- 22 hours ago
Outback Crystal Hunters - Season 2 - Episode 02: Safety Thongs
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Short filmTranscript
00:09All right.
00:11You're good.
00:14You can see where they've been hammering here, eh?
00:17These bats are a good sign for us because it means the air in here is not bad.
00:23If bats are alive, we'll be alive.
00:26Back in the 1930s, this is a drive where they used to search for the tin.
00:30We're trying to find out what they were actually searching for and how they were searching for it.
00:34That way, if we find something similar, we can start digging.
00:38Have a look at this.
00:38They would have had a candle hanging here and it's actually burnt and scored this timber here.
00:44There's a bit of a few rocks come down too, but look.
00:47You've got to be really careful in there.
00:49They're widow makers.
00:50When they fall on your head, I don't think one of these is going to stop one of them.
00:54You've got to be careful not to touch the walls and the ceiling because, you know, it's an old shaft.
00:58So things move around over a period of time.
01:01Oh, wow.
01:02Look at that.
01:03This is a shaft.
01:07This is a shaft.
01:34How many levels do you reckon down there?
01:37We'll chuck a glow stick down, eh?
01:38Yeah, I reckon.
01:39See how deep it is?
01:42All right.
01:43Yep.
01:44Here we go.
01:47Oh, that's a long way.
01:48Oh, it's gone.
01:50That went about, what, 20, 30 metres?
01:52Yeah, I reckon so, yeah.
01:53There's a whole different type of minerals around this area.
01:56You can actually get tungsten, topaz, considerate, which is the tin.
02:00But what we're really after is a bit of fluorite.
02:03This is actually fluorite that we've found on this place.
02:10Fluorite, composed of calcium and fluorine, was used in antiquity for carvings and crockery.
02:17Today, it's a vital component in high-octane fuels and metal refinement.
02:23So, this stuff here is only low sort of grade.
02:25What we're after is the cubic form.
02:28The cubic form is coveted by collectors for its compelling shape.
02:34Nice, flat edges, square, which is worth around $200, $300 a kilo.
02:40There's actually a shaft where we found this fluorite.
02:43We'll head back to camp, and then we'll actually check this place out and see if we can find some
02:47fluorite.
02:54Me and my family, we're actually looking after this station in far north Queensland.
02:59I'm the manager of the station at the moment.
03:01I'm not getting paid for it.
03:03The deal is, you know, I look after the place, and in return, I can go anywhere and find places
03:09to dig
03:09and actually find minerals and all that sort of stuff.
03:12So, he sold his house, left his job, and he's been on the road for the last few years,
03:16and, yeah, he's making a good time of it.
03:20The vast cattle station Neil manages and lives on with his partner Monica and children Felicity and Luke
03:27Nine next month, isn't it?
03:28Nine this month.
03:29This month.
03:30Endures a semi-arid climate with heavy summer rainfall.
03:36Its weathered hills are rich in minerals and riddled with remnant mines dating back over a century.
03:45I've been doing it pretty much all my life, hunting crystals.
03:49Back in the day when I was young, Dad used to take us around all these different places searching for
03:54crystals.
03:55He's getting better than I am now, I think.
03:56I'm getting older.
03:58I'm a bit more fit.
04:00This is the biggest one I've ever gotten.
04:03In the family, we've got two Niels.
04:05I'm Niels Jr. and my father's Niels Sr.
04:07He says that he ran out of names after three kids, but I don't believe him.
04:12Dropping on it.
04:13Dropping on it.
04:14Huge pocket.
04:16Our only income at the moment is actually finding crystals, selling them, and paying for the bills that way.
04:22It is a big pressure.
04:24This week, we've got about two and a half grand worth of bills.
04:27It's just in insurance and regos alone, so we need to find some crystals to sell.
04:34This is an old mine that we found a few months back.
04:37It's showing a lot of promise and a lot of material lying around on top of it.
04:45Still a long way to go.
04:47Still a long way.
04:48So when we started pumping it, you see where that brown mark is?
04:52That's actually where the water level actually was.
04:53So we've pumped out 10 metres out of this shaft already, and we've still got a fair bit to go.
04:59Back in the, what, 1930s?
05:01I think it is they were digging this shaft out, and obviously they've come across a lot of fluorite.
05:05That's not what they're after.
05:07I think they were after tungsten or tin.
05:09So they've left this sort of stuff here just laying in the overburden, which is all green fluorite.
05:16So it could be that this stuff would have been back down there in cubic form.
05:21I'm thinking about just roping it down by hand.
