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The Moss Mine; a Tourmaline-Producing Pegmatite in the Buryat Republic, CIR

The miners overlooking some of their finds. Valeri, far right, is a trained geologist, Misha, on the far left, was a Russian military helicopter pilot.

The heart of the Moss Mine pegmatite. The bulldozer is removing some of the barren pegmatite boulders. The pegmatite body is being worked as a 20 meter thick bench, drilling and blasting only small areas at a time. The unworked portion extends into the hill to the right. In the lower right, amongst the pry bars and drill steel, have been found many pockets containing beautiful tourmaline crystals.