Gem hunter Louie Kappa knows the thrill of plucking 350-million-year-old quartz crystals from hidden rock cavities with his bear hands—especially if that sparkly stone is worth thousands. It’s all in a day’s work for Kappa, who specializes in mining Herkimer diamonds. A recent video shared on social media showed his friend Lara produce one of the valuable rocks from a pocket within the earth, and the clip garnered nearly 9 million views. (Courtesy of Louie Kappa) The 33-year-old owner of Raw Specimen mines full time in Middleville, New York, from April to October, using hand tools to extract the precious minerals. Named after the Herkimer region, these diamonds are a beautiful, unusually clear variety of crystal, and highly sought after. “They are not actual diamonds,” Kappa told The Epoch Times. “People have said to me, ‘but isn’t it just quartz?’ Yes, but they are some of the finest specimens of quartz from …