Pay Dirt

If you are reading this page you either purchased one of our pay dirt bags, or are interested. Either way, THANK YOU!
We hope this page will educate you a little and answer all of your questions.

We announce when a batch is being prepped a week before they are put on the website. At that point, ordering becomes like a lottery! All announcements can be found on our pay dirt Facebook Group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hbmpaydirt

If you are looking for some of our Pay Dirt, it can be found here when in stock:

https://hummingbirdmine.com/products/real-pay-dirt

What you will find in your bag of pay dirt…

Your bag of pay dirt comes from several project areas and “hot spots” within our claim. It is produced by blending material from several of them (depending on the locations we are working on when it was collected). The most fine dirt is classified out via screens, so the actual fine dirt that is in your bag fell off rocks that were being processed. It may also contain organic material; such as pine needles, leaves, roots, straw (for erosion control), and maybe even a dead bug! Hee hee

We don’t have time to sort through this material , as we are after larger specimens for commercial sale at shows, local rock shops, and our online store. But we know there is REALLY good stuff in it!. So here you go…

I think the easiest way to explain what is in the pay dirt bags is to explain all of the minerals we have found (to date) at our mine. Bear in mind, not all of these were found at the beginning of our mining operations, but over the last 8 years!

Amethyst found in a random Pay Dirt bag.

First and foremost, you will find Quartz – It will be in the form of Amethyst (purple), Clear, Milky, Smoky & maybe even some Citrine. The Amethyst itself can be in MANY shades from light lavender to very deep purple. We call it “50 shades of purple”, but we are also dirty miners! Most of the Quartz will have Hematite inclusions (Hematite that is trapped within the crystal)!

Fluorite found in a random Pay Dirt bag.

Next we have Fluorite. It will be the harder of the 2 “green” rocks that you find. The Fluorite from our mine is UV reactive and will glow blue under the proper UV lighting.

Calcite found in a random Pay Dirt bag.

Calcite – this tends to be white or clear and it is “cube” shaped. Don’t be surprised if you see red and green banding in this!

Then we have the “Iron” group, which is Hematite, Pyrite, and Limonite. The Hematite comes from the red sandstone cliff above the mine, and is mostly found WITHIN the Amethyst crystals. Most of the Pyrite nodules, “balls”, clusters, and cubes have degraded to Limonite due to environmental conditions over the last 120+ years. But Pyrite has been found on the claim.

Malachite and Copper Minerals found in a random Pay Dirt bag.

Next is the “Copper” group, as this was originally a Copper mine in the 1890s. This group contains Tenorite and bladed Chalcopyrite; which degrades to Azurite (letting off heat when it does, which then degrades to Malachite (releasing one acid atom). Shattuckite has also been found on the claim.

Mica-Schist / Precambrian Granite  / Fault Breccia

Before I get into the rare minerals that have been found, you will also find common minerals like Granite (which is 1.7 billion year old intrusive body), Black Canyon Mica-Schist (our “basement” bedrock), and breccia (which formed in a SECOND when the fault started moving, and then froze in a SECOND when the fault stopped moving).

Lastly, we have the few rare finds. There have only been a few of these found over the last 6 years, but they are: Beryl (Blue and Green), Topaz (Brown and Blue), and Aquamarine.

The end of this next video will explain why we are offering this amazing and unique material to the public!

If you are looking for some of our Pay Dirt, it can be found here:

What is the best way to process my Pay Dirt?
Water – and lots of it. Wash everything very well! There are a lot of things hidden by dirt and coatings. Break up every dirt clod! We have very little water available at the mine, so water will reveal a lot!

You are also more than welcome to join our pay dirt group on Facebook to show off your finds, or ask questions:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hbmpaydirt