Hewitt Gem Mine

Date: 11/5/2023 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Location: 202 Turkey Hill Rd., Haddam, CT 06424

As of Monday, October 2, this trip is full.  There is no longer space to attend.

 

Type of trip:  Pegmatite digging, in active worked pits and tailings

Date:  SUN Nov 5

Times:  9:00 am - est. 4:00 pm (exacts will be on Flyer)

Location:  Hewitt Gem Mine site (Haddam, CT)  (more details will be in Flyer)

Meet-up location : Site itself parking areas

Ages allowed:  7 y.o. and up; kids 13 y.o. and under must ALWAYS be in close contact with and supervised by parents

LUNCH DONATION: $ 10 p/p payable that morning.  Tony will provide LUNCH and DRINKS for us.  Typically, burgers and dogs, chips, cookies, waters / soft drinks and occasionally additional side like pasta salad etc.  

 

*** CASH ONLY, PAY THE DAY OF ***

The crew at Hewitt GM have still been doing some occasional excavating of their main pits and more replenishing of tailings, so more new material should be available.

 

AS WITH ALL TRIPS, YOU MUST BE A CURRENT FM-NJ MEMBER TO BE ELIGIBLE TO ATTEND TRIPS.

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, AS ALWAYS, SIGN-UP WITH GROUNDHOG DAVE.  TEXT, CALL OR EMAIL.  732-939-4476 cell.

Event URL: https://www.mindat.org/loc-23091.html

Fee: 30 $ p/p, 40 $ p/p if you bring generator / power equipment / tools (16 and under free)

Safety Information: Hard Hat NOT Required. Proper safety gear is required on ALL trips. (Glasses, sturdy footwear, Gloves) Hardhat SUGGESTED if planning to use EQUIPMENT (jackhammer/saws). Attendees will be required to sign Hold Harmless Agreement / Attendance Sheet prior to the trip.

Tools: WATER, rock hammer, chisels, sledges, pry bars, shovel, buckets, newspaper, FOOD + DRINK, backpack, (if desired – Jackhammer / Saw)

Max Number of Attendees: 35

Post Event Write-Up:

Hosts: Tony Apilla (head Operator with Eric) and owner Axel

Clubs in attend:  NoJMS, FM-NJ 

Field Trip Leader: Groundhog Dave

Attendees:  Groundhog Dave Shapiro, Steve "Pickles" Wien, Art Finkelshteyn, James Nalepa, Kevin "Coop" Cooper with Tia Buttcher; Tomer Shapira, Kyle Kustka, Micki + John Reiss; Milan Kirby + 1; Stephanie "Newbie" Apgar, Kristina Parastchenko and Maria Roselle, Lisa "20 Questions" Bostedo, Rich Drake, Ava Mroz and Andrew Paparelli; Elizabeth and Luca Pendrini; Erik Vaideka, John Romano, Xander Rosenburg with Mom;

We once again had another outstanding visit to the Hewitt Gem Mine.  A light rain the night before gave a few of us a middle of the night scare, however it turned out to be just enough to wet the rocks down for us and nothing more.  This was just what the doctor ordered since Tony and his crew blasted and worked their butts off the day before creating fresh exposed material for us for the Sunday trip. 

Numerous folks found various sized pieces and chunks of Beryl, in clear colorless, aqua, greenish, and light yellowish colors.  Micki Reiss found a really nice 2 inch section of greenish Beryl on the edge of a small rock.  Steve "Pickles" Wien found a number of smaller sized Beryls in various rocks throughout the day.  Lisa "20 Questions" Bostedo found several nice sizable pieces of colorless Beryl in various rocks.  Ava Mroz found some nice fragments and pieces of greenish Apatite in some smaller sized rocks.  Erik Vaideka, Xander Rosenburg and Steve "Pickles" Wien found some excellent gemmy green Tourmaline sprays, which appeared as glittery needle-like veins.  Pinkish Schernikite / Lepidolite was found by various folks as coatings on rock surfaces.  Nice examples of the sugary "Aplite", a compacted granular - type Albite  feldspar, were found by many, some containing nice orange gemmy Spessartine garnets.  Tomer Shapira and Tia Buttcher both found great small gemmy Spessartine garnets, as did Ava Mroz, Groundhog and others.  Numeros folks found varying quality pieces of black Schorl Tourmaline, often as inclusions in Mica or Quartz. 

Ava Mroz found some Torbernite sprays on a rock, which started some discussion on Radioactives and lookout for, Torbernite and Autunite.  Groundhog Dave, Kyle Kustka and Tomer Shapira also wound up finding some small sprays. 

Tia Buttcher reported the first Microlite find of the day, in response to my issued "Groundhog Challenge" early in the day.  First member to find and produce a Microlite crystal, gets their fee dig reimbursed, and sure enough, Tia found a roughly 2 mm tetrahedron.  Steve "pickles" Wien alleged that he also found one earlier but was buried in his bucket; however this was not sufficient evidence so he was disqualified from contention.  Subsequently, a number of other members also started finding small Microlite specimens.  Even Lisa "20 Questions" Bostedo found one late in the day !!  Tomer Shapira earned the "Most Microlites found" award, with not less than 5 different specimens containing one or more small microlite xls.  One piece had 3 or 4 stacked compacted crystals !!  Ava Mroz and Kyle Kustka each found on later in the day, as did Kevin "Coop" Cooper. 

Art Finkelshteyn, Stephanie "Newbie" Apgar and Kyle Kustka took to some UV prospecting late into the afternoon.  All 3 came away with nice Manganoan Apatite yellow and beige Fluorescent responses (SW and MW) as well as some orange Fluorapatite response in other rocks.  

Chlorophane Fluorite was also found by Stephanie "Newbie" Apgar and Ava Mroz and Groundhog Dave, late in the day.  Stephanie's piece had a nice teal fluorescence LW .

Kevin "Coop" Cooper brought his epic Aqua Beryl find from earlier this year, which had to be about 5 inches end to end with terminations.  A definite sight to behold !

All in all, another GREAT outing at Hewitt, complete with Tony's Lunch service (great burgers, chips and popcorn, waters and other goodies).