Where and how to find valuable rocks and minerals in Southern Florida?

Question

Where and how to find valuable rocks and minerals in Southern Florida?

Answer 1

There aren't really any valuable rocks and minerals in South Florida.

There is the potential for phosporus deposits to exist, but a single person could not mine them properly, and certainly the land values in South Florida are high enough that nobody can mine anything down there profitably.

They do mine some sand and limestone for concrete production - I'm not sure where, but again this isn't exactly valuable.

The interesting rocks in South Florida are under the surface. The Biscayne Aquifer starts in some places around 4 ft deep and is a limestone that has all kinds of interesting fossils in it. These fossils tend to be relatively young and and plentiful, so they aren't particularly valuable either. Every now and then someone will find a mastadon tooth, and even rarer a land vertebrate fossil, which could be worth something. You might find some of these fossils in any drainage ditch/canal (usually they put the rocks on the side of the canal), particularly towards the Everglades. Watch out for alligators.

Hate to say it, but the best place to find valuable rocks and minerals in Southern Florida is Ebay.