About Us
Heart of Stone Minerals is currently run solely by its owner/founder, Maggie Lyons. Maggie is a mineral collector and enthusiast with 17 years of experience in collecting. She has a BS in Geosciences with a Geology emphasis, as well as a minor in Mining Engineering, among others. Growing up in Arizona, rocks and minerals have been a part of her life since childhood.
Our founder and owner, Maggie Lyons, graduating from University of Arizona with a Bachelor’s degree in Geology in May 2022.
My goal is and always has been to inspire a love of minerals in people of all ages. I’ve collected minerals since I was 5 years old and I picked up the “cool shiny rocks” on the playground. My wonderfully supportive mom brought me to my first mineral show on my birthday that year, and I immediatey fell in love with the hobby. I’ve done earth science outreach both as a part of various organizations, as well as on my own, for the better part of the last decade, and have no intentions of stopping! I love seeing that same spark that I had as a child in other people’s eyes when I show them an interesting rock or share a weird Earth fact. I also have a love for rockhounding, or collecting minerals in the field, and am active in many mineral-focused clubs in my local area. I’ve rockhounded across the United States, from my native Arizona to Maine and many places in between!
Currently, Heart of Stone Minerals is my primary venue for getting the treasures of my collection out to the world, educating people on the joys of mineral collecting, and how to collect ethically (and on a budget!). Mining as a whole (as well as mineral collecting) can be a “hot topic” in environmental and social issues, and I seek to provide a place, a resource, for people to come together and learn about these issues through a well-rounded, science-based lens.
I hope that I can share this “spark” with everyone coming across this page, and maybe be the driving force for new and continuing mineral collectors in this hobby, and thank you so much for visiting and reading.
- Maggie Lyons
Founder and Owner, Heart of Stone Minerals