05:24I am a little bit nervous, just because there's a lot of loose rock on top, but I'm worried about
05:29coming down on me.
05:32You've got to assess the situation before you go into them or down the shafts, being that it can be
05:37pretty dangerous sometimes.
05:39But I've been doing it pretty much all my life.
05:42These ropes are all right, eh?
05:43All right, I'm sorry.
05:45I'll have one actually around me as a safety that Dad's going to have, and I'll have one more extra
05:51rope actually hanging down just in case anything happens.
05:54All right, here we go.
05:57I'm going to get down probably about to where the water level is, just see if there's anything there, see
06:02how we go.
06:06Actually, I might do it without these safety thongs on.
06:11Okay, you all right?
06:13Yep, going down.
06:17Little rocks coming.
06:18Yep, all right.
06:21All right, hold up there.
06:23All right.
06:23There is a bit of a cavity down in this corner over here.
06:27Okay.
06:28But I need more water to drain out, because it's just at the water level.
06:32I'm not seeing any fluoride, though.
06:38Oh, watch out for rocks.
06:40Yep, just seen one.
06:43Ah, well, needs to be waking up there.
06:45I've been falling asleep.
06:46I might wake somebody up.
06:48Get a rattle on the head.
06:50What?
06:54Oh, just caught that one's all.
07:02Oh, it's going down.
07:03Watch out!
07:05Hey!
07:07Ow!
07:09Ow!
07:30We'll keep heading east here, pick up on a bit of a track and see where we end up.
07:33Nice work.
07:34Lead the way, oh, fearless leader.
07:37I reckon this is it here.
07:40Hey.
07:41We're in the World River Valley here.
07:43Darren's brought me up here with a promise of a good sapphire.
07:46Looks a bit more scrubby, doesn't it?
07:48I haven't done any sapphire hunting.
07:49I've always wanted to come up and have a go at it.
07:51This river is pretty famous and well-known, and over the last five, six years, people started
07:57to spend a lot of time up here.
07:58The word's got out on the east coast of Tasmania how beautiful our sapphires are.
08:03Got to get stuck in, go a little bit further than everyone else does, and hopefully we find
08:06some fresh ground.
08:08The map's given us a general guide, but there's no real track to follow in here.
08:13So this is a bit of freestyle now, so hopefully we don't get ourselves lost.
08:18Yeah, no, I think where you, you know that well-worn track that we were looking at before
08:22there?
08:23Yeah.
08:23That wasn't the one.
08:27I reckon we'll just blast on.
08:29No, we're going that way.
08:31We just came from that way.
08:32We just came from over there.
08:33Oh.
08:41That's where we were working last time in here.
08:42Oh, we're only just above the river.
08:44What?
08:45No, no, no, no.
08:45Well, if you listen now.
08:47Yeah, you can hear it.
08:48Oh, just around this, around this ridge and down.
08:51We're getting close to where we want to go in the river now, so we're going to slowly
08:54get down in the hill into the thickest scrub, get to the river and start walking upriver
08:57from there.
08:59Through here, mate.
09:00Just watch yourself, though.
09:03Ah!
09:06It's, uh, it's not the greatest.
09:18I think it's getting a bit thick in through here.
09:20I think we're going off to Bort Mission.
09:22We'll just get lost in this.
09:23We were trying to, uh, cut a bit of walking off, but we've hit bush a little bit too thick
09:28now.
09:28And we're just going to have to backtrack and cut a path back into the river.
09:33This looks like the spot.
09:38All right, mate.
09:39We made it.
09:40Nice work.
09:45The Weld River winds roughly 15 kilometers through a primeval forest.
09:50The sapphires here formed millions of years ago within rocks as they cooled and solidified
09:56from magma.
09:59They were brought to the surface by volcanic eruptions and eventually made their way into
10:04riverbeds as the land eroded.
10:07It's 50 to 70 meters here, mate.
10:09I think me and the friends pulled about $50,000 to $100,000 worth of sapphires out of here.
10:16Sapphires and rubies are the two gem variants of the mineral corundum.
10:21Sapphires get their color from traces of elements such as iron and titanium.
10:26We're going to go off downstream a bit further and find a bit of, uh, a bit of virgin ground
10:30to work.
10:31There's no point me working someone else's gravels and find nothing.
10:35Throughout history, it was believed sapphires warded off evil.
10:39And could even prove infidelity.
10:44Today, they are highly prized as jewelry and can be worth up to $10,000 a carat.
10:54Dave.
10:56Whoa.
10:58Whoa.
10:58Whoa.
11:00Whoa.
11:09We didn't go quite as well financially as what we'd hoped last week.
