I want to start gem hunting. Have some questions.

[Allard]

Hi Guys!

I signed up for this forum since there is pretty limited information online about the questions i have.

For some years now it some times crossed my mind that it would be awesome to start hunting for gems.
I'm always looking for things to do in my life and gem hunting probably suits my interest pretty darn much.

Yet i think i live at the most terrible place ever to do this. The Netherlands that is.

I really like to learn new things myself as in no special tours or anything but just figure out how thing work.

For starters i would really like to know if there is any place in Europe where you can go gem hunting in the wide open nature ( so no specific mine or something but pure nature ).
Is there any place near The Netherlands where i can find any kind of gemstones? If not what would be the nearest place?

Also i really would like to know how to look for them.

All youtube video's i can find are gemhunters located in the USA where i can see them just start digging around some rocks / cutting some away to find their stones. As far as my knowledge goes this is not the case in Europe is it?

This weekend i went away with a friend of mine just to take a look if we could find anything. We went to Germany at the Black Forest and made a pretty nice walk and we would look between the rocks etc to check if we could find any. Take away some dirt on the bottom of stone edges etc. We didn't find anything. But again, we are total noobs at this area and we had no idea what to look for and if there would be any at all. Hikes are pretty relaxing anyways so we decided to just go and look.

So we are really confused if we could look for some quartz for example in any "rock edge" in any country on any given location.

My last question which really sounds stupid to ask but can any kind of mineral be found anywhere on the world? Could you find ruby in France for example? Emerald in Germany? Or are those kind of stones really limited to the south part of the world?

I would really go on some awesome gem hunting hikes but for now i have NO IDEA AT ALL where, what and how.

Thanks in advance!

 

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[kingskid1611]

Well welcome first off. I am not familiar with the Netherlands but in the states you just have to get out and dig. If you have a place over there that is rumored to have stones then get in there and look around. Although research is your best friend you still have to get your hands dirty and your knees scrapped. Good Luck and happy hunting

 

[Allard]

Thank you for your answer!

Yes that really is the problem. I am trying to do my research for days already but every little thing i find is all based on USA locations / experiences. As for Europe the info i can find is near to nothing. I would love to start digging somewhere but i would really love to know where!

A trip to the USA is to expensive for me at this moment specially for what i know now but i would love to make special trips in the future once i know what i am doing.

As far as i could find out quartz is the only thing i would find near my location ( and not even in my own country ) but even that i would not know where to find it.

Long story short i really want to just jump in and start exploring but all i know now is literally nothing.

I am really having a tough time finding my info which is really weird. It might be that i am looking for the wrong terms since English is not my native language and this is pretty specific speaking about words.

 

[smokeythecat]

Welcome. Gems start out life as minerals and rocks. Try mindat.org and put the name of the material you are looking for in the search box. For instance, if you put in "diamond" you will find the USA, Canada, Russia, INdia, South Africa and a lot of other places mentioned. I believe Ider Oberstein in Germany is famous for agates. I'm sure I didn't spell that right. See what's coming out of river and stream banks that have sands and gravels in them.

 

[Aurora]

Maybe this website will help you https://www.geokring.nl/ I see there is a trade show coming up in October, if you could attend maybe you could find the information you are looking for. Welcome and Good luck Don't forget to show us your finds.

 

[Eu_citzen]

In general, prospecting for gems isn't talked about loudly. There are however books; "Prospecting for gemstones & Minerals" By John Sinkankas.
That's a good starting point.

As a side note, I also love figuring out how stuff works on my own.

Some pointers; Norway has several gemstone occurrences.. Norwegian emerald is quite famous in Scandinavia.
Gems can be found in Austria & Switzerland, I'd like to recall.

Learn to recognize pegmatite, quartzveins (where quartz crystals can be found) for starters.

1. My last question which really sounds stupid to ask but can any kind of mineral be found anywhere on the world?
2. Could you find ruby in France for example? Emerald in Germany?
3. Or are those kind of stones really limited to the south part of the world?

1. Yes and no, I'll explain: They can be found if the geological and chemical conditions allowed them to form.
What does that mean? Well, let's look at the chemical formula first; Al[SUB]2[/SUB]SiO[SUB]4[/SUB](F,OH)[SUB]2
This of course means there has to be Al, Si and F or OH- available to actually form the topaz.

Flouride often occurs with, say, rhyolite in my area. Where also Silicates are common, suggesting that might be a good spot to look.
Or if you find a pegmatite with flourite, keep an eye out for topaz there to.

2. See above, in theory possible, the struggle is to find where the conditions allowed the rocks to form.
Emerald for example often is found in pegmatites along sedimentary rocks, because the sedimentary rocks often host the trace elements which give emerald it's green color.

3. Obviously, no. It's just really hard work and extensive knowledge on the subject to track them down. And many videos don't show the hole process.
So, if you'd like to learn about finding gems, learn how, where & why they form.
[/SUB]

 

[hvacker]

Hello Allard. As a Netherlander myself ( although some generations since) I was going to
ask if Germany was a possibility. Is travel as easy as it once was?
One great learning experience for myself was joining a gem club. Information is most easily
received from another especially if experts are in the group. My group had access to many places
not open to everyone. Places like mine claims and private properties.
A kit to ID rocks solves a lot of mysteries. This forum on rocks is itself is a learning tool.
A good tip is don't wear wooden shoes.

 

[Allard]

Thank you all for your replies. This is some useful information.

So i figured info is pretty limited and i really have to go back to the books. I kind of like that. Makes it a little more special if you ask me.

Germany is indeed still easy to go to ( there are no borders, same for Austria, Switzerland etc. ). At first i didn't want to travel that far only because i didn't know what to do once i was there. Yet if i know what i'm doing i'm prepared to go the extra (1000) mile(s)

I really want to make this a big hobby with one of my buddies and we decided to, if he can get some vacation time from his job, to go to Topaz Mountain late October.

We think it would be an amazing idea to take a flight to Los Angeles, rent a RV, go to Topaz Mountain ( as far as we can drive ) and then go exploring that area for a few days.

This might be a very big step as beginner but though i think this is one of the easier places to start. There i would know what i'm doing.

Also thanks for all the tips guys. Got a lot of useful info and i think i actually go to that meeting ( geokring ).