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BRITISH MICROMOUNT

SOCIETY http://britishmicromountsociety.homestead.com

NEWSLETTER No. 92 June 2014

A Roy Starkey photograph of crystal growth in action. The feathers of rime ice form

when tiny, super-cooled water droplets in cloud or fog make contact with an object at

below 0oC. They freeze instantly and then build up to create feathers and tails,

sometimes with highly dramatic structures. January 2014 on top of Arenig Fawr.

The Contented Editorial

This is the ninety second Newsletter – which makes it a very venerable institution -

and my second editorial effort – which makes me still a very wet behind the ears

editor. I was rather nervous that I might suffer from “the difficult follow up” having

exhausted my inspiration in the initial effort – but looking at No. 92 I don’t think you

will be too disappointed since a wonderful bunch of BMS members have come up

trumps for this edition. I hope that all of you who have been bombarded by emails

and phone calls from me in the last three months will forgive me for what must have

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been close to harassment as I begged and wheedled articles and contributions from

you – I am extremely grateful to you all for your efforts.

We have to start with Steve Burchmore’s eulogy for Eddie Foy; yet another of the

early enthusiasts, who acted as a centre of crystallisation in the East Midlands for the

growth of mineral collecting and micromounting. He will be missed. We then have an

introduction to what we all hope will be the next phase in the story of the BMS by

Martin Stolworthy who describes our New Symposium Venue at College Court in

Leicester. College Court promises to be a refreshing change for the better. Martin

Stolworthy has also provided us with Photographing My Collection - a low key

nontechnical introduction which may encourage a number of us to do the same with

our own collections. After this David Green weighs in with practical advice on Lens

Cleaning and, as always, his inimitable style makes a technical subject come to life.

I am very pleased to have enticed Malcolm Southwood into writing Arthurite, an

overlooked Cornish Classic for us. I have long crusaded for us to get our collections

out into the light of day, rediscover their pleasures and share them with each other –

and Malcolm’s article epitomises the rewards that come from doing just that. Then

David Ifold brings us up to date on the Minerals of Littleham Cove; a fascinating

introduction to the veritable cornucopia of rarities found there - and with warm

weather another crop should be ready for harvest!

With Philosophical Thoughts on Competitions, Quintin Wight has yet again

taken on the mantle of North American correspondent and teases out some of the

cultural differences between Europe and North America. And if you have not

previously felt kinship with Queen Victoria you may well do so after reading the

trailer for Roy Starkey’s soon to be published book on the Cairngorms. Alan Dyer

chips in with some comments on cowlesite and other matters zeolitic while on the

next page Frank Ince recounts hair raising exploits while Hanging around at

Cligga.

Mike Leppington undergoes an Executive Profile and reveals he launched a lifetime

love of minerals from a career in accountancy. Shirley Adrian survived her Member

Profile experience - a shrinking violet when first asked, but I think the result is a

refreshing floral display of her enthusiasm. Steve Burchmore in My Rock Room is

next up for an invasion of privacy and it’s great fun to peek through the window.

Sheila Harper is on form with her second Sheila’s Fizz, followed by a welcome

return of Mike Dannatt with Mineral Collecting? It’s for the Birds! which gives a

chance to put in a gorgeous Rob Selley photo. And this section is rounded off by

Harry Critchley’s The Tomato Tray Tales (my title not his). Finally it’s a rich

brew of Curator’s Corner, Sitting Comfortably, Trevor’s Geochemistry Notes,

Harper’s Pin Mounting, Hair Grips and Serious Glue amongst other subjects, plus a

short Binn’s Puzzle and lots of Branch news.

Surely something for all of you somewhere in that lot!

David Roe

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Officer’s Contact Information

CHAIRMAN

Martin Stolworthy

01603 872420

Homeview, 1 Richmond Place,

Lyng, Norwich

Norfolk NR9 5RF

VICE CHAIRMAN

Richard Belson

01603 413003

11 Waldemar Avenue,

Hellesdon, Norwich

Norfolk NR6 6TB

SECRETARY

Phil Taylor

01476 632021

Dunvegan, 96 Kingsfield Road,

Kintore, Inverurie,

Aberdeen AB51 0UD

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY

& TREASURER

David Binns

01424 752752

3 The Dene, Hastings,

East Sussex TN35 4PD

NEWSLETTER EDITOR

David Roe

01752 896432

20 Lutterburn Street, Ugborough,

Ivybridge, Devon PL21 0NG

david@d-roe.freeserve.co.uk

SYMPOSIUM ORGANISER

Martin F Gale

01375 844955

2 Coles Cottages, Rectory Road,

West Tilbury, Essex. RM18 8UD

If you have a purple highlight on your Newsletter envelope label then this is

the second reminder about your overdue 2014 annual subscription.

Prompt payment would be much appreciated. Please send a cheque

payable to the British Micromount Society for £10 (single) or £12 (family)

to David Binns (3 The Dene, Hastings TN35 4PD.)

Welcome to new members

Ralph Sutcliffe Craven Cottage, Hartlington Raikes, Skipton, N. Yorks. BD23 6BX

rasutcliffe@tiscali.co.uk

Changes, additions and corrections to the 2013 Membership List

Don Blake Resigned due to ill health

Chris Finch Correct phone number is 01235 762054

Bill Mason 8 South Street, 4350-Rangeville, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Phil Taylor Changed email: phil.taylor@bakerhughes.com

Ulrich Wagner & Sigrid Teige

Changed email: wagnerul@gmx.de

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Edward (Eddie) Foy (1930 – 2013)

Stephen Burchmore

Eddie was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and was the youngest brother to his two

sisters. Eddie started his working life at the age of 12 in a bake house, and this

subsequently led him into the catering industry where he worked all his life. Even

when he joined the Royal Air Force he became the personal chef to his commanding

officer eventually ending up in Arkansas USA. On his return to the England and civvy

street he opened a restaurant in Luton, Beds.

I first met and became friends with Eddie in the early 90’s at an Open University short

evening course on fossils run by Neville Hollingworth. At the end of the course it was

decided to set up the Milton Keynes Geological Society to help some of us continue

our interest. Eddie was the natural choice for Chairman, a post he held for many

years.

We started to go to Mineral Shows and at one of them we met Austin Lockwood and

Pearl Freeman who had put on a display for the BMS. Seeing what they were doing

completely changed the way we collected and within a couple of weeks we both had a

microscope and had joined the British Micromount Society - a whole new world had

opened up for us - one that you all know about.

Eddie was a regular visitor with the Milton Keynes Geological Society to the Cardiff

area, Chipping Sodbury and Derbyshire where he collected some of his prized

specimens. He also collected abroad – in Australia and North America - and he

enjoyed underground collecting as much as above ground. We also both joined the

Russell Society and went on a number of their field trips - I remember the first one

being to Builth Well in Wales led by Stephen Plant, we didn’t find much but Eddie was

always good company so we had a great day anyway.

Eddie had a great love for music; particularly the Big Band Sound and he sang and

played bass in a number of bands over the years. But perhaps Eddie’s greatest passion

was sharing his enthusiasm for geology; he spent much of his spare time going to local

schools, taking a display with him and he always enjoyed helping out with displays for

the Milton Keynes Geological Society at their open days. Sadly Eddie was forced to

give up collecting in his later years as his eyes began to fail and then in June 2012 he

was diagnosed with cancer which he battled with until his death in October 2013.

I have only just learned of the sad news that BMS member Tom Levinson of

Westbury on Trym, Bristol died in February 2014. David Roe

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New Symposium Venue

Martin Stolworthy, Richard Belson, Martin Gale

As many of you will know, accommodation and catering problems had been increasing

at the annual BMS Symposium held at the Stoneycroft hotel in Leicester. These finally

came to a head last year with a near total meltdown of the Friday evening meal, when

the Chef and the Manager had a major disagreement. This, together with a number of

other issues at the hotel, meant that the need to find a new venue for the Symposium

became essential.

In the weeks between the

Symposium and the Bakewell Show,

several members searched for

venues in the Midlands area that

would be suitable. We narrowed

the list down to two places that

gave quotes that seemed to be

reasonable in spite of them being

much more than we had ever paid before. One was College Court in Leicester, quite

close to the University Buildings and on the edge of Victoria Park. The second was

just off the M1 near Loughborough. The latter was a budget hotel and although the

rooms they offered us were large enough, there would have been major problems

with privacy and security.

This left us with College Court which seems to offer everything that we are looking

for. It is a brand new,

purpose built conference

centre complex and is a

self-funded part of the

University of Leicester.

There is a large car park,

with more than enough

room to accommodate all

our delegates. On the

ground floor there is a

Reception area leading

through to a lovely bright

Dinning/Restaurant, and

other areas for quiet

recreation.

There are stairs and lifts up to a first floor where the function rooms are arranged

around a large conference room that is big enough to accommodate all of us and is

fully equipped with audio/visual services. All around the main room are side rooms of

various sizes that have facilities for meetings, talks, and these also have full audio/visual

Martin and the team bring us up to date on

the new custom made venue for the 2014

BMS Symposium – it promises to be

comfortable, professional and (fingers

crossed) all we could ask for.

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equipment. The accommodation is arranged on three levels on the opposite side of a

large outdoor recreation area. The rooms are nearly all set up for single occupancy,

but have double beds. Those who wish to share a room can do so.

All of this comes at a cost - and the price we are charging for the symposium this year

means that we will need to subsidize it from the main BMS funds, if the proceeds of

the auction do not generate the necessary amount of cash. There will be an

opportunity to discuss the feedback and cost implications at the AGM on the Sunday.

The function rooms are charged to

us in a way that means that the

£50.00 cost for this year’s

Symposium will cover from the start

at 2.00pm on Friday, through to a

2.00pm finish on Sunday with light

refreshments of tea, coffee and

biscuits available and a Saturday

finger buffet lunch. We have also

been informed that the bar will be

open from 5.00pm each day!

At the moment we have booked the large room that will serve as the main delegate

room for microscopes and looking at specimens. The management say that 70 people,

plus all their equipment will fit into the room. We have also booked a function room,

which is where the lectures and other meetings will take place. There are also a

couple of smaller rooms that will be used for microscope cleaning, our office and the

competitions. We have been told that we could also make use of areas and spaces in

the foyers and areas outside the rooms for setting up the ‘Give-away’ tables and other

attractions.

This year we will be asking for payment in advance for everything including the

accommodation, when you complete the registration form. This is because we have to

pay College Court at the end of July once we know the numbers of attendees. Full

details of these costs including meals will be in the registration documents that will be

sent to you very shortly.

This year’s Symposium promises to be the start of the next stage in the history of the

British Micromount Society Symposium and we look forward to you joining us there.

So if you have never been to a Symposium, or stopped coming for whatever reason,

or have always been a regular attendee then come and be part of what promises to be

a memorable weekend of friends, minerals and rock talk in custom made surroundings

with all mod cons at the College Court!

