Free places for mining.
Crystal Vista

Wegner mines between Mena and Hot Springs
Tuesday-Saturday / 8:00-4:30

Wegner Crystal Mines

82 Wegner Ranch Road Mount Ida Ar, 71957

Crystal Forest Mine
This trip is around 2.5-3 hours roundtrip, so please plan accordingly.

The trucks up to the mine leave daily at 9:30, 11:30, 1:30.

Please arrive 15-20 minutes early to sign up, load gear, and have a safety meeting.

Reservations are NOT needed for this trip.

MINE TRIPS SUBJECT TO MINIMUM 2 PERSONS FOR SAFETY

Tuesday-Saturday Groups leave at 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

$19.00/person per 2 hours on site collection

Transportation Included

Tools and buckets available for purchase on site - or bring your own

Keep all you find!

Crater of Diamonds
$15 each

One of the only places in the world where the public can search for real diamonds in their original volcanic source, Crater of Diamonds is a one-of-a-kind experience that brings people from all over the world to Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Visitors to the park search a 37-acre field, the eroded surface of a volcanic crater, for a variety of rocks, minerals, and gemstones – and any rock or mineral you find is yours to keep. You may bring your own mining equipment to search with (no battery-operated or motor-driven mining tools allowed), or rent tools from the park.

https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/crater-diamonds-state-park

Ron Coleman mines $25 per adult for an all day dig
Come dig through our fresh tailings at the only Arkansas dig your crystal mine with staff available to help guests in the public crystal digging area. We are an active crystal mine, and bring up fresh hauls very often. You get to keep everything you find at no additional charge! Mining for crystals is fun for the entire family. Our guests have named us the best dig your own crystals quartz mine in Arkansas. No reservation is necessary, so stop by any day of the week. Bring your own tools or buy in our Gift Shop. Our digging fees have a satisfaction guarantee! What to expect when you arrive? Our Gift Shop staff with direct you to complete a waiver, you will pay your daily crystal digging fee and receive a bracelet, given a bag to carry your crystals, directions and tips on what to look for and then you drive to the lower parking lot to take a short walk to the public digging area. Current seasonal digging hours are: 8 am to 4:30 pm.
Tour and digging package 35 each

Twin Creek Crystal Mines
Here you can dig your own private crystal pocket for an extra fee.
You need to call Twin Creek Crystal Mine in Mount Ida, Arkansas at least two days ahead to prepare a pocket for an extra fee. You can call Bobby after 5 PM at (870) 490-2890.

You can find a lot of crystal points at Twin Crystal Mines.
Remember. . .

All sizes of crystals can have crystal points — from the smallest to the largest. Crystal points are technically referred to as “terminations” in the stone. Terminations occur as a result of mining, polishing or nature's influence.

Most quartz forms in either igneous rocks or environments with geothermal waters. In igneous rocks, quartz forms as magma cools. Like water turning into ice, silicon dioxide will crystallize as it cools. Slow cooling generally allows the crystals to grow larger.

Quartz crystals have a natural property called pietzoelectricity, meaning they can generate an electrical field, which makes them perfect as parts in radio and video equipment. Quartz is composed of silicon and oxygen, and silicon is used to make microchips for computers cells used in solar technology.

See ABOVE article and know that some of these mines in Arkansas were used during WWII to mine for quartz crystal to use in radios for the war effort.

Quartz crystals of small size can form in as little as a day. Larger crystals as big a several kilograms can form in as little as a few months. The growth rate is determined by the conditions of heat and pressure, as well as the availability of silica nutrient and water.

Quartz naturally vibrates at an exact frequency and contains piezoelectric properties, which means that when it is pressurized, it produces a small volt of electricity. The inverse of this is also true, so that when an electric current is passed through quartz, it vibrates, usually at 32,768 times per second.
SEE above article for more detailed information and history!

Its unique structure, formed within the Earth's trigonal crystal system, allows clear quartz to absorb, store, and regulate energy, making it a powerful healing tool.

When you go into a dark room and rub two quartz crystals together, you will start to see them glow. This process is called Triboluminescence and it is a flash of light produced from the energy of friction, impact, or breakage. It is considered a “cold light” because no heat is produced.

If in a gift shop to stop the real from the natural. . .

