The good pegmatite at the W/L is still producing some good beryl crystal. The work of widening the W/L entrance road is complete. Now I am working on the pit ramp road from the W/L. This road is going over some poor Peg and into the tunnel that was made by the original miners. This ramp road will be the start of working the main pit. Along with this effort, I am mining out the W/L east side main pit wall. This good Peg is producing good beryl crystal. However, the last few blast shoots in this area have just cavitated (didn’t lift the Peg). When this happens it usually is very low-grade feldspar which is easy to pulverize. And low-grade feldspar also means that any beryl crystal will be low grade. By next week we will have a better idea if the area is still a good peg.

Potential mineral specimens. What pays the bills for a pegmatite operation is the lapidary products not mineral specimens. Being so a potential specimen much show a good termination before I even consider putting any effort into it. The one pictured had such good color that I broke that rule. The bottom line is that I just should have left it as is at the mine for a mineral specimen. But the gem rough that I chopped out of the crystal made the day.

PLUG FOR THE GILSUM ROCK SWAP
The Toveco Crew are all ready scaling back at the mine for the Gilsum show. This year we will have a new neighbor Rock how will be ridding our coat tails with his silent auction. So there will be 2 silent auctions going on. If you have a sweet tooth like mine your going to love the Gilsum Town backed goods stand. And for Friday set-up food the Gilsum Store for Sandwiches & Pizza.
That’s it for now
Later
James S. Tovey
www.Toveco.com

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