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Photographing My Collection

Martin Stolworthy

I was talking last year with Mark Wrigley from E-Rocks and Thames Valley Minerals

about the way he did his photos, and he mentioned that he used Daylight Bulbs. I

could not find anything locally but then my wife mentioned that she had seen some

light bulbs in the local craft and garden centre that might be OK. The bulb in question

worked perfectly. It is a PURElite Natural Daylight Bulb, CFPL20ES 220-240v, 50Hz,

6500K which is a spiral shape with a screw fitting and you can find details on the

internet http://www.art-of-craft.co.uk/

I use two angle poise lamps, one each side of the camera and an A4 sheet of a neutral

colour card. Any camera with Macro close up facility would be suitable but my

camera of choice is my faithful old Nikon Cool Pix 4500 twist body set on a tripod to

give stability. What I do with my

camera is turn off the flash, put the

camera in Auto mode, turn on Macro

Mode and adjust it until the little

flower symbol goes yellow, set the

timer to 10 seconds, arrange the

specimen to fit the screen area and

press the shutter. The results are

stunning. It does not matter how large or small the subject is, because the camera will

focus on whatever is positioned within the frame.

The automatic shutter speed and F-

stop is usually between 1/250 F5.6 and

1/125 F3.5. It is brighter during the day

when more natural light is available, but

even at night when the room is lit by

normal domestic lighting it does not go

below the lower setting. The depth of

field is excellent especially on the larger

specimens that are at the limits of the

camera’s range.

After taking the photos I use a photo

software program to adjust the

sharpness and tweak the contrast or lighting. I also reduce the picture size to

1024x768 as this has the effect of making a much smaller file that still looks quite good

on any PC screen and loads quicker on the computer. I also break down the sizes of

the folders by putting the photos into smaller groups, at the moment they are

arranged into 1000 files in each folder based on the specimen numbers from my

collection.

Martin Stolworthy gets to grips with

digitalising his collection. A tonne of rock is

reduced to a memory stick before your very

eyes!

And only another 12,000 specimens to go.

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Another tip I have found is that by

putting only the number, name and

first line of the location into the file

name box, searching is much easier

and you can filter out by species or

site, when using Windows Explorer or

any of its more recent manifestations.

It’s a fairly painless and speedy

process and gives pretty good results

– for example this Hematite from

Florence Mine. I have started on the

larger specimens and at the end of

January I had already photographed over a thousand specimens.

Lens Cleaning

David Green

Microscope lenses, particularly eyepieces, tend to gradually build up a coating of fine

dust and greasy deposits even if they are kept covered. This can be tricky to remove, if

left for a long enough time to allow the grease to harden. They progressively reduce

the brightness and contrast of the image, which can eventually appear dull and flat.

The dust present in a typical mineral

room is a mixture of household dust

(mostly softer than lens surfaces and

not scratchy) and microscopic

fragments produced by trimming and

preparing specimens (which, of

course, are hard and abrasive). The

greasy deposits on lenses seem to be derived primarily from kitchen oils and fats,

possibly from aerosols such as furniture polish, and from oily skin secretions. Hard

mineral particles embedded in a thin film of sticky grease are difficult to remove

without scratching. This is especially the case on modern lenses, which typically have a

soft coating a few hundred nanometres thick deposited on the surface of the glass to

reduce stray reflections.

A common recommendation for cleaning filters and lenses is to breathe on them and

wipe gently from the centre outward. Unless this is done with great care, gritty

particles can produce scratches. Any scratches produced by cleaning permanently

reduce the contrast in an image; they are a particular problem in mineral photography.

An occasional wipe probably doesn’t do too much harm, but repeatedly wiping a lens

surface, especially on a microscope used in a mineral room, can cause noticeable

damage.

David Green battles with his alcohols,

ethers and alkanes in search of crystal clear

optics – but his best advice is don’t get

them dirty in the first place!

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A blower-brush is a good way to remove particles of dust and grit. Painting the lens

surface with a polymer solution (several proprietary brands are available) and peeling

it and any particles of dust and grit off is even better. I use First Contact polymer

optical cleaner, which is available in 15 ml bottles from Stanwax Laser for £25

(http://shop.stanwaxlaser.co.uk/first-contact-opticlean-48-c.asp). However I have found

that neither method is wholly successful on surfaces that are very greasy. A solvent

that will soften and dissolve the grease is required.

There are many recommendations for suitable lens cleaning solvents. Alcohol (in this

context usually isopropanol) works well; it is easy to obtain, and relatively safe to use

as long as its flammability is borne in mind. More aggressive solvents such as xylene

and acetone are recommended by some authors but they are harder to get, more

toxic, and can affect other parts of the microscope; they certainly need to be used

with care. A friend who restores microscopes recently recommended a cleaning

solution for stubborn greasy deposits made (as he described) by mixing alcohol and

ether in an 85:15 ratio. A small bottle subsequently arrived as a try out.

To most people without a detailed knowledge of organic chemistry (certainly me) the

word “ether” means diethyl ether, known more properly as ethoxyethane, a small

molecule with a characteristic smell and anaesthetic properties. Not the safest

compound for home use (especially with its tendency to form explosive peroxides in

storage), but as it was in a bottle containing just a few millilitres I decided to try it out.

The results were excellent, greasy marks on a camera filter disappeared quickly and

easily; and microscope eyepieces cleaned beautifully.

Surprisingly, the cleaning solution didn’t smell at all like ether. A little research

provided the reason. The word “ether” is used by organic chemists to describe a class

of compounds containing the ether group, which consists of an oxygen atom linking

two carbon chains. It is also used to describe completely unrelated solvents (aah... the

joys of chemistry). In the case of the cleaning solution, the “ether” is in fact petroleum

ether, essentially a mixture of pentane and hexane. Petroleum ether is highly

flammable, but otherwise much less worrying than diethyl ether. I will be using it, along

with paint-on polymer films for occasional cleaning of my microscope lenses, and

would recommend it to any other member with a ‘difficult’ microscope to clean and

restore.

P.S. The best way to keep lenses clean is not to get them dirty in the first place!

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Arthurite, an overlooked Cornish classic!

Malcolm Southwood

February 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the death of the renowned British

mineral collector Sir Arthur Russell. His collection, which now resides in the Natural

History Museum in London, is widely regarded as the finest private collection of

British minerals ever assembled.

Two minerals were named in Sir Arthur’s honour, both of them with Cornish type

localities. In 1938 russellite, Bi 3WO6, was described from the Castle-an-Dinas Mine at

St Columb (Hey and Bannister). Then in

1964, arthurite, a hydrated copper iron

arsenate, CuFe2(AsO4)2(OH)2.4H2O,

was described from Hingston Down

Consols, and named to honour both

Russell and his close friend and fellow

mineralogist Arthur Kingsbury. (Davis

and Hey, 1964). (Subsequently

Kingbury’s reputation has been

irreparably tarnished by the posthumous discovery of numerous incidents of

mineralogical fraud - see Ryback, et al., 2001).

Unfortunately, I don’t have a type locality russellite in my collection; I do own some

reasonable specimens of arthurite, however, and I decided to take a closer look at

them.

In 1954, ten years before arthurite was described, Sir Arthur had submitted a possible

new mineral from Hingston Down Consols, but there proved to be insufficient

material for analysis. Arthur Kingsbury supplied further specimens from the same

locality in 1957, but the admixture of the new mineral with pharmacosiderite and a

hidalgoite-like mineral prevented proper characterisation. By 1964, improved analytical

techniques facilitated a full description of “arthurite”; sadly, the paper was read in

March, shortly after Sir Arthur’s death, and published in September of the same year

(Davis and Hey, op. cit.).

Arthurite crystallises in the monoclinic system and its colour ranges from emerald

green, through apple green, to pale olive. At the type locality it generally occurs as

minute fibrous crystals arranged radially to form crusts and spherulitic aggregates

(Bernard and Hyršl, 2004). Figures 1 and 2 show two views of a rich specimen of

arthurite from the type locality. In this example, the arthurite appears to be

overgrowing quartz and scorodite, and the close-up view (Fig. 2) shows the globular

structure of the arthurite encrustation very clearly.

Malcolm Southwood reminds us that the

gentle apple green arthurite deserves to be

taken out of the cabinet and enjoyed anew

under the microscope – a lovely

understated mineral

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Fig.1: Green crusts and spherulitic

aggregates of arthurite associated with

earlier quartz and scorodite.

Specimen MS2000.023 measures 90mm in

maximum dimension.

Fig.2: A close-up of the specimen in Figure

1, showing the globular structure of the

arthurite crust.

Specimen MS2000.023; FOV 25mm.

Other Cornish localities for arthurite include the nearby Hingston Down Quarry,

Gunheath China Clay Pit at St Austell, and the Cligga Head Mine near Perranzabuloe

(Tindle, 2008). At each of these localities, the arthurite occurs as crusts; crystals are

extremely rare. It was only in 1969 that the discovery of a tiny crystal allowed Davis

and Hey (1969) to revisit the species and resolve certain discrepancies between the

structure and chemistry that were inherent in the original description. At this time

they also demonstrated minor substitution of phosphorus and sulphur for arsenic in

the arthurite formula.

Fig.3: Radiating sprays of tiny apple-green

arthurite prisms, associated with scorodite

and minor brochantite, from Majuba Hill,

Nevada, USA. Specimen MM 2015; FOV is

8mm.

For the record, well-crystallised

arthurite is considerably more common

at localities outside of the United

Kingdom, notably at Majuba Hill in

Nevada, USA, where it occurs as

prismatic crystals to 2mm (Bernard and

Hyršl, op. cit.; Jensen, 1985). Majuba

Hill is an important arsenate locality

that bears comparison with Cornwall’s

Wheal Gorland (Southwood, 2002).

Figure 3 shows sprays of radiating,

apple-green arthurite crystals

associated with scorodite (glassy-white)

and a little brochantite (spearmint-

green), from the Copper Stope, at

Majuba Hill.

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References

Bernard, J.H. & Hyršl, J. (2004). Minerals & their Localities. Granit, Czech Republic, 807pp

Davis, R.J. & Hey, M.H. (1964). Arthurite, a new copper iron arsenate from Cornwall. Min.

Mag., 33, 937-941

Davis, R.J. & Hey, M.H. (1969). The cell contents of arthurite redetermined. Min. Mag., 37,

520-521

Hey, M.H. & Bannister, F.A. (1938). Russellite, a new British mineral. Min. Mag., 25, 45-51

Jensen, M. (1985). The Majuba Hill Mine, Pershing Cnty, Mineralogical Record, 16(1), 57-72

Ryback, G, et al. (2001). A.W.G. Kingsbury’s specimens of British minerals. Part 1: Some

examples of falsified localities. Journal of the Russell Society. 7(2), 51-69

Southwood, M.J. (2002). Arsenical Ramblings. BMS Newsletter, 61, 2-10

Tindle, A.G. (2008). Minerals of Britain and Ireland. Terra Publishing, England

Notes on the Minerals of Littleham Cove

David Ifold

At Littleham Cove, near Budleigh Salterton, large hard nodules up to 20 cm in

diameter can be found exposed in red mudstones of presumed Permian age.

