Zhouping has personally been inside many of the famous mines in China. As his office and home is only 2 hours from the Daoping Mine in Guangxi Province, the source of the world’s famous green pyromorphite, he has personally seen the production come and go over nearly 25 years. He will take us inside this important locality, with firsthand accounts, photos, and videos of the mining. He will also show us firsthand video and photos inside the Yaogangxian Mine, the source of so many world class fluorites and bournonites – many of which he has personally handled and sold into the major Chinese collections in the West (such as those held by the MIM Museum, Steve Smale, and Rob Lavinsky). He will give us an insider’s context on these world-class localities and their future prospects for us as mineral collectors, and how rare the few great finds actually are. Zhouping witnessed the growth and fame of these locations rise during the “Golden Age” of Chinese Minerals from the late 1990s through about 2018, and will compare past and current production from his firsthand perspective.
Zhouping Guo is an American citizen, although originally from Guilin. He has a masters degree in geology. He is the visiting professor of Geology for the Guilin Institute of Technology, owner of the business Stone Age Gifts, and a well known consultant for museums and collectors in China regarding both fossils and minerals. He was one of the earliest Chinese mineral dealers at the Tucson and Denver shows. In the 1990s, he was the one who helped Rock Courier travel around China to open the bulk markets in Chinese wholesale minerals, and he was a quiet but significant supplier for the well-known private collector, Dr. Stephen Smale. He was also responsible for many of the older Chinese minerals recently featured in the IKONS book. Zhouping currently resides in Guilin with his wife and child, and is the general manager for Arkenstone China, working with Rob to maintain a 13,000-sq-ft gallery in Guilin for both minerals and fossils.