ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Brian Busse has hand-dug what may be the largest single mine in 80 years of American history — and the biggest lesson from three decades underground has nothing to do with luck.
Brian Busse is a 30-year veteran miner, jewelry designer, and star of the Weather Channel's reality series Prospectors. He owns the Thank You Lord Mine on Colorado's Mount Antero — one of the largest aquamarine deposits ever discovered — and runs American Gem Trackers. He joins hosts Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor to talk about what three decades of hand-digging taught him about rare earth elements, gold, and gemstones, why American mining culture collapsed after World War II, and what it will take to bring natural-resource development back home.
In this episode:
- Why rare earth elements aren't actually rare — and what "saturation" really means for finding a mineable deposit
- How the Weather Channel's Prospectors doubled the U.S. rock, mineral, and jewelry industries in four years
- The beryllium test results behind Busse's Thank You Lord Mine on Mount Antero
- Why America imports up to $100 million a year in aquamarine alone — and could mine 20% of it at home
- What it's like to hand-dig at 12,000+ feet, raise a family on the mountain, and deal with claim jumpers
Guest: Brian Busse, Miner, Jewelry Designer & Founder, American Gem Trackers
Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly.
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Disclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.