11:13So, so far, we've hit $1,200 of our $80,000 target.
11:16We've got a long way to go.
11:18So, we're hoping the World River provides for us this week.
11:20There's, uh, there's no footprints anymore.
11:22No signs of anyone else's heaven.
11:25So, we're getting close to a nice untouched patch of the river, I think, now.
11:30Oh, here we go.
11:31Check this out.
11:31Ah, for f***ing sake.
11:35How much further do we need to get up here, mate?
11:41So, we've just stumbled up around the corner here and found some more alluvial working.
11:44Someone's been up in this part of the, part of the river.
11:49Well, I'll tell you what, mate.
11:50This is getting f***ed.
11:53Maybe it's all been done here.
12:12Well, welcome to our humble bush camp.
12:15We don't, uh, really camp in style.
12:17We just sleep in a little, little dome tent with our swags in there.
12:21There's a lot of flies and ants and moths and scorpions and centipedes,
12:27so it gives a false sense of security in a little tent.
12:33This is our main kitchen, dining room, lounge room, guest room, all in one.
12:41So, this is our little portable shower tent.
12:43So, we fill this with hot water.
12:45There's the shower rose that goes on.
12:47That 20 litres is enough for three good showers.
12:52These are called IBCs, intermediate bulk containers.
12:56They're just empty crates that we're hopefully going to fill with crystals.
13:06The Pilbara region is an ancient sun-beaten land,
13:10stretching over 500,000 square kilometres in the north of Western Australia.
13:17The minerals mined from the region, including clear quartz,
13:21are responsible for over $80 billion a year of the state's wealth.
13:31This is sort of something that we've been working on recently,
13:34what looks to be a little bit of a pocket zone in the wall.
13:36So, you can see in this sort of white clay zone,
13:40there's a plate of quartz there, got a termination of the crystal here,
13:43and then down in the floor here as well.
13:46And before we do any breaking or digging above it,
13:49we want to make sure we extract everything that's there.
13:52This lease here has clear quartz crystals on it.
13:55These generally tend to go to mineral collectors
13:58and people that use stones for metaphysical purposes.
14:05Clear quartz is composed of silicon and oxygen
14:08and free of the trace elements that colour other variations of quartz crystals.
14:15Its clarity is highly valued by the wellness community,
14:18with the belief it amplifies energy.
14:22Today, due to its stability and hardness,
14:24it is vital in the manufacturing of electronics, watches and glass.
14:30My main business now is mining large tonnages
14:35of what's generally referred to as semi-precious stone.
14:39Very happy to have my nephew, Kyle, working with me.
14:43He learns so quickly, he's really capable,
14:46and on top of that, he just loves the rocks as well, same as me.
14:49We have all our own mines.
14:52We mine it, you know, truck it home,
14:54and then process it, sell online to the, you know, the end consumer,
14:57and we also export overseas to people who, you know,
15:00make beads, jewellery, carvings,
15:02and, you know, pretty much everything in between.
15:07There's, like, compulsory expenditure requirements
15:10laid down by the mines department on all mining tenements.
15:14This year, it's $40,000.
15:16I'd really like to get a minimum of 60 back.
15:19I've got other mining commitments,
15:21so I've only allocated two weeks to get this, hopefully, 60,000 here.
15:26Do we hang on to the ground,
15:27or, you know, is there not enough here to warrant doing so?
15:31And if that's the case, yeah, we'll let the ground go.
15:34So, yeah, it's kind of make or break.
15:37Yeah, so there is quite a lot more crystal in here than I first thought.
15:43Hey, Glenn!
15:44What?
15:45Come have a look at this.
15:46I'm sort of just exposing a big cluster here.
15:49Oh, wow!
15:51Bit of a ripper.
15:52Beautiful size.
15:53I think that's a pretty impressive piece there.
15:56If it comes out in one go...
15:57It may be more.
15:58Yeah, attached to it on the inside.
16:00So, yeah, I'll just...
16:02Just be careful.
16:03Yeah.
16:06We've just got to do it so carefully.
16:08One little chink off the fragile point,
16:12and the value just rapidly diminishes.
16:15It's still saleable, but there goes, like, $900.
16:23I think this might be a bit loose.
16:25Is there a bit of mirtlement in that?
16:27Yeah, I just had my screwdriver in here before, and it moved.
16:30Yeah, right.
16:33Yeah, it's...
16:36Damn it.
16:37It's broken in half straight through the middle here.
16:47Rock's coming down.
16:49Oh, it hit me in the helmet.
16:50I heard that.
16:51So I'm going to hop out, all right?
