Michigan Datolite

Those of you that read this blog know that I love greenstones, although there are many other wonderful gem stones I have discovered in Michigan on my adventures. Some might think that Datolite is much like turquoise but isn’t; it’s a calcium boron hydroxide nesosilicate or CaBSiO4(OH). I have found many great pieces as well in the Keweenaw Peninsula as I hunt for rare piece for my jewelry.

In my belief datolite is so wonderful because it comes in more colors and are much more appealing than turquoise. Datolite is so much rarer than turquoise and actually in the current market only slightly higher in price. Also some of the better colors are never found in today’s market. It won't be long before these gems from the Keweenaw Peninsula are out of reach for the common person.

One of the best mines to look for datolite is the Delaware mine in Upper Michigan near the town of Delaware which is basically a ghost town now. This gem is hard to discover because Datolite will look basically like a very small piece of cauliflower or if you are lucky a large piece of cauliflower. Chances are you will not see the wonderful color of that datolite gem until you cut it open. Sometimes looking very very close to the ground after a rain can also bring some datolite to light.

So if the weather is nice or even better just after a gentle rain, go look for some datolite. I assure you it will be fun. I hope these pictures will help inspire you to look for these wonderful gems.

Hunting Greenstones in Michigan

The hunting of dark violet and very dark green greenstones of Michigan! It was first very cold week in November 2005 when I set out with my younger brother. I was going to show him a bit on how to find greenstones on this gem stone hunting adventure. Just imagine there was a foot of snow in the Seney wildlife refuge when we arrived in Lanse Michigan.

Now, as you might guess, by this time I was thinking I had made a bad choice in driving up north to Michigan’s copper county to look for these gems. The temperatures were in the low 20's this morning as we drove in to the Delaware mines, which were almost completely covered in snow by now. My younger brother and I had driven much too far and too long for us not to even look around for a bit. There were 40 to 50 mile an hour winds howling by us, but that wasn’t going to stop us from having a good time.

Its 10 o’clock am and the temperature outside had only risen to a bone chilling 30 degree F. You wouldn't believe it but our luck had finally changed and by noon the sun came out and the snow was starting to melt. I was giving my brother hints on how to find these gems, and as brothers go he wasn’t having it or paying any attentions to me. Then to my amazement suddenly he ends up finding some of the biggest greenstones I have ever seen, beginners luck. Good thing he was not listening to me.

The cool thing is that every time the melting snow drips away from the basalt matrix, there they are, “jackpot” we’d both are discovering more and more of these beautiful Michigan greenstones. After four hours of people hunting grouse with 12 gauge shotguns in the area being fired and near misses in our direction, the gusty winds of 40 miles an hour mixed in with damp bone chilling temperatures, we managed to find some really really nice gems on this wonderful trip. What a bonanza and another adventure of a life time.