MINING MERMAID

Excavade started with the goal of finding my own stones, and then cutting them to be used in my jewelry. Thankfully, with all the right stars aligned, I'm doing just that. It's an American Dream.

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As a woman, I feel proud to say that I've been welcomed into the mining world of rural Nevada. The couple women that I've seen out in that world; aid their husbands in mining. In general, it's a man's world and to my knowledge, I am the only one that prospects and locates in modern times. My teachers showed me the rules of prospecting and finding open land. Once I had completed a year's worth of research, I staked my claim.  It was a summer day in the hot dirty hills, alone. I hiked a huge area and eventually found a speck of pale green. From there, I checked out the landscape and GPS marked every site that had colored rock that had eroded from the earth. Next, I filed lots of papers, and buried some wooden posts in my Nevada Turquoise Claim! 

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Mermaid Turquoise is a new/virgin discovery. It wasn't a mining byproduct of a corporation's mining activity, nor was it an abandoned claim waiting to be snatched up. Just like the bad-ass ladies of the old west, I follow in those very rare and limited footsteps. It's just me, my hat, a shovel, rock hammer and a bucket to haul turquoise.