16:58Oh!
17:01I had a rock come down.
17:03Lucky I wasn't looking up.
17:04It just went smack straight in the middle of my helmet.
17:07Lucky I had that helmet on, eh?
17:08Yeah, that's what I was there for.
17:12Neil Wilkinson and his father
17:13are on the hunt for high-quality cubic fluorite
17:16in a dangerous 90-year-old tin mine flooded by recent rains.
17:21This side where the rope was, there actually is a bit of a cavity there.
17:25But, um, I couldn't see anything.
17:27Water needs to be taken out of there.
17:28It's still a long way to go.
17:29I pulled that pump up, and you've still got another two metres.
17:34We're going to have to leave the generator going all night, I'd say.
17:36Hopefully, by time, it's run out till the water's all gone.
17:40We got bills due this week, so it is very disappointing that we didn't see anything.
17:44But then again, we've got a little bit more water to come out,
17:47so hopefully we can get something there.
17:50It's really important that we find something this week
17:52because those bills are quite a lot, and we need the money.
17:58Worst-case scenario, if we can't get this money up,
18:01we're going to have to probably sell up and actually get another job
18:04because I've got a family to feed,
18:05and if we don't find crystals, we go hungry.
18:20What's the verdict?
18:21Are we lower?
18:22Oh, it's definitely dropped a fair bit.
18:24The water's dropped about three metres.
18:27We might be able to see a bit more cavities
18:28and hopefully find some more fluorite.
18:30So what we've got here is a UV torch.
18:33Fluorite actually fluoresces,
18:34so when we actually check with the torch,
18:37it actually comes up fluorescent.
18:39That's how fluorescence got its name from fluorite.
18:42Once I go down this shaft, if I use this UV light,
18:45we should be able to see some fluorite in the walls.
18:48All right, here we go.
18:55Righto, stop there for a sec.
18:57Gotcha.
18:58Hopefully we'll find some fluorite.
19:00Any luck, it'll be cubic fluorite.
19:02That's where the money is,
19:03and we need the money right now, so...
19:07Hang on.
19:09Oh, wow, that looks awesome.
19:12All of that there is all fluorite.
19:16It definitely is fluorescence down here.
19:19There is fluorescence?
19:20Oh, yeah.
19:22Tells me some good news for change.
19:24We need it.
19:27Can you get any off the wall, bring it up, show us?
19:29Yeah, I might try to put a bit in my pocket.
19:32Don't put too much in.
19:33I've got to pull you out.
19:34Yeah.
19:36All right, I think that's enough.
19:37I might come up.
19:39Yeah, righto.
19:40Okay, go.
19:42You got me?
19:43Yeah, I got you.
19:44We're not coming.
19:46Ah.
19:49No, I can't.
19:50I can't.
19:51I've got muddy hands.
19:52I can't pull that rope aid.
19:54That's not good.
19:57Yeah, we're in a bit of a dick, man.
20:01All right, I want you to pull it up when I say it, all right?
20:05No, yeah, I got it.
20:07Go, go, go, go.
20:08Go up.
20:16I'm going to take a break, I think, for a second.
20:18Yeah, righto, I got you.
20:19Yeah.
20:24Easily, ten metres below me, don't drop me.
20:32I've convinced Hugh to come across the other side of the state
20:35in search of these sapphires.
20:37I've talked it up.
20:37I've almost guaranteed it.
20:39But now it's more and more likely that this place has been worked out
20:43and we won't find any sapphires.
20:45So last week, we only made about $1,200
20:48towards our 80k target,
20:49so the pressure's on a little bit.
20:53In dense forest, Jaren and Hugh are struggling to locate
20:57an unworked section of the tiny Weld River.
21:00They can sift for sapphires.
21:02Coming to the conclusion,
21:03we're not going to find an empty, clean patch of this river.
21:07Oh, it's a hole.
21:08And that's where we're going to go.
21:11We're in someone's old workings here now.
21:14Quite an old hole.
21:15This one in particular has got really great signs.
21:17We've got black spinel coming out the side of the untouched gravel.
21:20It's got the same or similar density to a sapphire,
21:23so when you're on the black spinel,
21:24it means you're pretty close to the sapphires.
21:27Right, I suppose I'll just need a crash course
21:29on sieving gemstones now, mate.
21:32Let's get you your first sieve.
21:47So once you get your full sieve,
21:49all you want to do is rotate it about a quarter of a full rotation every time,
21:53then go again, shake it to the centre.
21:56That whole idea is to get all the heavies in the middle.
21:58It is, yeah.
22:00I reckon I can do that.
