FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[nurbo]

A few more, a couple from North Yorkshire some Nigerian Phenakite's.

[nurbo]

Thought Id share some photos I took of a couple of Irish Zeolites I recently got my hands on .... enjoy.

[nurbo]

hello,
Vanadinites to 10 mm and my current favourite Baryte.

[Carles Millan]

[Jordi Fabre]

Considering the place, the concept "Shaft" and "Mine" is very arguable there, so although I agree that ACF MIne is more correct, I beleive that "ACF shaft" is acceptable too considering that on the area of the former ACF Mine, people dig just doing holes on the surface and creating "galleries" (or crossing former galleries) continuosly...

[Carles Millan]

[Jordi Fabre]

Right Carles. For some reason I supposed you complained about "ACF shaft", sorry.

So, finally I would prefer: "ACF area shafts, Mibladen, Midelt, Khénifra, Meknès-Tafilalet, Morocco" or "ACF Mine area, Mibladen, Midelt, Khénifra, Meknès-Tafilalet, Morocco" because all the recent finds were mined in "mini-shafts" in the area of the former ACF Mine but not at the "ACF Mine" itself.

[Carles Millan]

Corrected

[nurbo]

Hi Jordi, Carles,
sorry I shouldve been more complete with my locality description, Im not familiar with the area myself and have always labelled my pieces from here "ACF shaft" I will have to correct my labels, thank you for the correction, it is important to have the correct locality on your labels, as my friend always says " A rock without the correct locality is just a rock. a rock with the correct locality is a specimen"
db

[Carles Millan]

[Luiz Menezes]

Nurbo:

The etched phenakites from Jos, Nigeria are awesome; 2 or 3 years ago, at the Tucson show, a Brazilian friend, that is a gemstone dealer, came to my room and challenged me with a crystal like that; if I had 20 choices I would never say phenakite, it looked exactly like the etched spesartines from Navegadora mine, Minas Gerais. I asked him to acquire a specimen for me, what he did; that material was available only at one of the gemstone shows (JGX), not any mineral dealer had it for sale and since then I have not seen it again in any of the major international mineral shows.

Luiz

[nurbo]

Hello,
Slightly off topic in a mineral forum but I wanted to share this with you because its so beautiful even though it isnt strictly a mineral specimen. I dont really have too many fossils but every now and again the opportunity to get something really outstanding comes along and I cant resist.
this piece is
4 fossilised Turitella Terebralis (to 7cm's) and a single Eutriofusis Burdigalensis from the Cenozoic era, to be more exact, the tertiary period of the early Miocene epoch, around 20 million years ago this piece comes from Bordeaux, France, its around 10 cm's tall.

[Turbo]

Stunning aesthetics on that fossil! I don't think I would be able to resist that either.

[nurbo]

Hi Turbo, It really is a fine looking piece.
Heres an unusual one I borrowed to photograph, its a Metasomatic replacement of Calcite by Hematite.from the Lindal Moor Iron Mines.
Followed by a nicely formed Fluorite twin from the Blue Circle cement Quarry
Finally for this posting a yellow Fluorite twin I collected from a stream near Hartley Birkett Lead Mines, a couple of weeks ago, I was going to clean it up but I think the mud gives it good definition.

[Gail]

Fabulous!

[nurbo]

Hi Gail, I think these little Fluorites are fabulous too.
On the subject of Fluorite heres one from the Sykes Mine (East), a micro, Im a recent convert to Micro collecting, though it isnt doing my eyesight any favours.
Then we have one of the most fluorescent pieces Ive ever seen. very gemmy purple Fluorites on Quartz from the Burtree Pasture Mine
and finally a Red Grooves Fluorite plate.

[nurbo]

Another Fluorite this time from the Hollywell Mine at Frosterley in Co Durham, this piece is also highly fluorescent.
and on a completely different theme this is another Jos Plateau Phenakite which due to the unusual structure has a naturally formed hole in it! The ruler gives incorrect scale as it is some way behind the crystal.

[nurbo]

This is one of my favourite micro's, unfortunately there was a tiny hair on it when I took the p;hoto which I didnt notice and I dont really like to remove this piece from its box, Im sure its solid enough but if it ever broke Id cry.
Next up, well, much bad stuff is said about ebay among the mineral collecting fraternity but Ive been after a decent Campylite from Dry Ghyll for a long time but Ive never really liked the price tags that these pieces seem to have, then I saw this piece on ebay, it cost under £10 and comes from Barbara Sutcliffe.
Then finally for today a Calcite lined vug with what I think is an Aragonite stalactite, it fluoresces yellow under LW UV which is common to Aragonite from this area, has the right hardness and fizzes in acid.

[nurbo]

Off topic I know, but how beautiful is this? Carboniferous fossil plate from the Caton Moors. and to justify this post an interesting piece, another Aragonite(?) stalactite only tbis one is covered in micro Calcite crystals, I havent yet got round to cleaning this piece up but this is how it looked when I trimmed it from the huge block I collected earlier this year.

[nurbo]

Figured I should mention the Caton Moors are a shale outcrop in the North West of England, Lancashire to be precise, about a 1 hour cycle ride from my home.