Look for flaws like small cracks or fissures that are commonly found in real crystals. Resonance: Tap the crystal gently. Real crystals can produce a resonant sound, unlike glass or plastic imitations. Heft and Weight: Genuine crystals typically have a certain heft; they feel heavier than they look.

Every crystal, just like every human, has a different energetic frequency. It depends on a few different factors like the size, the composition, and most helpfully, the color. Why does crystal color matter? The colors we see are specific light frequencies.

Do not forget when digging, some colorations are due to the material found around them whether iron or other metals and minerals.

Transition metals and impurities can cause the colors of minerals and gemstones. Transition metals, such as iron, chromium, vanadium, and titanium, can cause the most colors in gems. These metals can be part of a mineral's chemical formula or present as impurities. For example, trace amounts of chromium replace aluminum in ruby and emerald, resulting in ruby's red color and emerald's green color.

The transition metals (Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu) have partially-filled inner (3d) orbitals. The electrons in these orbitals can be excited by energy in the visible spectrum and these transitions are the basis for the production of color.

For example, some of these chemical elements like titanium are used in a variety of ways.

(Ti), chemical element, a silvery gray metal of Group 4 (IVb) of the periodic table. Titanium is a lightweight, high-strength, low-corrosion structural metal and is used in alloy form for parts in high-speed aircraft.

Vanadium [V] alloys are used in nuclear reactors because of vanadium's low neutron-absorbing properties. Vanadium(V) oxide is used as a pigment for ceramics and glass, as a catalyst and in producing superconducting magnets. Vanadium is essential to some species, including humans, although we need very little.

Cr Chromium is a lustrous, brittle, hard metal. Its colour is silver-gray and it can be highly polished. It does not tarnish in air, when heated it borns and forms the green chromic oxide.
The metal chromium is used for making steel.
used to harden steel, to manufacture stainless steel (named as it won't rust) and to produce several alloys. Chromium plating can be used to give a polished mirror finish to steel.

Mn hard, brittle, silvery metal that's the fifth most abundant metal in the Earth's crust. Manganese is often found in minerals, often with iron, and doesn't occur as a free element.
Manganese(II) chloride crystals – the pale pink color of Mn(II) salts is due to a spin-forbidden 3d transition.

Manganese(II) chloride is the dichloride salt of manganese, MnCl2. This inorganic chemical exists in the anhydrous form, as well as the dihydrate (MnCl2·2H2O) and tetrahydrate (MnCl2·4H2O), with the tetrahydrate being the most common form. Like many Mn(II) species, these salts are pink, with the paleness of the color being characteristic of transition metal complexes with high spin d5 configurations.

REMEMBER. ..salt is a chemical compound that is made up of crystals. The chemical compound sodium chloride (NaCl), also known as table salt, is made up of tiny cubes of sodium and chloride ions that are tightly bound together by ionic bonding. In crystalline solids, the atoms, ions, or molecules are arranged in a symmetrical pattern that is repeated throughout the crystal.

Fe and atomic number 26. Classified as a transition metal, Iron is a solid at room temperature.
Full name of Iron is Ferrum.
Iron is an enigma – it rusts easily, yet it is the most important of all metals. 90% of all metal that is refined today is iron. Most is used to manufacture steel, used in civil engineering (reinforced concrete, girders etc) and in manufacturing.
Possibly the word iron is derived from earlier words meaning "holy metal" because it was used to make the swords used in the Crusades.

Pristine and smooth pure iron surfaces are a mirror-like silvery-gray. Iron reacts readily with oxygen and water to produce brown-to-black hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust.

Metals such as nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese are present in the crust and could in principle function chemically in place of iron, but they are scarce in Earth's crust. Iron is plentiful because of its nuclear stability in stellar nuclear fusion reactions.
REMEMBER. . .Nuclear fusion is the process by which two light atomic nuclei combine to form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts of energy.

REMEMBER Fission occurs when a neutron slams into a larger atom, forcing it to excite and split into two smaller atoms—also known as fission products.
Don't forget my mnemonic [neumonic]
a neutron slams into the atom to force the split
fission is DIVISION [division of one heavier atom into 2 light atoms]
fusion is Combination [combining two lightweights to form larger atom]
think of when we FUSE metals!

