Tell me about it! I grew up on the other side of the Pala Mining District famous for tourmaline, Aquamarine, Morganite & Kunzite. If only I had started collecting in high school!
I know the agates are good up your way, but what else? Fluorite right? I believe there are famous fluorite & copper mines up there.
I've probably done minimal research on the mines but from what I hear it's mainly Iron ore / taconite. Of course there's nickel, copper and platinum to be found. A buddy and I think we may have found copper before but never tested it. There probably are mines too but I don't think they're currently in use. There's definitely amethyst, jade and quite a lot of quartz and granite and maybe even marble to be found. To be honest, I've never seen rocky beaches with so many different gemstones before I moved here.