Talk:Hiddenite Gem Mines

N cody46 (talk) 00:29, 20 March 2009 (UTC)Peer Review: I like how you've divided the article into separate sections for different mines, and that you've identified the owner of the mines and the emerald extraction permissions given (public/private). I also liked the discussion of extraction methods (sluicing, etc.) and of how the mines were first found; the story about why the stone is named "Hiddenite" is a good one.

I think you need more references for the information you have. For instance, you could cite the patent description for a "mechanical digger" when you talk about professional extraction techniques in the North American Emerald Mine: [1] You could also site the page from the Emerald Hollow Mines where they talk about amateur extraction techniques like sluicing: [2] Make sure to cite your sources in many different places, not just at the beginning of the page.

You also need more internal links to Wikipedia pages. When you use the words emerald, north carolina, alexander county, spodumene, and other important terms, you should link to the term's wikipedia page (using double brackets.)

Your link to hiddenite is good; but to make the h at the beginning lowercase instead of uppercase while preserving the link, use this syntax (but put double brackets around it): Hiddenite|hiddenite

I also think that your organization could be improved. You should start with a thesis statement about the Hiddenite Mines (The Hiddenite Mines are...) and then say that there are few major North Carolina mines which produce emeralds. You should also put the information about how the mines were discovered into a "history" section, and the information on amateur extraction methods into its own section (using double equals-signs.)

I'd like to know a bit more about a few things. First, could you write about the other major mines? You name four in the first paragraph, but only talk about two. Next, how did Hidden find the mines? Was he exploring in the caves, was he searching for gems, was he spelunking, did he just fall in? Third, how did the discovery of gems in the mines affect the population of the region? Did people rush in to get their hands on some of the wealth? To check this, you could look at census records from the area - for example, here's a link telling how to get the Alexander County Federal Population Census Schedule for 1870: [3] and for 1880: [4] These dates surround the date when the mines were discovered - if you compare them, is there any jump in population? Fourth, what has been the impact of gem mining on the cave ecosystems? Have the caves been harmed substantially by all the people coming in and extracting gems? Here is the PDF of a book on gem mining, which includes some information on cave ecosystem impact (see the section "Scope for Environmental Technology and Impact Assessment" especially.) The book focuses on Africa, but the information you would need can be extrapolated to gem mining anywhere: Small-scale Mining and Sustainable Development within the SADC Region [5] I think it's a good article, overall! -Noel Cody


Prlauren (talk) 01:05, 25 March 2009 (UTC) This is a very interesting and informative article. Great introduction – including history in the introduction was a great way to start this article, but adding some history throughout the article as well might be helpful – maybe you could include some background information/history of each mine in the sections about the mines. It might also be helpful to tell the reader where in North Carolina Hiddenite is located in the introduction. Finally, I think it would be a good idea to describe some of the characteristics of the Hiddenite gemstone – here are some good resources I found on this topic - http://www.minerals.net/gemstone/gemstone/hiddenit/hiddenit.htm and http://books.google.com/books?id=N-4PAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA293&lpg=RA1-PA293&dq=hiddenite+gem+characteristics&source=bl&ots=Bxsx-ls1h-&sig=XJapB4aox1GDpOEq9emCr3ex-lA&hl=en&ei=-HzJSe6TH5TsnQf90_3JAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result#PPP1,M1 (This is a book on Precious Gem Stones and Hiddenite is on page 292).

The Emerald Hollow Mine section seems thorough and complete to me. I think that you’ve included all of the relevant information about this particular mine. I found the website for this mine which you may want to include if you plan on having an external links section (http://www.hiddenitegems.com/) because it includes a lot of information for people who would like to visit Emerald Hollow Mine. I found one typo in the 3rd sentence of the NAEM section– “more that 30,000,” but other than that this section is off to a very good start! You do not mention where this mine is located, which I think is important information to include. Also, I’m curious if there are any other stones found in this mine besides emeralds. I found this site on the NAEM and I see that you have it listed in your references (http://northcarolinaemeralds.info/HiddeniteDistrict/NAEMMine/NAEM.htm), but I just wanted to point out that it has the mines location as well as a timeline of history on the left side (if you wanted to include some of this information – This webpage also has history for the Adams mine!)

