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Joined: 21 Dec 2017
Posts: 147
Location: Paipa, Colombia
Posted: Feb 20, 2019 18:52 Post subject: Two small mines in Western Emerald belt of Colombia
I just got back from a short and fun trip to Otanche, Peñas Blancas and Muzo.
I was invited to see the workings at two small mines.
The first near Otanche.
There the operation is a straight tunnel. They told me that they were on the other side of the mountain where Coscuez was and they were "simply" digging their way to there !
The tunnel is already 450-500m long... almost straight indeed.
They've discovered some decently interesting things along the way (tho I think there is still a distinct lack of emeralds to pay the costs of the operation)
I was shown some nice combos of dolomite, siderite, pyrite, calcite and quartz.
Some specimens had just two of the forementioned... some had all.
Those mineral IDs are of course just based on my local knowledge of what comes out in the area (as well as having talked to a good seller in Bogota, that Fiebre Verde knows well)
I did purchase a few from the mine owners and later in the day a few more from miners that work there.
I'd like to post a few videos taken on my phone from my visits.
(they aren't posted publicly on youtube, but should be visible to anyone with the link)
...oh... and please try and not laugh too hard at my rather terrible narrative and even singing :-P (they're a mix of spanish, english and icelandic)
Also in this first post will be small phone-pics of a few of the specimens from the mine near Otanche.
(the Peñas Blancas part will come later in here)
Walking in tunnel:
Entering mine:
Looking:
More looking:
Checking progress:
Talk amongst miners:
Mining camp with specimens in background:
Walkway from camp:
Path through woods between mine and road (complete with bad singing):
Joined: 21 Dec 2017
Posts: 147
Location: Paipa, Colombia
Posted: Feb 21, 2019 08:52 Post subject: Two small mines in Western Emerald belt of Colombia
The few photos I posted do not properly show those specimens
(just taken hastily on a phone)
The lustre on especially the dolomite and siderite is amazing in person.
Those are also not cleaned properly yet (very evident dark dust on quarts)
Just the day after I got from the mine :-)
I have at least 3 more I need to take better pictures of that I can post here later.
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 942
Location: Paris Area
Posted: Feb 21, 2019 10:12 Post subject: Re: Two small mines in Western Emerald belt of Colombia
Bergur_E_Sigurdarson wrote:
The few photos I posted do not properly show those specimens
(just taken hastily on a phone)
The lustre on especially the dolomite and siderite is amazing in person.
Those are also not cleaned properly yet (very evident dark dust on quarts)
Just the day after I got from the mine :-)
I have at least 3 more I need to take better pictures of that I can post here later.
Hi Bergur,
Happy to see that you eventually went for the grand tour - both emerald belts - within one trip.
Thanks for showing us this unusual material from the Western Belt - overlooked and undervalued by most of the miners of that area.
The specimens you picked are really nice - not exactly a surprise.
Do you have any stilbite left?? :-) :-)
Gérard
Joined: 21 Dec 2017
Posts: 147
Location: Paipa, Colombia
Posted: Feb 21, 2019 12:36 Post subject: Re: Two small mines in Western Emerald belt of Colombia
Hehe.... I wouldn't call the mines easy.
Knowing good spanish... especially if ones accent is more Colombian, it helps.
I got randomly invited to the mine near Otanche... just by hanging around the main plaza and chatting with people, so one never knows :-)
But here are hopefully better pics of 3 more specimens from that mine.
Joined: 21 Dec 2017
Posts: 147
Location: Paipa, Colombia
Posted: Feb 21, 2019 17:30 Post subject: Re: Two small mines in Western Emerald belt of Colombia
The latter mine I visited on my trip was a much smaller operation in Peñas Blancas.
The entrance was barely tall enough for me to enter... and only 10m in I was crouching
This tunnel was anything but straight... crossed other tunnels and I could hear others working in the mountainside nearby.
After well over 100m of sometimes needing to almost crawl through the dirt we got to the part being worked.
I was there from about 9am till 3:30pm with the miners... all the time working that small little vug to get out the emeralds shown (poorly) in the videos.
I got the feeling that we ended the day early since we left almost as soon as we had gotten the piece out og the vug (and no more were visible in it)
The host rock there was very hard, and reminded me of the basalt I know from home in Iceland. (Very unlike the crumbly shale I've seen near Otanche, Coscuez and Muzo)
Nearly half the day went on drilling.
When the dynamite was exploded we were just 20m away, in a side-tunnel, so that the main force could pass us by. But we all opened our mouths wide so that any pressure wouldn't affect our ears. (Does that even do anything? :-P )
During the day I could regularly hear digging noises from other parts nearby.
And at least one explosion very close by too.
There are a lot of guaceros operation all over and the whole mountain is criss-crossed by tunnels.... and I'm pretty sure the one I was visiting had crossed other workings at some point (as we passed crossroads that didn't seem to belong on our way in)
As one of the main "associates" of this mine understands that the main value for what is retrieved can be in specimen form, decent care is taken to try and retrieve emeralds on matrix and not just loose "canutillos"
In the beginning of the day, there were just two 1-2cm openings in the wall, about 15cm apart.
As the day wen't along we opened what can be seen in one of the videos... at least two feet vertical, tho quite narrow.
While hammering or drilling, they always stuffed rags around the area where they had spotted the green of the emerald shining through.
In this case, they were all covered in a crust of calcite.
Not sure how they'll try and prepare the specimen to make it look good.
But sadly I fear they will try, and probably not do the best possible.
I did inquire out of curiousity if I could buy the specimen I was there seeing coming out of the ground.
Answer was yes.... but price was about 10x what I could afford :-P
(they had alredy gotten an offer from Bogota, just sending a phone-pic, for that amount!)
I question the legality of this operation and thus choose not to reveal any names... and hopefully it can stay in operation without problems.
(The first post was a properly registered operation)
Joined: 21 Dec 2017
Posts: 147
Location: Paipa, Colombia
Posted: Apr 16, 2019 17:56 Post subject: Went back to Peñas Blancas
Just got back from another trip to Peñas Blancas and this time I stayed a couple of nights.
Got a few nice specimens, but haven't had time to do good photos yet.
Here are some teaser videos from my phone of very nice waterclear quartzes, some with quite complex terminations :-)
Posted: Apr 22, 2019 02:20 Post subject: Re: Two small mines in Western Emerald belt of Colombia
Wonderful impressions - well, except for your car that nearly fell, that's not wonderful ... :-(
But thanks for letting us take part in that adventure!
Joined: 21 Dec 2017
Posts: 147
Location: Paipa, Colombia
Posted: May 06, 2019 13:01 Post subject: Re: Two small mines in Western Emerald belt of Colombia
Took a still of one of the quartzes in the videos above (the third)
...many extra faces... some are just part of the normal hex... but I'm not versed in IDing them all so I'm putting in the same pic without and with appx. lines drawn along where the faces change. Thoughts/input appreciated :-)
The photo is of the view that shows most of the extra faces but there are more on the other too.
(of the ones I got there I think it's my favourite for being unusual to me as well as so clear)
Complex-quartz.jpg
Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Peñas Blancas Mine, Municipio San Pablo de Borbur, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
Dimensions:
79 x 28 x 21mm
Description:
Viewed:
26904 Time(s)
Complex-quartz-lines.jpg
Mineral:
Quartz
Locality:
Peñas Blancas Mine, Municipio San Pablo de Borbur, Western Emerald Belt, Boyacá Department, Colombia
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