Treasure Hunting For Tourmaline

Written By: admin - Nov• 25•10

Tourmaline

Are you ready to go looking for a gem that can be as beautiful as a rainbow and fetch more per carat then diamonds? Well then Tourmaline may be the gem for you.

Cut Bi-color Tourmaline

Tourmaline can be found in pegmatite deposits all over the world, but gem quality tourmaline is a rare find indeed. A great specimen can fetch you over $500 a carat*.

See some current prices on rough/uncut Tourmaline here!

Tourmaline Mining

Some of the sites that you will go to too hunt for tourmaline are currently, or at one time were operating tourmaline mines, and are currently fee for dig mines. At these sites the tailings piles will usually be the only area you are allowed to dig, not in the main mine itself.

uncut Bi-color Tourmaline

Other sites that are open for the public to explore are old quarries, these sites may require a little heavier digging then the tailings piles and in some cases hard rock mining may be needed. So be prepared to do a bit more labor at these sites.

So you’re probably saying, “Why would I spend my time going through what the mines have already thrown away?”

Well, the original miners often did not take their time to search through the material and many wonderful Tourmaline crystals are still found in the piles on a daily basis.

Digging in the tailings can take quite some time, the key here is to move as much dirt as you can, but once you start to find some of those wonderfully colored gems you’ll want to slow down just a bit.

While your digging out dirt you’ll need to screen all of it to pull the larger material out. Just because you don’t see a tourmaline crystal in your screen at first doesn’t mean it’s not there, so you’ll want to put the material left in your screen in a bucket for washing and screening again later.

Since Tourmaline and other gems such as quartz are often found in clusters in there natural state, many times when the soil is dug out of the mine with one crystal in it, odds are that others will have been dug out at the same time, and dumped in the same area of the tailings piles.

So once you find one crystal in a spot, don’t just leave that location, because many more Tourmaline crystals may be hiding just under the surface for you to discover.

After you’ve dug out a bit of rough material from the piles, you will want to go down to do a final screen and wash of your material.

Once the dirt is washed off it will be much easier to see those rainbow colored gems shining up at you.

The Many Colors of Tourmaline

One of the most sought after colors of Tourmaline is a very deep blue. Although quite rare, it still is found in the tailings piles.

Green Tourmaline

Other treasured examples of Tourmaline are bi-colors, tri-colors, and one of the most beautiful is the watermelon that can run the whole spectrum of the rainbow from one end to the other.

Schorl Tourmaline

The most abundant form of Tourmaline is black tourmaline, most often referred to as schorl. It is believed that up to 95% of all tourmaline is schorl.

Although schorl is interesting as a mineral sample for a collection it has very little value as a gem, but some specimens can be very interesting and beautiful so be on the lookout for nice pieces.

Cleaning Your Tourmaline

Many of your tourmalines may have a white substance on them called cookeite. One way to remove this is by simply using a toothbrush, soap, and water.

If that doesn’t work then you may want to move to using things such as a rotary tool, bead blaster, or acids to remove the cookeite. These techniques should only be used by people experienced in using these types of equipment and chemicals, the last thing you want to do it destroy your tourmaline due to inexperience.

Where to Find Tourmaline

So are you ready to get some tourmaline for yourself? Wonderful, the folks at these sites can help you make your treasure hunting vacation a success.

Himalaya Tourmaline Mine Mesa Grande, CA

Cryo-Genie Mine Warmer Springs, CA

Oceanview Mine Pala, CA

Stewart Mine Pala, CA

Perham’s Quarry West Paris, MN

Mount Apatite Park Auburn, MN

Bumpus Quarry West Bethyl, MN

*Please understand the fact that although some gems are sold at a price like that, the odds are very much against a person not directly in the mining business ever even seeing a gem of that quality. Treasure hunting vacations are not about getting rich, they are not about the treasure you find in the ground, they are about the treasure you find in searching for the beauty that nature has to offer, and the treasure of enjoying time with family and friends. Enjoy your trip for these things and you will have a treasure hunting vacation of a lifetime.