I know you are going to expand your article to include sections about the Adams Mine and Ellis Mine as well and I assume these sections will be structured similarly to the previous two. I found two book in UNC libraries that look like they could be very useful resources for you: In search of the scarce gem Hiddenite and the emeralds of North Carolina (Call # TN997.E5 H37 in the Geological Sciences Library) and Mines, miners, and minerals : western North Carolina's mountain empire (Call # C553 P934m in the North Carolina Collection). I think the North Carolina Collection would be a great place to look for additional resources historical information on the Hiddenite Mines.

Finally, are these mines major tourist attractions or important parts of the economy in the Hiddenite area? It might be interesting to add a section for tourist information and other ways in which these mines make money and create jobs in the area (again, the North Carolina Collection could be a good place to start to find information about how these mines have affected the economy). Overall this is a really good start – I think after expanding your ideas a little more and including some in-line citations/footnotes you will have a great article!

Dfheathe (talk) 14:42, 8 April 2009 (UTC) The use of separated topics is a good start. Your provision of links to explain terms that are not used in everyday language is also well done, for example, the link for the term “spodumene.” This topic was a good choice because it is something that one wouldn’t think would be discussed on a regular basis by people who aren’t studying geology or who don’t have a deep knowledge of particular mines. This article could be particularly helpful to someone looking for a good start if they chose this as a research topic.

Some suggestions: Start the article with the first sentence referring to Hiddenite Gem Mines instead of allowing it to appear at the end of the first paragraph. Putting it in the first sentence gives the reader a quick grab on what a Hiddenite Gem Mine is, for example: “Hiddenite Gem mines are mines that produce significant amounts of emeralds.” Then you could go on to discuss North Carolina and the few major mines that are found in the state. This is especially helpful if a person wants a quick definition. The way it is set up now forces the reader to read a fact about North Carolina first, then a list of major mines in N.C. and then finally the conclusion of what a Hiddenite Gem Mine is. Also, it would be helpful for clarification, because it is not clear if Hiddenite Gem Mines is a term to describe all mines that produce significant amounts of emerald stones or if it just refers to the group of 4 that you listed.

References: Good start. The ones listed appear to be credible at a first glance, but it would add more credibility if you follow proper citation formats, i.e. MLA or APA. Also, adding about 2 or 3 more references would build credibility as well.

Other than that, good start. Good Luck with the rest of the article! Dfheathe (talk) 14:42, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Mpeebles (talk) 17:30, 9 April 2009 (UTC)This article is looking good so far! I like the brief historical description of the history of the Hiddenite Gem Mines, it identifies how the mines received their names, when they were discovered, and the types of gems that can be found there. You can develop a new section of the article by providing more information on what exactly the Hiddenite Gem is. Here is a link that I found: http://www.minerals.net/gemstone/gemstone/hiddenit/hiddenit.htm.

Obviously with the introduction, your article is headed into going more in-depth into the history of each of the mines that make up Hiddenite Gem Mines. The sections on Emerald Hollow Mine and North American Emerald Mine are interesting, can you provide anything about the other mines? Are the two mines you mention the most the most successful mines? For these sections, I would also try to incorporate more reference links to for statements made in the section, otherwise they don't seem as reliable. On that note, you could probably also use a few more sources for your article. I'm sure that as your project comes along you will plan to do so, it makes the article much more professional and reliable. Here are some books that I found at UNC that may be of some assistance: http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?Nty=1&Ntk=Keyword&Ntt=hiddenite+gem+mines

Aesthetically, the article looks good. Have you been able to find any pictures of Hiddenite Gem Mines, the gems it produces, the methods used in mining or a map of North Carolina and the location of the mines? Those are just a few of the pictures that I was curious to see and I think that they could potentially add a lot to your article. After searching on Google images for Hiddenite (see: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=hiddenite+nc+map&sa=N&start=18&ndsp=18), some pictures of Alexander county, a map, and even some gem samples and pictures of miners at Hiddenite appeared that you could use for your article.

I don't know if it's possible, but I was curious to see what the largest, most valuable stones/gems found at Hiddenite were. Fun facts like these on a topic like gem mining may draw more interest to your article.

Overall, this article looks great and I think you are heading in the right direction. Good job. Mpeebles (talk) 17:30, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Missing information

To much left out information. Where or what is the source to all these gemstones mined or found?? I know and I'm pretty sure they know too but neglect to acknowledge the truth 47.36.41.117 (talk) 19:34, 21 September 2023 (UTC)