Mining news, prospecting tips, Colorado geology, and specimen finds from the Rocky Mountain Mining team.
A detailed walkthrough of the federal mining claim filing process, from identifying open land to recording your location notice.
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Once a failing silver mine, Sweet Home became one of the most famous specimen localities in the world. Here's the full Alma district story, the Alma King, why rhodochrosite is Colorado's state mineral, and the honest truth about visiting and collecting today.
The Pikes Peak batholith produces some of the world's finest amazonite crystals. Learn where to look and what to collect.
From gold pans to metal detectors, here's the gear you need for productive prospecting in Colorado's high country.
The story of Leadville's silver strike, the rise and fall of Horace Tabor, and what the district looks like today for prospectors.
Cripple Creek's gold doesn't look like gold. Locked into telluride minerals like calaverite and sylvanite, it fooled prospectors for years until assayers figured out what they were looking at. Here's the geology and the chemistry behind one of Colorado's strangest ore systems.
Bucket-line dredges reshaped the Middle Fork of the South Platte for nearly a century, leaving piles of tailings that still hold gold today. Here's how to read those piles, find pay streaks, and stay legal at Fairplay's gold panning park.
At 14,269 feet, Mount Antero is the highest gem-bearing locality in North America. Here's what to expect on a collecting trip.
Bob Womack's 1890 gold strike at Poverty Gulch launched Colorado's last great gold rush in a place nobody expected: a volcanic caldera. From gold-telluride ores to Newmont's modern operation.
The Crystal Peak district near Lake George has produced some of the world's finest amazonite and smoky quartz specimens for over a century.
Understanding the three levels of BLM mining operations in Colorado is essential before you break ground.
Lake George sits at the epicenter of some of the most productive pegmatite mineral collecting in North America.
Everything you need to know about lode claims, placer claims, BLM filings, and annual maintenance fees.
Colorado rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine is among the most prized mineral specimens in the world.
The Pikes Peak Gold Rush transformed Colorado from wilderness to statehood.
