Graves Mountain annual Spring Rock Swap and Dig returns
LINCOLNTON, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Lincoln County is the place to be this Friday through Sunday.
One of two annual rock swaps and digs will take place in the next few days at Graves Mountain.
Your First Alert Chief Meteorologist Riley Hale went up there on Thursday to dig into the story.
Graves Mountain is the tallest peak in the CSRA and the best spot in the world to find rutile.
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“There’s only one other place in the world that creates rutile like this and it’s in China,” said Clarence Norman III, son of the caretaker for Graves Mountain. “And the quality is nowhere near as good as what you find here.”
Jewelry maker Tiffany and Company mined rutile here at Graves Mountain from the 1920s to the 1980s.
“The queen of England has a piece of rutile from here in one of her crowns,” said Norman
Luckily, these days, you don’t have to be royalty to get Lincoln County Rutile.
You have your opportunity to find rutile and over 40 other types of minerals at the Spring Rock Swap and Dig March 7 through March 9 at Graves Mountain.
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“One year there was an eight-year-old kid that found the biggest piece ever recorded, and he turned down $20,000 the day he found it,” said Norman.
The gate opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m.
Make sure to get there early because these digs usually attract over 1,500 people from across the world.
“Surprisingly, it’s not a lot of locals,” said Norman. “There are a lot of people that drive hours and hours to get here. We’ve had people from Canada, China, really all over.”
“It’s like nature’s glitter here because you have all the rainbow hemitite, you have all the sparkles and everything,” said Briana Wagener with New Jersey Rock Hound. “You get nature’s glitter all over you. If you’re not covered in nature’s glitter at the end of the day, then you didn’t have a good time.”
It’s free to attend the dig, but they do accept donations.
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