Surprisingly, no references to the nodules can be found in early Memoirs of the

Geological Survey and the nodules were first noted relatively recently in the

mineralogical literature (Carter 1931).

Carter collected nodules from the beach

at Littleham and had them cut in half,

placing the cut surface on photographic

paper for periods of up to three weeks.

Images developed which followed the

areas of light and dark within the nodule.

Analysis of material showed the elements

vanadium, nickel, cobalt, aluminium and

iron but no tests were done for many

other elements. Uranium was thought to make up only a trace element within the

nodules and be the cause of the bleached halos around the nodules and for the other

bleached areas within the mudstones. Carter noted what he thought were similar

structures elsewhere in Devon including the Peppercombe/ Portledge area on the

North Devon Coast. At Peppercombe, circular bleached areas in mudstones can be

found with soft black cores which Carter assumed to be smaller versions of the

nodules found at Littleham. Again, he considered the bleached areas to be the result

of damage from nuclear radiation.

Some of Carter’s research material is preserved and is still on display within the

Fairlynch Museum at Budleigh Salterton. An experiment set up by Carter to show that

David Ifold shares his enthusiasm for the

mineral oddities found at Devon’s Littleham

Cove (try metayuyamunite, molybdomenite,

montroseite and paramelaconite for

starters) and also speculates on the issues

arising from making minerals in the garage.

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the material from the nodules will bleach red mudstone is running and a colour change

is still awaited!

Until the 1970’s, the nodules escaped

further attention. Nowadays, the geology

of Littleham Cove, and in particular, the

mineralogy of the native copper found

there is of interest to research scientists

from around the world. Copper has been

considered as a possible material to make

canisters in which to house nuclear waste

in deep burial sites so the location has

now attracted attention. The question has

been asked, "What happens to copper in

the long term presence of radiation and

could Littleham Cove help provide the

answer?"

MinDat lists some fifty seven different minerals from the cove of which langisite,

huemulite, metayuyamunite, molybdomenite, montroseite, paramelaconite,

paramontroseite and pascoite cannot be found elsewhere in the U.K. For the

amateur mineralogist, the site initially appears attractive and but many who have been

there come away disappointed. In my opinion, with careful planning the site does

offer considerable potential but you must accept that you will come away with orange

and yellow secondaries that you will struggle to identify.

So, what to expect? Littleham Cove is

difficult to access. The old path down the

cliff from the caravan site is largely missing

as a result of coastal erosion with

considerable amounts of dangerously

loose rock waiting to fall. The only safe

approach is to park in Budleigh Salterton

and walk along the beach into Littleham

Cove – but times of particularly high tides

should be avoided. It is a continuous

stretch of pebble beach which can be hard

under foot. Avoid walking too close to the

cliff as the initial stretch of cliff is made of

the Budleigh Pebble Beds consisting of fist

sized pebbles that regularly come

clattering down the rock face.

The nodules are concentrated in three horizons in the red Littleham mudstone and

can be easily identified once you have walked far enough along the beach. Around the

Eroded nodule showing internal structure

David Ifold photograph

Littleham Cove from Budleigh Salterton

David Ifold photograph

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nodules, along the bedding planes and joints, you will see bleached rock which is

accepted now to be the product of chemical reduction – not radiation. Remember,

that as you approach the cove, the nodule bearing horizons get more prolific. Resist

the temptation to crack every nodule you find as this is generally a pointless pursuit.

The black cores to the nodules are of interest but you need access to analytical

equipment. Several interesting photographs appear in the Bulletin of the Geological

Survey (Harrison 1975) including one of a nodule cut and polished to reveal a metallic

annular grain of niccolite/rammelsbergite. Another picture shows sheets of native

copper for which Littleham Cove is noted.

It has been my experience that the best time to visit is after periods of warm calm

weather and most of my successes have been above the high tide mark. Nodules are

continually eroded from the cliff and if they remain above high tide mark they have a

chance to decompose to produce secondary minerals. Against the generally south

facing cliff this process is quite speedy when the weather is fine. If the weather is hot,

the minerals of interest form over a period of a few weeks at most.

This does raise the interesting question as

to whether you could collect nodules and

encourage the same processes at home?

Would this be a true mineral and would

you be prepared to add it to your

collection? Is there enough difference

between the reactions taking place in a

nodule sitting at the base of a south facing

cliff to one that has been placed at the

base of a south facing wall in your garden?

I have placed on Mindat a selection of

recent photos which give a flavour of

what to expect at Littleham Cove. I

should add that the winter storms removed a lot of the beach exposing the wave cut

platform underneath. In the normal cycle, the beach will return for the summer

months but certainly during March 2014 the high tides reached the base of the cliff in

numerous places.

I have recently started visiting Peppercombe on the North Devon coast. Rocks here

are of a similar age to those of Littleham Cove and the BGS have recorded uranium in

soil samples. In the finer grained Permian rocks along the foreshore, bleached spheres

with central black spots reaching four millimetres can be found. These have been

noted in sedimentology studies (Gayer & Cornford, 1992) but there appears to be no

published analysis. I would suggest that this black material contains some of the

elements copper, silver, nickel, cobalt, chromium, vanadium and uranium just like that

Nodule showing internal structure

David Ifold photograph

15

of Littleham. In my opinion, there is little chance of the rare secondaries forming as

material is scarce and the coastline is cold as it faces north.

Similar concretionary structures occur in the Permian of the Midlands so there is

scope for research elsewhere. Should anyone be considering visiting Littleham Cove,

with a little notice, I am often available.

Carter, G. E. L., 1931, An occurrence of vanadiferous nodules in the Permian beds of South

Devon, Mineralogical Magazine, 22, 609-613

Gayer, R. A. & Cornford, C., 1992, The Portledge-Peppercombe Permian Outlier,

Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 8, 15-18

Harrison, R. K., 1975 Concretionary Concentrations of the Rarer Elements in Permo-Triassic

Red Beds of South West England, Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, No. 52,

NERC, HMSO

Philosophical Thoughts on Competitions

Quintin Wight

In my last piece from the west side of the Atlantic, I commented on the differences

between North American and European micromount symposia with respect to

giveaway tables, or as some call them, “freebie” tables. There are other notable

differences and I would like to look at one of them here.

As far as I am aware, most, if not all European symposia, host competitions of some

kind: best micromount, best mineral specimen, best photograph, best dessert (for

Continentals, who like to eat), and so-on. By and large, North American symposia do

not do that. The major mineral shows

such as Tucson or Denver do have

competitions, but those shows are not

micromount symposia; they are massive

events with competitive displays in

which one might enter a showcase of

micromounts rather than a single item

or small group.

It isn’t that the idea hasn’t been tried. Every once in a while, a host group will decide

to include some sort of competition in their symposium. It may last one or two

sessions but then it fades away. Some years ago, the Micromineralogists of the

National Capital Area (Washington, DC), had a competition in which the aim was to

mount the smallest crystal. It has not been repeated. The basic question is why?

Americans and Canadians are certainly competitive—just watch an American

“football” game or a Canadian hockey game! One isn’t likely to experience concussion

or broken bones in a micromount competition, so what’s the barrier?

Our North America correspondent muses

on another conundrum of cultural

differences – what happens to the free

market spirit of Stateside micromounters

when it comes to competitions?

16

The short answer is “I don’t know”. My personal feeling, and I emphasize that it is

personal and based on opinion, not on demonstrable fact, is that North American

groups lack the sense of community that is pervasive among Europeans. It may sound

odd to suggest that a community feeling could foster competition within the group,

but one might consider it perhaps as a case of congenial sibling rivalry as opposed to a

challenge for individual superiority. It is useful to note that competitions start with

cooperation. It is difficult for a single person to say: “I am creating a competition.” In

practice, an individual proposes the idea of a competition to the community, then the

community works cooperatively to bring the idea to fruition. Where there is little

sense of true community, where individuals tend to treat a micromount symposium as

a service centre rather than an organization requiring membership and personal effort,

then there will be less impetus to work together to make it happen.

It is true that North America, and in particular the USA, places an emphasis on

individuality and self-sufficiency. One might think that that would encourage

competition, and it does—on a large scale. The competitions at major events such as

Tucson or Denver call for great personal confidence and offer great recognition in

return. On the scale of a micromount symposium, however, there are other factors to

consider. To return to my sibling rivalry analogy for a moment, one might say that

there is a difference between bragging about one’s creations to brothers and sisters,

and bragging about them to strangers. Many in North America have large distances to

travel to reach a micromount meeting. For example, I live 450 kilometres from the

closest one (in Rochester, New York), and I have to cross an international border to

get there. The nearest one in Canada is 630 kilometres away, and the Micromounters’

Hall of Fame ceremonies in Baltimore are 800 kilometres distant. Many other North

American micromounters face the same scale of travel. As a result we may only see

each other once or twice a year, and have little contact otherwise. Under the

circumstances, it is difficult to generate a feeling of community. The philosophy of

individualism and the scattering of resources or talents are not conducive to the

cooperative effort required to generate and sustain a competition—or much else for

that matter.

Clearly, I have been using a broad brush. There are micromount associations in North

America whose members are close, and pitch in strongly to provide good

programmes—though few competitions. There are others that come together for a

few days, then disperse with the wind. Micromount gatherings have a common

purpose, but they are not clones, and one philosophy—or one opinion—does not

necessarily fit all.

Are my ruminations perceptive or complete nonsense? I have no way of knowing—but

then it will not be disturbing my sleep.

17

In 2012 we had an anatase fest, in 2013 a wulfenite binge so what should it be for the

2014 Symposium? I’m torn between rare earth melodies or linarite licentiate. Are

there any better choices for us to dust down and bring out into the light at the

Symposium? Contributor – David Roe

Rock

Chip

pin

gs

Queen Victoria and Minerals of the Cairngorms

Roy Starkey was one of the speakers at the recent Russell Society

weekend in Portland, Dorset and his presentation was entitled “At home

with Queen Victoria” – a seemingly improbable topic for a mineralogical

gathering. However, it transpired that Roy’s new-found interest in Queen

Victoria, was in fact sparked by his current research into the minerals of

the Cairngorms. This had led him to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight,

which was one of Queen Victoria’s many “second homes”. In the garden is

the “Swiss Cottage Museum” which houses a remarkably interesting

collection of mineral specimens and other natural history objects including

a number personally collected by Victoria herself.

Queen Victoria journeyed deep into the heart of the Cairngorm mountains

of Scotland on several occasions, as recorded in her journals, and some of

the specimens which she collected, from Beinn a’ Bhuird, and elsewhere

are preserved at Osborne House. Other Cairngorms specimens, some

very fine indeed, are at Balmoral Castle on Deeside although the history of

these is presently unknown. The Great Exhibition of 1851, master-minded

by Prince Albert, featured numerous Scottish minerals and the jewellery

made from them.

