On the weekend we went to Austria into the mountains to hunt for emeralds (somewhere near Bramberg and Steinach). We stayed at a mountain hunt and hiked up a steep trail beside the hut to the river where we went hunting. Apparently in 2002 there was a big event (couldn't understand what the event was on the German sign) on the river which resulted in emeralds being washed up in the stream. There is a small mine at the top of the mountain but it only produces enough for a hobby.
The weather was decent and there were tons of waterfalls flowing into the valley.
To hunt for emeralds in the river we borrowed some equipment from the hut.
A tray and a shovel are the essential pieces of equipment (as well as a small well sealing container to carry away any finds). We met up with a friend who had more experience and more equipment. The next best piece of equipment is a hose which you put in the stream so you have water to wash your mud. Otherwise you have to work with less muddy samples and more collections of little stones. We found a few emeralds in the tiny stones, but once we had the hose hooked up we worked with the clay.
It's good looking for emeralds when the sun is shining, you search through the tiny stones looking for the emeralds which look like pieces of dark glass.
And after many hours of work we found some stones. Based on what they were selling the emeralds for at the hut, we figured we made almost 1euro/hour, minus all the expenses.... ^_^
We also found lots of tiny metallic squares and at the end of the day a giant piece of smokey quartz.
It was a great weekend, and decent weather until we were driving home through the pouring rain.
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