It is important to note and remember,

in nuclear power generation plants, where uranium atoms split to generate heat, which is then used to produce steam. The steam is then used by a turbine generator to generate electricity. Nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, so they do not produce greenhouse gas emissions.

In fusion also. ..combining without combustion!

Combustion is a chemical reaction that occurs when a substance, like hydrogen, reacts with oxygen to produce heat and light. Nuclear fusion is a process that occurs in stars, such as the sun, where hydrogen nuclei combine to form helium, releasing a large amount of energy.

Just like the sun
The burning of the sun is not chemical combustion. It is nuclear fusion.

See source for further info
https://lasers.llnl.gov/science/ignition

Fusion describes what happens when the nuclei of light atoms overcome the electrical resistance that keeps them apart and get close enough to activate the strong nuclear force that holds them together, or “fuse.” When fused, they form a bigger nucleus; two elements combine to create a different element at the level of the nucleus. Making elements fuse requires an enormous amount of heat and pressure, like that found in the cores of the sun and stars.

One of NIF’s goals is to create a self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction, in which the nuclei of two forms of hydrogen fuse together and produce a single heavier nucleus of helium, while converting some of the mass lost in the reaction into incredible amounts of energy (in a sense, mass is highly concentrated energy). This is something scientists have been working to achieve in the laboratory since the 1950s.

For those asking about colliding and if it's used in the process of fusion or fission
Fussion NO.
The LHC is a particle accelerator that accelerates particles to high speeds, causing them to collide with each other instead of fusing. The LHC's particles have energies of several teravolts (TeV), which is much higher than the nuclear bound state levels needed for fusion.
The LHC puts too much energy into its particles for them to fuse. While we need enough energy to fuse particles, too much will stop it from happening.
Fission Yes!

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a particle accelerator that uses nuclear fission to collide protons at near the speed of light, producing massive particles like the Higgs boson and top quark.

CONTINUED in reply directly below this post.

Quartz veins

Cleaning sandstone clusters. . .Do NOT put in Oxalic acid straight away!

First soak in hot water for 8 hours so that the sandstone is saturated with the water and will not pick up the oxalic acid which will turn the sandstone green or yellow if not saturated with water FIRST!

Jim Coleman mined crystals have more rust on the crystals generally than those found at the Wegner mine.

Make sure there isn't any clay or dirt left on the crystals prior to putting them into the cleaning solution.

Can use a crock pot for soaking in hot water for 8 hours or so.

Can heat oxalic acid in black bucket in sun for natural heating and cleaning.
The bucket works great for smaller crystal points and crock pot for larger clusters.

For cleaning larger clusters with oxalic acid ratio
1 lb. of acid for 2 gallons and up to 5 gallons of water.

About 1/2 cup per gallon of water.

Water first then acid, stir in and it will dissolve as solution heats up in crock.

Have a colander to submerge and place all points AWAY from each other.

Once submerged in colander and crystals facing away from one another,
may have to add more water as crystals need to be completely submerged for optimal cleaning.

Find tiny mesh colander for black bucket or black flower pot and place tiny crystal points inside for cleaning in hot water and acid in the sun.

If you heat up the water to mix with cold water to speed up heating, Do NOT get it too hot or it can damage the crystals when putting them in. BALANCE always!

There are vapors, so be aware and do this cleaning process in a well ventilated area.

After overnight or 8 hours, remove colander into another plastic tub and give it a first rinse to remove acid and residue.

Next do an open rinse in colander then individually over a hose or stream of running water.

Can still have trapped clay in clusters, but can be pressure washed then even soaked again if needed.

When doing the sand cluster, ensure you go from hot to hot so as not to SHOCK the crystals as this will cause shattering.

So have your temp as close to the sun bucket temp as possible.
if just warm, then warm crock with oxalic acid and let crystals heat with acid solution to maintain stable temp.

So remove crystals or sandstone clusters into a bin of warm water then slowly rinse to remove acid and debris as opposed to a cold rinse immediately so as not to shatter.

You can actually continue to use the oxalic acid solution for a long time and reintroduce the crystals back into it if you want to remove more clay or iron after rinsing in WARM not cold water.

A pressure washer or textile cleaning gun may be needed to remove additional trapped clay in sandstone clusters.

Sun bucket solution for smaller crystal points and shards can take up to 2 days soaking.

Solar bucket in sun with lid on even can place on hot concrete.