About RockhoundDates

The question every rockhound starts with — what can I find near me, and where am I allowed to look? — has mostly been answered by decades-old forum threads. This site answers it with two things that hold up: the federal mineral record, and a directory of places whose own official sources say collecting is welcome.

The site keeps those two registers strictly apart. History tells you what the ground holds. The directory tells you where you may dig. Confusing the two is how hobbyists end up in old workings on someone's claim — so this site is built to make that confusion impossible.

Directory listings are editorial and free. No operator pays for placement, ever. Details on sources and process are on the methodology page.

If a listing is out of date — an operation closed, fees changed, a rule tightened — the fastest fix is to check the entry's official source link; we re-verify entries on a rolling basis against those same sources.