Gloves-I prefer leather because it is hard to cut. Some of the rocks are super sharp. It is very easy to slice your fingers open! Be very careful when you dig the tourmaline, the stuff is like glass.
Wear hiking boots or some some heal supported shoes. Walking on the rocks can be tricky and dangerous.
Bring Water and High Energy Food
Shovel and rock picks. I would also bring Safety Glasses and a hammer and chisel if you a planning on digging black Tourmaline in Quartz!
Bring a couple of buckets and some old newspaper incase you need to wrap your treasure!
1. I would also reccomend that you wear blue jeans, the material will protect you from cuts.

Here's Rodney's Dig INfo Hogg Mine Georgia

Last Saturday me and my dad decided to take the three hour trip to the Hogg Mountain Mine in Lagrange Georgia! We met at the store around 9 and had a short meeting and then drove about a mile down the road to the mine! You have to sign a release and pay before you leave for the dig.

There was around maybe 30 hounds digging that day! There were 5-6 kids digging as well as some old school diggers!   We got to the first site and the red Georgia dirt was slick and wet from the recent rain! As I jumped around looking for some Beryl and I noticed most of the kids were having better luck finding the precious crystal than me! 

One guy picked up a piece of Aquamarine Beryl and showed it to me and color was just unreal! The crystal semi-gemmy and had a mixture of awesome blues and yellow in it.

Beryl is a Crystal that was crushed for its precious metal beryllium. It was used in the World War 2 for military purposes.  Some crystals were over 18 inches and weighed over 100 pounds each!

After a few hours it started to warm up and the sun made it easier to see the pretty Crystals! There were rose Crystals everywhere and many of the people digging were finding some nice pieces of Beryl!  One guy found a super clear Star Rose Quartz and was yelling in joy!

My dad decided to go to the third pit and about an hour passed and I decided to walk over and see how things were going! When I got there he yelled at me to come over and help dig! Him and few other diggers tapped into a vein of Black Tourmaline in Quartz! My dad had already dug a hole about 4 feet by four feet and had uncovered a huge Quart rock filled with Tourmaline Crystals! It was so muddy that I decided to go find water to help wash away the mud!

I gra bbed a few of the black tourmalin quartz rocks and dunked them in the water and with my gloves on began to wash away the Georgia red clay! I pulled it out of the water say some beautiful crystals in the Quartz! We were not the only ones finding some great crystals either.  There was about 8 others digging as fast as they can! They weren’t even washing off the rock they were just throwing them in buckets! You could hear the joy in the air!  I felt bad for the other diggers that had left early! They were missing out on a really good find!

When you dig any kind of crystal be careful and always wear gloves! My dad cut his hands up pretty good and I also cut my finger by running finger across a black tourmaline crystal.  Crystals and rock can be super sharp and easily slice you wide open! Be very careful and wear gloves and closed shoes! 

I have already cleaned some of the black Shiny Tourmaline (variety Schorl) and it very awesome! The Rose Quartz is also very nice!  I will have some of the new rocks in the shop very soon so come back and check our store!  

Hogg Mountain is an awesome dig site and Rodney is really cool guy! It only cost $35 and for us was totally worth the trip! He has digs On Fridays and Saturdays and he list when they happen on his site www.dixieeuhedrals.net check them out!

If you are lucky you may find some black tourmaline in Quartz like we found! Or you might find a perfect aquamarine beryl or some beautiful star rose quartz.

Check out our store before you leave for that next outdoor adventure!

 Need Adventure in Alabama? Everything you ever wanted to know about Alabama!

 Until next time! Happy Digging! Johnny C