Caledonia Mine
	Red Metal Minerals 202 Ontonagon Street Ontonagon, MI 49953 Phone: 906-884-6618 Fax: 906-884-6753

Rock and Mineral Collecting at the Caledonia Native Copper Mine
near Ontonagon, MI in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Join us for an exciting day spent digging through
your own private ore pile in search of native copper,
silver, datolite, quartz, feldspar, calcite, and epidote!!

Folks of all ages are able and welcome to join in this unique experience.
Caledonia Mine offers Fee Digging by advance reservation only.

Our experienced and knowledgeable staff will be on hand to help with collection techniques and specimen identification. This is truly a hands-on educational and potentially profitable experience. Caledonia Mine is set in the side of a mountain overlooking the beautiful valley of the Flint Steel River. The mine is easy to reach, a 20 minute drive from Ontonagon, Michigan. The area is full of other fun things to do near by, from hiking the Porcupine Mountains to relaxing on the beautiful sandy beaches of Lake Superior.

Rock & Mineral Collecting: The mine is open from mid-May through early September with a limited number of dates available. Rock piles are built from the original ore left from mining days. Collecting is by advance reservation only. In addition. we offer rock and mineral collecting adventures for groups at other nearby mines that we own.

New This Year

• Copper Nugget sluice. Try your hand at slucing and panning for copper nuggets. Each ore pile dig icludes a bag of high-grade concenrate with sopper nuggets. Instruction and use of pand is included.
• On-Site demonstrations of cleaning and preparing your treasures
• An optional underground mine tour may be offered soon. This is still in the development stage. 

Private Ore Pile
After commercial mining ceased, thousands of tons of broken ore remained at the Caledonia Mine. We will build you a private ore pile and our staff will be there to help you make some exciting finds.

$100 for a 3 cubic yard load, suitable for 3 or 4 people, and the use of a bucket containing 2 rock hammers, a hand digging tool, hoe and bags.

You will have approximately 4 hours to break down your pile and keep whatever you choose. Each pile is supplied with water to rinse the minerals and ore. Bring your own collecting and safety gear or we have safety gear available for rental or purchase by advance request.

Safety and Collecting Gear
Safety Glasses (Required)
Gloves (Recommended)
Mason or Rock Hammer, Sledgehammer (no household or carpenter hammers)
Digging Tools
Chisels
Buckets, Bags
Metal Detector

Amenities available for your use: A beautiful Pavilion with picnic tables is available for no extra charge. Rest out of the sun, bring a lunch, relax and enjoy the beautiful valley view! A Port-o-john to keep the experience from being too primitive!!

Contact Us: The Caledonia Copper Mine is owned by Red Metal Minerals.
Richard Whiteman, a noted geologist, is in charge of the mine, mine tours, specimen collections and sale of copper specimens and ores.

E-Mail Richard Whiteman at caledoniamine@charter.net for more information on the collecting tours, purchasing rock and mineral specimens, and the books published by Great Lakes GeoScience Press. Many different types and sizes of specimens and ores are also available from Red Metal Minerals at Gitche Gumee Landing in Ontonagon.

Ontonagon Michigan
Adventures in the Upper Peninsula
Recreation in the Upper Peninsula
Rock Collecting in the Western Upper Peninsula
The Upper Peninsula Traveler
Home Page: Exploring the North

Photos: Sue Mais

Copyright 2007 bythe webmaster for Exploring the North. All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, as Amended, this web site may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner. Unless authorized by the webmaster of Exploring the North, Inc., reproduction of any web page or pages on the Exploring the North website for placement on the internet is a copyright infringement. All right, title and interest in and to the material on the web pages, the web site, in whole or in part, and in and to this url and the urls contained within, is the property of the webmaster for Exploring the North, Inc.