The fascinating story of the minerals of the Cairngorms is the subject of

Roy’s forthcoming book which he hopes to have completed in the autumn

of 2014. His researches have delved into the social history of the people

who once sought so-called “Cairngorm Stones”, the lapidaries and

jewellers who created and fuelled the demand for gem material, and a

comprehensive survey of the specimens which form the legacy of these

activities in both public and private collections.

Other sections deal with various historical and more recent collectors,

mineral dealers, and even the quest to find quartz of a suitable quality for

use in oscillators for the war effort, back in the 1940s. The book is

expected to be around 250 pages, with some 200 colour illustrations of

localities, specimens and various artefacts, and sounds like it might make an

ideal Christmas present for a mineral or gemstone enthusiast near you!

Contributor – David Roe

18

Rock

Chip

pin

gs

Zeolite Data Base

In the last Newsletter Roy Starkey alerted members to the excellent

website at www.iza-on-line.org run by the International Zeolite Association

(IZA). This has a link to its Structure Commission which has the authority

of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to

confirm members of the zeolite group of minerals based on a full

determination of their molecular structures by such techniques as single

crystal X-Ray crystallography or by synchrotron radiation. This extends to

natural and synthetic zeolites, and all accepted zeolite structures are

allocated a three letter code e.g. ANA for analcime.

The list of zeolites on the link to Natural Zeolite includes four species

which have not yet been confirmed as zeolites - alfarsenite, cowlesite,

kirchhoffite and tvedalite. The presence of cowlesite in the list may cause a

few eye-brows to be raised since its occurrence as small, thin, crystals

coupled with the presence of intergrowths (probably thomsonite) has, to

date, defied the efforts of all zeolite structure experts, including the

custodians of the IZA structure database, to determine its structure!

I have supplied many samples of suspected cowlesite for structural analysis

and have had only one encouraging response by an expert who told me

that he had found a new phase of an unknown structure in one of the

samples provided. This was about 4 years ago and since then no further

information has been forthcoming. The type locality for cowlesite is Goble,

Oregon but it has also been found in Kingsburgh Quarry on Skye and

locations in Northern Ireland.

Most of the links on the Zeolite Data Base website are driven by the huge

commercial importance of synthetic zeolites as catalysts, molecular sieves,

drying agents, detergent additives, etc., but readers may find something of

interest in them.

There is also a link to the British Zeolite Association, which is the oldest

national association focusing on these minerals and it held its 37th Annual

Meeting at Glasgow University this April. Technically the IZA came into

existence at a Conference in Chicago in the same year (1977) although an

International Zeolite Conference Organisation Committee had been

effective for some years prior.

The importance of the work of Professor Richard Maling Barrer (Imperial

College) on zeolites is covered by another link to the History of

International Zeolite Conferences as related in a book by Professor

Carmine Collela (A Short History of the International Zeolite Conference).

Richard Barrer is internationally recognised as the “Father of Zeolite

Science” and his pioneering work (c.1937) was on natural zeolites Contributor - Alan Dyer

19

Hanging around at Cligga

Frank Ince

As a family we have always enjoyed our holidays in Cornwall: sun, sea and beaches;

and for one member of the family, the mines and minerals. In July 1986 we booked a

bungalow in Perranporth and one obvious family excursion was along the coastal path

to Cligga Head; and an excellent walk it

was (and still is). We pottered around

on the dumps and found ‘locality’

specimens of cassiterite, wolframite

pharmacosiderite, scorodite, and,

possibly, topaz; a number of these made

reasonable micros. Having only

scratched the surface (both literally and metaphorically) I was convinced that I ought

to return on my own for a more thorough search down on the beach and towards

Hanover Cove.

Later that week I left the family to enjoy the delights of Perranporth and retraced our

steps to Cligga. After an interesting scramble down to the beach on the west side of

Cligga Head, the rocks and the accessible areas of the cliff face produced cassiterite,

wolframite, possibly stannite and some rocks stained with of various shades of green.

Of course, if I had taken the trouble to dig more deeply amongst the rocks on the

beach, who knows what I might have found: botallackite? Snaking up the cliff was a

wolframite-containing vein and about 15 ft above the beach there was a loose-looking

block (about 18” across) with one flattened corner covered by cleaved blades of black

wolframite. Unfortunately, it was out of reach, even after constructing a wobbly

pyramid of boulders (drat and double-drat) and then a squall blew in from the west

and I had a wet and windy walk back up the cliff.

Over the next day-or-so, as I thought about this block, I came up with a possible

solution. In the car I had a modest length of redundant climbing rope that was being

used as a tow rope. Would it be possible to find a suitable place from which to abseil

down the cliff and have a closer look at the block? Now quite a few of you will have

had some fun abseiling and I suspect that you did this in relative comfort using a

climbing harness and an abseil device; however, as I had not imagined that they would

be needed on this holiday, I had to resort to a classic abseil. This involves sitting in a

loop of rope that passes between your legs, holding onto the rope above you with

your left hand whilst controlling the rate of descent by changing the amount of friction

(produced by the rope spiralling around your body and over your right shoulder) with

the right hand (holding on to the remainder of the rope that is now dangling below

you). The down-side of a classic abseil is that as the rock gets steeper more and more

of your weight is taken on the rope between your legs (ouch).

Frank launches into the void in search of a

lump of wolframite and also provides a

master class in abseiling

20

A couple of days later I was down on Cligga beach again with as much climbing gear as

I could muster (one tow rope) and looking for an abseil point. Luckily the block in

question was on the steep side of a blunt arête with what turned out to be a fairly

easy scramble up the other side. From there I found a small ledge with a well-placed

crack that was almost vertically above the block. It was an easy task to hammer in a

spare chisel and loop the doubled rope around it with a figure-of-eight knot to make

the abseil point.

It was time to put my money where my mouth was; so, with a hammer and a long

chisel secreted about my person, and the feeling of apprehension that I always have

when starting an abseil, I launched off into the void (well ~30 ft of space). Initially all

went well and after a smooth descent I was face-to-face with the object of my desire.

After locking-off the rope with a few coils round my right arm, I had a closer look at

the wolframite and I was pleased to see that it was much better than anything that I

had found on the beach. However, I still had to work out how to keep myself in one

place AND leave a hand (ideally both hands) free to extract the block. This was

achieved by wrapping several coils of the rope below me around my right leg and

holding the rope above me in the crook of my left arm. I was now reasonably static;

but not necessarily stable! To carry out any serious hammering I had to get as close to

the rock as possible; unfortunately, this meant that I needed to be almost vertical and

nearly all of my weight was now on the rope between my legs (ouch, ouch). A bit of

work with the hammer and chisel proved that the block was indeed partly detached

and, after a rather painful struggle, it was loose enough to be removed.

But how was I to get it out and down to the beach without any damage? This turned

out to be beyond me and I resorted to levering it out and letting it fall to the beach

below. With some considerable relief I completed the abseil and, after regaining some

feeling in my unmentionables, I went to inspect the fallen block. Remarkably the

wolframite still looked OK; the block had fallen on its less-interesting side (thus

defying the buttered-bread version of Sod’s Law). There was no way that I felt like

carrying the whole block up the cliff so I needed to remove a reasonable specimen

with minimum damage. In the past I had not had much luck with breaking up large

lumps of rock to produce acceptable specimens; however, on this occasion a bit of

careful work with a hammer and chisel produced an acceptable hand specimen (145

mm x 85 mm x 30 mm; hardly a micro!!) covered with rough blades of dark reddish-

brown to black wolframite (to 30 mm) with some white to pale yellow quartz, cream

to orange mica (?gilbertite) and minor grey-green tourmaline (?schorl).

Were all these trials and tribulations worth it? Of course they were. It is still the best

specimen of wolframite that I have ever collected; although, every time I see it

amongst my Cornwall specimens I feel a certain tightening in the nether regions.

21

Executive Profile

What do the officers of the British Micromount Society get up to in their

spare time? Mike Leppington recently retired after many years’ service to

the BMS accounts department as the BMS auditor and we felt Mike

deserved a space to talk about his life and enthusiasm for micromounting

Tell us about your early life. I was born in Tynemouth, moved to Haydon Bridge

when I was 6 years old, went to Hexham Grammar school and on leaving school took

articles with a firm of Chartered Accountants in Newcastle upon Tyne. Once qualified

I moved to Leicester to work for Coopers & Lybrand.

And somewhat surprisingly it was accountancy that gave you your chance

to travel to Africa? Yes - I went to Uganda for a six month secondment in 1966 and

while I was there picked up a couple of nondescript minerals from the Kilembe Mine. I

really became interested in minerals after I went to Zambia in 1971 when I was based

at Kitwe on the Copper Belt. All the roads on the estate where I was housed were

composed of mine waste. So when I took the dog for a walk I would pick up bits of

green and blue rock.

And you then began to get serious? That was in 1973 when I moved to Lusaka.

The firm I worked for employed mineralogists, a couple of whom taught me a lot and

also took me to out of the way collecting locations.

And you got some emeralds as well? When I was in Kitwe one of my jobs was to

deliver the wages to the Kafubu Emerald Mine and of course I acquired a few emeralds

as souvenirs. At the time the mine consisted of a hole in the ground and employed

about 30 workers with picks, shovels and a wheel barrow. There was an article in the

Mineralogical Magazine last year about Kafubu and it is now a massive enterprise.

What got you involved with micromounting? After I returned to Leicester in

1976 I met Roger Harker, who at that time had a mineral shop in Leicester. He

introduced me to the Russell Society and also to micros. It was through the Russell

Society that I met Peter Braithwaite who became a very close friend and a great

encouragement to me. I have to say that I get more pleasure from looking at micros

than I do from looking at large specimens.

Where do you stand on the great Blu Tack debate? Peter got me into very good

habits and initially I mounted everything properly, though not to his ideals. However

over the years my standards have slipped and now I use white tack most of the time.

22

Would you describe yourself as a species collector or do you go for

aesthetics? With regards to micromounts I am very much a species collector and

have built up a collection of over 900 different species.

And you specialise? Yes – Zambia - not

surprisingly – because of my time there,

and the Caldbeck Fells because as a

collecting location it was second to none.

Unfortunately that is not now the case,

but I managed to do my collecting before

all the restrictions came in. I also

specialise in Shap Pink Quarry and I am

very keen on uranium minerals. How many mineral specimens do

you have in your collection? I am not

entirely certain. I would hazard a guess at

about 10,000 of which over half are from

the Caldbeck Fells. I am however trying

to thin out my collection.

And presumably you have a few tomato boxes full of rocks? I keep going

through the 61 tomato boxes in the garage initially looking for something I might have

missed, but ultimately thinking it might be more appreciated by collectors on the south

coast who are a long way from Cumbria.

So what are your favourite mineral specimens? For large minerals it would be a

thumbnail topaz from Topaz Mountain, Utah – it’s a beautiful sherry colour and is a

perfect shape. Then there would be a rhodocrosite from N'chwaning I Mine Republic

of South Africa which is on everyone’s list and my vandendriesschite with guilleminite

from Shinkolobwe – the vandendriesschite is, as far as I can tell, superior to the

specimen depicted in “Les Mineraux Secondaires D'Uranium Du Zaire”. If I had to

choose my top three micromounts they would be stibioclaudetite from Wet Swine Gill,

chenite from Red Gill and philipsburgite from Potts Gill.

