FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Richard36]

I have recieved many mailings so far from FMF, but in almost all of them, the chemical composition of minerals is lacking. I am a prospector as well as mineral enthusiast. So far, I have saw several photos of minerals that I am unfamiliar with. It does not do me any good to be able to visually identify minerals if I do not know what elements they contain. I would appreciate it very much if all future photos would contain each minerals chemical formula. sincerely; Rick.

[Gail]

I suggest you go to Mindat.org or other sites to do your homework on those minerals you don't know about? The chemical composition is listed and is easy to find on various sites such as the Mindat site and that way you will do your own research.

[Linda Smith]

Another good website is webmineral. com

[Richard36]

Thank you! Are there any other sites that I can research economically important minerals on? I say economic minerals, because that is the direction that I am going. Any site where I can do that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you; Sincerely; Rick.

[Pete Modreski]

Just to offer some advice via a quotation from an old-time rockhound, I believe it was Peter Zodac, the founder of Rocks and Minerals magazine, who used to print this line after every column he wrote for the magazine:

"Buy and use a good mineral book"

That's still very good advice. There is a lot to learn about minerals, and there are many books available that will very handily put a great deal of that information at your disposal.

Sincerely, Pete Modreski

[Richard36]

I have done so. These are the Rock and Mineral books that I currently own. National Audubon Society field guide to North American rocks and minerals,....Simon & Schuster's guide to Rocks And Minerals,.... Rocks and Minerals; by Chris Pellant,.... Minerals and Gemstones of the world; by G. Brocardo,.....Minerals Encyclopaedia; by Petr Korbel & Milan Novak. Pretty darn Good books. I have learned allot from them. Any one have any other suggestions for books that I should add to my collection? This info is all good, but still, I would like to see the chemical formula for each mineral posted with its photo.

[Gail]

This info is all good, but still, I would like to see the chemical formula for each mineral posted with its photo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


If you look at my Smithsonian write up you will see a number of photos from the museum that have the chemical properties, this might also be a help?

[Richard36]

True, I saw that, and I thank you for it. So far, they are the only ones that I saw with them. Thanks for the suggestion Gail. Sincerely; Rick.

[Vinoterapia]

You may visit the Mineralogical Society of America web page:
https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org
(link normalized by FMF)

there you will find PDF´s for 3735 minerals all with their chemical formula plus a plethora of information, all in one page per mineral, select the one you need and download the information.
As you see you may go compiling a file of all those economic minerals that interest you.

Regards.

Jose Luis.

[Richard36]

Thank you! I sincerely appreciate the info. I will be checking that site out. Thanks again. Sincerely; Rick.

[Jordi Fabre]

And, of course, the two main official lists from the IMA:

https://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/MINERALlist.pdf
https://rruff.info/ima/

If you wish to know more about IMA, you can visit these posts:
https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=95
https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=352

and also visit this info page: https://www.minerales.info/infoeng.php#Usefullinks

Jordi

[Pete Modreski]

As to chemical compositions, I those most people don't feel the need to show chemical formulas for all the "relatively common" minerals, because most people know what they are--maybe not that they know the exact chemical formula from memory, but at least have a general idea what the approximate composition is; for example, when ones sees or reads about tennantite and tetrahedrite, most collectors know that those are sulfosalt minerals (ore minerals, if you will), that contain arsenic and antimony in addition to copper, iron, sulfur, and all that stuff, and that they are also traditionally known as "gray copper ore", or from German, "fahlore" or "fahlerz". For the exact formula (if one needs it), one can always look it up.

But when someone discusses or posts an image of a quite unusual mineral, I certainly do appreciate it if they give at least some information about what (in general terms) its chemical composition is--that helps to "put the mineral in its place" in the context of what we each know about the mineral kingdom. I'm just looking at past posts on the Forum--well, one that surely fits in this category for example, would be,
"CEJKAITA: A SECOND OCCURRENCE IN THE WORLD" (Joan Abella Creus, Nov. 9, 2008); I think most everyone (maybe except John White and Alfredo Petrov) can be pardoned for not knowing what in the world cejkaite is. But I think that 90% (probably more like, 99%) of the images posted from collections on the Forum, are of the "relatively well known" minerals.

P.S., apropos of my own discussion above, I sure wish I could train myself to remember which is which, tennantite vs. tetrahedrite, arsenic or antimony dominant? People have offered memory aids to remember which is which, but they never seem to help me.

I don't know that I have any specific suggestions as to mineral books that might emphasize the ore minerals. Getting a copy of any of the traditional college mineralogy textbooks (one sees a lot of used copies of past editions of "Dana's Manual of Mineralogy" for sale by book dealers at shows, at very nominal cost) is probably a good idea.

Best wishes,
Pete

[Les Presmyk]

Pough's Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals is another good reference book, as will be the upcoming update to Mineralogy for Amateurs by John Sinkankas. Finally, Fleischer's Glossary, available from the Mineralogical Record Bookstore, is updated every year and lists chemical formulas as well.

One of these days Paula and I will start posting photos of specimens in our collection. I find locality and dimensions to be very useful. If I want to know anything else about the speciies I will go look it up. If I need to also include the chemical formula, I may be less inclined to post photos. Besides, some of these formulas can get a bit involved. It is great when they are available on existing labels like at the Smithsonian. What's next, requiring hardness and specific gravity, possibly R.I.? I think at some point it is incumbent on the viewer to take the initiative and do some of their own research.

At this point, we cannot even get people to post dimensions consistently or when asking for identification help, offer up basic information like hardness, or in the case of a descloizite, there is still no photo.

I guess we all need to ask what we are most interested in seeing, photos of specimens with some information, like dimensions and locality, or start requiring all of this additional information that I believe, will hinder folks from submitting photos.

Regarding economic minerals, I would suggest that wherever this person lives or intends to prospect, that their best research will be done at the state level, if in the United States, at the State Bureau of Mines or the Bureau of Land Management. Most of the minerals you will see here are not going to be of concern from an economic geology or ore standpoint.

[Richard36]

Thanks to all who have posted so far. In response, almost all minerals can be used as ores of their metallic elements, Many for their non metallic elements. The issue involved is finding them in concentration enough to be worth mining, Then identifying the minerals and the elements that they contain. Thanks everyone. I hope that this thread continues to grow. Sincerely; Rick.

[John S. White]

Very well stated Les. One tiny correction, the Glossary is not updated every year, a new edition comes out every four years, roughly. But there is certainly plenty of information available via the internet.