Have you ever been hunting for quartz up in western Arkansas??
If not…. GO NOW! Like this weekend, or leave today! It’s just too much fun!
I am a newer member of the Dallas Gem and Mineral Society, and have just gotten into the (addictive) hobby of Rockhounding. I’ve been around Dallas hunting for fossils like sharks teeth, but just found out, that with a short 4 hour drive, I can find clear quartz!
There are many mines in the area where you basically “pay to dig”. This involves paying a fee for an entire day of digging around a spot (like the tailings area) and you get to keep whatever you find! You can spend all day searching for one perfect piece… or… like me… take bucket after bucket to the truck!
Quartz Hunting Tips
I read many posts about hunting quartz but I’ll add a few of my own common sense tips.
(I thought I new what I was doing, but there was definitely a learning curve)
Look for “black mirrors”
Sounds mysterious, but it’s not! Basically, dirt doesn’t stick to naturally terminated quartz points. They are so slick and shiny that the dirt just wipes off! I read about this online, didn’t quite get it, so I took a series of pics to illustrate it
Look for the dark “black mirror” shine, then plop down and start digging around it. It may just be a single point like this one, but it could also be just one of many points connected to a cluster.
If you find that your quartz is attached to a larger rock, be sure to leave the dirt on and just put it in your bucket. As much as you want to clean it off, it’s safer for the drive home.
Be realistic…
I’m not saying that you won’t find that $1000 quartz point, but it’s more likely that you come home with buckets of lovely milky quartz rock and a ton of smaller clear points.
I (unfortunately) get too excited that I’ll win the lottery, or hit the jackpot, or find a giant quartz point. It really depends on where you are hunting. I went to two very different mines, one place had bigger points, the other had smaller clusters.
That’s part of the fun of rockhounding, you never know what you’ll find!
If you don’t find what you want, you can always buy it!
While researching, nobody told me that the rock shops there are AWESOME!
You can basically spit and hit a rock shop, all of which have a huge variety of stuff. Everything from rare specimens to yards of tables with rough that they sell by the pound! I think I bought as much rock as I found!
Now what do I do with my rocks?
If you’re like me, you get home with multiple 5-gallon buckets of quartz, but what now?
There are many posts around the web that explain how to clean the iron staining off your quartz, but I’m gonna give you a couple pointers too.
1. Wash off as much clay and dirt with the hose.
Super Fast! Let the dirt dry out & hit them with a spray nozzle! If any points fly off, they aren’t attached well and will come off eventually.
* if you happen to be lucky and find an amazingly delicate piece, don’t listen to me
2. I think IronOut works the best.
I have been cleaning my quartz with both the Oxalic Acid and IronOut. It seems to me that the IronOut works faster!
Bonus Tip
Are you interested in going to the Ron Coleman Mine?
If you go after 3 pm, then you pay for the “day” which includes the rest of that day PLUS the entire next one! This is perfect if you are driving up from Dallas cause you don’t have to leave too early, and then you kinda get 2 for 1.
So in conclusion… ARKANSAS ROCKS! (literally)
