By NOEL MURPHY
IT’S CLAIMED to ward off dementia, assist mental clarity, clear chakras and burn away negativity in the body.
It’s also an attractive blue stone suited for carvings and if Melbourne-based geologist/dealer Tom Kapitany gets the nod, it will be “mined” from Anglesea’s Demons Bluff.
The substance is vivianite, or blue ochre, and Mr Kapitany wants to use scuba divers to extract it from the sea or other staff to collect it from the beach, all by hand.
He expects to garner up to five tonnes of the material a year and hopes local artisans might work to generate carvings and sculptures with the vivianite.
Mr Kapitany runs Crystal World, large fossil and mineral centre in outer Melbourne specialising in palaeontological and metaphysical pursuits.
He’s seeking a 20-year licence to extract the material, formally known as hydrated iron phosphate, which is generated in nodules via phosphate deposits from bird dung and other detritus that accumulates in crab burrows.
“It tends to wash up around Demons Bluff from a reef about 150 metres out from shore,” Mr Kapitany told the Independent.
“We believe weathering on reef structure and parts of the ocean floor contains vivianite, which heavy storms release from mud and throw onto the beach.
“We plan to collect it in a completely non-invasive fashion. There’s no mechanical work – we’ll either be walking along beach or diving and picking up loose nodules.
“Diving will be limited to a small handful of days a year when there are not major tidal issues.
“You’ll need a perfect day in, say, March or April when the ocean’s relatively calm. Otherwise we’ll just collect from the beach.’’
Mr Kapitany’s plans are with Department of Primary Industries.
A department spokesperson said Victoria’s mining and environmental laws provided strong protections for the environment and the rights of other stakeholders.
“If the licence were to be granted, the licensee would have to go through a rigorous process to show how he would mitigate any potential impacts from his operations,” the spokesperson said.
