FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Roger Warin]

and also

[Roger Warin]

Gold !
Beautiful as ever.
See Featured column of FMF: An opportune harvest in Serra do Caldeirão claims, Brazil

[marco campos-venuti]

[Roger Warin]

Yes, I was wrong.
Thank you.
Roger.
____________________________

Fixed

[Roger Warin]

Superb lustre and bright "electric" blue color.

[Roger Warin]

A happy meeting, Gail and Jim Spann.
Roger.

[Jordi Fabre]

Barcelona 07/02/2017

What were the new discoveries of Ste. Marie 2017? This is my own view of the topic complemented by the conversations I had with visitors and dealers there. Surely there are many other visions so I invite everyone who was in Ste. Marie to publish their own versions to enrich this thread!

México:
Undoubtedly the most outstanding novelty of this year in Ste. Marie has been the very powerful Legrandites of the Ojuela mine. Crystals with more than 10 cm in matrix and although they do not seem to be as defined as those that come from the great finds of the past, they do have a spectacular color. We're sorry we cannot offer you photos of them.
I heard all sorts of versions about this finding but what seems most plausible is that these Legrandites are recent, found about February-March of this year, probably in the area of the Ojuela mine called San Judas and that therefore seem the continuation of the first findings made there a year and a half ago, and that this particular pocket was bought just by a single dealer.

Morocco:
Less and not very important novelties from Morocco comparing with previous years. Nevertheless it is still the country "star" of this Show and the most producing area in terms of novelties.

- Bou Azzer surprised us with Gold crystals on Erythrite. They are not great pieces nor the Gold is unknown in Bou Azzer because it has always been mentioned in the paragenesis of the mine and because it is part of the metals that the mine extracts but as far as I know it is the first time that the Gold appears in visible crystals and in addition is also the nice contrast of the yellow color of the Gold with the red color of the Erythrite.

- The classic Rhar el Anz mine has given very good pieces this year due the efforts of non-local searchers who managed to access to the old galleries and within them were lucky to find an exceptional geode that gave crystals of Chalcostibites more "fresh" and more defined than the previously known.

- The mine of Bou Nahas continues to produce abundant material and between what comes out this year have appeared different columnar growths of octahedral crystals of Pyrite coating completely what appears to be columns of twinned crystals of Marcasite and with related tabular crystals of Baryte. Attention: has been said that the origin of these pieces is Imiter and even Tinghir but by the Pyrite-Marcasite association and the characteristic whitish tabular crystals of Baryte, everything seems to lead to Bou Nahas.

- Imilchil continues giving interesting things. This year was the time of very defined "alpine" Hematite crystals and also in the area of Anemzi (where the Fluorapatite appear) they found specimens of a yellow material that was first defined as "Thomsonite" but appears to be Prehnite. We will analyze them and we will publish the result when we know it.

- Here and there it were some deep red Baryte from Jebel Aouam. They had already been seen before in different Shows, but now we know that they came from a great pocket that unfortunately collapsed and then broke most of the pieces, that the real locality is Jebel Aouam and that despite all some specimens (very few) have no damage ;-)

- Very few specimens but absolute novelty have been the Cronstedtites with Pyrite and Calcite from Oued Beth, located at the base of the hill where is the mine of El Hamman (but without much geological relation with that polymetallic deposit). With extraordinary quality for the species, we will have to wait to see if they appear more in the future.

Spain:
This year Spain has excelled in Ste. Marie by the found in April of an exceptional pocket in the Llamas Quarry, this pocket has been called "Coquera del tubo" by its tubular form, and it allowed to take out a good number of large or very large pieces. Having space it allowed also the growth of crystals with good size, sometimes more than two centimeters, which is not common at this locality. Apparently this may be the best pocket found there.
Also noteworthy is the presentation of the first pieces from the Daunis collection (not the duplicates, the main collection) collection which is a reference for many classic Spanish localities.

In order to simplify I list by countries the other new discoveries that caught my eye during the Show. This is the list:

Portugal:
Panasqueira still gives specimens and although it seems that in general there is less quantity / quality, recently there was a pocket with nice crystals of Fluorite with intense color and perched on transparent crystals of Quartz.

Malawi:
Last year Machinga reappeared with good Niobophyllites. This year that mining area has offered good individual and isolated crystals of Eudidymite-Epididymite, more similar to the classics of Norway or Mont Saint-Hilaire than to those of Mont Malosa.

Slovakia:
In the classic mine of Spania Dolina (Herrengrund) in May of this year it was found a good pocket of Azurite with Malachite, quite showy and with higher quality than others previously known of this mine

Iran:
Although some had already been seen previously, in Ste. Marie were seen a larger number of Analcimes in matrix with bright red color. They are very curious, with zonation of color between white and intense red and their provenance has already been better located, they comes from the surroundings of the small town of Moalleman, located near Qohab-e Rastaq, in the district of Amirabad, Damghan County, Semnan Province, Iran.

Kosovo:
The Stan Terg mine in Trepča continues to produce quite a number of specimens and quite diverse, this time with extraordinary pseudos of Pyrite replacing rosettes of Pyrrhotite, sometimes with related Rhodochrosite. Good quality for this mine that has been giving specimens from so many years

France:
In the indefatigable dumps of the Chessy Mine, local searchers are still stirring and digging and despite the many years which this task it is done they still continue to find time to time beautiful specimens of both Azurite and Cuprite that perpetuate the worldwide fame of this locality

Well, these were some of the things I liked about what I saw in Ste. Marie. Many more things that I did not see or that I did not appreciate very well will appear reviewed in magazines such as Le Règne Minéral, Lapis, Mineralien Welt, Mineralogical Record, Mineral Up, Paragénesis... that will complete this relation.

Jordi

[Roger Warin]

And also some very rare spécimens.

[Roger Warin]

Sweet Alsace, a rich and welcoming region. It has good assets.
Roger.

[Roger Warin]

The quality of wine depends on the geological terroir (soil) which is either of granite or limestone nature. The local nuances (geology, microclimate) are differentiated, producing great vintages sometimes on very small areas.
Here, conglomerates of calcareous pebbles and marls of Oligocene.
The rainfall is 500 - 550 mm of rain per year. In the West, the Vosges Mountains are a protection.

[Tobi]

[Bob Harman]

Roger's last picture of the stork prompts me to ask if you have a picture of the baby that the stork brought?
Storks do bring the babies, yes?? :) BOB

[Tobi]

[Roger Warin]

The baby remained on the roof.

[Jordi Fabre]

Barcelona 07/08/2017

I close my participation in this thread with this photo as a small tribute to the good work that has done by Carles Manresa sharing his experiences in Ste. Marie. It may seem simple, but it takes a lot of work and dedication to elaborate a chronicle as extensive and detailed as the one Carles has done in the Spanish side: https://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=134106#134106!

This farewell has some extras: the recommendation that from now on everybody should follow the thread of Gail Spann Ste-Marie-aux-Mines, a New Experience. Gail Spann, 2017 in which she explains through trillions photos how was her first experience at an European Fair.

Another extra are the three complementary photos that I added to the thread Post subject: Sainte Marie-aux-Mines Show 2017 - The new discoveries. It is an image of one of the new Eudidymites from the Machinga Mine, another image of one of the new Azurites with Malachite from Špania Dolina (Herrengrund) and one of the Pyrite after Pyrrothite from Trepca.

Au revoir Ste. Marie!