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[Tobi]

Hi all,

is there a locality named Pieters Mine or Peters Mine near Usakos, Namibia? Can't find it on mindat or anywhere else ... does anybody know what could be meant with that name?

Cheers!

[alfredo]

Perhaps this is the locality for the tiger-eye variety known as "pietersite"?
= Outjo, Namibia

[Tobi]

In this case, it is the locality of large blue/green tourmaline crystals on quartz. But though i'm quite informed about Namibian minerals, i've never heard of that mine before ...

[alfredo]

Might be not a name but a description - "Pieter's mine" as in "the mine operated by Mr. Pieters"?
We get that kind of thing all the time in Bolivia. The Mineralogical Record once published a stibnite photo from the "Eterovich mine" - Eterovich was the owner, not the mine name. Likewise for "Mr Pickering's Mistress' mine", which has become immortalized on some museum labels.

[Edelmin]

Tobias,

I had forgotten about this topic and have found it again seeing your elbaite specimen in your collection thread.

Your specimen probably comes from the Pieters Hill Mine, a tin mine exploited in pegmatites in the 30's by Sid Pieters' father. In this and other small mines he exploited, in addition to cassiterite, he found some gem minerals namely topaz and elbaites. However it seems that he did not found the nice aquamarines for which the Erongo Mtns. are now known (the Piesters Hill Mine is located in the Erongo Mtns. just a few kms. of the aquamarine areas).

I hope this information can help you.

Best regards,

Felix Garcia

[Tobi]

Hi Felix,

thank you for that information and for your effort! I yet got the information from the previous owner of the specimen (i also wrote it in the collection thread where i presented the elbaite). He told me that the specimen definitely comes from the so-called "Pieters Mine" or "Peters Hill Mine", and that this is a small tin mine in a pegmatite field not far away from Usakos. But it was new to me that the name goes back to Sid Pieters' father, i supposed it was named after Sid Pieters himself. So you upgraded my information - thanks again for taking care of my question :-)

Cheers!

[Duncan Miller]

Tobias

At various times Sid Pieters owned several tourmaline mines around Usakos and Karibib in central Namibia. In the mid 1970s I worked for him one summer as a gem cutter and at the time his shop in Windhoek had trays of tourmaline specimens similar to yours. Unless you are sure of the "Pieters Hill Mine" attribution it could have come from any one of a number of mines in the Karibib/Usakos area.

Duncan