Two Couples, Amateur Miners, Find Emerald Bonanza In Hiddenite, North Carolina

Two couples in Hiddenite, N.C., hit a jeweled jackpot last week when they found thousands of dollars worth of emeralds during an amateur mining expedition, ABC News reports.

Libby and Kevin Barrieault were on a group trip with the Mountain Area Gem and Mineral Association in an aging emerald mine last Friday when they stumbled upon a 50.5-carat gem.

"It was just one of those 'wow' moments," Libby told ABC News.

“I didn’t think I would ever find anything, but I guess God shined down on me and let me find that emerald for her,” Kevin told WSOCTV.

The next day, another couple on the same expedition, Terry Lofgren and John Kehoe, found a pocket of emerald crystals that included a 30-carat emerald and 240 carats worth of loose emeralds -- all estimated to be worth between $30,000 and $40,000.

"We hit the jackpot," Lofgren said. "It's so surreal."

While Lofgren and Kehoe have yet to decide what to do with their glittery find, the Barrieaults have chosen to sell their emerald on eBay -- at a starting price of $8,000.

According to United Press International, the mine is owned by Jamie Hill, who is known in the area as the "emerald man." Hill had opened up his North American Emerald Mine to amateur treasure hunters for $25 a head in the hopes of making some money.

Despite the unexpected discoveries by his customers, Hill said that he has no regrets.

"We did lose quite a bit of money, but that's okay because it was the experience of a lifetime for these people and it alerted me to another location I should explore," Hill told ABC News.

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Comments

[Clarity22]

10:00 PM on 04/05/2012

Cha-Ching!

[Jonnyboy007]

07:59 AM on 04/05/2012

same can happen if you follow the yellow brick road!

[stvhndyman]

04:17 AM on 04/05/2012

Finally a "good news" story.

[robcartervn]

02:48 AM on 04/05/2012

To comments konkor1 ~ You are just so right and lucky also. Great stories the main one and yours, Best I've found was a crysoiphrase and several lovely silica crystals, some clear and a big conglomerate milky, behind my Nha Trang home Vietnam. I love crystals believing they have metaphysical health power for us light Catholics.

[konkor1]

12:58 AM on 04/05/2012

In 2007, I was walking the beach looking for shark teeth in Florida, I found a 69.32 carat uncut emerald! It probably came off one of treasure ships that sunk off the East Coast here back in the 1700s. I have no way to prove provenance but I was able to confirm that it actually was a Columbian emerald from the Muzo Mines (based on chromium levels). The emerald is on display at the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum here in Sebastian Florida. I found it on March 15...just in time for my St. Patrick's Day Birthday!!!! You never know what you can find anywhere!!

[pisunnyb]

10:06 PM on 04/04/2012

My comment was not thought out. WHO in their right mind would 'plant' a 30 to 40 thousand dollar gem??? It pays to think things out before posting.

[paultec1]

12:42 PM on 04/06/2012

Thats ok,you don't have to explain.....whats your social security number and bank account,have any credit cards ?

[pisunnyb]

02:17 AM on 04/08/2012

Good one!! I TRUELY love a sense of humor. I'll admit to being dumb sometimes, just NOT stupid. Now as for those numbers SS # 176076999666; bank Ac # 2266699zoose; credit cards: yes, three, all w/666 in them.

[joellen835]

10:03 PM on 04/04/2012

Probably the only "wealth" anyone from my neck of the woods could rent a right to find would be misplaced drug stashes.

[pisunnyb]

10:03 PM on 04/04/2012

Can't help but wonder if these gems were "planted". It's been known to happen.

[David Jeffers]

11:02 PM on 04/04/2012

Not a 50.5 carat.

[rt1027]

08:34 AM on 04/05/2012

noooooo.........no one salts mines anymore as that would be illegal

laughing

[joellen835]

09:57 PM on 04/04/2012

Wow....that would be so much fun. With my luck, though, I'd probably just find a hidden shaft and fall in.

