Rockhounding for Fun and Profit: Finding What You Want
Ranked #12,360 in Hobbies, Games & Toys, #176,059 overall
Build Your Collection
A how to guide for collecting rocks used in making jewelry. This guide will tell you how and where to find them.
Here you will learn some of the secrets that I've used as a prospector to find valuable material in the field for twenty-five years.
By reading some of my other lenses, you'll discover how easy it is to make enough profit selling what you find to pay for your field trips.
Here you will learn some of the secrets that I've used as a prospector to find valuable material in the field for twenty-five years.
By reading some of my other lenses, you'll discover how easy it is to make enough profit selling what you find to pay for your field trips.
Where You Can Find Semi Precious Gems
Places You Can Collect for Free (and some for a fee)
In order to ensure success it is important to know:
What you're hunting,
How to recognize it, and
Where it is legal to collect it.
Finding rocks and minerals can be as simple as going to the beach or to a quarry.
But finding semi precious gems in nature can be challenging..
You can succeed at locating semi precious gemstones by learning where other people have looked.
Prospectors use their knowledge of jewelry, geology, and mining practices to make decisions about what to hunt.
Fortunately, mines are identified on county road maps. This makes it easy to begin planning a field trip that will make any rock hound happy.
Many of these areas are on Federal Land. Those locations have some restrictions about where you can collect. Those restrictions may include
how you get to the collecting area,
how deep you can dig, and
how much you can take with you.
Some locations for collecting valuable material are located on public property like beaches, stream beds, or road cuts in hill.
Still others are on private property.
In any case, you will want to get permission to collect. Usually, you can do this when you ask locally find out what is available and how to identify it.
Begin by
Using field guides to tell you what types of rocks and minerals are in the different regions of the country,
Using maps to tell you where the mines and quarries are, and
Asking at geology departments at schools and colleges or talking with the people who work in rock shops or those who participate in rock and mineral shows.
Learn what's legal to collect on Federal land.
Go to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) web page. It has a database you can use to learn where you can collect on Federal land and what you can find there. Just type "collecting" in the search window on that page.
Once you've chosen the type of stones you'd like to collect, learned what they look like in nature, and located likely places on the map, it is usually simple to find a good spot and get permission to collect.
Just consult maps of the area to identify locations of
mines,
quarries,
beaches,
rivers,
streams, and
road cuts
that are in the area and likely to expose the stones you want to find.
Be sure to read my lens "How to Know if What you Found is Worth Keeping: Know the value of your collection."
Happy hunting!
What you're hunting,
How to recognize it, and
Where it is legal to collect it.
Finding rocks and minerals can be as simple as going to the beach or to a quarry.
But finding semi precious gems in nature can be challenging..
You can succeed at locating semi precious gemstones by learning where other people have looked.
Prospectors use their knowledge of jewelry, geology, and mining practices to make decisions about what to hunt.
Fortunately, mines are identified on county road maps. This makes it easy to begin planning a field trip that will make any rock hound happy.
Many of these areas are on Federal Land. Those locations have some restrictions about where you can collect. Those restrictions may include
how you get to the collecting area,
how deep you can dig, and
how much you can take with you.
Some locations for collecting valuable material are located on public property like beaches, stream beds, or road cuts in hill.
Still others are on private property.
In any case, you will want to get permission to collect. Usually, you can do this when you ask locally find out what is available and how to identify it.
Begin by
Using field guides to tell you what types of rocks and minerals are in the different regions of the country,
Using maps to tell you where the mines and quarries are, and
Asking at geology departments at schools and colleges or talking with the people who work in rock shops or those who participate in rock and mineral shows.
Learn what's legal to collect on Federal land.
Go to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) web page. It has a database you can use to learn where you can collect on Federal land and what you can find there. Just type "collecting" in the search window on that page.
Once you've chosen the type of stones you'd like to collect, learned what they look like in nature, and located likely places on the map, it is usually simple to find a good spot and get permission to collect.
Just consult maps of the area to identify locations of
mines,
quarries,
beaches,
rivers,
streams, and
road cuts
that are in the area and likely to expose the stones you want to find.
Be sure to read my lens "How to Know if What you Found is Worth Keeping: Know the value of your collection."
Happy hunting!
Quesea's Picks Tumblers, Guides and Collections
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Garnets and Geodes
One field trip led to this wonderful collection.
What Rockhounds Want to Know
This is your chance to tell me what you want to know and let me do the research for you!
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Roadside Geology Guides
Invaluable Resources for Finding Semi Precious Gems
You can count on these guides to roadside geology to teach you what to look for and where to find it.
I've used them in combination with county maps for years and had great success. You can too!
I've used them in combination with county maps for years and had great success. You can too!
More Roadside Geology Guides
Here are a few more guide you'll find helpful.
First Rate Gemstones
Great Finds on eBay.
Petrified Wood
Great Deals on an American Classic
Biggs Jasper: Among the very best!
Biggs Jasper is a favorite for making bolo neck ties or belt buckles.
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ladykida
Dec 13, 2011 @ 10:22 pm | delete
- Good job on the lens!
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Jul 23, 2011 @ 3:42 am | delete
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Jan 27, 2011 @ 4:26 am | delete
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Jan 20, 2011 @ 3:29 am | delete
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alexjones2060
Jan 6, 2011 @ 2:42 pm | delete
- I was very pleased to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
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Nov 12, 2010 @ 6:21 am | delete
- I daily watch your lense because it helps me in my many works and it is very beneficial for me because it gives the work a professional touch that is really an amazing thing.
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GoodBug
Dec 1, 2009 @ 12:06 pm | delete
- I've always thought it would be a great way to retire - have a camper van and travel about looking for rocks and gems.
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skiesgreen
Jul 30, 2009 @ 5:37 pm | delete
- Nice topic and well presented lens. It is easy to read and not hyped up. Just a good down to earth account of a very popular activity. Well done 5 stars
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Jimmie
Jun 16, 2009 @ 7:23 am | delete
- I love rocks! We live by a river, and lots of the people here also enjoy looking for interesting rocks. Today I saw one that looked like a skull. Creepy!
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