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Nick Danger
Ice climber
Arvada, CO
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Feb 27, 2018 - 10:06am PT
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Fritz,
You just have the very best kind of fun for a retired guy. I hope one day to wander north and meet up with you for a little goe-phun. I have a long history with places like Tonopah and Goldfield and this was a very nice stroll down memory lane - thanks, Fritz.
Some native sulfur from one of those mining dumps near Goldfield.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2018 - 10:41am PT
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Nick! By all means! Here's my backup email, which I don't check every day, but I do check it. raybrooksrep@gmail.com
Maybe we can share a Great Basin adventure? I still have lots of places I want to go in eastern NV & west UT.
I haven't got to wander around Nevada with a geologist since the mid-1980's.
I have a geologist-grad friend, who never worked in the profession, but had become slightly obsessed with returning to a northeast Nevada Triassic Ammonoid site he had visited years earlier on a college field trip. We never did find it in about 10 daze of searching, but after he became more involved in child-rearing & work, I finally stumbled across reference to it in a mineral collectors magazine.
It still took some work to find it, but by the late 1990's, the ammonoid rich cliff my pal remembered, had been bulldozed by large-scale collectors. I still found some great specimens, but I think he would have been disappointed.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2018 - 07:11am PT
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I made the long drive down to Tonopah on Sat. & got home at 6:00 P.M. on Tuesday. I enjoyed two full days of hiking to old mines & managed to log a lot of up & down, & about 5 miles hiking, on each day. Although I didn't put up great mileage or vertical feet, I spent about 6 hours on my feet each day, since I don't have any desire to sit down in the Nevada desert. I also had mineral collecting fun & shorter hikes on the two travel days.
The 14,000' high White Mountains in my background, as I garnet hunt a skarn to a minor Nevada highpoint.
On my 2nd full day, my 3rd of four hikes was to the top of a big tungsten mine. My SUV is down there at center left. I was very pleased with my mineral finding efforts on day 3. I did not pack a single rock back to my SUV.
I left a lot of garnets behind.
But I confess to bringing some specimens home.
Thumb-sized garnets.
Chalcopyrite & tiny translucent garnets.
A nice green translucent epicote crystal.
I left the chrysocolla specimens on the mountain.
I saw a bunch of lizards, but no snakes. That's fine with me.
What I assume is a desert bighorn. I chased him up the very steep edge of an open pit mine.
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Apr 25, 2018 - 10:02am PT
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It's tricky buying minerals over the internet
Like that Reedmergnerite I bought last month, it turned out to be Pink Apatite (hardness= apatite (5), very bright orange under UV), which would cost about the same as I paid, and which I already have a specialty collection of, so it wasn't a bad deal
here is a real Reedmergnerite image from Google
So look for this form if you're buying Reedmergnerite
But my latest buy caught me by surprise
It said "Spodumene on Amazonite"
and I'm looking at that Amazonite and saying "WOW", that is some sweet Amazonite!! I must buy.
I get it shipped to me from Pakistan, and open it up and think that this is Not Amoazonite, it looks like Beryl, which would be even better!!
So I test it and it's too soft for Beryl, I'm a little out of ideas until I see a Pargasite crystal the same color on a shelf, take it out and compare,,
It's Pargasite!!! Which is a Wow times 10!!!
I never even heard of Pargasite 5 years ago, now I have Pargasite from 3 different locations and the mother Lode Crystal with a Spodumene crystal stuck on top to add to it's prized value
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Apr 25, 2018 - 05:39pm PT
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Pink Apatite
My wife supports my obsession with nice Pink Apatite
Here is a crappy photo of the good stuff, with the fake Reedmergnerite leaning up on the biggest piece
Pargasite, an uncommon amphibole
seems to be very hard to find as cut gems.
Conclusion:
Need to focus on better photography of mineral specimens
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Apr 25, 2018 - 06:37pm PT
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brule formation cowboy route shenanigans
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i-b-goB
Social climber
Wise Acres
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Apr 25, 2018 - 07:58pm PT
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Apr 25, 2018 - 07:59pm PT
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A day late on Wednesday but here you go....pyrite in marl:
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2018 - 08:00pm PT
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Charlie D, Craig.. I-b-gob, & Brave Cowboy! Thanks for posting up.
I used to buy mineral specimens from international sellers on Ebay, but with some exceptions, I have mostly stopped.