[Sandra Heiston]

01:34 AM on 04/05/2012

lol, hon! Same here!

[paultec1]

12:44 PM on 04/06/2012

Oh film that.That would be funny too.

[joellen835]

12:53 PM on 04/06/2012

......thus, the biggest reason why my favorite TV show is "America's Funniest Home Videos".

[Joebudgie]

08:46 PM on 04/04/2012

Owners of these mines charge a fee and sell buckets full of dirt for people to look through for treasure. They get rich from the fees and the gift and gem shops they run that will clean and mount your found treasure and they don't even have to get their hands dirty. Not a bad deal even if someone discovers a super gem once in awhile. It just boosts business via the free publicity.

[leftbehinddemo]

09:16 PM on 04/04/2012

I actually work for a trucking company in Hiddenite and I can tell you no one is getting rich in Hiddenite. We have suffered the effects of Nafta and Obamas fuel/food inflation as bas as anyone in the nation.Can you say 20% real unemployment and 30% real underemployment. The mine owner just recently opened it to the public. Do you work for msnbc? Check your facts before commenting

[Jan Badinski]

12:04 AM on 04/05/2012

Perhaps you should check your facts about a missing 8 years of economical pillage between Nafta and Obama. W. Bush did plenty of economical damage along with the rest of them. Where we live there is a 20% Unemployment, which has gone down since the current president has been in office.

[bobiw25]

02:30 AM on 04/05/2012

Keep voting Repubnocan,buyin your Chinese crap at Walmart,driving foreign cars,passing anti-union laws,giving tax breaks to the wealthy and all the while blaming everything on Pres.Obama.How are those"trickle down"jobs they have been talking about for 11 years now working out for you?

[ttigerlilyx2]

06:27 PM on 04/06/2012

Thats what they do at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.
They dont get rich, but it pays for itself, which is pretty good.
Sooo hot, clouds of mosquitoes, but boy, did the kids ever have a great time!

[mscellanus]

07:27 PM on 04/04/2012

Must be a great feeling discovering these gems. I am happy for them. An adventurous trip turned into a jackpot.

[Al Schrader]

06:50 PM on 04/04/2012

CERN just sent neutrinos through miles of solid rock. Is just a matter of time until someone figures out a way to use this technology to map everything in the Earth including giant veins of gold and silver on top of finding the rest of the oil.....Al-

[joran111]

09:38 PM on 04/04/2012

Neutrinos don't even see the earth they're passing through...

[Cunningham]

12:24 AM on 04/05/2012

Actually, it was done using Chicago's Fermilab particle accelerator, not CERN.

[paultec1]

12:47 PM on 04/06/2012

When you tell a big one,the details don't matter....look it up.

[squiddypie8]

06:50 PM on 04/04/2012

S--- like this never happens to me

[no1macgyver]

10:34 PM on 04/04/2012

Well you have to travel to the sites pay the fee and do the work. There are gem fields and mines open to the puplic all over the SE. Better odds than the lottery but sweat is involved.

[paultec1]

12:50 PM on 04/06/2012

Yes ! thats why I bring children! They are good for some things.

[buminthesun421]

06:46 PM on 04/04/2012

Ah yes... the Emerald City. Just follow the yellow brick road...

[wingthwong]

06:05 PM on 04/04/2012

He says he lost money. Yeah right. He just got free national advertising. Also, the diamond mine in Arkansas is a sham set up by Debeers. They owned the land but did not want to glut the marke,t so they sold it to the U.S. government for tourists to scavenge over the surface. If the diamond conglomerates were to show their true inventories, diamond prices would plummet, and diamonds would be worthless other than their use in cutting and grinding tools.

[Cunningham]

12:37 AM on 04/05/2012

If diamond prices plummeted, diamonds would be widely used as heatsinks... a purpose for which they're "priceless" so to speak.