FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[alfredo]

Thanks to all of you for your kind words, but no apologies necessary, mates. I have several Aussie friends and am well acquainted with their typically blunt and brusque way of talking. It seems quite normal in Australia, so they probably don't mean to cause offense.

And Jordi is quite right in his opinion about my lack of knowledge of fine minerals. I suppose I'm a disciple of the late Dr Fred Pough, who said "A broken crystal is much more educational than a perfect one, because you can see what kind of cleavage it has ". ;)) ;))

[Peter Lemkin]

At a sale of geology/mineralogy books outside of the Geology Museum in Oslo, I found a two volume large format book titled something like 'The Minerals of New Zealand'. I had put these in my pile of books to buy, but someone else got them when I wasn't looking...so I do not now have these volumes. It looked like a very detailed book of the different minerals and their locations in New Zealand. I certainly would think there should be a lot of interesting minerals, but in my collection I can't think of a single item from New Zealand. Most of the country is volcanic, but I believe a lot of it is not very recent, allowing time for some metamophosis and other other processes that form minerals we know and love aside from the 'usual volcanic' minerals. Strangely, I have not been able to find this two volume book on the internet, but I know it exists and it looked very scholarly and well done. Perhaps the title was slightly different. It was certainly professionally done and had attempted to cover all minerals and included a lot of mineral and location photos. I'm so sorry I missed getting this, but as noted few of us have seen minerals at shows coming from N.Z. [perhaps they keep all the good stuff at home ;-)]

[alfredo]

By international treaty, signed about 175 years ago between the British and the Maori, ALL the nephrite jade in New Zealand belongs to the Maori and so you can't (legally) collect it without their permission. Since the treaty mentions "treasures" in general, perhaps the Maori could interpret that as including any fine mineral specimens? But I think my little micromounts with arrows stuck to them are probably safe ;))

[Don Lum]

Alfredo and Peter, this book may still be available.

List of the minerals of New Zealand Paperback – January 1, 1913
by New Zealand Geological Survey. (Author)

[Don Lum]

[Mike Wood]

[Greg Lilly]

Hopefully I can add a little information here but please note I am not a geologist! This is knowledge I have built up from 35 plus years of active mineral collecting and viewing collections as a resident of New Zealand.
The landscape of NZs north island is due mainly to volcanic activity, many areas still being active. The South Island being largely due to faulting. We have a number of economically important minerals which are mined in NZ ( gold, coal, oil, iron sands, bauxite, etc ) but only a small number of minerals which would interest mineral collectors.
Minerals which are commonly collected or seen in collections include quartz ( colourless or amethyst ) calcite, zeolites, stibnite, dolomite, selenite, pyrite, cerussite, and a few other minerals from the oxadised zone of the Tui Mine in Te Aroha. Other minerals found in literature are generally found in micro size.
A lot of lapidary type material is collected such as carnelian, agate, jasper, rhodonite, obsidian, petrified wood etc. Nephrite occurs on the west coast of the South Island predominantly and from what I understand the rights to this material have been given back to the traditional land holders of the region.
The only alpine type minerals I have seen were a few quartz crystals from the Franz Joseph glacier on the west coast of the South Island. This area is part of a national park and collecting would be very difficult.
I hope this helps a little
Greg

[Peter Lemkin]

I am sure that the two volumes were: hardback, recently published, large format and thick, full of maps, photos and both mineral and location information. After having held them in my hands I was surprised to not be able to find them on the internet with my memory of the title. An Olso mineral book dealer took them and I even confronted him about it. He said it was rare and he'd make a 'fortune' reselling them. That is all I know other than I wish I had held on to them and not put them in my growing box of books I was to buy.......