Spaniard's Tourmaline Pocket

Late Spring 2011 It is difficult to explain the feeling of finding a nice tourmaline pocket after putting in all this time. I can say I  was on an adrenalin rush for almost a week and had a difficult time focusing at work. There had been so many times when I thought I was close to finding something with no results and then as I am trying to blast a road the pocket shows up. Some people even thought with all the work I had done that finding the pocket had come to quickly. I wasn't in this group as I may not have put in a lot of years but I had put in a lot of time. Maine is not known for giving up its colored tourmaline very easily. There are very few localities that produce consistently and even those can go years and sometimes decades considering people try mining and then give up and then someone new comes along with all kinds of energy and starts all over again. May 1st of this year it had relented to give up tourmaline at the Havey quarry and rumor was heard that up at Mount Marie Dennis Durgin had found a tourmaline pocket. Dennis has done a lot of mining at Mount Marie with many lean years but it looked like he had stuck it out long enough to reap some rewards. Click on the Mount Marie link to see some of the beautiful things that he has been finding recently. It's encouraging to here of other miners finding pockets as it mine although sometimes producing similar minerals there growth habit can be dramatically different.

After originally working on the tourmaline pocket for a period of time the decision had been made to cover the remnants of the pocket and open it back up after the Pegmatite Workshop had taken place. This would be over a month away but Encar Rhoda who is doing research at the mine was coming over from Spain and this would be a great opportunity for her to see a Havey tourmaline pocket with some of the tourmaline still in place. It was also a chance to look at the pocket with some of the excitement at least from my part worn off. Opening up a pocket can be like a kid having free rein in the candy store and grabbing for everything and and not appreciating the need for some patience and slow down to appreciate the experience.

photo by Al Falster Taking  Toot for a walk. I am sure that Jim dropped the stick first.

The day came to reveal the tourmaline pocket and the boulders that were hiding and protecting the pocket were removed. Anticipation was building as it is always difficult to know what may be left. Sometimes the pockets just end abruptly and other times you may find an additional area that you weren't aware of. The first thing that needed to be done was to start washing away some of the debris. Washing usually highlights any of the color that might be there, it can be very productive when searching for tourmaline. With the initial washing a couple of small pieces were found which was nice but wasn't exactly what we were hoping to find. Then came an area that had some kaolin and as the kaolin was washed away the tourmaline kept showing up. This was a great photo op for all those present. This area was a little beyond my original workings and indicated that the pocket may have continued in this direction. Where the top of the pocket had gotten blown off  there was great access into the pocket. Most of the time if you break into the side of the pocket taking pictures can be difficult at best. Now hopefully we would find some additional material to collect and photograph.

photo by Al Falster Washing down the area in search of tourmaline.

photo by Raymond Sprague An area that had been washed down , with most of the kaolin and some of the fines removed.

Photo by Ray Sprague Freshly washed tourmaline pieces

Photo by  Jim Nizamoff  Havey Tourmaline right from the pocket.

photo by Alexander Falster  Except for some watermelon tourmaline almost all the tourmaline that came out of this pocket was almost identical in color.

photo by Ray Sprague The bottom of the pocket. The pocket went up and behind the large quartz crystal on the upper left of the picture.

photo by Jim Nizamoff  Some of the tourmaline under the large quartz crystal

Encar Roda-PhD working the Spaniards Pocket in search of tourmaline. This is how the pocket got its name.

 Working the pocket

This was a great day. We found several areas that I had not cleaned out from the previous mining episode. Everyone got a chance that wanted to, to dig in the pocket and pull out some nice Maine tourmaline.