Ever since we dug for fossils in Arizona I’ve been taken the with idea of digging for fossils and stones. And, having read my mind, social media feeds me so many dig sites!

If you google rockhounding, you’ll find lots of places to go and look for anything from agates to opals. But before I start off-roading and getting lost in the wilderness searching for Internet recommended rockhounding sites, I wanted to try out some more organized dig sites. One of the closest organized mines to Los Angeles is Oceanview Mine, an active tourmaline mine in Northern San Diego County.

How does digging for gems at Oceanview Mine work?

Although the Oceanview Mine complex includes Pala Chief, a mine in which you can go into the actual mine (as part of a group) with a pickaxe and dig for your own gems, I started with the Dig for Gems part of the Oceanview operation. (Pala Chief isn’t open in the hottest months of the year, so Dig for Gem was my one option. Of course, I enjoyed my digging experience in temperatures over 100!).

At Oceanview, for $75, you get to dig through the tailings for 4 hours. (For the uninitiated, tailings are the rocks and dirt leftover after miners have pulled out the obvious gems.) Diggers who wish to can also take a quick tour in the Oceanview jeep to see the actual mines where miners are working (setting off explosions and digging) and where the substances we’ll dig through comes from.

Oceanview provides all the tools and materials. Diggers can bring home a 5 gallon bucket of whatever they find (carefully selected pieces or everything they find).

What is the mine famous for?

Oceanview Mine is an active tourmaline mine (see examples of what they find there here). They seem to pull out mostly black tourmaline, but also pink tourmaline, watermelon (green tourmaline), aquamarine, kunzites, and morganites.

The land is rich in quartz, so you’ll see huge beautiful chunks of quartz on display (and several of my neighboring diggers found some gorgeous quartz points on the dig). You’ll also immediately notice that everything sparkles. You’ll find mica everywhere! And, because of the layer of the mine currently being dug out, our tailings contained a lot of lepidolite, a purple and pink type of mica, which is really pretty and sparkly.

You’ll also find tons of pegamite, which is quartz with mica and tourmaline mixed in. (And my adventures in rock tumbling post Dig for Gems experience, show that pegamite looks very pretty tumbled! I should have brought home more!)

How does the dig work exactly?

The Oceanview Mine Dig for Gems operation definitely caters to beginners. They provide all the materials you need (except for the bucket you take home). They even have a video that they send you before you start so you know what to do.

Oceanview Mine has set up a couple dozen tables around a huge pile of tailings (our small group didn’t even make a dent in it during our dig). They custom built each table with a shallow tub in the middle and frames on each side two hold two screens. One screen has 1/2 inch mesh and the other has 1/4 inch mesh.

Getting your tailings

Diggers go to the pile, use a small shovel to scrape dirt and rocks from the pile. They emphasize that they do not want folks to “pick the pile.” They want you to scrape in a bucket of tailings and get away from the pile. Honestly, I’m not sure how one would pick the pile — with everything so dusty and brown, but I suppose a more experienced miner could.

Screening your tailings

You then take your bucket to the table, pour it out on the half inch screen (which is stacked on the quarter inch screen). The screens rest on a bottomless part of the table so dirt and sand go through the table. Large pieces get caught on the top screen, smaller pieces get caught on the smaller screen, and then everything else falls to the ground.

You pick out the big rocks and either keep or discard (you can dip in water before you decide). You then use either your hands (they recommend basic gardening gloves or a small shovel) to move the material around on the top screen until all the dirt and sand has fallen through.

Then you dip the screen in the water tub and wash the stones with your hands. Then lift the screen out and set it over the tub, so the water dips back into the tub as you search for stones.

You look for colors (black, purple, pink, green, aqua). and crystal shapes (I saw people pull out quartz points several inches long and lepidolites the size of a fist). You drop the discards under the table.

Then you rub the material on the 1/4 inch screen until the dirt has fallen through. Then that screen goes into the tub and you sort through the smaller rocks while they are clean and shiny.

What did I find at Oceanview Mine?

My time at Oceanview Mine did not yield any huge eureka moments. I found a small top of a quartz points which I love and a good sized lepidolite (as well as lots of small lepidolite). My finds also included a lot of pegmatite rocks which I’m excited to play with. I found some small black tourmalines. And, although this would not be exciting to most, I found some really lovely quartz and some books of mica that I find fascinating even if it’s not worth anything.

My best find is a small piece of aquamarine. It’s a truly gemmy little chunk that I’m not sure what I should do with. I kind of what to put it in a box and display it (even though it’s pretty small and not that glamorous).

