Anybody wanna buy a rock shop?

The internet has pretty much killed rock shops. Selling online, there's much less overhead and expenses, so you can sell cheaper.

As far as buying a mine, that's a crap shoot, at best. Even if the mine has a proven history of making money, that doesn't mean it's possible for that to continue. Once all the best material has been mined, and the easiest material to remove has been mined, further mining will most likely be less proftable, maybe not even financially viable.

When I first found The Blue Mule, great lapidary material was staring me in the face. Now I have to work hard for it. Who knows what the future holds for it? On one hand, I might find a section of vein that yields much better material than I've yet seen, but on the other hand, it's more likely that I'll have to work harder to get good material, and that the end of it could come at any time. Unless there's proven evidence to the contrary, any other mine which has already been worked faces the same situation.

If there's interest in having special RTH locations, it's really not all that difficult to do. With a little geology knowledge (the more, the better), some history homework, some Googling, and some clever usage of Google Earth, it's not that hard to find new possibilities for finding gemstone. With the organized cooperation of a group of people with diverse knowledge and talent, this process could be remarkably quick and accurate. As far as what could be found, who knows ... the sky's the limit.

For most gemstone locations, a claim is a waste of time, money, and effort. In fact, it can be your worst mistake. Once a claim is filed, it's a matter of public record. Since there's rarely anyone physically at these claims, people know there's little chance of being caught, so they jump them. So, IMO, unless extremely rare, unique, and/or valuable gemstone is located, and people are going to be there a lot, it's best just to keep location info off of the internet, keep the location hush-hush, and work it. As long as it's on BLM land which has no special restrictions, this is perfectly legal.

For Everyone's Information ... for all practical purposes, my hounding locations can be considered RTH locations. If you want to come here, I'll take you to them and we'll have a blast. You can take any or all of the material that you collect. If you want to go back to any of the locations at a later date without me, that's fine, too. All I ask is that you respect Mom Nature, don't over-work the area for commercial gain, don't tell the location on the internet or to people who will go there without you, and only take folks there who you trust will follow these logical "guidelines". If others here are willing to share their locations in the same way, then we theoretically already have hundreds of "RTH claims" all over the world LOL.

John, you've been in California too long. ;D Where do you think at least 90% of rock sold CAME from LOL? But I see your point ... maybe it aint ENTIRELY "legal" ... but then, who says that the politicians who made the laws are acting in the public's best interest? The government has spent an obscene amount of money protecting some unique pupfish (about the size of goldfish) in a hole in the ground about 20 miles from here, yet there are people living in the desert in tents near here, most of them wondering where their next meal will come from.

The way I see it, foreigners stole the land from the native Americans, and now the government is stealing the land from the existing Americans. I'm taking it back, a rock at a time. The politicians have taken almost everything away from us, including our homes, money, guns, and freedom, and I'll be damned if they're going to take my rocks. You can have my sledge and pry-bar when you pry them from my dead, sunburnt hands.