What is a fee-dig site, and can I sell what I find there?

A fee-dig site is a mine, quarry, claim or park where the owner or manager charges you to collect and sets the rules in advance: where you may dig, with what tools, how much you may take, and what you may do with it. Whether you can sell what you find depends entirely on those written terms, so read them before you pay. Where the terms let you keep and sell your finds, they are the permission that makes the material lawful stock, which is something casual collecting on federal land does not give you [1][2]. This page explains how fee digs work, what to read in the terms, and how one state park's published rules look in practice.

How fee digs work

The arrangements vary, but most follow one of a few patterns:

Prices change by site and season and are set by each operator, so check the site's own current price list rather than any figure you read secondhand. The costs of a first year, including dig fees, are on what it costs to start collecting.

A word on "enriched" material: some tourist screening operations add material from elsewhere to the buckets. That is fine for a family outing, but a specimen from an enriched bucket has no reliable locality, and its label should say so. Ask the operator.

What to read before you pay

Get the terms in writing. A printed sheet, a waiver you sign, or the site's posted rules all count. Look for these points:

1. Ownership. Who owns the site, and do they own or control the minerals? A fee dig on an unpatented claim is run by the claimant, whose rights are to the claimed minerals; the land itself is public. The difference matters for what the operator can let you keep. Mining claims are explained on mining claims: how to check and what they mean for you.
2. What you may keep. All material, everything under a size or weight, or a split of large or valuable finds with the owner. Some sites keep the right to buy back exceptional pieces.
3. Whether you may sell. If you plan to sell, look for an explicit statement. If the terms are silent, ask and get the answer on the receipt or in an email.
4. Tools. Hand tools only, what size, whether pry bars, screens, wheelbarrows or power tools are allowed, and whether the site rents equipment.
5. Where you may dig. Marked areas, distances from walls and trees, and whether you may tunnel or undercut. These are safety rules; follow them.
6. Limits. Per person, per day, or per bucket.
7. Waiver and safety gear. What you are agreeing to, and what eye and head protection is required.
8. Locality. How the operator wants the site named on your labels.

Keep the receipt and the terms with your field notes. For a seller, those papers are the record that shows where the material came from and that you had the right to sell it. The full set of records that prove lawful stock is on what makes stock lawful, and how to prove it.

Why the terms matter for selling

On federal land, the free allowances are for personal use. BLM's rule permits reasonable amounts of rocks and minerals "for noncommercial purposes," and collecting "for sale or barter to commercial dealers" needs a contract or permit [1]. The Forest Service says hobby specimens "cannot be bartered or sold" [2]. A fee dig on private land, or a claimant's operation with the right to sell, can give you something those allowances cannot: a written grant from the person entitled to the minerals that lets you keep and sell what you dig. That is why many dealers buy fee-dig days as a source of stock.

A fee-dig receipt is only as good as the operator's right to grant it. If an operator offers digging on land that is plainly a national park, a refuge or any other place where collecting is prohibited, a receipt changes nothing.

A state park example: Crater of Diamonds

Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is the best-known public dig-and-keep site in the country, and its search-area rules are published as an Arkansas administrative rule (Ark. Code R. 013.05.09-003, Rules and Regulations Regarding Public Use of the Search Area of the Crater of Diamonds State Park, PD 2205; the notes list 12/7/2010) [3]. Reading them shows what well-written fee-dig terms look like. Among the rules [3]:

• Who may search. "Any portion of the field is available to anyone who purchases a ticket," and "No area, excavated hole, or portion of the search area may be guarded, claimed, or in any way reserved."
• Equipment. No ladders and no motor-operated or battery-operated searching equipment. Wheeled carts must be hand-operated push or pull devices with a cargo capacity of no more than six cubic feet, one per visitor. Equipment must "easily pass through a standard single door opening (32"x81")" and must be removed daily.
• Where to dig. Only inside the marked boundaries of the plowed field, and not within fifteen feet of the base of a tree or shrub.
• Digging safely. Slopes "in no case less than 1 1/2 :1 (horizontal:vertical)," spoil at least two feet from the edge, no undercutting or tunneling, earthen steps in any hole deeper than four feet, and no entering holes with standing or flowing water.
• Filling holes. Excavations "must be refilled with mineral soil to the level of the original surface at the end of each day."
• Quantity. Each paying customer may take no more than "a sum total equivalent to five (5) gallons of processed concentrate" per day, with "[n]o exceptions."
• Sales on site. Soliciting the sale of diamonds and gemstones on park property is prohibited, and unprocessed lamproite soil may not be removed from the search area.

The rule text read for this page does not itself state who owns what a visitor finds, or whether finds may be sold off the park. Fees and hours are set in separate park documents (PD 2000 and PD 1050) [3]. Confirm those points with the park before your visit, and keep your ticket.

Choosing a site

• Ask a club. Members know which operators are honest about their material and their terms.
• Ask what is being found now, not what was found ten years ago. A good operator will tell you.
• Look for clear written rules. A site that publishes its terms, like the Crater of Diamonds rule above, is easier to deal with than one that improvises at the gate.
• Check the season. Many western sites close in winter; many desert sites close in summer heat.
• Plan for the work. Fee digs can mean hours with a shovel and screen in full sun. Bring water, shade and eye protection.

Packing for a dig

Fee digs reward the right kit: screens, buckets, a small pick, gloves, safety glasses, and wrapping for what you find. The full list is on what to bring on a first trip.

References

1. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 43 CFR 8365.1-5 Property and resources, read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/43/8365.1-5
2. USDA Forest Service, *Rockhounding Guide*, FS-1091, June 2017. https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/229394
3. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, Ark. Code R. 013.05.09-003, *Rules and Regulations Regarding Public Use of the Search Area of the Crater of Diamonds State Park* (PD 2205), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/arkansas/013-05-09-Ark-Code-R-003