mineralize

verb3

1. •
   To convert to a mineral; to petrify.
2. •
   To impregnate with minerals.
3. •
   To mineralogize; to collect and study minerals.

   • He was a senior when he asked Barnes if he ever went "mineralizing," referred admiringly to Bowdoin's Professor Cleaveland, and expressed a wish to "give a good knock about the rocks in Maine." — 1978