And any dislikes when it comes to minerals? My least favourite minerals are

gypsum, calcite and quartz.

And if I managed to embezzle a few thousand from the BMS accounts in

order to give you an all-expenses paid mineral collecting trip to anywhere

in the world, where would it be? I would go back to Zambia.

Ianbrucite from Driggeth Mine

Mike Leppington photograph

23

Member Profile

Shirley Adrian has been a well-known face at mineral events over many

years and her regular attendance at the Leicester BMS Symposium shows

that a few hundred mile journey from her home in Oban, Argyll is no

hurdle to an enthusiastic and determined mineral collector.

How long have you been collecting - and how long have you been

micromounting? It now adds up to about 45 years of collecting, and about 42 years

accumulating micromounts. I have to confess to having made very few micromounts

myself – the truth is that most of my micromounts have been done for me by people

like Neil Hubbard, Steve Rust, Richard Bell and the Norfolk Mafia.

What started your interest in minerals? I was born in Norwich and holidays as a

child were spent on the shingly beach at Sheringham, where I collected pebbles,

including things called “thunderbolts”, which I learned later were very worn belemnite

fossils. Then as a new householder in Greater London/Kent I came across an advert in

a DIY magazine, offering tumbled semi-precious stones and I started collecting them.

It was while shopping for more of these I came across the book “Pebbles on the

Beach”, with information on Lapidary Clubs, including the nearby Sidcup Lapidary and

Mineral Society. This introduced me to minerals – whereupon I largely forgot about

the rest.

And your interest in Micromounting? With the club I went on various collecting

trips, and on one of these in the early 70s we were joined by a certain Martin

Stolworthy, who collected little bits for his micromount collection. I was very

impressed! But to possess a microscope was at the time just a dream. So I collected a

fair amount of “stuff” on field trips, and started buying rather better specimens from

the early mineral shows. At one of these someone persuaded me that I really should

join the BMS if I wanted to learn about minerals, so I became a member and bought a

Meiji. Then I could see all those tiny crystals which were keeping the visible crystals

company - but my hopes of collected material taking up less space were not fulfilled.

All those bits of rock with potential vughs ......!

Is there anything in your work that helped? My medical training required me to

pass exams in physics and chemistry and to use a microscope - not stereo - for

biology. Although I have largely forgotten everything, the background has been useful.

Do you specialise in specific locations or are you happy with minerals from

anywhere? It is one of my weaknesses that I never managed to restrict my collecting

to UK minerals or a particular species. I have tried to store them according to their

24

chemical group, as an aide memoire, although such specimens as are on display are

arranged by locality.

Would you describe yourself as a species collector or do you go for

aesthetics? While aesthetic specimens may be my favourite I love my ugly minerals

as well!

How many mineral specimens do you have in your collection? I have about

4,500 specimens catalogued, and several hundred more in the queue. Micros -- I’m not

sure, but they fill four Bisley cabinets. Obviously cataloguing is incomplete!

I imagine you are the sort of person who will have everything organised and

nicely displayed? I wish! Retirement did not work out exactly as planned. Packing

up my collection, ready for the move to Scotland when my husband retired, was fairly

easy as I had plenty of flats, tissue paper, etc., available and time to do it carefully.

However on arrival it turned out my room is rather diminutive and of course drawers

and shelves had to be built. As a result unpacking took much longer than I had hoped,

and I ran out of space. We then organised a shed for the overflow, insulated the

walls, and put up some shelves, found a suitable anti-frost heater, but with family

joining us for summer holidays, and us going to Spain for several visits in the winter

months, my mineral activities were rather curtailed. When all the family then landed

here on top of us, we had to do lots of re-arranging. Needless to say everyone

thought the small corridor of space between my mineral cabinets was ideal as a

dumping ground.

How much time do you manage to spend on it a month? What with cooking

for a family again, trying to keep the garden tidy, getting steadily more arthritic and

senile, there isn’t actually much time (that I’m awake) to devote to my hobby. But I live

in hopes of “sorting it”.

So what are your favourite minerals? My top three are: my Hope’s Nose gold

specimen, collected by David Lloyd – it’s a lovely dendritic leaf of gold on a fragment

of calcite: an azurite specimen from Chessy in France: and a blue Frizington baryte.

Have you a favourite location? Graham Bell and I had a small mineral business for

a while. For a number of years it enabled us to go to Tucson every February and gaze

at some fantastic specimens. Unfortunately the number of zeros increased

exponentially and made it difficult for us, but it was good while it lasted.

(Where would you go if you won an all-expenses paid mineral collecting

trip to anywhere in the world? I no longer dream of collecting trips – just of being

able to catch up with reading my Mineralogical Record magazines and with spending

time with my collection.

25

My Rock Room

Steve Burchmore

Where in house (or garden)? I am lucky as I have plenty of space at work – I run a

horticultural nursery – so I have two 12 ft x 10 ft sheds there - one for the bigger bits

the other for the smaller bits.

What do they look like? The

sheds have either shelves or cabinets

around the outside with a central

block of the same. The 'smaller bits'

shed also has a bench for working at.

At present I am sharing them with a

few spiders and a couple of mice.

Describe your rock crackers. I have a couple of Robert Bunting's Crackers, which

I find great to use and of course the universal club hammer.

Describe your microscopes and lights. I have two microscopes, one that I use

after cracking the rocks for initial checking at work and a Leitz Elvar that I keep at

home for a better look. My lighting is really hi-Tec - B & Q halogen spot lights costing

£9 each - which I find as good as anything.

What boxes do you use? Blue tack or black box and stick? Generally I use the

plastic white, clear lid boxes. I'm afraid it's mineral tack for me. I like to see some

matrix on the specimen, I get more of a feel for where it’s come from. I suspect that

most of my specimens would be further trimmed down by other micromounters.

Where do you keep your minerals - before and after? After collecting the

rocks are kept in black crates in

one of my sheds, although some

are still outside with a sheet over

them. When the rocks become

specimens they either go on the

shelves, usually at the expense of

another specimen or in one of the

cabinets. “Really Useful” boxes

have also come into their own

lately as the sheds seem to be

exploding from the inside.

Your favourite part of micromounting – collecting, cleaning, cracking,

mounting, labelling, putting them in cabinet or showing them? I love

collecting and getting home for that initial look, only to then think why did I collect

that or should have collected more of this. Mounting and labelling has to be done, I

Steve Burchmore boasts not one but two

rock rooms and that is before he brings his

favourites back home to look at under his

Leitz. And he whistles while he works!

26

think it is the collector instinct. Also it’s great to chat to like-minded people. In fact

thinking about it nearly all my 'mates' are mineral collectors - not sure if that's sad or

not.

Least favourite? Feeling guilty about spending time enjoying myself.

How much time a month? I spend maybe 15 to 20 hours a month on minerals – I’d

like to spend longer, but really would have no other mates then!

Listen to radio/ music? Any excuse to listen to music, rock music of course with a

bit of heavy metal. Such as? Might have to be Wishbone Ash for carbonates, Led

Zeppelin for pyromorphite, Sting for copper secondaries, Yes for the fragile stuff, Neil

Young for gold in the middle and Hawkwind for everything else in the universe.

What about your computer?

The computer is at home, I have

yet to list my specimens on a

computer, and the monthly hours

would have to go up dramatically

for that to happen. But I spend a

lot of time doing research on

MinDat and keeping up with other

collector’s Face Book pages. What are you looking at now,

recently cracked, recently

boxed? At the moment I am trying to catch up on labelling, I have a lot of specimens

with just the location name on and I need to do something about that. It is also an

opportunity because you look again at specimens collected a while ago. It is all too

easy to collect, box, store and never look at them again.

How many specimens have you got in your collection? I dread to think!

Probably around five thousand including three thousand micros.

Rock

Chip

pin

gs

Elusive Zircon

The oldest known mineral yet known has been identified from Jack Hills,

Western Australia and the 4.4 billion year old crystal of zircon “weighs in”

at all of 400 micrometers in size. Despite the fact that it is such a resilient

and widespread mineral, with dozens of UK locations listed on Mindat it is

odd that I can only recall seeing zircon from Thurstaston beach, and more

recently, Upper Badcall at the symposium. Why is such a handsome

mineral so unloved and out of fashion? Contributor – David Roe

27

Sheila’s Fizz No.2

Sheila Harper

There are lots of articles about the care, cleaning and displaying of minerals in the

mineral literature. But the subject that’s not much covered is what you do with your

finds in the field before you bring them home. Of course the difficult step is to spot

something that you want to collect in the first place and then to extract it, taking, no

doubt, proper care and attention to all things Health and Safety. One tip I came across

while surfing the web (my fool proof way of putting off writing this article) was from

this year’s Maine Pegmatite Workshop http://homepage.mac.com/rasprague/PegShop

which has an article on the uses of adhesives for mineral collectors. What caught my

eye was what to do in the field if you find the crystal you want to extract is broken.

Try gluing it together in situ using vinyl acetate (white wood glue) and allow it to dry,

which could take a couple of hours, before taking hammer and chisel to its matrix and

hopefully get the prize out in one piece. Once home the specimen can be soaked in

warm soapy water to remove the glue.

So there is our precious specimen - in hand so to speak – what next to get it home

safely? Many of you will remember Maurice Grigg, the late and much missed Cornish

collector, and he gave me the best advice I ever had on specimen wrapping in the field.

(For those of you who did not have the pleasure of knowing Maurice its worth reading

John Pearce’s obituary in the BMS Newsletter No. 43 - which is still available to read

on the BMS website. Maurice was renowned for his help, goodwill and encouragement

– not to mention mineral goodies –especially as he worked in the China Clay Pits - to

mineral collectors from around the country. He was also an enthusiastic pioneer of

micromounting and it was this that inspired Chris Jewson and Barry Gamble to make

the trophy which is presented to the winner of the annual BMS Micro-Mineral

Competition).

His advice for wrapping delicate specimens was to make a collar of folded newspaper

around the specimen and then more newspaper was used to envelop the sample, as in

the old way of wrapping up fish and chips. Maurice’s finds would then go straight into

in his canvas shoulder bag. There was not a bit of polythene, bubble wrap or plastic

foam in sight. The current enthusiasm for polythene bags should come with a mineral

preservation health warning since if the contents are allowed to sit for weeks in the

bags, particularly if they are damp, various chemical changes can take place. I did

benefit from this once though. We had been collecting at that lovely beach site at

Gravel Hills, Perranporth – wonderful Atlantic sea views, a fascinating selection of

obscure minerals, like the golden needles of strunzite, orange brown beraunite, bottle

green sprays of ferro-beraunite, plus hours of fun spotting the phosgenite,

rockbridgeite and phosphosiderite - and the added bonus of a nudist hot spot in easy

sight.

