Finding Treasures: Gold, Gems, and Fossils

One reason some mines allow personal mining is they offer a service of cutting and faceting the gemstones. Rough stones are much less valuable than cut and polished stones. So, they allow individuals to fine their own stones for a relatively small fee, then charge to make the stones into something useful.

Geodes are usually round or triangular in shape. They are rocks that hide beautiful mineral deposits within, and many have one or more hollow cavities. They form near volcanoes. After a volcanic explosion, ash and rain fall to the ground. This slush can harden around the bubbles, to which minerals often will migrate. The minerals eventually crystallize. Often, the crystallized minerals do not fill the former bubble entirely, merely encrusting the inside of the cavity with a crystal. Calcite and amethyst are common, but other mineral deposits are possible.

Gold is usually found by panning. Gold often is excavated by nature from mountains and washed along a stream. Because of its density, gold will settle near the bottom of a pan when water and river bottom materials are scooped together and sloshed. As the sand is splashed out of the pan, the bright flash of the gold makes it easy to find and remove.

The mountains in North Carolina often contain sapphires, rubies, emeralds, garnets, amethyst, and other stones of desirable minerals. In this region the technique often used is to allow the public to purchase bags or buckets of dirt and sit at a flume to wash away the sand. The stones are then identified by employees, and it is at this point that the sales pitch to cut and set the stones is made.

Fossils are often encased in rocks. Their presence makes a weakness in the plane the rock will break, so using the right tools will cause the fossil to be revealed. Whether the fossil is an imprint, the object itself, or a petrified version of what once was, it is likely to be collectible.

In petrified imprints the object that once was has been replaced with a mineral deposit that solidifies giving the appearance of the original object.

Fossils often occur in areas that were once favorable for preserving them. So, look for fossils where they are known to occur.

In Murfreesburo, Arkansas is located a very unique place to find diamonds, a State Park. In most State Parks you would not be allowed to take anything, but in Arkansas at Crater of Diamonds State Park, for a fee, you can hunt for diamonds.

Metal detectors can assist with locating gold or copper deposits. These metals can occur in ores in large enough concentrations, such as a gold nugget, that they can cause a response from a metal detector. But, metal detectors are useless on gemstones.

An inductor, a coil of wire, can concentrate a changing magnetic field, created by alternating current. Magnetic field changes can cause a current to flow in a conductor, which causes a new magnetic field to be created. This new magnetic field causes a current change in the inductor. So, sending a magnetic field into a conductor causes electrical current, which creates another magnetic field that is detected by the inductor as a change of current. The greater the number of loops of wire, the greater the magnetic field sent into the metal, and the greater response of the inductor to the magnetic field the conductor causes.

Fossils are often encased in rocks. Their presence makes a weakness in the plane the rock will break, so using the right tools will cause the fossil to be revealed. Whether the fossil is an imprint, the object itself, or a petrified version of what once was, it is likely to be collectible.

In petrified imprints the object that once was has been replaced with a mineral deposit that solidifies giving the appearance of the original object.

Fossils often occur in areas that were once favorable for preserving them. So, look for fossils where they are known to occur.