[Rockhounds] "list where the knowledge of many is shared freely"

[Tim Fisher]

Point taken! I wasn't thinking in such small terms, Don! :P

At 09:39 AM 12/21/2007, you wrote:
>Tim Fisher wrote:
>
>>... I can't verify that any site that had worthwhile material to 
>>collect was truly and forever denuded of all material by rockhounds.
>
>
>That depends upon the size of the site.  I know of a few 
>"micro-environments" where a particular odd mineral was located. 
>Sometimes these are a few feet across, sometimes a few tens of 
>yards, but they are small and represent some unique localized 
>mineralization. These were subsequently collected out.  It is not 
>hard to imagine that would happen.  One careful collector could work 
>such a site for a while, but once it is made public, if there is 
>something really worth collecting, there is a "run on the bank" (to 
>use a term from the Great Depression) and people will swarm over the 
>site and sledgehammer everything in an attempt to get what they can, 
>while they can.

Tim Fisher
Ore-ROCK-On Rockhounding Web Site
Owner, Fisher Fisheries, Ltd.
Email address at http://OreRockOn.com