Crystals – Yonder

Today, I am talking about something that is unfamiliar and unusual to me: quartz mining! We went mining in Arkansas at two mines: Twin Creek and Ron Coleman. Mom and Dad took me to the Ouachita Mountains as a surprise. This all started when we discovered geodes during a hike at a nature preserve. I wanted to keep them, but I couldn’t because that would be stealing. Stealing is wrong. So I asked Mom where we could go find cool things AND keep them. That’s when Mom suggested mining.

Yonder Girl digging through tailings high up the quarry walls of Twin Creek Quartz Mine.

What is Quartz?

Did you know that quartz is a very common mineral? Quartz is a type of silicate, which means it’s silicon and oxygen in a mineral form. Silicon and oxygen are both elements. Quartz has a hexagonal crystal structure, which is a fancy way of saying the crystals have six sides and the points have six faces. You can find really rare quartz crystals called Herkimers, which are double-pointed. Quartz can also come in different colors. Amethyst is purple quartz. It’s not purple because of magic. The color comes from iron impurities. Citrine is a kind of quartz that can be yellow, orange, or reddish-brown. Ametrine is a multi-colored crystal that is half amethyst and half citrine. My favorite is Ametrine.

Hexagonal quartz crystal — See the hexagons that the quartz crystals make?

Twin Creek and Ron Coleman Mines

Both Twin Creek and Ron Coleman are famous quartz mines in Arkansas. Twin Creek is in Mount Ida; Ron Coleman in Hot Springs. They are both active commercial quarries. When you pay the general digging fee, you can dig in tailings at both mines. Tailings are mining leftovers; basically muddy clay full of quartz. Twin Creek’s tailings are in the quarry itself. You can mine from the quarry walls, but it’s really hard. The quarry’s terrain is steep. Be careful. You can easily slip, slide down the quarry walls, and break your limbs. OUCH!!!!! For experts only: you can pay more (a lot more) to buy a fresh pocket, which means you dig directly from the intersection of two quartz veins and get first pick.

Quartz Tailings at Twin Creek Mine — Digging in the tailings along the steep quarry walls of Twin Creek Quartz Mine.

At Ron Coleman, you can’t mine in their quarry. Instead, big dump trucks transport loads of tailings to a field. You don’t have to worry about your footing as much; the field is flat. But beware: there are still mounds you can slip on. If you want to dig in fresh tailings, go during weekdays because the tailing trucks don’t run on the weekends.

Ron Coleman quartz quarry — Ron Coleman quarry. Employees only!

Tailings Ron Coleman — Tailings from the Ron Coleman quarry are transported by dump truck and spread across a large field.

Tools and Supplies

Mining is fun, but hard work. It’s important to have the right tools. You will get really dirty. There is a lot of digging. For us, it was easier to mine by digging in the loose tailings than facing off the rock wall. We used shovels, trowels, and a hand cultivator. The best tools for mining from rock walls are crowbars, chisels, and rock hammers. Do not use a rubber mallet because you don’t get full force from the hit. If you decide to go to Twin Creek, you will need to bring your own storage like bags and buckets; Ron Coleman provides one bag per person.

Digging in the tailings at Ron Coleman Quartz Mine. — Bring digging tools, bags, and buckets to unearth and store your treasures.

In addition to mining tools, you need to prepare for the hot sunny days of Arkansas, safety, and comfort. Let’s see what you need. Bring an umbrella for shade, water, hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen to protect you from the hot sun. For your safety, you should have safety glasses, sturdy shoes, and gloves. You will get hungry, so bring a snack. Wear comfy clothes you can get dirty because red clay stains. Butt pads and bug spray are items that would be useful too.

Yonder Girl with beach umbrella and water bottle in tow at Twin Creek Quartz Mine. — It was a hot sunny day at Twin Creek. Thankfully, we had our beach umbrella to provide shade and lots of water to drink.

By having the right tools and supplies, we had a safe and fun time mining, but we still made mistakes. For example, at Twin Creek, our beach umbrella fell on me. Then, I accidentally knocked over Mom’s bucket of quartz! It’s OK because I helped pick it up.

Our Experience and Finds

Even if you don’t know how to mine for quartz you can still come home with your own pile of treasures. At Ron Coleman it took us a while to find quartz, but at Twin Creek you can find crystals in the parking lot! In the end, we walked away with about the same amount of crystals from both mines.

Yonder Girl diffing in Twin Creek Quartz Mine — Digging and digging and digging Twin Creek Quartz Mine.

Digging and digging and digging at Ron Coleman Quartz Mine.

We got lucky at Ron Coleman because it rained the night before. Water is not just for drinking; it’s also good for cleaning. We could wash our crystals in nearby puddles as we worked to make sure we were bringing home a nice piece of quartz instead of a rock. We didn’t have to walk to the wash stations and back. We were also lucky to have the tailing piles turned over by bulldozers. This meant we could find crystals hiding at the bottom of the pile without having to dig all the way down.

Water puddle at Ron Coleman Quartz Mine — At Ron Coleman the puddles aren’t deep so you can use them to rinse your finds. The water pools at Twin Creek were off limits to the general public.

We found quartz of all shapes, sizes, and clarity. This trip, I found the best crystal ever! I call it Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner is big and clear with a nice point. It is slightly bigger then my palm with smooth sides. We have other big crystals and also small crystals like the one my friend is wrapping in wire for a necklace. We also have clusters, big and small. Clusters are bunches of crystals held together by rock. We found both milky quartz and clear quartz. Some crystals are so smooth that they feel oily. Others are sharp and pointy. Now that you know what we found, let’s see how to clean them.

Quartz crystal point- large and clear — This is Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
The best crystal of the trip!!

Quartz points — Beautiful sparkly quartz points.

Milky quartz cluster after we rinsed off all the red clay.

Clear quartz point still in matrix — Sometimes you can find points still embedded in the rock matrix like this!

Cleaning Quartz and Its Uses

To clean your quartz crystals, you need to wash off all the mud and remove the iron stains. First, clean off as much mud as you can. Do this outside. Washing muddy clay down a sink can clog it up. You can use a paintbrush to help get the mud out of the grooves. For bigger crystals you can use a hose and buckets. Next, let it dry completely. Then, repeat the first two steps until you can’t rinse off any more clay. Last, remove the iron stains with an acid bath. Removing the iron stains is a job for adults ONLY. The acid can be very dangerous. Skip this step if it makes you uncomfortable.

Washing reveals the beautiful crystals under the mud.
This one needs a bit of scrubbing.

Quartz crystals can be used for making necklaces or doing more complex things like glass making. They would also make great art works. The really clear crystals we saw at the shop were making rainbows when sunlight shined through them. It is so cool!

There’s more…

I want to go mining again because I can have fun in the dirt without worrying about worms, and I love quartz. I’m hoping to get a chance to try other mines. There are a lot of mines in the Ouachitas. I hope someday I will get to mine for emeralds, amethysts, and jasper too. I heard there are places in North Carolina and Georgia that you can mine for them. It would be fun to see what I can find there. Mining is very cool and neat, but also hot and dirty.

All of us with our own Winners of the day! WOW!

I hope you enjoyed my blog this month. Come back again for more adventures and see you again! Onward!!!