I’m still sorting through the finds I brought home to see if there’s something else interesting. Who knows what else I might find now that I can look leisurely. And, the fun continues.

I’m going to tumble some of the quartz and pegmatite and tourmaline to see how that comes out.

Is four hours long enough at Oceanview Mine?

The people next to me had dug before and were very focused on moving quickly and efficiently (and found quite a number of gem quality pieces). I took a while to figure out what I was doing… and moved very slowly in the beginning. By the end of 4 hours, I felt like I knew what I was doing — but by then it was time to pack up. (To be fair, by that time, only my neighbors and I remained — all of the families had cleared out!).

I had a lot of fun. I could have dug for a few more hours. But, to be fair, I was also exhausted. My back hurt and I realize it was probably good to wrap up after four hours.

What about the claims that there is foreign material in the tailings?

If you dig around on the Internet, you’ll find people accusing Oceanview of seeding the tailings with crystals not from the Oceanview mine. And, if you read Oceanview’s website carefully, they do note that they sometimes “include gems from around the world” to make sure that everyone has a good experience.

Of course, I have no idea about the inner workings of Oceanview. But my sense is that there are times when the mine is yielding interesting stuff and times when it’s not. During low times, they have been known to supplement.

My personal experience with non-local findings at the mine

When I was packing up, I dumped some of my last fine screens into a large plastic back to sort through at home. Laura (one of the lovely mine workers) helped me get the rocks in. I said that I was going to bring it home to my kid. She asked if I’d like some more crystals in there so there was something for the kid to find (so nice!). I said that would be great and she asked me, “Does it have to be from here?” And I said that it didn’t. She went back to the office and came back with a tiny black tourmaline spear (which I presume was from Oceanview), an amethyst (not), and a watermelon chip (green tourmaline from Oceanview).

During our orientation, Laura had also let “birthday kids” choose a crystal from a little box. I suspect that those gems included both local and Amazon-ordered specimens. The little kids just wanted something pretty.

My conclusion? I felt like Oceanview is cognizant of the fact that people might be particular about where things came from. But, they have some “ordered from Amazon” gems on hand if they need them, especially for kids. My two cents: it felt on the up and up for me.

Strategies to think about if you go to Oceanview Mine

There are number of things I didn’t think about but will do differently if I go again (although next time I want to go to Pala Chief and actually dig in a real mine!). Note: we heard and felt explosions while we were digging. Oceanview is a real working mine — we just did not work inside of it.)

Bringing material home

You can bring home (from Oceanview) a 5 gallon bucket per person. I was thinking that I’d only want to bring really special things, so I brought a small bucket and some bags. But it is super fun to sort at home. And there are some big chunks (especially pegmatite) that are not items that you’d sell but will look great in my garden.

Next time, I’ll bring the 5 gallon bucket and bring home more.

Doing more screening at home

The people next to me put all of their fine stuff into a bucket after they had rinsed it, to sort at home. They had two adults and a kid, so 3 buckets. It seemed like a lot of material to bring home but if you want to keep sifting, it’s a good strategy. Going through these materials would also be great for a kid or student project and this is a cost-effective way to get some material.

Knowing what I’m looking for

Ok, of course, I couldn’t possibly know exactly what I was looking for before I went. Rockhounding seems to involve a lot of hands-on experience and developing instinct. But, next time, I would think more about what I cared about: did I want to go through lots of loads of tailings to look for big points or large pieces of lepidolite? Did I want to take the time to go through the fine mesh to look for smaller stones?

I also gathered a ton of pieces that I “just liked.” I think this was one of my best ideas. But, now that I’m thinking I should tumble them, I don’t think I leaned towards rocks of the shape that lend themselves best to tumbling (although, who knows, I’m still learning that part!)

Anyway, next time, I’ll go with a better sense of what I’m looking for!

Is Oceanview Mine’s Dig for Gems worth it?

The 4 hours I spent at Oceanview Mines Dig for Gems taught me a lot. Most importantly, they gave me the opportunity to start to learn to identify gem stones. The folks who work there could spot things, covered in dust, on the ground. It’s an instinct that gets honed over time. It was super helpful to do a dig with experts around who could tell you if you missed something or if you were spending too much time on rocks that were surely pretty but not very interesting. (As Laura noted, “It’s all pretty!”)

Did I find $70 worth of gems? Probably not. But I really enjoyed the experience and now I have lots of fun rocks to play with (and tumble and who knows what else).

Not only would I go again, but I think I’d like to go at least one more time before I try another less supervised dig experience. I don’t know if I will become a true rockhound but this experience (though I finished hot and exhausted) really only whetted my appetite.