Mining for treasure

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 23rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Paul Butler.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: hunting for crystals.

WORLD Correspondent Caleb Bailey recently visited a mine in North Carolina. He learned what it takes to find precious stones and crystals. In the process, he uncovered something even more valuable. Here’s Caleb.

CALEB BAILEY, REPORTER: Emerald Hollow Mine in Hiddenite, North Carolina sits on top of a gem and crystal jackpot.

The entrance is unassuming with a dirt lot and multiple wooden shacks…most of them shuttered and vacant. But starting at 9am, prospectors begin showing up. Crystals of all shapes, sizes, and colors sit right under their feet waiting to be discovered.

AUDIO: That’s pretty-You want that? Thank you.

It rained last night so there’s lots of mud. Some miners arrive with a shovel. Others have a full set of picks and chisels.

People as old as 50 and as young as 10 make up the group. Some of them first-time miners others weekend regulars. But 34-year-old Daniel Coleman has been doing this for a while and every prospector present that Saturday was following his lead.

AUDIO: [You found nothing yet? I’m gonna go here and give her a hand.]

COLEMAN: Erin and Jeff, they’re rock hounds like all the rest of them…

This is a tour through Coleman’s favorite dig spots at the mine. The owners at Emerald Hollow have given him preference on dig sites, and this one sits right above Wallace Creek, a steep hill dotted with holes and piles of dirt next to them.

COLEMAN: This is Daniel's digsite watch your step as we go along. We've had some rain this week. We're gonna walk up the hill

If his enthusiasm isn’t enough to catch your attention, his vast knowledge of emeralds certainly will. He has the energy of a young man but the expertise of an old geologist.

COLEMAN: Within a six mile radius. There are four different colors of the Emeralds. There's clear for the Goshenite. There's yellow for the heliodor blue for the aquamarine and green for the emerald and green is what everybody is searching for.

North Carolina is a prospectors playground and Coleman has no plans to look elsewhere for the gems.

COLEMAN: Well, there are three different deposits of emeralds in North Carolina, and Alexandria County. They had the three biggest emeralds in the US that were found.

His tried and true method is simple enough. Look for shiny black flakes. That’s the mica. And anywhere there is mica or quartz you have a good chance of finding crystals.

One of his many mottos is “focus on the first two feet.” As he digs, if there aren’t any crystals in the first two feet, that’s indicative of what’s below.

And even if the first two feet do have crystals, it takes a sharp eye—these crystals are often underwhelming.

COLEMAN: And the quartz, looks ugly at first, you know, but if it's white or clear, I always keep digging, this little black streak that's rolling along. It's called manganese. It's very crucial for Crystal production.

Coleman’s lively demeanor is perfect for this kind of thing. Digging is hard work, but the reward is worth the dirt and sweat.

COLEMAN: I love it. I love getting dirt on on people. It's amazing.

Every miner's boots are cased in the red clay that seems to be everywhere.

COLEMAN: All right, look at look at this hardcore digger. Look at that. Look at that beard. It's red from all the red clay.

This hasn’t always been a passion for Coleman. His fascination with underground gems came at an unlikely time.

COLEMAN: I dug my own backyard for seven years in Statesville, North Carolina after my son passed away. And how I started was I was literally asking God to teach me how to love literally and sitting on my hands and knees…and literally 15 minutes later my lawnmower chipped this crystal, that one crystal right there.

His first discovery was the size of a brick with crystal clusters jutting out like porcupine spikes

And it didn’t stop there. That casual lawn mowing led to a seven year expedition…right there in his backyard.

COLEMAN: I always tell people like Forrest Gump went running. I went digging. You know, it was kind of kind of my therapy, you know, and so I dug that backyard for seven years. I had 8 ten foot holes in that backyard I dug by hand. I could fill up two houses with that collection that I dug from that bed or I had no I had no social media, no family and friends nothing

After those seven years, the thrill of collecting crystals for his own satisfaction wore off—and he had to begin to face his life challenges. That's when he started to share his passion with others.

And that’s what brought Coleman here to Emerald Hollow. The owner told the experienced digger his collection was worth sharing with others—particularly as the gems and crystals were only collecting dust.

He began posting videos and photos of his findings and quickly found this to be true.

COLEMAN: And I would show it the way I would want to see it. I liked seeing crystals pulled out of the ground. You know, so people get to see how it was found. Not just me showing off a crystal.

As viewers interacted with the videos, Coleman invited them out to his dig sites to extend his expertise to a wider group of people. He wasn’t just going to give away crystals. Instead, he was going to teach people the beauty of the process and let them find their own.

COLEMAN: You know, and that's the most beautiful part because I want the people to find an emerald. I found an emerald small, you know, but I'm happy. You know, but I want the people to find an emerald. And it's not about fame, or glory. It's just about hey, you know, I'm helping the people. Nobody helped me growing up. You know, nobody helped me for seven years in the backyard. I did it all by myself.

Not everyone finds an emerald on their first time out. Some never find one. But when they do, no one is more excited for them than Daniel Coleman. And he says that attitude is worth more than the entire fortune of gems he has found over the years.

COLEMAN: Always encouraging you never put anybody down in this community you know? And that's the big thing the community

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Caleb Bailey in Hiddenite, North Carolina.

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