Meet Ian Schimpfle and Jason Roys | Miners & Business Owners

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ian Schimpfle and Jason Roys.

Hi Ian and Jason, what role has risk played in your life or career?
We started out as amateur prospectors, digging for crystals purely for the fun of it. As we gained more experience as hobbyist diggers, we began come to a better understanding of the intrinsic value they have. We started our business so that we could have a career doing something we love, and so we could be independent and not reliant on an employer to make money, but our business was born from a passion for minerals and the joy of finding them. Our industry allows us to enjoy traveling around the United States and the world. It is refreshing to be able to work out in nature, and to meet many wonderful people at the gem and mineral shows we attend. Additionally, there is no cap or ceiling on how successful we can be. It’s all determined by our desire to succeed and making sound business decisions. But it’s our passion for minerals and the thrill of discovery that has helped us push through challenges.
Risk is certainly one of those challenges. Just starting the business was a risk. We started out with only a small inventory of self-collected minerals, and no startup capital. We have never acquired imvestors or loans. We had no experience in running a business of any kind, let alone a business of selling minerals and gemstones, which is a constantly changing, fluid sort of industry. There are no schools or degrees for gemstone mining or sales. Digging for specimens is always a risk. Even in areas we have been successful in finding crystals, there are no guarantees that we will find anything of value. Working in the mountains, particularly at high elevation has inherent dangers, particularly rock fall and lightning.
We take risks in getting minerals shipped to us from overseas. Specimens can get damaged, be misrepresented, improperly identified, or even fake. Even handling fragile minerals is a risk. Accidentally dropping a fragile mineral like a Wulfenite or Fluorite can result in the loss of thousands of dollars.
We have taken the risk to travel overseas to mine and acquire specimens.
We see risk as a necessary part of our business and industry. We try to minimize it and make calculated decisions. It is rare, in any industry or business, to get a good reward without risk. We have been and continue to be willing to take the risks to discover exceptional mineral specimens, and to grow our business. If we had not taken the risks, we would not be where we are today. We have mined some of the largest and best aquamarine crystals ever found on Mount Antero, and we have three specimens in the Colorado School of Mines Mineral Museum. Truly, life is all about taking risks!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Many people in the gems and minerals industry focus on just one nitch or aspect of the industry. Many gem and mineral dealers by buy material for resale. Many people who mine for minerals and gemstones sell their material to dealers as opposed to marketing it themselves. A smaller percentage of us actually actually discover and mine for much of the material that we sell. That is something that sets us apart from a lot of the other gem and mineral dealers.
We have 3 mineral specimens in the Colorado school of mines mineral museum. Two of them are fluorite, the third is a rare yttrium phosphate mineral called Monazite, which is one of the best specimens of that mineral to be found in Colorado, perhaps one of the best in the country. Those three specimens were collected on one of our four mining claims in Colorado. We have also mined one of the best aquamarine crystals to be found on Mount Antero, in 2020 Jason roys found a aquamarine which measures in at 99.7mm tall, just a hair shy of 4 inches. It’s 26.3mm wide, and 24.3mm deep, and weighs 114.2 grams. We recently won the ‘Best of Colorado’ competition with this specimen at the recent Denver Gem and Mineral Show.
Another specimen, which we just got back from the cleaning lab, is being considered by some to be the best matrix specimen to be found since the well known “Diane’s Pocket”, of which a piece is displayed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We also found and extracted the largest topaz crystal to be found from Mount Antero.
We were part of a recent documentary series, about digging for aquamarine on Mount Antero, which you can see on YouTube, called Mount Antero Treasures. We have also previously been interviewed about about our mining activities on Mount Antero by the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper.
These sort of accolades set us apart from many other prospectors and gem miners.

We have become well respected as miners and dealers in the gem and mineral community. It was not easy to get to where we are. We have invested a lot of our own money, and countless hours of work to accomplish things as quickly as possible. As I said before, it is a passion for minerals and gemstones, and our community of fellow miners and dealers, as well as gem cutters, jewelers, and others, which has given us the energy and drive to push forward through the difficult times. We have also received so much help from our families,friends, and people within the gem and mineral community. We’ve made some mistakes along the way, but from the beginning we knew we would need to learn and adapt, a process which never stops.
What we would like people to know about us and our company is that we are truly passionate about the amazing treasures of the Earth and we very much enjoy discovering them, digging them up, and sharing them with the world. We are also passionate about our natural areas, our forests, and wild lands, and we strive to protect them as we search for minerals. We always follow the principles of Leave No Trace outdoor ethics when we are in the field.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In Denver, we very highly recommend visiting the Museum of Nature and Science, the Botanic Gardens, the Art Museum and the Aquarium. Meow Wolf is a must visit spot! Also, the Colorado School of Mines Mineral Museum in Golden is definitely worth a visit.

For those who enjoy mining history, we would recommend visits to the Coal Miner’s Memorial in Trinidad, the Western Museum of Mining and Industry in Colorado Springs, and the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum in Leadville.

For food in Denver, our favorite places are Sushi Sasa, Fogo de Chao, and Domo Japanese Country Foods (which is sadly temporarily closed. We very much hope that owner Gaku Homma will be able to reopen)

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
One person who definitely deserves credit is our our good friend Sandra Gonzalez. Sandra, her husband Mark, and her mother Viola have been a big part of our success. We had the pleasure of meeting Sandra in 2015 shortly after we founded our company. She invited us to join her co-op when it was in its infancy. We shared space with her and other co-op members at our first mineral show. She invited us to join her on our first visit to Mount Antero. She is now a mineral show promoter, and we vend at her shows in Denver, Plano, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona every year. Sandra, Mark, and Viola are a constant source of support, encouragement, advice, and inspiration. Their friendship is highly valued and most appreciated by us!

Website: https://www.rockygems.com/store/lcm-lostcreekmining/

Instagram: Lost_Creek_Mining

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lcm2007

Youtube: Lost Creek Mining

Other: YouTube link: https://youtube.com/channel/UCsHFkZkQ7m7ya3XOfPtnZRw

Image Credits
Photo 1: Parker Siebold Photo 2: Ian Schimpfle Photos 3-4: Mark Ivan Jacobson Photos 5-9: Ian Schimpfle