FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Vitomorim]

I will start posting my humble collection in this thread and from time to time it will be updated. My photographic skills aren't that great so I hope that the pictures aren't a limiting factor. Feel free to share your opinion and if something is not correct please let me know. I hope you like it.

My first specimen is Ferberite with a tabular like Quartz crystal (never saw a quartz crystal like this) and Muscovite from Panasqueira Mine, Portugal.

[Vitomorim]

Little Quartz Crystals with Muscovite, small Tourmaline needles (Dravite-Schorl Series) and a tiny Cassiterite Crystal from Panasqueira Mine, Portugal.
I like this specimen allot, the minerals make a good combination.

[Mike Wood]

Nice photographs Vitor! Did you collect the specimens?

Mike

[Vitomorim]

Thank you Mike and no, those were bought.

And another mineral from my collection, Vanadinite on Baryte with some Gypsum from Mibladen, Morocco. I got it in 2013 and it was very likely collected around that time. This mineral was also bought.

[Vitomorim]

Iridescent Limonite on Quartz matrix from Terras de Bouro, Braga District, Portugal. Unfortunately the iridescence is not very obvious in this picture. This specimen was personally collected in 2013.

[Vitomorim]

Phantom Quartz Cluster from Serra de Valongo, Valongo, Porto District, Portugal. Personally collected in 2009 while on a off road trip with my father and his group of friends, wished I had more time to look around. I found this specimen, along with another 2, by observing the main crystal of this specimen sticking out of the ground.

[Vitomorim]

Tourmaline (Schorl) personally collected in 2013 from a Quarry near to my house (sometimes a bit too close, when they use the explosives...). From Serra da Franqueira, Barcelos, Braga District, Portugal. This Tourmaline is bent in the right side, but that is not very visible in the picture.

[Mike Wood]

Hi Vitor, interesting specimen, it looks somewhat transparent brown colour in places; I wonder if this specimen qualifies as being dravite, rather than schorl. I would think any small tourmaline crystals from the quarry could be pretty good.
I'm guessing it is a granite quarry in your neighbourhood; are there other minerals to be found there?

Mike

[Vitomorim]

Hi Mike!

I was wondering about that brownish colour as well, so I researched and saw that Schorl goes from brownish black to black (according to Wikipedia). But any thoughts are welcome, since I'm not sure on the kind of tourmaline it is.
About the Quarry, you are right, it is a granite quarry, I forgot to post that information.
Relatively to other minerals to be found in there, I can say I already got some Quartz crystals (milky and hyaline although with a bit of luck I can say that smoky can also be found), Feldspar, Muscovite, an iron based mineral that a worker told me about but I could not put my hands on, and a green mineral (that was found in the middle of a tourmaline crack on smoky quartz) that I still need to identify (I will probably identify it in my university).

[Jordi Fabre]

Although the best is to analyze it, it looks like Schorl and the geology of the area also seems point out to Schorl...

[Vitomorim]

Thank you Jordi for your insight.

And another mineral from my collection, botryoidal Pseudomalachite from Herdade da Granja Mine, Alandroal, Évora District, Portugal. It was collected from an old copper mine by a teacher from my university in 1999.

[Mike Wood]

Hi Vitor, thanks for showing us your pseudomalachite. I wonder what the blue mineral is underneath the green pseudomalachite. I know very little about copper secondary minerals, except there's a lot of them.

Mike

[Vitomorim]

Hi Mike, before saying anything else I must say that i really appreciate your attention to my posts.

About the blue mineral underneath the green pseudomalachite, I assume that you are talking about the blue zone in the center of the botryoid, I think it's still pseudomalachite, but I could be wrong. Maybe the experts could intervene here and say what they think.

And two more minerals, both from the same location as the previous pseudomalachite, collected by the same person in 1999. Botryoidal Goethite with 7 x 4 x 5 cm, and Goethite with Limonite (Not sure on this one) with 19 x 15 x 9 cm. The last specimen deserves better pictures, so in the end of exam season I will get new ones.

[Jordi Fabre]

[Mike Wood]

Hi Vitor, thanks and you are welcome!

There looks like another mineral on top of the black goethite globules in the centre of photo DSC_0729.JPG (on the big goethite specimen). Don't know what it is; looks translucent and light-coloured - reminds me of some smithsonites that occur in my part of the world (The Yorkshire Dales).

Good luck with your exams :-)

Mike