Bamfield area -

[Paulette Egeli]

My husband and I prowl logging roads.  We've pretty well driven all the back roads in our immediate area.  Recently we went to the Port Alberni area and bumped our way up and down spurs.  This is an area of basalt with few white quartz vugs, breccia (Dallasite) and banded chert that often is fractured.  This Saturday I whined that soon we'd be stuck indoors and so we drove the Bamfield road, taking side mains and spurs.  Not much was happening until we happened upon a black bear (watching us watch him from the car) and then drive up into an area that had a recent logging road spur put in (and some fresh blasting).  Initially we gathered some chalcopyrite (silvery) and pyrite in small squiggling veins and sparkling  small areas.  Most people in our club will not cut pyrite because its dust is black and makes a mess of the cutting oil.  But it beautiful, especially in small amts. in rhodenite or chert or even black basalt (which takes a good shine).  So I was happy - until I found the robbin's egg blue material that obviously had been a small pocket and later ran over by the heavy equipment and somewhat crushed.  It COULD be malachite.  It could be some other copper mineral.  I am going to try to work some and then post before and after pictures.  Suffice to say it thrilled me to find something new.  For people who say, "There's nothing here to collect" I say, "You aren't looking hard enough."  Ok we don't have agates (although I did find one on the beach, probably a glacial reminant from the main land where they are more plentiful).  We don't have jade and even the Fraser doesn't have much any more.  Many many eyes are looking for it.  But I don't fish expecting to fill my freezer and I don't rockhound expecting to find gold or diamonds or jade.  If I do, I'll be ecstatic.  Meanwhile I'm merely a very happy woman at the end of a day of looking and some finding.

[Paulette Egeli]

Turns out the lovely sky blue is a very thin layer.  The only way one could use it (for jewelry) would be to use a quartz cap.  Which I have never done...