Read an Excerpt
Introduction
It’s easy and fun to dream of plentiful and reliable hunting grounds for highly sought-after gems, minerals, and fossils, but in the 21st century, these dreams quickly meet reality. Novice and even experienced rockhounds often find that once-productive hunting grounds have been privatized, marked as legally protected, reclaimed by some natural force such as overgrowth, or substantially depleted. These factors represent frustrating barriers to successful hunting, but they provide the opportunity for further adventure in discovering untapped sources. The entire experience can be enriched by learning about the natural forces that created, processed, shaped, and distributed those things that we seek with such enthusiasm and diligence. You might even discover a completely new source or deposit of your given quarry, or at least some lightly traveled paths. Those willing to see the prospecting experience in this way will reap ample hard-earned rewards— including the valuable knowledge that experienced hunters won’t readily divulge.
All of these reasons make intensive prospecting an important part of successful hunting ventures. Prospecting for some of the more rare and valuable gems, minerals, and fossils can take years to become reliably productive and may also require significant investments in equipment, travel, or obtaining of legal rights to hunt, collect, and extract these treasures. We have learned this the hard way on more than one occasion, spending thousands of dollars and significant amounts of time and travel, only to come away empty-handed and frustrated. To use a fishing analogy: there are endless acres of water to fish, but precious few are reliably productive. This explains the purpose of this book—to inform and guide you in making good choices about where to invest your time and dollars, and to help you understand the kinds of hunting and prospecting that you will personally enjoy. And it is why we will focus on the field experience, both through text and through images that show you the hunting environment, the processes, and the specimens and materials as they are found.
Personal safety is an important yet often overlooked aspect of the prospecting and rockhounding hobby. Risk factors include: wildlife, weather, physical stresses such as exhaustion or dehydration, mining and equipment accidents, and sometimes human (and even criminal) activities. All of these are amplified when you are prospecting and hunting in remote areas, especially when alone. We point out the relevant safety concerns within each chapter and provide suggestions on how to manage them. This book strives to provide the best and most current information about known prospecting and collecting locales for the given gems, minerals, and fossils. We provide realistic assessments about the quality and quantity of materials that can be found or extracted once you have done the hard work of prospecting and are properly equipped. The processing methods and tools will focus on basics that can be readily learned and applied by amateur hobbyists. This book doesn’t provide detailed maps with specific locations of where to hunt. And bear in mind that information provided in this book may change, so you must always verify with local authorities or landowners whether a location is still open for hunting. We also don’t provide detailed information about gem, mineral, and fossil formation, nor intensive details about identification and classification of different materials, as there are many great books that focus on these topics. Similarly, the Lapidary Arts chapter is intended to be introductory, as there are comprehensive publications available. A valuable resource for learning about and keeping up-to-date with what’s happening in the ever-changing world of gem and mineral prospecting is the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies. Consider joining this organization, and even if you don’t, make sure to read and learn their published Code of Ethics.