Any way I collected a large lump of rock with ferro-beraunite on it. Not only did I

take it home in a polythene bag but I then put it in a 4 litre ice cream tub, sealed the

28

lid, and forgot about it for a few years. When I finally got round to processing the

rock phosphosiderite had grown all over the face. I knocked a bit off and put it in the

South West Branch of the Russell Society Auction. It made a fiver!

Mineral Collecting? It’s for the birds!

Mike Dannatt

It was the best, well almost the best, thing I did to take a job with the Peak District

National Park. For one thing, it enabled both me and my dear wife to expand our

interests. In my case I literally went from just scratching the surface of mineral

collecting to scratching the surface for minerals. In Janet’s case, she went from walking

the dogs to walking long distances. Before long we were able to combine them to our

mutual benefit. Let me explain.

Janet’s second long walk was the Pennine Way, the first having been Coast to Coast.

As with almost all of her walks, she went with one or other of the grandsons who

were proud to tell friends that they had spent much of the school holiday walking with

granny. I had a role, too - I was the support ‘team’. In those days we had a long

wheelbase Land Rover and a caravan and, for the Pennine Way, my responsibility was

to see them off each morning, move the caravan to the next point and pick them up in

the evening. Some days there was no need to move the “base camp”. With the Land

Rover there was room to pack in a few extra tools as well as the possibility of getting

off the beaten track.

Back, then, to the Pennine Way. It may

come as no surprise to learn that one

of the two night stops was within

striking distance of Scordale, Cumbria,

best known as the location of the

Hilton Mine. As I’d been told to do, I

rang Warcop Range Control who

confirmed that it was not a live firing day. I was free to enter. Now, no-one had said

that I had to walk in and, when I arrived at the gate, I realised it would be irresponsible

not to go up the valley in the Land Rover since it was clearly not a good idea to walk

all that way alone over very rough ground.

Although I came away with a couple of small boxes of bits from the surface dumps, my

lasting memory of the day was of sharing the valley on an idyllic day with a single

peregrine. Apart from the cries with which it announced its presence, silence reigned.

On that day, for me, mineral collecting really was ‘for the birds’ - well, one of them

anyway.

Mike collects yellow fluorite at Hilton Mine,

while worrying about the laws of trespass

and is rewarded by the sight of a passing

falcon.

29

Sad to say the peace did not last; way up on the tops I could hear the sound of trail

bikes in the far distance. Then I heard a larger engine getting closer; peering over the

rocks from the gully in which I had parked (secreted?) the Land Rover, I saw a large

army lorry approaching. That’s when I wondered if I had breached protocol by driving

in through the gate and that the army was now searching for me. However to my

relief the lorry was no match for the rutted track and eventually turned back to base.

My relief was short-lived for when I eventually headed down the valley I came face-to-

face with one of the army’s unsprung Land Rover Lightweights. The military police

inside indicated that I should stop. “Have you heard any motorbikes up in the hills?”

was their only question. From the looks on their faces my answer to the affirmative

was not what they had hoped for – I had just condemned them to a very long, bumpy

and uncomfortable ride. The realisation that my Land Rover and my scruffy

appearance probably persuaded them that I was a local farm worker meant that I was

still left wondering whether I was entirely legal. Never mind – in the light of current

Health and Safety guidelines I was probably doing the sensible thing if I was intent on

getting to the mine dumps in safety by myself.

To this day, those rather unexciting bits of yellow fluorite collected on that day still

bring to mind the glow of the sun in Scordale with the peregrine calling to me from

above. That really is fluorite with “added value”.

This gives the editor a super

excuse to include this stunning

Rob Selley photograph of a

peregrine falcon. In view of his

current ongoing house moving

saga Rob has been excused from

writing Part 3 of his Cornwall

Round-Up since his worldly

processions (including his

microscope, rock cracker and

entire mineral collection) are

packed into a storage container

somewhere in the Duchy.

Hopefully normal service will be

resumed shortly!

30

The Tomato Tray Tales

Harry Critchley

When I admitted to the editor that I have over 200 boxes of minerals still to sort he

raised his eyebrows and suggested that as I went through them I could perhaps also

provide regular reports on minerals found and stories remembered. So here goes!

I have just got round to some boxes of minerals collected during our trip round Lake

Superior in the summer of 2006. We had finished up in ‘Copper Country’ in the

Michigan Upper Peninsula taking part in what they call their annual “Mineral Retreat”.

This is held at the end of July/beginning of August each year and lasts for 10 days. It

had started in Ishpeming (Iron Country) with a weekend consisting of collecting trips,

a mineral show on the Saturday, lectures and mineral auctions. Then it transferred to

Houghton where a whole week of action took place. This included trips round the

Seaman museum, fieldtrips (part of the

$10 payment was used to remove the

‘old’ top six inches of the tip to make

mineral collection more successful),

auctions (when we discovered

Americans don’t like their minerals

leaving the country), lectures in the

evenings, meals (including a Cornish Pasty Lunch), trips round the store rooms of local

mineral dealers and not one, but three, mineral shows. The pace is pretty frenetic as

the participants are expected to sign up for two mineral trips each day – and these

may be up to 100 miles apart - plus the temperature is often over 30℃. These were

often followed by a quick change, dinner, then a lecture and/or an auction – it can be

exhausting.

If you are looking for native copper the

collecting is done with metal detectors and the

specimens found can be so heavy that they

take two people to lift them. Chris and I had a

borrowed metal detector between us which

gave one of us a chance to collect copper

while the other collected any other minerals

available.

The mineralisation in this region is fairly simple

but does vary across the region. From

Manganese Mine, Keweenaw County at the

top end of the Peninsula we collected casts of

analcime and prehnite, some nice chrysocolla

and malachite, copper, often with an attractive

red coating of cuprite, orientite which is rare

even from here, plus massive datolite (which is later cut and polished to reveal any

Harry is still catching up on a barnstorming

trip to Michigan in 2006 and has been

cracking a few trays from the garage in

search of silver and other desirables.

Pumpellyite on adularia

Centennial Mine

31

inclusions inside) and crystalline datolite up to 10 mm in size. The visit to Centennial

Mine, Houghton County, which is in the middle of the Peninsula, yielded a number of

unusual minerals. These included blue coatings of the copper hydroxyl chloride

calumetite (first identified just down the road at Calumet, Michigan) and very nice

combinations of grey green needles of pumpellyite on pink/tan adularia crystals. We

also have found saponite as rosettes of white needles and some rather attractive grass

green crystals of epidote.

We made an underground collecting trip to Caledonia Mine, Ontonagon County, at

the lower end of the Peninsula. It has been great fun looking at this material under the

microscope and doing a bit of silver prospecting – there has been the occasional

crystal but mostly it is tiny plebs on the prehnite or quartz. The copper has also been

a great pleasure to discover in its various forms - leaf, crystal and wire. All this and

some very attractive epidote, adularia (much redder here), prehnite (dark green with

inclusions), and pumpellyite.

There will be several containers of surplus material on the grab table this September

at the BMS Symposium – and for those of you who prefer the “easy life” - I shall be

bringing along quite a few specimens ready boxed, labelled and mounted.

Curator’s Corner

Trevor Devon

I am writing this on Thursday May 8th, a date etched on my calendar as I am due to

move out of my house to a new home “out West” – well at least towards the west of

East Sussex! In every room I am surrounded by packed cardboard boxes, including of

course the files and specimens of the BMS Micromount Reference Collection. But alas

two days ago we heard that there was a legal problem with our new property that has

really thrown a spanner in the works and our move has stalled!

Now I could easily get it off my chest and fill the rest of this column with the niceties

of local authority planning conditions and S106 obligations, and how it pays to have a

good conveyancing solicitor (which fortunately I do), but I will spare the BMS readers.

Although the business of using the BMS collection by members could hardly be called

“brisk”, I have to warn you that service is temporarily closed down until I move and

unpack the stuff – hopefully before the Symposium!

Finally, I should report that my appeal in the last Newsletter for new specimens for

the UK Reference Collection drew a huge blank – well not strictly so - as one member

helpfully commented on a dubious identification for one of the specimens from

Cumbria and so we are now actually one less in the Collection! Please do read the last

Newsletter again in case you had intended to send me something and just haven’t got

around to doing it yet.

32

I often wondered about why such a wonderful resource as the BMS Reference

Collection is so little used. One action I have taken to encourage me to utilize it

better has been to download the collection database listing onto my laptop so that I

can have quick access. So far it has worked a treat – a quick email to Trevor before a

trip to Bampfylde resulted in a complete suite of minerals that proved fascinating –

and as soon as he gets back into action I will be requesting Penberthy Croft and any

available cornwallite. Use it – or lose it! Contributor David Roe

Tech

Tips

Posture at the scope

A few months ago I developed major neck and back problems after 28 hours on

a plane and too much driving and crouching over microscopes and laptops. My

chiropractor, Dr Fiona Webb, worked wonders and offered the following advice to

micromounters.

Avoiding low back or neck pain while

working at a microscope is simple but needs

constant attention. Before sitting down to

work, have a look at your microscope set up.

Is the table high enough or does the

microscope need to be raised?

Make sure your knees, hips and elbows are at

90 . This will allow the spine to remain

upright while distributing your weight evenly

through the pelvis.

Your chair is very important too – make

sure you have an adequate back support

and are sitting with your feet flat on the

floor. Don’t forget to pull your seat in, as

perching on the edge of your seat can put

extra strain on your shoulders and lower

back. By maintaining this simple posture

your spine is situated in the best possible

position for comfort.

Finally, don’t forget to take regular breaks.

Your spine relies on movement to keep

your joints supple, so stop for a stretch or

a short walk around the room every 20 to

30 minutes.

If after a few days of excessive rock collecting in Devon you need a

chiropractor then David Roe would be happy to give you Fiona’s contact

number. Contributor – David Roe

33

Tech

Tips

Problems in the Black Box Market

The iconic black micromounting box clear top with a hinged clear top used

by many of the pioneers of the BMS is under threat as they could become

financially unviable. The German manufacturer closed down last year after

many decades of production (apparently the owner retired and his dog did

not want to continue with the business!) and the injection moulding tooling

had been sold on to other box makers. The prices being quoted are rather

alarming - around £400 per 1000 - which is enough to make one think

several times before using one on yet another Dolyhir ewaldite! It could

also cause hyperinflation in the second hand market – the days of the 25p

specimen in a hinged box must be numbered. I am currently trying to get

quotations from various manufacturers and will keep members informed of

how the price ends up.

Contributor – Neil Hubbard

Rock

Chip

pin

gs

Geochemistry Notes – Barytes

Baryte, barium sulphate, BaSO4, is very insoluble in water and it is not

much more soluble in hot hydrothermal brines. This, therefore, begs the

question of how thousands of tonnes of the stuff get into vein and bedded

deposits. The answer is that it does so in two parts. The first involves

hydrothermal brine carrying dissolved barium chloride, probably derived

from barium rich feldspars at depth in the earth’s crust. The second arises

from hydrothermal brine carrying dissolved sulphate, derived usually from

evaporite deposits also at depth in the crust. Mix the two together and

baryte crystallises out. You could actually see this process working in some

of the now abandoned coal mines of NE England. Barium rich brines would

emerge from some beds in the mines and sulphate rich brines in others.

