Red Cloud Mine

03/26/2026

Still open,
but it's hotting
up!

02/11/2026

Maintenance Completed! Open for collecting. Visitors welcome and Dry Camping is FREE! Check website for details...

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12/02/2025

here come the holidays....

10/30/2025

We are OPEN OPEN OPEN for the 2025/2026 Season.

Visit www.RedCloudMine.com for more details!

04/17/2025

Red Cloud Mine is closed
for the season.
Check back around November, 2025, before making plans to visit.

02/13/2025

GREAT NEWS!!! The Red Cloud Mine is OPEN for collecting on the Red Cloud Mine Dump/Tailings ($35/day per person) and at the South Geronimo Mine ($60/day per person). No collecting underground at any Red Cloud Mine property is permitted. Reservations are not required. However, the mine can occasionally be closed for maintenance, so confirming through email is recommended at [email protected]. We also offer specimens for sale onsite as well as Fluorescent mineral collecting for $140/5-gallon bucket.

02/24/2024

such a wonderful display that Jennifer Lyn put together at a crystal festival to educate kids and adults alike. Tickled to be part of such an inspirational project!



rock!

02/15/2024

I thought we would share this video for a couple of reasons:

1) cool innovative design that this gentleman has come up with
2) I think (he would have to confirm) that one of the specimens he uses in the demo likely comes from Red Cloud Mine
3) It is a great demonstration of how differently fluorescent minerals can react, even when all in the same specimen, when exposed to different frequencies of light (LW = LongWave, MW = MidWave, SW = ShortWave
4) if he gets this design locked in, it would certainly be a lot easier than carrying 3 different flashlights (which I do now) and has a great form factor, particularly if it is sold at a reasonable price.

Let us know what you think.

🔦 Discover the Unseen with FWOD - The First Fullwave Flashlight (Prototype)! 🔦Embark on a revolutionary journey into the mesmerizing realm of fluorescent m...

01/27/2024

the "great orange whale" ... if only

I have to admit, (tells your where our collective brains are), when I first glanced at this, I thought it was someone next to a GIANT piece of wulfenite! 😂

The video is one of the uploaded videos on the google maps page (by Teddy Ack?)

01/25/2024

As they say "a bad day wulfeniting beats a good day at work anytime', however, this was clearly a really good day wulfeniting!

Uttering the immortal word of irony that every rockhounder wants to say: "how am I ever going to get all these great pieces home ?!?!"

Thanks for coming out SarahLee’s Healing Mountain Crystals

01/25/2024

Fluorescent vs. Phosphorescent at Red Cloud Mine

This video starts with a material, shown under "visible light" that is typical everywhere you look around the Red Cloud Mine. The material is then exposed to LongWave (LW) UltraViolet (UV) light which makes the fluorite in the specimen FLUORESCE in electric blue.

Fluorescing is a phenomenon where certain materials, when exposed to UV light energy, get excited and actually generate their own light of various colors.

In the video, I then expose the material to UV light of a different frequency, ShortWave (SW) UV light. You will see that different materials respond differently to different frequencies of UV light. The fluorite does not respond at all, but now you can see willemite (which did not respond at all to the LW UV), emit a vibrant light blue light.

I then lower the ambient light and expose the willemite to the SW UV light for a longer period of time. I then turn off the UV light, yet the material continues to glow, slowly diminishing over time. This is called PHOSPHORESCENCE, a phenomenon where certain materials, generate their own colored light when exposed to UV light, but continue to do so even when the light is tuned off!

You can not tell in the video, but in complete darkness, this piece continues to phosphoresce for about 10 minutes after the UV light is taken away.

# fluorescence # phosphorescence