an unfathomable time. 

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Before the existence of the Australia we now know, Gondwanaland linked colossal continents and was home to creatures we can hardly imagine. As the Earth shifted in a gradual, sensational, evolution of the land, Queensland edged closer to its current position along the Tropic of Capricorn. 

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Australia’s vast inland sea and its surrounding wetlands disappeared, leaving behind a prehistoric burial ground in the red dust plains of the Outback. Volcanic eruptions buried treasure in the Central Queensland Highlands, and the sinking coastline transformed the Capricorn Coast seascape. 

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Experience the living museum these ancient events left behind – a country embedded with mineral wealth, tell-tale fossils, and inspiring landscapes. Explore the Tropic of Capricorn and discover the secrets of the ages in the treasures atop and layers below…

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East and west on the tropic of Capricorn 

Heading West
Carry on to Alpha, where dramatic shifts in tectonic plates once formed the Drummond Range. Keep your eye out for petrified wood. Pass through Barcaldine where you can see 10,000-year-old Aboriginal stone carvings; and experience the benefits of the Great Artesian Basin by soaking away your worries in the mineral spa at Ilfracombe.

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Heading east 
Pass through Emerald, the hub of the Central Queensland Highlands, to see a fossilised tree trunk estimated to be 250 million years old outside the Town Hall. Head to Blackwater, home to the International Coal Centre, and then detour to Blackdown Tableland National Park, where a spectacular sandstone plateau rises abruptly above the plains. Get back on the highway to keep heading east for Mount Hay, where you can fossick for 120-million-year-old thundereggs.

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Location

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Download the what3words app to help you follow the Trail.
Here are the ///what3words identifiers for this location and for the three closest stops:

You are here: ///venturing.microfilm.bestsellers

Where to next?

Welcome to Rubyvale – ///autopilot.assumes.meadow

Buddies Movie – Rubyvale – ///kicked.moveable.mops

Tropic of Capricorn – ///timed.eclipse.untaxed

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