Category Archives: Mineral Species

Mineral Name

The Honeydew Pocket

Posted on January 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

by Eric Greene


What a perfect day for collecting! It was early October – the sun was shining, the temperature was in the low 70′s, and the bugs had packed up and headed south for the season. Our day started with the long drive up from Western Massachusetts to Ossipee, NH, which is about halfway up the eastern side of the state. The fall foliage was at its peak, which unfortunately was none too glorious due to 6 weeks of heavy rain and the lack of a killing frost. We arrived in Ossipee at about 10:30 AM.

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Posted in Mineral Mining Reports, Smoky

Mining for Indicolite Tourmaline

Posted on December 9, 2011 | 1 Comment

Collecting at the Blue Pit on Plumbago Mountain in Newry, Maine
by Eric Greene

blue tourmaline

Newry Hill, a spur off Plumbago Mountain, is the most prolific tourmaline producer in Maine. Since its discovery in 1898, production from the mine has exceeded thousands of kilograms of high-quality tourmaline. Then, in August 1972, three amateur mineral collectors traveled to Newry, Maine for a weekend of digging to see if they could find any tourmaline. They hit a series of small pockets containing gem crystals that were so promising that they leased the property, and in October opened some major pockets. This was to become the largest discovery of gem tourmaline in the world, producing one metric ton of fine-quality tourmaline, consisting of many variations of colors never seen before. Overnight, the lives of the collectors who made this legendary find were changed forever.

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Posted in About Mineral Collecting, Tourmaline