FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jim Wilkinson]

Thank you!

[Jordi Fabre]

After a long search, I cannot prove this location:
Terra Corrida claim (Baixão claim), Coronel Murta, Minas Gerais, Brazil

The reference in Mindat: https://www.mindat.org/loc-69571.html is brief and as it is another claim called 'Baixao', well known for its Tourmalines, in Itinga, Brazil, I have doubts about whether there are two 'Baixão' localities or just one.
The 'Baixão' of Itinga has several scientific references, like this one, for example:
https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/20/007/20007425.pdf
and yet I have not been able to find any scientific reference to the 'Baixão' of the Coronel Murta.

Does anyone know more about these two locations?

[mmauthner]

Hi Jordi,

I was looking up the locality for the Itinga Baixão mine for photos I had taken. In Mindat, the changes history shows that the Coronel Murta locality was once the same as the Itinga locality then changed back to its own. Mindat user, Reynaldo Contreira, provided some data but this was overwritten by others, assumedly not from Brazil. The only reference given for the locality is: Morteani, G., Preinfalk, C., and Horn, A.H. (2000): Classification and mineralization potential of the pegmatites of the Eastern Brazilian Pegmatite Province. Mineralium Deposita 35, 638-655. This reference was later removed. I do not have access to this reference, so I cannot tell you what it has to say, but perhaps you have access.

Best,
Mark

[Jordi Fabre]

[mmauthner]

Ah, OK.
Good to know.
Mark

[cascaillou]

All you need to know about "crystal healing" (aka "lithotherapy") is summarized in these two links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autosuggestion

This being said, a few minerals actually have real medicinal potential, but this is due to their physical and/or chemical properties (not to some kind of metaphysical "energy" or "vibration"). For instance, clay minerals are widely used in medicine. But let's also keep in mind that some minerals can be toxic, so I wouldn't recommend self-medication with minerals. At last, let's mention that some minerals actually do emit energetic particles, these are known as radioactive minerals, and while they can possibly cause harm, they cannot be used for healing.

[Bob Harman]

As a retired MD pathologist, your last sentence is not true.

One of the newest therapies for metastatic (widely spread) prostate cancer involves linking a molecule of radioactive isotope of an element or part of a mineral to a carrier protein. This "cocktail" is then administered to the patient. The "cocktail" is specifically designed to find its way to all the metastatic cancer sites, both large and very small, and concentrate there. The radioactivity then slowly shrinks the tumors.
A nice side effect is that progress of the therapy with shrinking tumors can be followed on photographic film by the radioactive emissions. A novel, very promising, theraputic approach.

I also believe that using radioactive isotopic elements/minerals as pellets or something similar has been used for several other cancers. These pellets, or something similar, are physically placed at the sites of the tumors and the radioactivity, over time, shrinks the tumors.

As most health care professionals will tell you, any positive treatments to any diseases will lead an individual to an enhanced positive mental and spiritual well being.
Radioactive elements/minerals are, in fact, used both directly and indirectly for physical and mental and spiritual healing. Bob

[alfredo]

i think the "hormesis" theory is probably correct and LOW doses of ionizing radiation could be actually beneficial for human health.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis


So let's get another cuprosklodowskite for the collection ;))

[cascaillou]

To Bob Harman:
Indeed, but for brachytherapy, could you actually use a radioactive mineral rather than a pure isotope? I mean, would a mineral implant actually be able to deliver high enough dose rate to cause any significant damage to a tumor on the short term when put at direct contact with it?

[alfredo]

The "hottest" natural mineral ever found is orders of magnitude weaker than the artificial isotopes used in brachytherapy, so no, no hope of that working with a natural mineral at all.

[Peter Lemkin]

[James Catmur]

Peter

Sadly my grandmother had radium therapy for a weak chest in the 1900s. She died of cancer of the chest about 80 years later. Link not proven but possible.

[cascaillou]

An interesting article about the medicinal properties of minerals:

https://www.academia.edu/9566638/Clay_and_non_clay_minerals_in_the_pharmaceutical_and_cosmetic_industries_Part_II_Active_ingredients

[olivia982 wang]

I've read a blog What Is Hematite? on FTMMachinery. When talking about the usefulness of hematite, he talked about the effect of hematite on the human spirit， It says that in Ancient Europe, wizards believed that hematite was "the blood of Mother Earth" and can resist the invasion of all evils. Thus, when important ceremonies were held, they often smeared it on the body, symbolizing the coming of divine power. Soldiers in ancient wartimes also carried hematite with them to pray that they could be invincible and returned safely.
Hematite is also used for sacrifice and protection of the dead. The Ancient Egyptians often engraved it on the amulets and emblems. In the Victorian Era, mourning jewelries made of hematite were used to commemorate the dead.
I found that vert interesting. Then I read other books and articles about it. I found that people's spiritual belief in minerals has a long history, and it exists in many places.
I don't believe in it, but I respect it.

[Peter Lemkin]

What people believed in the past and distant past to help them explain the unexplainable has now been replaced in large part by the sciences and being able to know more than one's immediate time and place. While I am not uncomfortable with these beliefs in the past, I and I think most on this Forum are uncomfortable with the idea that minerals and crystals have some 'powers' other than their bonding energies and angles, their atomic and molecular combinations, how they react to electromagnetic radiation, etc. I find their beauty in understanding the science about them.

It is nice to see someone post from China!, but if you are going to try to move this thread toward the 'healing and mysterious magical properties' of minerals and crystals in the present, as opposed to what was believed in the past when molecules, atoms, atomic bonding, and sub-atomic interactions etc were not known [although some Greek scientist-philosophers presented an atomic theory of matter], I suggest you don't. Such posts will usually get the administrators to close the thread. Your post probably avoids that, but I just wanted to let you know if you continued along that line you might cross the 'line'.

Yes, in the past there were many interesting and to me poetic ideas about minerals and crystals. But the poetry now is in the science for me and I think I speak for most here. I am not open to such ideas today as were believed about minerals and many other things in the past. There are plenty of things to find 'mystery and wonder about' using science.