Black Hills Rockhound Area
Public BLM area for digging fire agate, between Safford and Clifton
- What you do
- Dig and surface-collect, for personal use
- What people find
- Fire agate, chalcedony
- Season
- Open all year; summer can top 100 degrees, so fall to spring is best
- Where
- North side of US 191, about 18 miles north of Safford, just east of milepost 141
- Fee or permit
- None
- Camping
- Dispersed camping allowed for up to two weeks
- Managed by
- BLM Safford Field Office
Public area set aside for recreational collecting
Native material: you search the natural ground on site.
Season: Year-round. Summers are very hot and dry.
Make a weekend of it
48 gem and mineral spots on open public land with no claim on record, within 50 miles.
There are more on the map, some of them with a possible mining claim.
About Black Hills Rockhound Area
The Black Hills Rockhound Area is a stretch of public land set aside by the Bureau of Land Management for rock collectors, in the volcanic hills between Safford and Clifton in south-eastern Arizona. Its main attraction is fire agate.
Fire agate is a young gemstone, only identified and formally recognized in the 1930s. It is a form of chalcedony with a play of color like precious opal: flashes of red, green and blue under a brown surface. The deserts of Arizona, southern California and central Mexico are the only places in the world where it is known to occur, and it is always found with volcanic rock, although how it forms is still not fully understood.
The area is open to anyone for digging, with no fee and no permit, and dispersed camping is allowed throughout for up to two weeks, so you can make a weekend of it. There are no facilities: bring water, shade, tools and everything you need, and take your trash home. Collecting is for personal use; the BLM in Arizona limits the amount of rock each person can take, and selling what you find is not allowed.
The site is open all year, but summers are hot and dry, with temperatures above 100 degrees. The cooler months are the time to go.
To get there, take US 191 north from Safford for about 18 miles; the area is on the north side of the highway, just east of milepost 141.
Clubs and places nearby
- Round Mountain Rockhound AreaFree public dig · 33 mi
- Gila County Gem & Mineral SocietyClub · 93 mi
- Gold Prospectors Association of Tucson (GPAA)Club · 97 mi
- Old Pueblo Lapidary ClubClub · 98 mi
- Tucson Gem and Mineral SocietyClub · 98 mi
- Desert Gold DiggersClub · 102 mi
Where to buy gear nearby
- The Wizard's WorkshopShop · 89 mi
- The Rock Yard (Tucson)Shop · 102 mi
- Raining RocksShop · 105 mi
- Tucson Mineral & Gem WorldShop · 110 mi
Access
On the north side of US-191 between Safford and Clifton, about 18 miles north of Safford. Turn off US-191 just east of milepost 141.
Technique
Hand tools only. Look for brown, grape-like chalcedony nodules on the surface and in the loose ground of the slopes: the fire shows only when a nodule is broken or cut. Personal collection only, in reasonable amounts.