22:03And when we flip these,
22:04all the heavies and all the gemstones
22:06should be pretty central together.
22:09Oh, look at that.
22:10And there we go.
22:11See, we've got a few nice black spinels.
22:15I reckon I can do that.
22:16Fill some screens and we'll fly into it.
22:17All right, mate.
22:18Put some dirt through.
22:24So this will be my first flip.
22:30I see blue.
22:32Do you really?
22:33I see blue.
22:34Beautiful, mate.
22:36Absolutely beautiful.
22:37It's only small.
22:39We've got a little light blue sapphire there
22:40and we've got a beautiful blue sapphire just there.
22:43Here we go.
22:44Here we go.
22:45Here we go.
22:50Oh, it's like glass.
22:54It's only a little fella,
22:55but that is glass clear.
22:56That's beautiful.
22:58Ah, beautiful, mate.
22:59You've done well.
23:00Hopefully more to come.
23:02We're getting a little bit frustrated.
23:03We've been walking for a long way today,
23:05so to find one in the second sieve of the day
23:07is a really, really good sign.
23:14Look at that.
23:17You can't even joke about that.
23:19See that little fella?
23:22So I've just pulled the shovel up.
23:23Got a beautiful sky blue sapphire just on the end of the shovel.
23:27Starting to get the size where we're talking about serious money here.
23:31This thing's about a carrot big.
23:32When they start popping out on the end of the shovel like that,
23:34you know you're in a good spot.
23:38That's happened like twice before in me life.
23:54Bit of tin crystal and that's about it.
23:57Things have slowed down a little bit today.
23:59Things have just dried up.
24:01We don't know what to do yet.
24:06Not seeing any blues.
24:08We're finding lots of little ones,
24:10but maybe that's all it's got to give us.
24:13Nothing.
24:22Damn.
24:24It's going to come out in pieces.
24:27Yeah, a bit disappointing, all that work
24:29and, you know, it just comes out in a few pieces.
24:32That's annoying.
24:33In an ideal world, that was one piece.
24:36Values increase exponentially
24:39when there's a bunch of them all connected together.
24:43But these things are millions of years old
24:45and I think I'd be a bit worse for wear
24:47if I was that old as well.
24:52That's a beauty.
24:54Yeah, that's an absolute ripper actually.
24:58Oh, that's lovely.
25:00Yep.
25:01Beautiful, perfect point.
25:03Little rainbows inside.
25:06Yeah, so this is roughly how it would have gone together.
25:09Yeah, that would have been a very aesthetic.
25:11Yeah, two big feature crystals, but...
25:14Good that you've got them positioned back together.
25:16But, yeah, a little too late.
25:21Glen and nephew Kyle have less than two weeks left
25:24to work their mine.
25:26They'll need to change tactics fast
25:28to find the tons of quartz needed to turn a profit.
25:33Unfortunately, the profit's getting to a point now
25:35where it's just too slow and too hard for me to work it by hand.
25:39And what's still showing in the floor is just too tough,
25:42you know, with hand tools.
25:43So, I mean, that's why we've got the excavator here
25:45to do the hard work.
25:49It's as hard as goats' knees.
25:52We're trying to take the roof off it
25:53so we can access it a bit better
25:55and hopefully get down deeper.
25:57Yeah, you can see the machine's struggling with it at the moment.
26:06Got a copy, Kyle?
26:07Yeah, then, go ahead.
26:09Nothing's moving on the top of that lump.
26:11It's just dragging me down the hill,
26:12not to mention the wear and tear on the teeth and the bucket.
26:16I think it's about time we think about switching over to the rock breaker
26:18to try and get through this.
26:22So, it's a hydraulic breaker.
26:24It's basically a sort of percussion hammer
26:25and inside it's got a piston that operates
26:28and hits against this pin here
26:30which then obviously busts into the rock and breaks it up.
26:34It's good to have the brawn here to do these tough jobs.
26:44All right, let's get into it.
26:53That's how you know it's a solid rock
26:55when you can feel it running through the ground.
26:57As we do that too, I've got to be, you know,
26:59keeping an eye on whether any crystals are falling out.
27:02You just don't know.
27:03Sometimes that can be in the last place to expect.
27:08Holy s***.
27:11Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up.
27:12Hold up, Glenn.
27:14What?
27:16This whole thing, it's absolutely littered with crystals.
27:33Nothing I can see.
27:34Yeah.
27:39I, um...
27:39I might get my pack on and go back down to that bedrock
27:42and put my head in the water for a while, have a snipe.
27:44Divide and conquer, you reckon?