I am sure there are lots of legitimate sellers in China, but I have suffered from those who are not.
I have never noticed an intentional fraud from an Ebay seller based in Pakistan.
There are several internet sites that offer up valid tips on where not to buy minerals & what minerals offered on international sites, to avoid. It is advise well worth looking at.
M y favorite site is Fakeminerals.com http://www.fakeminerals.com/
It also links to another good site with a long list of fake minerals, Thevug.com
http://www.the-vug.com/educate-and-inform/fakes-and-forgeries/
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Apr 25, 2018 - 08:06pm PT
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Fritz, a former business partner of mine has an outstanding mineral collection including some amazing pyrite samples....extraordinary really, multiple interlocking cubes. He lives up in Buhl Idaho on the Snake, any where near you? I'm sure he'd love to show you his collection. Drop me a PM if you're interested.
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WyoRockMan
climber
Grizzlyville, WY
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Apr 25, 2018 - 08:56pm PT
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This happened on Tuesday:
WYDOT is putting in a parking area at our local crag so us climbers don't have to walk through the highway tunnels to get there. A contractors truck took a hideous shot from up high. Glad no one was hurt.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2018 - 09:08pm PT
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CharlieD! I'm in your mineral collector friend's neighborhood. My understanding is, ST PM's don't work anymore.
Here's my other email. I don't check it every day, but it is secure.
raybrooksrep@gmail.com
Wyorockman!
Scary!
Those rocks revenge themselves on humans every now & again. About 15 years ago, two Japanese tourists got squished by a huge boulder, while they were driving the scenic pass in Glacier National Park.
I still remember, just before I visited Squamish Chief for the first time, back in the early 1970's, a woman was driving a VW Bug up the road under the cliff & a single large granite boulder landed on top of her car.
She & the VW Bug were "squished like a bug," I'm sorry to say. My regrets to her friends & family.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Apr 25, 2018 - 09:41pm PT
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flip'd& turn'd.180*The question is
If there were 2-3 shoe boxes, from a 5 by 8, six shelf dispay's, worth of b-,quality (@best) gem-ish, stones, but they were stored in that glass front, tight Cherry wood box, with,Vermiculite, In its raw form it resembles Mica deposits. When these randomly shaped 'flakes' are exposed to high temperature, a rapid expansion occurs.As I understand it, basically , raw Asbestos.
Would yo pull the tape opening the shoe boxes?
WyoRockMan, climber
Grizzlyville, WY, Apr 25, 2018 - 09:50pm PT
I'd do it outside with the wind at my back and nitrile gloves.
THNX WyoRockman, sturdy advice.
I've got the gloves and respirator.
I packed the boxes so know what's there,
I chose not to wrap most,,
the best of the crystal structured stones were placed one a table with toddlers with Fisher Price hammers, after 20 years of the entombment.
I do not join any family events where those now 20 somethings, are in attendance.
there are a few things, a bucket of soapy water, a breeze at my back. A dishwasher rack & hair dryer, maybe.( maybe just the dishasher? the wife will say no)
next week... I'm due to see them, as I empty the garage of accumulated
Stuff, The yearly purge of old coffeemakers,used up toasters, a few air conditioners & box style TVs. The bicycles no one ever rides.
So well, risking my life to bring you guys pictures of rocksThe power of choss, shoe shots Don't go there , you'll break yer' neck. . .stoked to be back,No pre-cleaning needed unless the aim is the low sort of horizontal crack, the wide thing with a stick and round rock blocking the exit
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WyoRockMan
climber
Grizzlyville, WY
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Apr 25, 2018 - 09:50pm PT
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I'd do it outside with the wind at my back and nitrile gloves.
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Rarest Gem Mineral List, not including red or blue diamonds
10.Poudretteite
9. Tanzanite
8. Benitoite
7. Grandidierite
6. Black Opal
5. Red Beryl
4. Jadeite
3. Taaffeite
2. Alexandrite
1. Painite
Poudretteite....
KNa2B3Si12O30
10th on the list but by far the rarest
rarer than Red Diamonds?, maybe
My new Certified Poudretteite crystal from Burma (Myanmar)
Not that exciting
But once I clean it up, and get a cut stone or 2...
