The Mineralogical Record articles from May 2008

The Mineralogical Record archives from May 2008

The American Mineral Treasures exhibition: Tucson Gem & mineral show 2008.
May 1, 2008... The 2008 Tucson Show exhibits--what can we say? Close to 50 showcases featured the best specimens from the greatest localities in the U.S., borrowed from museums and private collections across the country. There was an electricity and a feeling...

Epidote and associated minerals from Green Monster Mountain, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... World-class epidote crystals were first found on Green Monster Mountain, Alaska, by hardy prospectors looking for copper in the early 1900s. The epidote specimens occur within a skarn complex on privately owned patented mining claims which...

Dioptase, cerussite and other minerals from the Mammoth-St. Anthony mine, Tiger, Pinal County, Arizona.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Mammoth-St. Anthony mine at Tiger has produced not only large amounts of gold, molybdenum and copper but also more than 90 different mineral species since Frank Schultz staked the first claims in 1879. The mine began as several separate...

Wulfenite and associated minerals from the Old Yuma mine, Pima County, Arizona.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Old Yuma mine is located in the Tucson Mountains of Pima County, Arizona, about 14 kilometers by road northwest of the Tucson city limits. The mine has produced North America's best vanadinite specimens and is also well known for some of...

Azurite, malachite and associated minerals from the Morenci Mine, greenlee county, Arizona.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Morenci Mine is located in east-central Arizona near the boundary with New Mexico. Copper deposits were discovered there in 1865 and the first claims were staked in 1872. Serious mining to exploit the rich near-surface copper carbonate...

Wulfenite and associated minerals from the Glove mine, Santa Cruz County, Arizona.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Glove mine is located in the western foothills of the Santa Rita Mountains, in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, about 40 miles south of Tucson. It is one of Arizona's most famous wulfenite localities, yielding large crystals and clusters in a...

Copper and associated minerals from the Ray mine, Pinal County, Arizona.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Ray copper mine in Pinal County, Arizona exploits a low-grade copper porphyry deposit underlain in part by a thick zone of copper sulfides. The deposit was first worked by local Native Americans, then by United States Army personnel sent to...

Azurite, malachite and associated minerals from Bisbee, cochise county, Arizona.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... For the better part of a century, the ore deposits at Bisbee, Arizona, discovered by an Army scout in 1877, were world-class. They have produced millions of tons of copper, large tonnages of zinc, lead and manganese, and millions of ounces of...

Wulfenite and associated minerals from the Red Cloud mine, La Paz County, Arizona.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Wulfenite specimens from the Red Cloud mine in the Silver District of La Paz County, Arizona are widely regarded as the world's most desirable examples of the species. Top-quality crystals over 5 centimeters in size are rare, but fine specimens...

Diamonds from the Crater of Diamonds, Pike County, Arkansas.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Crater of Diamonds, located southeast of Murfreesboro in Pike County, Arkansas, has a rich 100-year history of diamond mining. The early 1900s saw several attempts to mine the property commercially. From 1952 to 1971 the land was a privately...

Quartz and associated minerals from Hot Springs, Arkansas.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Fine Arkansas quartz crystals of captivating luster, clarity and sharpness have been collected and traded as specimens since the mid-19th century, and before that were esteemed by the early Native Americans of the region. Arkansas quartz...

Tourmaline and associated minerals from the Himalaya mine, Mesa Grande, San Diego County, California.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Himalaya dike system in the Mesa Grande district of San Diego County, California consists of several relatively thin and remarkably continuous pegmatites that crop out along the east and north flanks of Gem Hill. The Himalaya mine is the...

California gold and associated minerals from the Colorado Quartz/Mockingbird, Red Ledge and Eagle's Nest mines.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... California's crystallized gold tends to come from small near-surface lode deposits referred to as "pocket mines." Oddly enough, most of these occurrences are not in the famous Mother Lode region, but rather are located in either the East Belt...

Benitoite, neptunite and associated minerals from the Benitoite Gem mine, San Benito County, California.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Benitoite Gem mine is located in the Coast Range Mountains in San Benito County, north of the town of Coalinga. The first specimens of benitoite and neptunite were found in 1907, and extensive tunneling took place for several years to...

Tourmaline, beryl and other pegmatite minerals from the peninsular ranges, Southern California.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The gem and rare-element-bearing pegmatites of southern California have been the most prolific source of elbaite, morganite beryl, kunzite spodumene, and other pegmatite minerals in North America since their discovery over 100 years ago. The...

Tourmaline and associated minerals from the Tourmaline Queen mine, Pala, San Diego County, California.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Tourmaline Queen mine, located on the northeast slope of Queen Mountain in San Diego County, California, is among the most well-known tourmaline-producing pegmatites in the world. It was originally staked as a quartz claim by Frank Salmons...

Colorado gold from the Dixie mine, Ground Hog mine and Farncomb Hill, Breckenridge.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A number of Colorado localities have produced exceptional crystallized gold specimens. Among the most notable are the Dixie mine on Ute Creek, in the Chicago Creek mining district of Clear Creek County (famous for leaf gold and wire gold); the...

Aquamarine and associated minerals from Mount Antero, Chaffee County, Colorado.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... At 14,269 feet, Mount Antero in Chaffee County, Colorado is the highest known mineral locality in the United States. Nelson ("Nels") Wanemaker and J. C. H. Grabill first found aquamarine crystals on Mount Antero in July of 1881. Ever since...

Colorado Barite and associated minerals from Weld and Mesa counties and southeastern Colorado.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Of the many localities for barite in Colorado, three have yielded specimens of world-class caliber. Perhaps the most famous occurrence, known since 1892, is at Stoneham, a small town in Weld County on the high plains of northeastern Colorado....

Rhodochrosite and associated minerals from the Sweet Home mine, Alma, Colorado.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Discovered in 1873 and developed for its silver ore, the Sweet Home mine near Alma, Colorado is today known for its strikingly beautiful red rhodochrosite crystals, acknowledged as the world's finest. For over 90 years, the mine was...

Amazonite and associated minerals from the Pikes Peak region, Park and Teller counties, Colorado.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Localities near the towns of Lake George and Florissant in Park and Teller counties, part of the Pikes Peak region in central Colorado, host the world's premier examples of crystallized green microcline ("amazonite"). Crystals are even more...

Rutile, lazulite and associated minerals from Graves Mountain, Lincoln County, Georgia.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Graves Mountain in Lincoln County, Georgia, is certainly one of America's most prolific mineral localities, known around the world for its unsurpassed rutile specimens, an abundance of fine lazulite, and a host of other minerals. Sometime in...

Amethyst and associated minerals from Jacksons Crossroads, Wilkes County, Georgia.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The spectacular amethyst specimens and gem rough being mined commercially from near Jacksons Crossroads in Wilkes County, east-central Georgia, may well be the finest ever produced in the United States. The occurrence is one of many amethyst...

Pyromorphite and associated minerals from the Bunker Hill mine, Kellogg, Idaho.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Bunker Hill mine is in the Coeur d' Alene mining district, Shoshone County, Idaho, in the town of Kellogg. It operated as a lead mine from 1887 to 1981, producing nearly 4 million tonnes of lead and zinc, plus 154 million ounces of silver....

Fluorite and associated minerals from the Illinois fluorspar district, hardin and pope counties, Illinois.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Illinois fluorspar district has been famous as a source of fluorite and galena since 1812, although in the early history of the district only galena was mined (for lead and silver). In the 1880s an improved method of smelting steel was...

Galena, sphalerite and associated minerals from the Tri-State district, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In the 1850s lead and zinc were discovered in southwestern Missouri. Over the next 100 years the mining region expanded into neighboring Kansas and Oklahoma, eventually encompassing over 1,200 square miles and thousands of mines. It became...

Fluorapatite and associated minerals from the Pulsifer Quarry, Androscoggin County, Maine.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Pulsifer Quarry is in the western Mount Apatite District near Auburn, Androscoggin County, Maine. Purple fluorapatite was first collected in the district around 1881, as generally small crystals, usually of a pale purple or lilac color....

Tourmaline and associated minerals from Mount Mica, Oxford County, Maine.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Mount Mica, North America's first gem tourmaline mine, is located about a mile east of the lovely village of Paris Hill in southwestern Maine. Elijah Hamlin and Ezekiel Holmes found the first tourmaline crystals there in 1821. Substantial...

Tourmaline and associated minerals from the Dunton Mine, Oxford County, Maine.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Dunton mine pegmatite on Plumbago Mountain near Newry, Maine was discovered by Henry Hall around 1898 and later worked by H.C. Dunton of Rumford Falls. Gem pockets are said to have been found in 1903 and 1904. In 1926 mineral dealer Wallace...

Copper, silver and associated minerals from the Michigan copper country, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula on the southern shore of Lake Superior is host to the greatest deposit of native copper on earth. Mines large and small are scattered along a 130-kilometer trend from the base of the peninsula to its eastern tip....

Calcite, galena and associated minerals from the Viburnum Trend, Iron and Reynolds counties, Missouri.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Viburnum Trend--a Mississippi Valley-Type lead deposit forming a sub-district of the larger Southeast Missouri Lead belt--is located approximately 90 miles south-southwest of St. Louis along the western flank of the Ozark Dome. The...

Copper sulfides and associated minerals from Butte, silver bow county, Montana.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Butte district in southwestern Montana was discovered in the summer of 1864 by G.O. Humphreys and William Allison. The original prospects were worked for fine-grained placer gold, on what would come to be known as Butte Hill. Silver was...

Barite and associated minerals from the Meikle mine, Elko County, Nevada.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Meikle mine near Carlin, Elko County, Nevada is part of Barrick Gold Corporation's Goldstrike property. It sits on the Carlin Trend, one of the world's major gold belts and currently the center of the gold mining industry in the United...

Willemite, rhodonite and associated minerals from Franklin and Sterling Hill, sussex county, New Jersey.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The two zinc orebodies at Franklin and Sterling Hill comprise one of the most complex and distinctive mineral localities on our planet. Together the two mines produced more than 33 million tons of ore over a period of more than 250 years. To...

Smithsonite and associated minerals from the Magdalena district, Socorro County, New Mexico.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Magdalena mining district--often erroneously called the Kelly district, after its most famous mine--has been known to the mineralogical world for well over 100 years. Magdalena's mines have produced a wide variety of fine, museum-quality...

Quartz and associated minerals from Herkimer and montgomery counties, New York.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Since prehistoric times, high-quality quartz crystals have been found near the southern rim of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. These crystals are commonly called "Herkimer diamonds" because so many have been found in Herkimer...

Emerald, hiddenite and associated minerals from Alexander County, North Carolina.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In 1879, Thomas Alva Edison asked William Earl Hidden of Newark, New Jersey to go to North Carolina and search for platinum, which had been rumored to occur in some of the placer gold deposits in the area. Edison hoped the platinum could be...

Orpiment and associated minerals from the Twin Creeks mine, Humboldt county, Nevada.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Twin Creeks gold mine complex is located in Humboldt county. Nevada, within the northern edge of the Potosi mining district. In 1998, during large-scale open pit gold mining at Twin Creeks, Newmont Gold Corporation geologists began seeing...

Celestine and associated minerals from the Findlay Arch, Ohio and Michigan.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Curving across the northwestern corner of Ohio into southeastern Michigan is a broad geologic feature known as the Findlay Arch. Across its crest, extensive deposits of celestine (strontium sulfate) occur in carbonate rocks.Large and abundant...

Golden barite and associated minerals from Elk Creek, Meade County, South Dakota.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Beautiful golden barite occurs along the eastern flank of the Black Hills in South Dakota. By far, the most productive area has been in Meade County along a major stretch of Elk Creek, starting where it joins the Cheyenne River and continuing...

Grossular and associated minerals from the Eden Mills quarries, Vermont.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The mine known as Eden Mills is located on Belvidere Mountain in the towns of Lowell and Eden in northern Vermont. It began as an asbestos quarry in 1892 in the town of Eden, and later expanded to include the Lowell Quarry in the town of Lowell...

Calcite, fluorite and associated minerals from the Elmwood mine, smith county, Tennessee.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Elmwood-Gordonsville lead-zine deposit in north-central Tennessee is a classic. Mississippi Valley-type, low-temperature, hydrothermal emplacement. The ore-bodies formed within breccias and solution cavities in Ordovician-age limestones and...

Red beryl and Topaz and associated minerals from the Wah Wah and Thomas Mountains, Utah.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Topaz Mountain topaz locality in the Thomas Range, Juab County, Utah and the Wah Wah Mountains red beryl locality in Beaver County are 83 miles apart but are geologically similar. The mineral suites are found in pale gray to maroon rhyolite...

Pyrite and associated minerals from Spruce Ridge, King County, Washington.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Spruce Ridge pyrite and quartz deposit, located near the crest of Washington's Cascade Range, was first explored in the 1950s by Bear Creek Mining. The deposit consists of several outgassing breccia pipes, related to a deep-seated...

Amethyst and associated minerals from Denny Mountain, King County, Washington.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Denny Mountain mineral deposit may have been discovered by local Native Americans. The earliest written records indicate that the Denny iron claim was first staked as a purported deposit of iron ore around 1889, when Washington gained...

Chalcocite and associated minerals from the Flambeau mine, Ladysmith, Wisconsin.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... When the Flambeau copper mine opened near Ladysmith. Wisconsin in 1993 no one would have guessed that it was destined to become a world-class mineral locality. The orebody was similar in origin to other volcanogenic sulfide deposits in the...

What's new in minerals: Tucson Show 2008.
May 1, 2008... [February 2 - February 17] In every previous year of writing the "Tucson report" I have waited until the end to effuse and enthuse about the special theme and its related displays at the "Main Show" (the event mounted by the Tucson Gem &...