When the two brines mixed in the water pumping pipelines in the mines,

they gradually blocked up, necessitating periodic removal. The miners

called these deposits Sunday Stones, for obvious reasons, and good

examples are preserved in the collections of the Great North Museum –

Hancock. In the case of these coal mines the source of the sulphate was

Permian evaporites from under the North Sea. In the case of the northern

part of the Alston Block of the Northern Pennine Orefield, borehole

research demonstrated that the sulphate came from evaporites deep in the

Solway Basin.

Contributor – Trevor Bridges

34

Tech

Tips

Pin Mounting

Equipment: Micromount box, paper hole punch, good quality card

(cigarette packet card is ideal), dressmaking pin, pin cutter – sturdy

scissors, small hammer, small block of wood, superglue. Prepared specimen

for mounting.

Method: Using the hole punch produce a circle of card. Put on your safety

glasses. Holding the head of the pin cut it in two making it to the right

height for mounting the micro mineral on it. Find the end of the pin that

flew off and stuck in your leg and discard it safely. Take the block of wood.

Put the circle of card on it. Hammer the pin into the centre of the card

then push the pin through the card so the head is sunk into the card. Glue

the circle of card onto the base of the micro box. Allow to dry somewhere

dust free.

Gluing the mineral specimen to the pin: Take the superglue holding

the open end of the tube upright. Squeeze the tube gently so a blob

appears at the tip of the tube. Allow most of the glue to drain back into

the tube. Touch the mounting end of the pin against the remaining

extruded glue and get some glue on the pin tip. Allow the glue to set for a

few seconds. Gently lower the gluey pin tip onto the specimen which is on

the bench (if the specimen is too delicate to manipulate use fine forceps).

This may require getting on your knees on the floor so you can see what

you are doing. Hold steady for a minute and let the glue adhere to the

mineral. Place the result to one side to dry.

Painting the box base and pin black: I use blackboard paint. Paint the

base of the box and allow to dry overnight. Next day – using scope, paint

the pin.

Preparing a multiple trilling of Arsenopyrite for mounting

Arsenopyrite from Wheal Penrose, Porthleven is often found as ‘floaters’ -

single crystals, twinned, triples (trillings), and more complex variants - in an

unctuous clay/sericite type filling found in cavities in quartz. Put a lump of

the ‘filling’ into a micromount box and half fill with water. Seal the box with

its lid. Float the box on top of the water in an ultrasonic bath. The bath can

be any size as long as a micromount box can float freely in it. Switch on the

bath for three minutes and observe the gunge being released around the

arsenopyrite floaters. Decant the now cloudy water from the micromount

box and repeat until the water in the micro box is clear. Decant most of

the water from the box and tap the remaining clean crystals onto a flat

plastic surface so the specimens can dry and you can view them for

mounting.

Contributor – Sheila Harper

35

Tech

Tips

Hair Grip Crisis Resolved

You may remember an appeal for help on

obtaining suitable tweezers for lifting

microboxes out of drawers and the speedy

solution provided by Quintin Wright who

recommended modified hair grips. I have

spent several months searching the hair

products departments of shops and stores

across the UK and eventually realized these

plain metal hair grips are no longer sold in

such places. On hearing this my wife

fearlessly plunged into a well-known

internet search engine and found that they

are widely available on line - and are very

cheap – less than a fiver for a packet of ten.

Which means I have an excess to

requirements – so the first three

contributors to Tech Tips for the next BMS

Newsletter will receive a free tweezer kit.

As promised by Quintin they work a treat!

And Quintin’s original illustration can’t be

bettered. I notice they can scuff the finish

of the box tops and am currently working on a method of cladding the

grips to minimize this.

Contributor – David Roe

Tech

Tips

Serious Glue

I recently came across a new Bostik product called Serious Glue – which is

widely available in hardware shops and DIY stores. It appears to be a

variant on super glue and is produced in small 5mm tubes and very

similarly priced 33 ml tubes costing around £5. It squeezes out (with great

difficulty it has to be said) as a thin clear gelatinous strip which is ideal for

smearing onto the gluing surface. It needs to be immediately (within 30

seconds) pressed gently against the other surface and then kept stationary

for about a minute. Like super glue it then very rapidly hardens off. On

my first attempts I stuck a wooden pillar to the wrong side of a quartz

crystal and 24 hours later could not remove it even with extreme

measures. And being related to superglue once it has hardened off it is

pretty inert to hot water or organic solvents.

The review pages on Amazon vary from enthusiastic 5’s to a number of

whingers mostly complaining “it just slides around”. I suspect that these

36

complaints are based on a misunderstanding of how a superglue works

compared to a contact adhesive where you can balance one thing on

another using the combination of stickiness and the soft cushion of

unhardened adhesive. I also made the mistake on one occasion of leaving it

for around 2 minutes before adhering to the other surface. Next day they

looked fine but a gentle twist showed that it had a very low strength – the

magic chemicals had mostly reacted with moisture in the air. (Well it was

Devon and January 2014!)

Rating

For: excellent glass clear colour, and very high strength to wood, plastic, rock and

metal, resistance to water.

Against: excessive squeeze pressure to get out the tube, lack of initial contact

adhesion Contributor – David Roe

Rock

Chip

pin

gs

Saved by Olivine

I have a soft spot for olivine and have always enjoyed collecting it in

volcanic regions such as Le Puy de Dome in France. I have also been struck

by the fact that it rarely turns up in panning the streams of these areas –

presumably because of its relative softness (between 6-7) and its poor

weathering properties. Moving the focus from the basalt landscape of Mid-

France to the extraterrestrial environment of Mars I have been doing some

photography of Mars in the last couple of weeks as it is currently at its

closest to earth for the year.

I was therefore intrigued to read of the work of Tim Wilkinson who has

proposed the original Martian atmosphere of carbon dioxide was turned

into stone by the reaction with the planet’s olivine 3 billion years ago. This

story heavily emphasised the relevance to a “geo-fix for global warming” on

earth. Bemused (and a little perplexed) by this I went to a referenced

paper at www.pmas.org/content and found the equivalent of the Mad

Academic’s Tea Party. A great deal of mental effort has been expended on

considering how olivine could be mined in central Africa, ground down to

10 microns size and suitably bathed in water to produce iron and

magnesium carbonates (thus locking up the carbon dioxide) and as a by-

product producing mind boggling quantities of silicic acid.

H2CO3 + (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 = H2SiO4 + (Mg,Fe)2CO3

I have visions of this washing down the rivers Niger and Nile forming reefs

of chrysocolla, pseudomalachite and pyroxenes, reproducing on a

continental scale those childhood experiments with water glass and copper

and iron sulphate. Contributor – David Roe

37

Tech

Tips

Midlands Branch to purchase a club rock trimmer

Recognising that there is an urgent need to address the problems of

opening up of the tricky vughs and removing ugly unwanted matrix from

larger specimens, Roy Starkey organized a trial at Portland Stone Mine of

the JCB mounted micro-trimmer. BMS members were reported to be very

impressed by the ease of use of the diamond-toothed chain saw,

particularly when the hydraulic positioning system is used to its full

potential so as to securely hold the specimen. It is proposed that the

equipment will be stored in a suitable back garden in Bromsgrove pending

clarification of insurance issues arising from use on field trips.

Contributor – Roy Starkey

A Gem of a Puzzle

Sponsored by the same team that brought the Binn’s Brain Busters to the BMS

Symposium after dinner entertainment here are a few anagrams that are linked by the

same feature. The answers are all names of gem minerals or ornamental materials that

are two words. The first may be descriptive or the variety name the second the

material itself. Answers are on the last but one page.

1. Numb your curd 2. Query Maria, Blane

3. Quiz tint, Carr 4. Bend data age

5. Damian hogs any ibo 6. Think deep jar

7. Lex born yam 8. Jeer at crab spice Contributor – David Binns

38

Sussex Branch John Pearce

12 members were present at our March meeting and we explored a range of zinc

micros. John Hall had difficulty in finding the usual number of different species as there

are fewer zinc minerals than copper or lead species in either the BMS or his own

collection. However this did provide an opportunity to look at single species from a

range of different localities, for example, sphalerites from Shropshire, Wales,

Cornwall, Derbyshire and Cumbria or aurichalcites from Wales, Cumbria, Cornwall

and Yorkshire. John had put together a number of trays of micros arranged on a

chemical basis, for example zinc phosphates, arsenates and vanadates, which included a

beautiful blue crystal of veszelyite from Wanlockhead. Even when you are familiar

with various species, you sometimes have to think twice to remember which minerals

contain zinc, e.g. descloizite, legrandite, philipsburgite and adamite, but a quick look in

Fleischer’s Glossary of Mineral Species can be helpful to check for zinc in their

chemical formulae.

Rob Tripp, a sulphide and sulphosalt enthusiast, had brought along a very interesting

zinc mineral, “binnite”, a variety of tennantite. Cu6[Cu4(Fe,Zn)2As4S13]. It usually

occurs as tetrahedral crystals, but in the Lengenbach Quarry, Binn Valley, Switzerland,

it is found in crystals of a more complex habit and Rob’s binnite crystal was a

combination of a cube, octahedron and dodecahedron.

Sussex Branch 2014 Meeting Dates

17th October 2014 – theme yet to be chosen

Devon and Cornwall Branch Sheila Harper

Chris Jewson organises our meetings and for the March meeting David Roe, Nigel

Hoppe, Peter Trebilcock, Robbie Selley, Tony Lee, Avril Woodburn and myself were

there.

David was rather excitable as he had visited Hemerdon Bal near Plympton that

Branch News - Meeting reports and future dates for your

diary

You will always be welcome at any BMS Branch Meeting. So why not check if there is

one during your next holiday or collecting trip and give yourself an extra holiday treat by

meeting up with other BMS members from “foreign parts”

39

morning and couldn’t believe the amount of clearance work that has recently been

done on this huge site - Wolf Minerals are really getting to work at last.

Peter had been down to Gravel Hills, on the beach at Perranporth, and found

phosgenite. That was impressive as it is fairly rare there but what was even more

impressive was his rock slice cutting and polishing. Goodness knows how big his

equipment is – the slices he showed were from rocks Chris had collected showing

“contacts”, which he says “his geology friends love”.

I had been trying my hand at mounting a tiny multiple trilling of arsenopyrite on a pin

from Wheal Penrose, Porthleven collected in 2009. I had been in touch with Mr.

Jewson to see if he had any micromount boxes with the lid fitting outside the box as I

am trying to produce a micromount ‘par excellence’ to wow the judges at the BMS

Symposium. Chris brought along a selection of mounts to show me what can be done

and Nigel gave me some boxes with clip tops and his classy version of mounts.