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - May 12, 2018 - 01:23pm PT
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Last summer I ventured out to the not quite ghost town of Gold Hill, which slumbers on the western edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats. I was rained out after half a day's adventure visiting old mines & searching for collectable minerals.
This week, after a morning round of "honey-dos" for Heidi, I got a late start from home, but found a scenic camp spot on a low ridge, right next to an old mine, by 5:00 in the afternoon. There was a nice view down to some old mine buildings.
I did a little hiking & mineral hunting at the adjacent mine before sundown & cocktail hour. The mine still enjoys open shafts that produced satisfying sounds of prolonged falling, when I tossed rocks into them.
With cocktail hour not starting until about 7:00 PM, I had to take that first sip of wine seriously.
Sunset was pleasant too.
I was off & hiking by 7:30 the next morning. The lower mines of the group I had camped at did not produce much of interest, but I carried off a piece of Malachite & a chunk of copper ore with Chalcopyrite.
I did find more open inclined mind shafts & a foot-long tolerant Great Basin Collared Lizard.
After a short drive, I decided a hike out to a minor high-point named Lucky Day Knob might be of interest, since there were a number of old mines around the Knob.
Lucky Day Knob is at top center in this photo.
A closer view, with a large mine at left.
The east view from the top of Lucky Day Knob out to Bonneville Salt Flats & Granite Peak, which is off-limits, since it's in a bombing range, was a pleasant sight.
With a little more hiking, I found a nice Desert Horned Lizard & some black tourmaline (Schorl).
More to follow!
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2018 - 05:27pm PT
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That afternoon, I went to a better-known mine & collected my first-ever:
Conichalcite, CaCu(AsO4)(OH), is a relatively common arsenate mineral related to duftite (PbCu(AsO4)(OH)). It is green, often botryoidal, and occurs in the oxidation zone of some metal deposits. It occurs with limonite, malachite, beudantite, adamite, cuproadamite, olivenite and smithsonite. From Wikipedia
Conichalcite forms in the oxidation zones of copper orebodies. Here groundwater enriched with oxygen react with copper sulfide and copper oxide to produce an array of minerals such as malachite, azurite and linarite. Conichalcite is often found encrusted on to limonitic rocks that have yellow to red colors.
Conichalcite will also form a solid solution series with the mineral calciovolborthite. When these two minerals form a solid solution series, the two interchanging elements are arsenic and vanadium. Conichalcite is the arsenic rich end member of the series and calciovolborthite is the vanadium rich end member.
Notable occurrences of conichalcite include Juab Co., Utah; Lincoln and Lyon counties of Nevada and Bisbee, Arizona, in the US; Durango, Mexico; Collahuasi, Tarapaca, Chile; Calstock, Cornwall and Caldbeck Fells, Cumbria, England; Andalusia, Spain; and Tsumeb, Namibia.
Here's two pieces of Conchalcite I found, to the left of a piece of Malachite I found in Nevada, on a previous trip.
And another shot of a botryoidal Conchalcite specimen.
Sluuurp!
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - May 15, 2018 - 05:45pm PT
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After getting my Conichalcite fix, I sought out another mine I wanted to visit.
Bear in mind, Quartz Monzonite has intruded the much older Ochre Mountain Limestone over wide areas south of Gold Hill & this intrusion of hot rock has produced numerous mineralized contact zones. The area was originally mined for gold, silver, lead, & copper, then for arsenic & tungsten during WWI, & again during WWII.
The final mine group of the day. Main tunnel at lower center & the mine dumps at top, are connected. The lens-shaped ore body was mined in a series of "stopes."
The miners worked up through the ore body and topped out here. The lens shaped ore body was probably mined for tungsten, & the timbers protected against the walls of the "stope" caving in.
From Wikipedia: Stull stoping is a form of stoping used in hardrock mining that uses systematic or random timbering ("stulls") placed between the foot and hanging wall of the vein. The method requires that the hanging wall and often the footwall be of competent rock, as the stulls provide the only artificial support.
More "stopes" that connect to the main tunnel below. A rock I tossed in fell for a long tiime.
At this point the ore body had narrowed considerably.
With some searching of the ore dumps I found some copper minerals, some strange looking Schorl, & some small garnets.
Schorl with Chrysocolla.
Strange looking Schorl, but I'm assured it is Schorl (black tourmaline).
About then, it started raining, & I left for Choss Creek.
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