Digging it

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This article was published 13/08/2017 (2446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a temporary mineral rush occurring in Manitoba, but these prospectors aren’t looking for gold.

They’re looking for something they haven’t been able to find for almost a decade — selenite crystals.

Instead of going down a mine or swishing water at the side of a creek with a pan, these rockhounds are digging into the side of the Red River Floodway with spades and garden trowels and probing into the thick clay with straightened coat hangers.

They’re looking for selenite crystals, which are also known as Manitoba diamonds. These crystals can be found elsewhere, but the ones coming out of the floodway are known around the world because of how clear they are. Some are milky coloured, while others are yellow.

Bob Kitlar and Ken Fumerton, of the Mineral Society of Manitoba, were just two of six members busy digging Friday in an undisclosed place in the floodway, to see what the earth would yield. The society hasn’t been able to look for selenite since 2008, but the provincial government has given special permission so they can dig into the site of the structure, which has saved Winnipeg from flooding several times, for three weeks.

“It’s like an archeological dig,” Kitlar said while sitting in a rectangular hole he had dug.

“And it’s like fishing. One guy is finding fish and somebody else is finding none. You have to start at the top and work your way down carefully. If you don’t, the crystal will shatter like an egg. They’re that fragile.”

Fumerton said he found a few crystals Friday, but he doesn’t know for sure what they look like yet because they are still covered in clay left behind by Lake Agassiz. He said trying to get all the mud off too early would damage the encased crystal.

“You find one in the ground and you start probing around,” he said.

“These are going to be nice — I can see a crystal poking out. You have to wait until the clay dries and then get some off, put them in water, let it dry, and take some more off.”

The selenite crystals they are finding are created with a combination of the clay here being saturated in gypsum — the same material used to create Gyproc for the drywall for the interior walls of houses — and sulphate in the groundwater, the organic sulphur above the water table or from the clay itself.

Thanks to the floodway digging into the ground several metres, the crystals are more accessible, but you need permission to dig there.

A provincial spokesman verified the government has given special permission to the organization to dig for crystals.

The spokesman said for safety reasons the floodway channel and adjacent land are restricted areas and it is illegal to go there without permission.

Jack Bauer, a former president of the society who organized the dig, said half of the three weeks were used up without any digging because rain made the access road too muddy to get in.

Bauer said while a similar dig in 2008 — during the expansion of the floodway — used only shovels, this time around they rented equipment to strip about half a metre of soil off the top of the site. The group will then put the soil back after the dig has been completed.

“We’ll have up to 30 people listed for coming out,” he said.

“For safety concerns and liability, you have to be members of the society to come out. The general public is not allowed.”

Bauer said on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the hardest substance, selenite scores a two — about the same hardness as a fingernail.

“They break easily, but they can cut a finger if you’re not wearing gloves. The crystals have very sharp blades,” he said.

Bauer said so far the largest piece they have found is about six centimetres across, but they’re hoping to find a specimen up to 14 centimetres across.

“That would be in the museum or monster category,” he said.

Jacques Bourgeois, the society’s president, said the society is undertaking a special dig in the floodway as a way of celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday.

“These crystals are highly sought after and are a defining feature of the mineral history of the Red River,” Bourgeois said.

“There was a similar dig held during the widening of the floodway in 2008. These excavating events are a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of the beauty that lies beneath our feet,” he said.

Working up a sweat in the dirt under a hot sun, Danial McKay said it’s his first time looking for selenite.

“This is hard work,” McKay said while his wife, Melissa, worked in another hole beside him. “I’ve done a lot of digging in gravel, silt and sand, but this is the hardest digging I’ve done.

“But that’s what makes it valuable.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca