Collecting Sites

Resources – Collecting Sites

It is our intention that the CCFMS be the go-to resource for rockhounding and lapidary for our CCFMS-affiliated clubs (located in Manitoba, Ontario, and Québec). These resources are curated and maintained by the Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies for the benefit of its affiliated clubs.

Collecting sites are central to the practice of rockhounding. They allow collectors to discover rocks, minerals, and sometimes fossils in a responsible and informed way. This page brings together trusted resources to help clubs and members identify collecting sites, understand access conditions, and plan safe field activities.

The links below include public collecting areas, regional references, and additional resources to support responsible collecting.

Check out our other Resources pages: Resources – References , Resources – Museum, Resources – Educational and Resources- Incorporation

If you notice a broken link, please let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the homepage. Feel free to also explore the French Resource pages.

Guides to rock, mineral and fossil collecting sites Field Trip Guides

There are numerous guides to rock, mineral and fossil collecting sites. Please note,
however, that when you use any one of these guides you must consider the following:

Road logs may have changed since the guides were published, so the mileages may no
longer be accurate.
GPS co-ordinates may be out-of-date (GPS have become more accurate over the last
20 years).
The ownership of privately held properties may have changed since the guides were
published, and the policies of the new owners may differ from the policies of previous
owners.
You must have the permission of landowners before collecting where either or both of
the surface rights and mining rights are privately held, and you must follow any rules set
out by the owners.
Some areas of Crown land may be off-limits to collectors, too.

It is the collector’s responsibility to ensure that these conditions have been met before
collecting at any site, whether they are in a guidebook or not.

Provincial Source for Collecting Sites

The links below highlight well-known collecting sites and provide province-specific information, including access rules and common minerals found in each region.

Manitoba

Manitoba Rocks!
https://www.gov.mb.ca/iem/min-ed/teensrock/geotours/index.html

(1978). Edited by Martin Prinz,
George Harlow, and Joseph Peters. 607p.
This is a practical, concise and easy to use field guide. With two sections – one for minerals and one for rocks, each with a comprehensive introduction – it has more than 1,000 illustrations, 600 of which are in full colour.

Ontario

Northern Ontario Geotours
https://www.ontario.ca/page/northern-ontario-geotours

Northern Ontario GeoTours are illustrated guides that showcase geological sites, stories and significant natural features and mining heritage in
communities across Northern Ontario. You can explore the virtual tours online, or print or save the available PDFs to your mobile device and visit the sites to see them for yourself. There are 17 tours in the series.
o A.Y. Jackson Lookout, Greater Sudbury https://files.ontario.ca/ndmnrf-geotours-a-y-jackson-lookout-en-2021-12-13.pdf
o Copper Cliff (Sudbury) https://files.ontario.ca/ndmnrf-geotours-copper-cliff-en-2021-12-13.pdf
o Copper Cliff Smelter Superstack (Sudbury) https://files.ontario.ca/ndmnrf-geotours-copper-cliff-superstack-en-2021-12-13.pdf
o Discovery Site – Sudbury Mining Camp https://files.ontario.ca/ndmnrf-geotours-discovery-site-mining-camp-en-2021-12-13.pdf
o Dynamic Earth (Sudbury) https://files.ontario.ca/ndmnrf-geotours-dynamic-earth-en-2021-12-13.pdf
o Jane Goodall Reclamation Trail (Sudbury) https://files.ontario.ca/ndmnrf-geotours-jane-goodall-en-2021-12-13.pdf
o Science North (Sudbury) https://files.ontario.ca/ndmnrf-geotours-science-north-en-2021-12-13.pdf

Ontario Geological survey

The Ontario Geological Survey and its predecessors have published a series of Roadside geology books over the years. They are listed below in order from west to east. Note that road logs may have changed since the guides were published, so the mileages in these guidebooks may no longer be accurate.

o Geology and scenery, Rainy Lake and east to Lake Superior (1968). By E.G. Pye, 114p. Geological Guidebook No. 1, published by the Ontario Department of Mines
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/GB01/GB01.pdf
o Geology and scenery, north shore of Lake Superior (1969). By E.G. Pye, 148p. Geological Guidebook No. 2, published by the Ontario Department of Mines
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/GB02/GB02.pdf
o Roadside Geology of Ontario: North Shore of Lake Superior (1997). By E.G. Pye,
164p. ROCK ON Series 2, published by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/POP003/POP003.pdf/
o Amethyst Deposits of Ontario (1976). By M.A. Vos, 99p. Geological Guidebook No.
5, published by the Ontario Division of Mines
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/GB05/GB05.pdf
o Geology and Scenery of the North Shore of Lake Huron (1972). By J.A. Robertson
and K.D. Card., 224p. Guide Book 4, published by the Ontario Geological Survey
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/GB04/GB04.pdf
o Paleozoic geology of Manitoulin Island and adjacent North Channel Islands,
northeastern Ontario: A geological guidebook (2023). By F.R. Brunton, K.E. Hahn,
C.B. Béland-Otis, and P.J. Julig, 2023, 62p. Geological Association of Canada–
Mineralogical Association of Canada–Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits, Joint Annual Meeting, Sudbury, Ontario, May 25–27, 2023, Field Trip FT04 Guidebook, Open File Report 638, published by the Ontario Geological Survey.
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/OFR6388/ofr6388.pdf

Geology and scenery, Killarney Provincial Park area, Ontario (1982). By R.L. Debicki, 152p. Ontario Geological Survey Guidebook No. 6, published by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/GB06/GB06.pdf
o Geology and Fossils, Craigleith Area, Ontario (1979). By H.M. Verma, 61p.
Geological Guidebook No. 7, published by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/GB07/GB07.pdf
o A Geological Guide to Highway 60, Algonquin Provincial Park (1969). By G.R.Guillet, 44p. Miscellaneous Paper 29, Published by the Ontario Department of Mines
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/MP029/MP029.pdf
o Geology and Scenery, Peterborough, Bancroft and Madoc Area (1969). By D.F. Hewitt, 114p. Guidebook No. 3, published by the Ontario Geological Survey.
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/GB03/GB03.pdf
o Mines and wines: industrial minerals, geology and wineries of the Niagara region –
Field Trip Guidebook (2000). By K.G. Steele and S.J. Haynes, 25p. Open File Report 6029, published by the Ontario Geological Survey
https://prd-0420-geoontario-0000-blob-cge0eud7azhvfsf7.z01.azurefd.net/lrc-geology-documents/publication/OFR6029/OFR6029.pdf

Quebec

Mineral Substances in Quebec

An interesting site created by the Minister of Natural Resource Quebec. See a list of minerals and check the map to find locations.
https://gq.mines.gouv.qc.ca/portail-substances-minerales_en/

Ann Sabina Field Trip Guides

Collector Localities and Guides

Ann P Sabina – Geological Survey of Canada Publications

Perhaps the best-known guides to rock, mineral and fossil collecting sites are the guides prepared by Ann P Sabina, a mineralogist with the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC).

In the 1960s, she was tasked with developing guidebooks on rock and mineral collecting in Canada to address the growing public interest in Geology.

She conducted her first fieldwork for the project in July 1962, which resulted in the publication of Rocks and Minerals for the Collector, Sudbury to Winnipeg, in 1963. This book provided a description of mineral collecting localities along the route.

Sabina had studied each locality in the publication, which proved so popular with the public that Sabina researched and prepared 14 more volumes covering different routes across Canada.

In 1964, she used existing literature to develop three volumes in the series “Rock and Mineral Collecting in Canada” covering mineral localities in different regions of the country.

In the 1980s, she began to revise and update the guidebooks. Her 1991 revision of the first guidebook saw it more than triple in size.

Available in both English and French, her guidebooks are listed here by region, beginning in eastern Canada and ending in western Canada. They are all available on-line, and can be downloaded at the links provided.

Rocks and minerals for the Collector – revised and reissued 1983-2015

o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; South Shore, Nova Scotia; 2015
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/f6610194-c6a3-43af-9ad3-203b1c49a077
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Northeastern Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, and Prince Edward Island; 1994
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/232538d2-4358-43ba-b153-b5d2ac14f509
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Estrie and Gaspésie, Québec; and parts of New Brunswick; 1992
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/63b69843-c93e-416f-85ce-e043be0ad181
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Îles de la Madeleine, Québec; the Island of Newfoundland, and Labrador; 2003
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/e08720db-78b4-4c80-9a22-1dc4342c6731
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Kingston, Ontario to Lac Saint-Jean, Québec; 1983
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/1c56fbfc-5f75-4dfb-bd9c-4c2651a3d8a7?fromSearchPage=true
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Buckingham – Mont-Laurier – Grenville, Québec; Hawkesbury-Ottawa, Ontario; 1986
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/8a050ff1-bb7f-4669-9764-4c0ba8c5879b?fromSearchPage=true l
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Hull – Maniwaki, Québec, Ottawa – Peterborough,
Ontario; 1987
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/9f978d90-a63e-4ba4-bbf3-1a07ac2aefad
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Ottawa to North Bay and Huntsville, Ontario;
Gatineau (Hull) to Waltham and Témiscaming, Québec; 2007
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/e8a245e8-83ed-4599-9b72-275a9846a017
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Cobalt – Belleterre – Timmins, Ontario and Québec;
2000
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/3d58a060-2905-49c4-a2c6-22d6b399fd91?fromSearchPage=true
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Kirkland Lake – Rouyn-Noranda – Val-d’Or, Ontario
and Québec; 2003
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/dec7c3ea-2f60-47f8-9141-b98a76ae09cf
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Bancroft – Parry Sound area and Southern Ontario; 1986
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/e9fa3232-939c-49c8-a37a-04efed5b524e
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Sudbury to Winnipeg; 1991
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/3d9e84b7-72cf-459c-a83f-d76e1b68f7a5
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: La Ronge – Creighton, Saskatchewan; Flin Flon – Thompson, Manitoba; 1987
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/6a15c540-2554-4041-ae2b-a72e7290088e?fromSearchPage=true
o Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: the Alaska Highway; Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Yukon/Alaska border; 1992
https://ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/publication/6b635413-6083-41c1-999f-872c53604ce7?fromSearchPage=true

Before collecting at any site, members should confirm access rights and obtain permission where required.
Following local laws and ethical guidelines helps protect collecting sites for future generations.