27:46If I'm somewhere else, at least we're covering some ground, eh?
27:52Bring back two big blues.
27:54That's it, mate.
27:59On the Weld River,
28:00Jaren and Hugh's sapphire expedition
28:02has yielded dismal results.
28:05Hugh will need to brave the frigid waters
28:07and target individual gems on the riverbed
28:10using a hand technique known as sniping.
28:15So the whole idea is to fan the gravels away by hand,
28:18but it's to quite literally just pick off any heavy stones.
28:21Dredging and mechanical means of prospecting is illegal in Tasmania,
28:25so this has been a nice little secondary option for people.
28:28So there's a few little gutters and cracks and crevices
28:31amongst these big rocks here
28:32that any of the heavier stones can fall into.
28:36So we might give it a bit of a go just here.
28:38Woo!
28:41Well, the temperature of the water is single figures,
28:44but it's going to be cold.
28:58I'm having a bit of a trouble with visibility.
29:01It's all enough water flow here.
29:03I'll shift on into some more current.
29:15It's looking a bit sad at the moment.
29:17It's quite possible that someone's already out of spade in here
29:19and taken what was half-assed.
29:37There we go.
29:39That's what we're after.
29:42I don't want to let it go now.
29:46Of course I'm done.
29:50Jesus Christ.
29:58Ready, set, go!
30:02Oh, it's slipping.
30:05Oh, keep going.
30:08Oh, yes.
30:10You're out.
30:10I made it.
30:12Oh, I tell you, it's hard on the hands.
30:14My hands are hurting that much.
30:16Yeah, my hands aren't the best, neither.
30:20There's a lot of fluoride down there,
30:22but it's not the cubic form that we're after.
30:26Neil and his father's mission
30:28to extract high-quality cubic fluoride
30:30from the bottom of a flooded mine
30:32is unravelling fast.
30:36We're going to have to wash these
30:37and see what sort of grade they are,
30:39because it was hard yards.
30:41A bit worrying at times.
30:42Let's see what we've got.
30:47Definitely fluoride here by the colour.
30:49You can see the colour quite clearly there.
30:51But it's low-grade.
30:54It will be worth something,
30:56being it's a really nice colour.
30:57They do use this sort of stuff
30:58for carving and that.
31:00With the torch on it,
31:01it almost looks like kryptonite, eh?
31:03It might be our kryptonite.
31:05Yeah.
31:06What do you reckon, Dad?
31:07Is it worth going back down there?
31:09There's a lot in the muller keep here,
31:11and it's all very similar sort of stuff.
31:13What I think we should be doing
31:15is we'll collect up as much as we can
31:18in this muller keep.
31:19If we get bulk,
31:19we might be able to get some decent money for it.
31:30So what we're going to do
31:31is we're going to reverse that buggy up.
31:33We've got the piles of fluoride,
31:34we're going to just pack it
31:35into the back of that buggy
31:36as much as we can.
31:46Oh, look at the colour come up in there.
31:50Look at that.
31:51Oh, my ****.
31:52Oh, yeah, it's come up beautiful.
31:53I reckon there'll be a few good pieces in here.
31:57So I'm taking these photos
31:59for a fellow down in Melbourne.
32:01His name's Tom Capitani.
32:03He actually owns Crystal World down in Melbourne,
32:06so Tom can actually sell and buy in bulk.
32:10We've got about two and a half grand worth of bills
32:13coming out this week.
32:15Yeah, we've got 160 kilos here.
32:17If we get $20 a kilo,
32:19that's $3,200.
32:21That's what we're after.
32:25G'all, Neil, how are you doing?
32:26Did you get my photos, Tom?
32:28I did, thank you.
32:29Yeah, look, it's interesting stuff.
32:30It's nice to see some Australian fluoride for once.
32:33So, yeah, what are you asking for?
32:35We're after about $20 a kilo.
32:37We've got about 160 kilos here.
32:41The bigger problem with it is
32:43is that it's sort of a bit of a mixed grade of stuff.
32:48Realistically, for me, it's about $10 a kilo,
32:50probably max I'd pay for the lot.
32:52$10 a kilo, eh?
32:54Yeah.
32:55That's half of what we want.
32:56That's pretty low.
32:59What if we pick out some of the higher grade sort of stuff?
33:03We'll take out about 10 kilos
33:04and we'll give you 150 kilos of the lower sort of grade.
33:11Yeah, I could do that for you.
33:13150 kilos and done.
33:14All right, cheers for that, Tom.
33:16Bye-bye.
33:18Well, that's $1,500.
