Location: | 5 km south of Mount Ida, Arkansas. Off highway 27 south, turn east on Owley Road for 3 km. Signposted. |
Open: |
MAR to NOV daily 8-16:30. DEC to FEB Mon-Fri 8-16:30. Crystal Forest Mine tours at 9:30, 11:30, 13:30. Arrive 20 minutes early! Phantom Mine at 9;30. [2019] |
Fee: |
Tailings: Adults USD 10.50, Children (2-10) USD 6,60, Seniors USD 6.60. Crystal Forest Mine: per Person USD 18 per 2 hours. Phantom Mine: per Person USD 40 for 4 hours. [2019] |
Classification: | Gem Mine Fee Mining |
Light: | n/a. |
Dimension: | Crystal Forest Mine: Ar=16 ha. |
Guided tours: | n/a |
Photography: | allowed |
Accessibility: | All activities handicap accessible |
Bibliography: | |
Address: | Wegner Crystal Mines, 82 Wegner Crystal Ranch Road, Mount Ida, AR, 71957, Tel: +1+800-367-9888. E-mail: |
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info. |
Wegner Crystal Mines is a site where you can dig for crystals, the rocks here are full of Arkansas Quartz Crystals. The company operates a mine and visitors can take two hour tours into the mine for digging. There you can see the quartz veins inside the rocks and are able to remove the best peices yourself. The mine is also mined for the minerals in the shop. All the removed material is transported every one or two weeks to the tailings, an area 400 m behind the shop, where you can search for minerals.
The tailings are accessible with a day ticket and you can keep everything you dig, there is no extra charge. Buckets, small garden shovels, and a tire iron to use as a pry bar are provided. You should wear old clothes because you will get dirty, so bring also clean clothes to change afterwards. We also recommend a hat, sun protection, and sturdy boots or gum boots. Although basic equipment is provided, you might want to bring your own digging bar, hammer, and chisel. And probably boxes or other means of transportation for your findings. We recommend to bring a cooler with enough to drink and probably some food.
The Crystal Forest Mine is a 16 ha open cast mine in the soft sandstone. As the minerals are still on site they are of much higher quality than on the tailings, but they are harder to remove. The findings made here include fist sized rock crystals, the colourless variety of quartz. This place is also more expensive, the tickets are only for two hours of digging, so if you want to extend you have to pay again for any two hours. On the other hand - like on the taillings - you can keep everything you dig, there is no extra charge. There are certain times when the trucks to the mine start, please be there 20 minutes early, because there is a mandatory safety meeting and you wil need some time to sign up and load your gear. The mine is some diatance away, so you have to carry your finding with you back to the ticket office and your car. The tour is a round tip, and with the two hours digging the whole trip might take up to three hours. Good equiment is as important as on the tailings, a good hammer and chisel probably even more so.
The Phantom Mine is world famous for rock crystaals so-called phantoms. This actually looks like a crystal inside a crystal. The inner part of the crystal is coloured by greay Manganese Inclusions