WANT TO COLLECT ? BE PREPARED TO TRAVEL by Dick Stata
To be a mineral collector sometimes means long hours sitting in a car, for Ontario is a huge place, so if a person wants to be come a serious collector, he or she, better be prepared to do some traveling.
The closest places to collect near Toronto are still an hours drive, and they are mostly fossils.You have to drive over to Dundas ON to get some crystals. It takes several hours to get out of the Sedimentary Rock and into the rocks of the Grenville Provence where you get into Metamorphic minerals. It takes 3 or more hours to get to the Bancroft, or Haliburton collecting areas. Add another hour or two, you can make Eganville, Ottawa and eastern ON, and will also take you to the Windsor area. It takes close to 6 hours to reach Cobalt’s silver mines. If you want to cross the border there are quarries in the Buffalo area, and a 6 hour drive will take you to Herkimer NY, to collect Quartz Crystals. Pierrepont NY area has Uvite Tourmaline, about the same distance. If you want to collect some Amethyst and Agate, Thunder Bay is a long 2 day drive. Copper country in Michigan is a long days drive. With the high price of fuel these days an extended trip can be expensive. I am not trying to discourage anyone from collecting; the rewards can be great, after all, each trip is a hunt for a treasure that nature has left for you to find.
Collecting in Ontario
When it comes to collecting, Ontario has loads of mineral locations. Access has become a recent problem since old established collecting sites are now located in newly created Provincial Parks.The former Crown Land is now off limits to collecting, (York River Scarn Zone). The Haliburton, Bancroft area is a collectors’ haven, but many sites have been bought up by vacation property owners, who for what ever reason, don’t want holes dug in their bush lots. ROCK CUTS that attract Rockhounds like flies, are soon posted or grassed over; it is actualy illegal to collect at them. Most working quarries have limited access and many restrictions, when you do get in them. The Provincial Government has made changes to Prospecting rules in Southern Ontario, further complicating collecting. Severe changes to mining laws in the north of Ontario, has just about closed down all Amethyst collecting sites in the Thunder Bay area, for Rockhounding. You might say the Provincial Government has not made our rock collecting hobby any easier. My advice go collecting as often as you can. Those old favorite collecting sites might not be accessible in the future.
Collecting in the USA
To a certain extent collecting is easier in the USA. Mining laws down there seem to make it easier to claim mineral sites. Americans like to make a buck, so if a good mineral location is found, it is claimed and quite often becomes a fee collecting site. For the collector, at least for a fee, you can go collecting. The quarries in the States are harder to get in than here: they are scared of litigation since they know Americans are sue happy. Some quarries now require a day long safety course to be allowed entry. In the western USA most of the old Mining Districts are still under claim by International mining companies, so huge areas are off limits to collecting, and penalties for trespassing are severe. BLM lands allow collecting, but Wildlife preserves are springing up all over: No Collecting allowed in them. When traveling in the States, you have to do your homework about collecting sites in the area you wish to travel. I try to contact local clubs for advice and help. Over the years I have had great collecting experiences in the USA and I don’t see why they won’t continue in the future.