33:20That was a really good call, keeping hold of that,
33:22because, you know, I reckon we could sell that at the side of the road.
33:25I reckon we'd get about $500.
33:27That's too green.
33:28That's better than poking an eye with a sharp stick, isn't it?
33:30So...
33:31Good job.
33:31Head down, keep going.
33:33Yeah, let's get into it.
33:35I'm happy.
33:36Absolutely grateful that Dad gave us a hand today.
33:39That's what family's all about, isn't it?
33:41Helping each other.
33:42There's plenty of crystals around the place in North Queensland.
33:45We're pretty confident we're going to be finding some good stuff coming up.
33:48And so we've just got to work hard.
33:50We'll make it.
33:58Jesus Christ.
34:00Of course I'm doctor.
34:09There you go, there you go, there you go, there you go.
34:15It's going up here this time.
34:17There you go.
34:18How's that?
34:19That's a nice stone.
34:21I'm happy with that.
34:23That's fair and bloody testing.
34:27Hey, brother.
34:28Yeah, not too bad, mate.
34:31I've got a stone for you.
34:33Ah, beautiful, mate.
34:35Little cutie.
34:37Done well.
34:39A bit more success in this spot, mate.
34:41I found a few nice little fellas.
34:42Nice work.
34:43We'll get you in this hole and we'll finish it right off.
34:45Absolutely.
34:46I don't mind getting on the screens.
34:49And Jaren and Hugh are desperate for more gem-grade sapphires after a poor start to their season.
35:04Come and check him out, mate.
35:06Oh, look at that.
35:08What a little pearler.
35:10That's about a four or five carat stone, that one there.
35:13Oh, now I'm excited.
35:15Oh.
35:16Oh, no way.
35:17Have a look here.
35:18This is what I was telling you about, mate.
35:19These are the pink sapphires.
35:21Pink.
35:22What a beauty.
35:23That is super nice.
35:24Just found two beautiful stones at once.
35:26One's not a cunner, but a beautiful pink sapphire that the World River typically holds.
35:30This beautiful clear sky blue is going to be a beautiful cut stone once it's finished.
35:37On to it now.
35:38This is the spot, old boy.
35:47Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho.
35:49F*** me.
35:55Have a f***ing look at this thing, mate.
35:57Be careful with it.
35:59Oh, look at that.
36:02Look at the blue.
36:07This is a beautiful, great, big sapphire.
36:09This is probably the largest one I've ever found.
36:11But that could be real, real money, that one there, mate.
36:15I'll tell you what, mate.
36:16What an absolute pearler of a day.
36:19That's something special, that is.
36:26Got a great friend not too far from here.
36:29He facets a lot of sapphires.
36:31So we've got a larger stone here looking like it's about seven, eight carats.
36:34So we're going to see what he thinks of it.
36:36Maybe he can cut a beautiful stone out of it for us.
36:40Javier.
36:40Oh, hello.
36:41How are you?
36:41Yeah, good, thanks, mate.
36:42How are you doing?
36:43Good.
36:43I hear you have something for me as well.
36:45This one in particular.
36:46What do you think of this one here?
36:47Let me see.
36:48Oh, wow.
36:49I can see already.
36:50It's very clear gemstone.
36:54Argentinian-born Javier Aviceneda specialises in gem cutting for bespoke jewellery designs.
37:03You did really, really well in this one.
37:05I'm so happy.
37:07Yes.
37:07So, yes, give me a couple of days and I'll let you know how about go.
37:11Oh, perfect.
37:12We'll leave it in your capable hands, mate.
37:26How are we here?
37:27Hey, guys.
37:27How are you?
37:28Good to see you again, mate.
37:29Good to see you too.
37:29How are we?
37:30How you been?
37:31All right?
37:31Yeah, not too bad.
37:32A few sleepless nights.
37:33But, uh, lay it on us.
37:35How'd you go?
37:36Here we are.
37:37I finished with 3.5 carats.
37:39Oh, beautiful, mate.
37:42Absolutely beautiful.
37:43Look at that.
37:44There's a lot of facets on it.
37:46160 facets.
37:49I never doubted you, mate.
37:50You've done an absolutely beautiful job on that one.
37:52In terms of value, what do you think this thing would be worth?
37:55Well, stone like this size and how it's rare, a total of $10,500.
38:02Oh, jeez.
38:03Oh, I don't know.
38:05That's what we want to hear.
38:06Thank you very much, mate.
38:07Appreciate it, Tom.
38:07You're doing well.
38:08See you next time.
38:08See you soon.
38:09See ya.
38:10Calling in to see Javier today.
