FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Gordian]

Here is another nice specimen of Wulfenite from teh North Geronimo Mine, La Paz, Co., Arizona. A nice blade of red-orange Wulfenite on colorless Calcite, ~7mm across, with two slight dings (too bad, but I still like it a lot). A second crystal can be seen further into the Calcite lined crevice.

3.7x2.6x2.1 cm; 17 grams.

Charley

[Gordian]

We'll take a short break from the Wulfenite as I struggle to get a good photo of another specimen, to share a small (thumbnail) specimen of Vanadinite from the Old Yuma Mine, Pima Co., Arizona.

This specimen is ~1.2x0.9x1.4 cm in size and weighs 2 gr. The upper crystals are nicely formed hexagonal barrels with terminations, to 5 mm. Below are tiny red sub-millimeter crystals. There is just a bit of matrix holding it all together!

Charley

[John S. White]

With respect to your specimen of black tourmaline with quartz and "stilbite", I have to question the identity of the stilbite. In the photo the platy white mineral appears to be albite, but the detail is not sharp enough to be certain. I have to assume that you know what stilbite looks like, so you may very well be correct, but albite is common in this association and I do not recall ever seeing stilbite with the tourmaline from here.

[Gordian]

Actually, I am not always sure what Stilbite looks like in all cases - I know it most of the time when associated with Cavansite - but not always. This is exactly the reason why I am on this list and am posting some of my specimens - to learn. I think that you are correct, it is Albite and not Stilbite. The structure (platy) is more inline with Albite and not Stilbite. I did not do my homework on this specimen.

Thank you for the your comment. I will also work on my photograph of the specimen. I enjoy photographing and this one is a nice challenge.

Charley
PS - is it more proper to refer to the mineral as Schorl - Tourmaline being more properly the mineral group?

[Gordian]

There is nothing particularly special about this piece of Rhodochrosite from China, except that for the beautiful pink color that caught my eye. I never found any of the pyrite that the seller indicated was there, but upon closer inspection I did find, what I think is a tiny faceted crystal of clear Fluorite hidden in a crevice on the backside of the specimen.

Rhodochrosite: a pink specimen of Rhodochorsite, showing crystal faces, a very tiny 2x1mm faceted crystal of clear Fluorite hiding in a crevice in the larger (25x20x20mm) Rhodochrosite crystal. Hezhou Mine,Guangxi Province, China.

Charley

[Gordian]

A small specimen of Hausmannite, with Baryte and a cluster of Garnets. Pyramids to 1cm. Overall size 3x1.5x1.5 cm.

N'Chwaning I Mine, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese fields, Northern Cape Province, South Africa.

[Gordian]

No, it's not some false color image of the surface of some distant world, it is an interesting sample of Chalcanthite, on some brittle matrix and scattered about (having difficulty photographing properly) are tiny green-yellow crystals of Zeunerite. The tiny crystals are ~1mm or less in size and occur in clusters. The Chalcanthite forms interesting peaks of 3-5 mm and maybe 3-4 mm high.

Overall size of sample 6x4.5cm

Posey Mine, Red Canyon Utah

Charley

[Gordian]

Here is a nice Wulfenite with Mimetite, ex Dawn and Jim Minette collection. Cluster of Mimetite covered Wulfenite crystals on a larger (4.1x3.6 cm) crystal. The Mimetite balls are ~1-3mm in size. The Wulfenite crystals range in size from 2-3 mm up to 10 mm.

San Francisco Mine, Cerro Prieto, Cucurpe, Mun. de Cucurpe, Sonora, Mexico

[Gordian]

Here is a wonderful specimen of Sphalerite, with Calcite and Aragonite, and as I discovered while studying the Sphalerite matrix a couple tiny clusters of what looks to be pyrite. The pyrite clusters are ~4 mm, with cubes on the order of 1mm cube. The overall specimen size is 8x6.5x1.5 cm in size.

Trepca District, 10 km east of Kosovska, Mitrovica, Kosovo.

Charley

[Gordian]

A small, 18x13x10 mm, Azurite-Malachite specimen from Kerrouchene Morocco. The Azurite crystal is 18x4x5 mm in size on a splay of Malachite.

[Gordian]

For me the following specimen of Jamesonite is fascinating. The acicular/hairy minerals have always interested me, which is probably why I tend collect so many. This specimen is from Noche Buena, Zacatecas, Mexico. Gray fibrous crystals of Jamesonite on a matrix of Pyrite and Quartz. Pyrite crystals to 8 mm.

Specimen size: 5.5x3.5x3 cm.

[Gordian]

Some new additions to my collection.

[Debbie Woolf]

I enjoyed looking at your collection & was really struck by the colour of the Fluorite, gorgeous, thanks for sharing.

Debbie

[Gordian]

Thank you Debbie. One has to love a nice Fluorite!

c.rhodes