Anyone Here Have Any Experience In Mining Perlite ??

jog · Jun 10, 2014

Just looking for any info on mining Perlite & if it's possible to make a profit mining it small scale,wondering if anyone here has any experience at it

?

DizzyDigger · Jun 10, 2014

Hi Jog,

Never mined the stuff, but do know you can buy a huge bag of
it for about $15 from most large nurseries. I would seriously doubt
there would be any profit at all in a small scale operation.

Clay Diggins · Jun 10, 2014

There is a large and growing world market for perlite. That 15 pound bag of perlite at the nursery was expanded (by heat) from about 1 pound of raw perlite. It's mostly used as a filter agent although it's most common household use is as a planting amendment.

Raw perlite brings about $50 a ton on the market. There is money to be made in perlite mining. The deposits are pretty easy to mine with common earth moving equipment but because the final expansion of the perlite ore is highly dependent on bulk heating (1600 degrees F) the market is heavily influenced by the cost of fuel. The US is the second largest producer in the world.

A "small" deposit would be several acres.

Fullpan · Jun 10, 2014

I looked into it years back - I concluded you need both a fairly large deposit and a processing facility close by to make it worthwhile. If you do become a Perlite King, I've got a property for you, cheap, lol.

roadrunner · Jun 10, 2014

Here is a link to one that is around my area.
You can see the pit, then across highway 60 you can see the plant.
They only have 4 trucks, and 1 loader.

You can google any more info maybe. Just put in Perlite Mine, Pinal Az. It is outside of Superior.
Other than that, if you have any specific questions, I might get someone you can talk to by going to the office.

Perlite Mine AZ

Bonaro · Jun 11, 2014

Considering that the value by volume is comparable to topsoil and you should realize that a small scale operation wont pay the cost of fuel. You could actually make better money recycling beer cans from the highway median.

elgatodelnoche · Jun 11, 2014

A pic from inside the mine at Superior. It is closed now.

Clay Diggins · Jun 11, 2014

Bonaro said:
Considering that the value by volume is comparable to topsoil and you should realize that a small scale operation wont pay the cost of fuel. You could actually make better money recycling beer cans from the highway median.

Topsoil sells for around $12 - $20 a yard processed retail. Raw perlite sells for around $50 a ton unprocessed wholesale. A ton of perlite is less than a yard. A yard of unprocessed perlite would sell for around $60, about 6 times of the price of wholesale topsoil.

That's a lot of beer cans Bonaro. :laughing7:

Duckwalk · Jun 11, 2014

Not alot around where i live. all we do here is eat, hunt, and drink beer. and the occasional prospect.

jog · Jun 11, 2014

I have contacted a local company who mines Perlite about a 4 to 5 hr drive from my find and will test it for free, it appears there are different grades and not all of it is worth mining. Well worth the test, can't beat the price.

Fullpan · Jun 11, 2014

If they test it and you decide to move forward, don't forget that Apache Tears (volcanic glass nodules) are often found with perlite. They are worth a few dollars on the rockhound/oo-wee-oo market:

Apache tears - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

jog · Jun 11, 2014

"Yes" That is how I have located the perlite, If I can locate a buyer for the apache tears I could do well just off of them. The ground is black with them and they range from half inch up to almost two inch. Largest patch I have found to date.

Fullpan · Jun 11, 2014

Haha - I've got 3 quart jars of them tumble-polished from my perlite deposit (miles from nowhere in northern Nevada) Congrats on your find. :thumbsup:

jog · Jun 11, 2014

I packed home a five gallon bucket & only spent about a half hour cherry picking the larger ones. I took a half inch classifier and drug it along through about 3" of the top soil and classified about on the average 100 per scoop, about three bigger than one & a half inch per classifier scoop. I am in the process of polishing some right now.

coyotegal · Jun 15, 2014

There are also different grades of Apache Tears. From what I understand, Superior, AZ and another place somewhere in Africa are where the highest grade of tears can be found. Not sure what constitutes the grade of an Apache Tear. That being said, the Apache Tear got it's name from a mountain that overlooks Superior called the 'Apache Leap'. The mountains original name was "Big Picacho" (though I did see it called 'Bid Picacho' on a very old map of the area some time ago) but it's name was changed to 'Apache Leap' after an event occurred in the late 1800's between the Calvary and the Apache Indians who lived in the area. After that event, the Apache Tear legend was born. What I'm getting at is that though one could consider all obsidian nodules to be Apache Tears, in my opinion, technically, the only place Apache Tears should be found is at the base of the Apache Leap. At least, that's how I see it.... I know it would make me mad to buy some 'Apache Tears' then find out they originated from somewhere other than Superior, AZ. Of course, I have picked and sold tons of them over the years in lots from anywhere of 1/2 lb on Ebay to hundreds of pounds at one time to a bulk buyer, so I am a bit biased... 8-)