38:12Just capped off an amazing week.
38:14Mate.
38:14That is an absolute cracker.
38:16Look at that.
38:19But, that's not all, is it?
38:20What about all those other rough ones?
38:22We've got $10,500 in that one, mate.
38:24It's looking like we've got about a $25,000 payday for the week.
38:27Oh, nice work.
38:31I tell you what, that's kicked the total in the balls for a bit, hasn't it?
38:35It's a massive chunk towards our 80 grand target.
38:38It's took a hell of a bite out of it, and it's took the pressure off a lot.
38:41Get on the road, eh?
38:42Sounds good, mate.
38:43Done well.
38:55What did you see?
38:57Yeah, this whole side's absolutely littered with crystal.
39:01Oh, you can see here, it's absolutely full of them.
39:05Oh, incredible.
39:07And it's even attached to this side as well.
39:10Holy ****.
39:12It's amazing.
39:13Oh, that's fantastic, Carl.
39:13Good work.
39:14That makes it all worthwhile.
39:16Yeah, and that coating is just, yeah, it's super unusual.
39:19That is absolutely gorgeous.
39:21See that?
39:22It's a beautiful red iron oxide coating.
39:26On a clear quartz mining expedition already costing $40,000, Glenn and nephew Kyle have unearthed
39:34a massive pocket of the crystals, displaying a myriad of surface colourisation.
39:40The degrees of mineralisation is obviously a bit variable through the rock.
39:44So the ones on this side, they're sort of a deep burgundy colour, so it's still an iron
39:49oxide coating, but not as heavy as the black ones.
39:54If we pop this in a bit of light acid, all the crystals would be water clear, but I think
39:59there's a lot of collectors out there that would love them the way they are, completely
40:03natural with this black iron coating on them.
40:07I reckon we would gently just flip that over onto its back.
40:11Can't collect anything that falls out and then we can deal with the big pieces later.
40:15Yeah.
40:25Oh, look at that.
40:27It's absolutely full underneath.
40:29Absolutely thousands of them.
40:31These are just an example of some of the smaller pieces that actually broke off that large boulder.
40:37We've done well to obviously find it, but I think our biggest task is going to be, well,
40:41how do we extract these pockets and preserve them intact?
40:45We've got some slings.
40:47They're better than chains.
40:48Chains can damage crystals, whereas a fabric sling is much more gentle on the rocks.
41:22I guess that's where it's staying.
41:25Yeah, it wasn't the most graceful, but it landed okay and it's exactly what we needed.
41:38Well, Kyle, now we've got all this stuff down the hill, how about having a guess on value, eh?
41:44Oh, God.
41:46Yeah, I don't know.
41:47I'm sort of looking at what we've got here on the table.
41:49We've got nice clusters and, you know, the pocket pieces and all these single points in the bag
41:54and, you know, the rest of the clusters, you know, and $100 a kilo.
41:57You know, I think we've definitely got over the, you know, 200 kilos worth of material here.
42:02I'm kind of guessing maybe around $15,000.
42:05Cool.
42:06Maybe for these bigger ones, maybe for the three, something around $5,000.
42:16I kind of tend to disagree.
42:18You know, I think there's actually a lot more weight than you imagine.
42:24But on top of that, things like these clusters, you know, as an example,
42:29there's probably only like half a kilo.
42:31It's the most gorgeous thing that could be worth like $500.
42:35Yeah.
42:36Bucks, you know, so you're talking $1,000 a kilo in that instance.
42:39So, like, there's got to be $30,000 for sure.
42:44Whatever.
42:45Yeah.
42:46If I flew in an international buyer to stand here and say,
42:49would you like this for $30,000?
42:51I'm pretty sure they'd say, yeah, we'll take the lot.
42:53Yeah.
42:53You know, would you put that in your cabinet?
42:55Yeah, I definitely would have been eyeing off the whole time.
42:57We'll be fighting over that one.
42:59I'm going to keep that one.
43:00All right.
43:00Fair enough.
43:05Yeah, I'm stoked.
43:06For the first week, that's, yeah, absolute crack of a start.
43:09$40,000 is what we have to spend here as a obligation.
43:13So, to sort of be getting close to that already on our first week,
43:16it's, yeah, it's made me really hopeful that we can go home
43:19and potentially make a profit here.
43:21There's going to be many, many hours of wrapping and packing
43:25the specimens that we've found so far,
43:27getting them ready for transportation back to Perth.
43:29We've got a lot ahead of us.
43:31The job's not over, but that's all part of the game.
43:34Yeah, can't wait for the coming week, what we might turn up.
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