Hello and welcome to the Lithosphere Minerals website.

The company is owned and operated by Jason and Heidi Herrmann. We would like to thank you for taking an interest in our site.

I am originally from the suburban Detroit area of Michigan and moved to Nevada in the fall of 1993 to work on a Geology degree in Las Vegas at UNLV. In the summer of 1998, Heidi and I had had enough of Las Vegas and decided to move to Reno. Five years in vegas was enough for me, and Heidi was born and raised there and was ready for a change. I worked as a geologist for the Southern Nevada Water Authority prior to moving to Reno. Since relocating to Reno, I have worked for Alpha Analytical Environmental Laboratory as the Systems Administrator. I have been a mineral collector for about 28 years, since I was 9 years old.

Heidi became interested in minerals and geology in college. She graduated from UNLV with a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies specializing in Geology and from UNR with a Master’s Degree in Land Use Planning Policy. She currently works as a Land Use Planner.

Over the years we had discussed starting a web based mineral store.  In the summer of 2004 we made it happen! We started Lithosphere Minerals with several goals in mind. The first and foremost is to treat our clients as we would want to be treated. We have found positive customer service to be a dying trait in businesses these days. That won’t be the case here! Second, we try to keep our prices as fair as possible. The third goal we have is to make this website as user friendly and useful as possible. This is an ongoing task. We will continue to improve and modify the site as we go.

People have asked us why we named the company Lithosphere Minerals, and what is the Lithosphere?
Well here is the answer.
The lithosphere (from the Greek for "rocky" sphere) is the solid outermost shell of a rocky planet.
On Earth, the lithosphere includes the crust and the uppermost layer of the mantle (the upper mantle or lower lithosphere) which is joined to the crust. 99.9% of all the minerals and rocks we can collect come from the lithosphere (of course meteorites are the one exception to this).
That is how we chose the name for this company.

Again, we would like to thank you for taking time to explore our site. If you have any questions or comments, we would like to hear from you.