Arkansas’ own Ron Coleman Mining discovered an 8,000-pound Quartz Crystal Cluster that is now on display at the Smithsonian Institute. Ron Coleman Mining is a 5th-generation-owned and operated mining company located in Jessieville, Arkansas. This 8,000-pound Quartz was uncovered by Josh Coleman and his grandfather in 2016 at the Coleman Mine in Arkansas’s Ouachita Mountains.
The family took this incredible piece across the country to display it at the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, the world’s largest gem show where an estimated $5 billion is spent each year on crystal sales in a 3-week period. The crystal was carefully packed and transported to their store place that was set up at the gem show. This is where donors, Michael and Tricia Berns, saw it for the first time. They have previously made several donations to the Smithsonian and are always on the lookout for new additions. They called the Smithsonian to inform them of the incredible find but the museum told them it was far out of their budget. After months of negotiations, the Berns were able to secure the crystal and donate it to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. The massive Quartz Crystal is now known as the Berns Quartz, named after the philanthropists who donated it.
Quartz crystals look like hexagonal prisms that culminate into a point. Their shape comes from their atomic building blocks, silicon & oxygen, locking into precise and repeating arrangements.
A cluster of clear quartz crystals of this size and quality is extraordinarily rare,” said Jeffrey Post, mineralogist and curator-in-charge of gems and minerals at the museum. “Quartz is one of the basic building blocks of our Earth, and we hope this amazing specimen will inspire a sense of awe in people and excite them to learn more about our world.”
The family-owned-and-operated Ron Coleman Mining Company is a 5th generation brand. You can visit them in Jessieville, Arkansas where you can mine beautiful Quartz for yourself. In addition to digging out your own beautiful crystals, you can experience a side-by-side zipline that soars above the crystal mine, walk through a gallery with museum-quality crystals on display and take a behind-the-scenes crystal mining tour.
