[Rockhounds] Re: Virgin Valley digs

[Glen Miller]

To those entertaining ideas about collecting at Virgin Valley this
year I would urge you to study the information available online
and from postings to this list.

Last summer my wife and I took a day off from our digging at
the Bonanza mine and tried Rainbow Ridge. Our experience
was very disappointing. We spent $400 for a bucket of dirt
and found only one small piece of black opal, and that without
color. That was all we found and we know how to work the
opal dirt. A digger next to us was having the same luck with
her dirt pile for the day. This is not to say that all diggers
have the same luck. We'd gone to RR because two or three
other Bonanza shareholders had tried their luck and had been
at least "satisfied"  with their findings for the $400 fee.

Prices are up at the Royal Peacock and I don't know personally
of anyone who went there last summer, so can't report one
way or the other. Some rumors were less than encouraging
though.

The Bonanza fee dig is no picnic because the tailings piles
can be hot, dry and dusty at times. Even as a shareholder
there I have been a little skeptical of potential successes, but
last September I saw two young men from Boise who'd driven
all night to get to VV at 8AM be very happy with a couple of
very colorful, good sized opals they'd found in the tailings
piles. They worked for what they found though.

The Treasure Channel has given many folks unrealistic
expectations of the ease and value of finding opals at VV.
Go for the experience and the possibility of finding a nice
opal or two. No one is getting rich out there.

Best of luck to all.

Glen Miller


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