Red beryl has always been at the top of the bucket list for me for minerals.

Red beryl has always been at the top of the bucket list for me for minerals. I’ve gone to topaz mountain before and found some topaz but no red beryl. After I went to the ocean view mine in Pala California I looked at the partner mines and I saw the searle red beryl mine. It was a fee dig where you can find red beryl. I was so excited I begged my mom for months to take me. We waited till the last minute and I called the number on the mine’s website and I told Jeremy, the mine owner why I waited to the last minute and if I could go to his mine. He said since he couldn’t get into buisness partner who was at the mine that he would drop everything he was doing and take us to the mine. So me, my mom, my little brother and my grandma followed him in our car to the mine.We stopped before the mine because of the very difficult drive up to the mine. A word of advice. If you don’t have a 4wd vehicle with high clearance than you should either meet up with jeremy before you get off-road or rent another car for the day or something. When I was talking to Jeremy on the car he was very knowledgeable about geology or more specifically mineralogy and has been mining for around 24 years. He explained how the topaz and beryl and other minerals in the Thomas Range area were formed because of volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. The site where the Searle red beryls mine is located is the site of the 3rd eruption I believe. When we got there i looked around and it was amazing. There were clear topaz crystals all over the ground and a lot of bright white rhyolite which is a sign for red beryl. Before we went he gave me a sample of some bixbyite and pink topaz from his solar wind which was a few miles away. Then it was a short hike up to the mine. Then he started to get a bucket of gem bearing rhyolite from the bottom of the minesite which is covered by tarps for shade while mining for red beryl, topaz, bixbyite, and other minerals. Then we started sieving the ore. He found the first red beryl which was a small red beryl on a garnet. I was so excited I couldn’t do anything else but keep sieving. Jeremy gave me all of the topaz and red beryl and garnets he found. Thanks a lot Jeremy. Then as I poured some ore in my sieve I saw a giant red beryl roll out I picked it up and it was red blood colored and was a perfect crystal, terminated, or fully formed. It also had small bixbyites on it. I was jumping up and down showing my mom, little brother and jeremy it. Jeremy was really happy for me and told me how good of a beryl it was. Also how red a red beryl is depends on how much iron and magnesium is in it. The reason red beryl is so elusive is because it forms it very certain conditions. As jeremy was filling up the next bucket i started chiseling away at the wall of some of the rhyolite mad found a vug, or a pocket. A pocket is where there’s a hollow place where minerals have room to grow. Bring a rock hammer, rock chisels, a sieve if you want (there are some on site) and a screw driver or something skinny that can fit into a small pocket to take minerals out. So I got enough for one sieve and found a beryl all by myself. I also found many really nice sherry topaz’s some nice bixbyites on beryl, topaz and garnets. By the end I found 34 red beryls, floaters or just red beryl crystals by themselves, red beryl on matrix, red beryl on topaz crystals, and topaz on garnets. And many of them were jewelery grade and most of them had great crystal Stucture. I found over 40 garnets, over a pound and a half of topaz, and great matrix pieces of everything. I found all of what I found in 5 hours give or take. And it was all because of Jeremy. Thank you jeremy so much. I can’t wait to go back next year for a full day and to the solar wind mine to mine pink topaz and bixbyite. My dream of finding great red beryl I had been fulfilled. Going to the Searle red beryl mine is the best chance anybody will have of finding red beryl. And it is probably or is the best red beryl mine in the Thomas Range area. Can’t wait to go back. ?⛏?