FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jesse Fisher]

Two cross veins in the Rogerley system are exposed in an extension of the Rogerley quarry, NW of the main mine site. The larger of the two has been named the "Sutcliffe Vein" in honor of Lindsay Greenbank's partner and co-discoverer of the Rogerley, Mick Sutcliffe. During the early to mid 1970s the two collected a number of specimens from flats adjoining the vein, which was at the time referred to by Lindsay as the "Rogerley #2 vein." Purple is more common at this location than at the Rogerley proper, and some of the best have a purple core covered by a green rind.

In the fall of 2017 Ian Bruce (Crystal Classics) developed the vein as an open cast and named his workings the "Diana Marie Mine." A good number of specimens were recovered and were available at the Munich and Tucson shows.

[colin robinson]

Fluorite from Rogerley no. 2 (Sutcliffe) vein. Main crystal about 12mm. Self collected.

[colin robinson]

Fluorite from Middlegrove vein, Killhope mine. Glassy crystals to 8-9mm. Recovered from a vein outcrop.

[Jesse Fisher]

A bit of nostalgia - specimen was recovered in May 1999 from the first workings at the Black Sheep Pocket.

[Tobi]

Perfect, Jesse :-)

[Tobi]

Fluorite and one single galena, coated by siderite:

[Jesse Fisher]

Another Heights Mine specimen, well-formed cube-octahedral galena crystals with a few twinned fluorites. I was told that the specimen was collected in the late 1960s, so not sure if it should be labeled as from the mine or the quarry. I haven't seen galena crystals that sharp from Heights very often.

[Jesse Fisher]

A classic Boltsburn fluorite twin, found at the Tucson show last month. Most likely recovered circa 1910-1920, but unfortunately no old labels or historical information accompanied the specimen.

[Jesse Fisher]

A recent find. In the above photo of the West Rogerley Quarry, I mentioned a smaller, unprospected vein next to the Sutcliffe vein, where Ian Bruce has established the Diana Marie Mine. Earlier this year his mining crew drove a crosscut from the Sutcliffe vein to explore this vein, which they are calling the "Rivet Catcher Vein." A small cavity of yellow fluorite partially overgrown by quartz was found. An unusual color for fluorite from the Rogerley vein system.

[Bob Harman]

I just spent the past 30 minutes or so on this hot humid afternoon looking thru the pages of this thread.

All great UK specimens!

I do have a couple of comments tho and one question, all related to size measurements. Throughout this and other threads the different posters use both mm and cm. Sometimes the specimen is given in cm, other times in mm, apparently without real important meaning. One posting from Tobi on 12 May 2018 used both cm and mm within the same specimen measurements.

For the larger specimens/crystals, say greater than about 2-4 cm, anyone have any thoughts on this or is it just personal preference and of no further meaning, both being equally acceptable, even using cm and mm within the same specimen's measurements.

BOB

[Kevin Schofield]

[Tobi]

A very beautiful fluorite from Rogerley West Quarry, Jesse. I know the dark green ones are highly desired, but I think this one is also very nice, the coating makes a wonderful contrast. I really like it!

[Jesse Fisher]

My inclination is to use mm only when describing something smaller than 1 cm, but this is just personal preference. I think we're pretty safe in assuming that everyone using FMF knows that 10 mm = 1 cm, and that we will use metric rather than imperial measurements.

But back to the minerals, here is an example of some of the recent produce from the Diana Marie Mine (Sutcliffe Vein). This was acquired at the Munich Show last October. The largest crystal is 2.6 cm on edge.

[Tobi]

Wonderful specimen!

[Jesse Fisher]

Something else new from the Sutcliffe vein/Diana Marie Mine. Good specimens of purple fluorite are fairly rare from the Rogerley vein system. The largest crystal is 3.5 cm on edge. Recovered from the "Heather Pocket" on 25 Sept., 2019.