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Heading south from Bingara on the Barraba road for approximately 19 kms you will find an almost treeless hill on the right hand side of the road. This area is Ruby Hill.
Turn off at the sign and follow the track around the foot of the hill to Halls Creek running along the back of the hill.
Pyrope garnets can be found in the surface dirt beside the track and over the hill. One of the best locations to find garnets is in the meat ant’s nests.
The garnets are of a beautiful rich red colour, but generally small, although stones of a faceting size can be found.
A Little History of Ruby Hill
Around 1885 Pat Fury and Major Butts two local miners unearthed large amounts of beautiful stones and gem sand. They sent some to Sydney University for analysis with the results said to contain seven different gemstones (diamonds, rubies and spinel being the most valuable). A tunnel 40 feet in length was driven into the hard basalt dykes and mining began for a short period (it ceased when Butts was informed the red stones were garnets and of no value).
Subsequently the land was taken up as a mineral lease by Leonard Court who sank a shaft through the creek gravel and into the breccia. The breccia taken out of the shaft was washed in a tub with hand sieves and 10 diamonds weighing in aggregate 4 1/8 carats, were obtained
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