Rubyvale/Sapphire Designated Fossicking Land

The public digging ground at the heart of the Central Queensland gemfields takes in five designated areas — Sapphire, Scrub Lead, Divide, Rubyvale and Reward — around the twin townships of Sapphire and Rubyvale, west of Emerald. Deep gravelly wash beneath the sand holds the blue, green and yellow sapphires and zircons the field is famous for. Licence-holders can dig and camp on the designated land, with water and supplies at the townships. This is the accessible heart of the gemfields, ringed by the settlements that grew up around the sapphire rush.