I got side tracked by Chris’s cassiterites from Wherry Mine, Mount’s Bay, Penzance –

as did everyone. This mine site in the sea has a certain romance and the recent storms

had cleared away the sand to bedrock. From what I heard most of the tin addicts in

Cornwall were down there scouring the beach at low tide. Chris has found that some

of the cassiterite (which is associated with chlorite) is a golden colour.

I’d also got what might be a minute sample of bismuthinite from last year’s Hingston

Down Quarry material and Avril suggested it might be boulangerite. The matrix –

mainly chalcopyrite and sphalerite has yielded stolzite - so who knows!

In all my years of collecting native copper from Cornwall I’ve seen massive, wires,

knobbly specimens and octahedral crystals of copper but I have never seen perfect

cubes or rectangular crystals. So I showed a thumb nail from Halamanning Mine, St.

Hilary which had cubes and rectangles of copper which are rather interesting.

Devon & Cornwall Branch 2014 Meeting Dates

Saturday 14th June, 6th September, 6th December

The group meets in the Long Room at Liskeard Council Offices, 3 – 5, West

Street, Liskeard, East Cornwall. Meetings start at 1 pm and finish by 5 pm.

There is car parking 100 metres along West Street from the venue,

unfortunately it is not free. Entry is £1 to cover cost of room and refreshments.

Visitors are most welcome to come along for a chat and a cuppa or bring

material for identification. A ‘scope will be available. For further info contact

Chris Jewson on 01872 560687 or email chris@jewson1694.fsnet.co.uk

40

North West Branch Christine Critchley

We had a ‘Show and Tell’ at our February meeting and the themes were zeolites and

minerals from Lindberg Quarry, Baden-wurten Berg, Germany. Eight members

attended to be greeted by the unexpected news that Oneta who couldn’t make it as

she was ‘bruised and bashed’ after a car accident. However apart from the bruises she

was ‘fine’ but the car had been written off and she was awaiting a replacement. We

also had a problem arising from a shortage of microscopes but we managed to cope by

saving the microscopes for the really small or tricky pieces.

Richard Bell and Harry Critchley had brought Lindberg material to look at, including

specimens of the zeolite faujasite for which Lindberg is the type locality. David

Hardman had also had a number of samples from elsewhere in the Eifel region. John

Vanston brought a very useful 24 LED lamp with which to illuminate his tray of

fluorites and a group of ‘mixed minerals’ that needed identification. Jill Goltz added to

the search for mineral identity with a further box of “unidentified”. Beryl Taylor had

no such problem with her tray of gold and silver specimens from a variety of locations

including some from Hopes Nose, Torquay and Castell Cwm Dochau near Lake Bala.

Over the usual refreshments there were discussions about routes to the St Marie Aux

Mine Show, (as several of us are joining the Norfolk Mafia’s visit in June), and the new

location for the BMS Symposium.

North West Branch Meetings 2014

Meetings are every two months, on Saturday afternoon except in September

and October when we have them on Monday afternoon. All meetings are held

at Harry’s in Blackrod. We do not set dates at the beginning of the year as we

decide the next meeting date at the end of each meeting. When ‘visitors’ from

other branches (e.g. when Philip Taylor comes down) we organise a meeting

which they can attend. Harry contacts NW members before each meeting to

encourage a good turnout. If members from other branches are in the area

PLEASE do get in touch, we will gladly use your visit as an excuse to plan

another meeting!

Midland Branch Jane Randle

Our programme has been somewhat disrupted this spring as we all seem to be so

busy. For our February meeting Roy Starkey suggested a different sort of theme

where all the attendees chose their favourite microminerals and then wrote a short

description of why they liked them.

Members really enjoyed the meeting, mainly because they had to sit down and go

through quite a few old specimens from their collections and then put their feelings

into words. It seemed to be a success and generated a fair bit of interest. We shall

probably do it again. Once more, many thanks to Mary and Roy for their hospitality.

41

Roy’s top three choices were:

Zeunerite from Cligga Head Mine. Visually stunning, bright green, transparent tabular

crystal. This took some tricky trimming as it was deep in a cavity when collected, but

it came out well, and has featured on the cover of a Russell Society Journal and won

the BMS Micromount Competition in 1988.

Phosgenite from Clevedon Beach. This was collected in a baryte pebble from the

thick, smelly mud of the Severn Estuary. I first discovered phosgenite on the beach at

Clevedon one cold miserable Boxing Day (when I took a break from relatives). Shortly

after finding it, we hosted Bob Symes at our home in Dudley, as speaker to the then

West Midlands Mineral and Mining Society. I showed Bob the specimen and asked him

if he thought it was phosgenite. He agreed and kindly arranged to get a sample x-rayed

for me.

Beryl from Lundy Island. I had read about the wonderful crystal druses in the Lundy

Granite, and had always wanted to go and visit. It is a beautiful place and full of natural

history interest. This specimen was collected on a trip in September 1986, from the

debris slopes amidst the Rhododendrons below the formerly worked VC Quarry on

the east side of the island.

Midland Branch 2014 Meeting Dates

The dates of the next meetings will be in the October Newsletter

South East Branch Peter Wallace

The branch meeting held last November was well attended with fifteen members

present. This November meeting is always held on the Sunday following the Sussex

Mineral Show and this seems to generate a good attendance. The average attendance

at our four meetings in 2013 has been around twelve.

Richard Belson had as usual brought in a large number of specimens for sale, ranging

from micros to hand size, all at very attractive prices. He also had a quantity of micro

boxes in various sizes, all of which generated a lot of interest.

For our now regular identification exercise Peter Wallace brought in six specimens

from the Caldbeck Fells, four from Red Gill and two from Brae Fell Mine. The

specimens from Red Gill were caledonite, anglesite, linarite and cerussite, from Brae

Fell, one specimen with hemimorphite and anglesite, the other with pyromorphite and

cerussite. All the species being fairly common, most members were able to identify

them. This little exercise goes down quite well and is the only structured part of our

meetings, which appears to be what the members require.

42

The February meeting again was well attended, with fourteen members present,

including our new member Chris Marsh, a Norfolk Mafia recruit. Although Richard

Belson has more or less given up mineral dealing, at this meeting he had boxes of

micros free of charge. Martin Stolworthy also brought in bags of “freebies” from,

Nickenicher, Weinberg, Eifel, Germany, collected June 2012.

Martin also brought in four specimens for our now regular identification exercise. The

specimens were, manfieldite from Penberthy Croft, Cornwall, and phosgenite from

Clevedon Beach, Avon, axinite from Wheal Cock, Cornwall and paratacamite from

Geevor Mine, Botallack. There was a mixed success rate in identifying these

specimens, but as usual the exercise was enjoyed by the members taking part.

Hemerdon Mine – Reborn!

I have tried several recipes for hat, but so far none of them has been

particularly appetizing. I have to admit that I was completely wrong

about the re-opening of Hemerdon Tungsten Mine and for the last

seven years I have poured much cold, cynical and sarcastic cold water

over the much trumpeted re-opening. And I will wear an edible hat

in the future when belittling mining revivals.

As recently as the 28th January I was filing a substantial article in the Financial Times

(no less) entitled “Tungsten Miner hardens belief in Devon Pit” under mining

investment moonshine. I was rather taken aback to be told at the March meeting of

the Plymouth Mines & Mineral club that the existing public footpath through the

Hemerdon site was officially being closed on 28th March. I could not resist the

temptation of taking a last walk through the site – and perhaps finding my last

specimen of Hemerdon scorodite.

I was totally unprepared for what I

found when I visited on the next

Saturday morning. The 14 houses

scattered across the site are empty

and shuttered and the site was

heaving with activity over several

square kilometres. I counted more

than a dozen heavy duty earth

movers, bulldozers and diggers who

were removing every tree, hedge and

gorse bush in sight over the entire

site. As I walked up the footpath to

the old WW II mine buildings the

workers (who without fail showed great politeness and attention to safety) stopped

their machinations (such as reducing entire mature oak trees to chippings in less

than 60 seconds) until I was out of harm’s way.

43

It was quite extraordinary to see ruined building emerge from decades of

overgrowth – in particular I was astonished to see the 1918 drying house chimney

which previously I had only seen in archive photographs The scene of devastation

was overwhelmingly that of the First World War which was heightened by the

bizarre entrance of a frightened herd of wild horses who cantered panic stricken

through the open cast and then down the valley.

The old public footpath through the site is now firmly closed to access and a brand

new bridleway has been laid around the southern perimeter, well below the edge

and this combined with the 40,000 trees that are being planted means that any

chance of spotting what is going on inside the open cast pit once work commences

in 2015 will only be possible from a hot air balloon – or dare we hope for an

invitation from Wolf Minerals to collect scorodite from a freshly exposed lode in

2015?

Contributor – David Roe

Holiday Home in Cornwall for Sale

Ever thought of your own base in the far south-west? Seabreeze is a purpose built 2-bedroomed bungalow on a well- managed and quiet holiday estate. It comes fully

equipped and furnished with an on-site indoor pool open during the main season.

When not in residence it can be let for holidays. Local year-round contact is

available on a very small retainer.

Web-site available - see 'seabreeze-holidays.co.uk'.

Seabreeze is still available for holiday letting and BMS members can claim a 10% discount off the prices advertised on the web-site. Why not try before you buy?

The sale is prompted by a major change in personal circumstances.

Contact Mike Dannatt (mike@dannatt.org.uk)

A Gem of a Puzzle (see page 37)

Answers:

1. Ruby Corundum 2. Aquamarine Beryl

3. Citrine Quartz 4. Banded Agate

5. Mahogany Obsidian 6. Nephrite Jade

7. Onyx Marble 8. Brecciated Jasper Contributor – David Binns

44

The views and opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of its correspondents, and are not

necessarily agreed with, or shared by the Editor, the British Micromount Society or its Members.

The accuracy of submissions is the responsibility of the authors and will not necessarily be checked

by the Editor for validity. It is the responsibility of contributors to ensure all necessary permissions,

particularly for the reproduction of illustrations, are obtained. Contributors retain copyright of items

published and their contributions should not be reproduced without their permission.

Please send all contributions for the next Newsletter - preferably in electronic format by

e-mail, to david@d-roe.freeserve.co.uk . I am using Gill Sans MT font size 10 in an A5

page with narrow margins if you would like to see what your contribution would look

like. It is best if the photographs are attached as separate jpeg files and less than 500Kb.

I am enormously grateful to everyone who has contributed material to this

Newsletter. In particular I would like to thank our eagle eyed proof readers –

John Pearce and Frank Ince - but I still claim ownership of any remaining errors!

And a special thanks to our long suffering printer Robin Mundy of Perry Print in

Chard who in addition to the printing also does the Newsletter distribution.

All editors need articles and contributions and I am no exception. Anything is

welcome - a snippet of news, a short paragraph on something that caught your

interest or a longer article on a particular subject. A short article of 300 and

1000 words (one to three pages in the Newsletter) would be the cause of

great celebration at david@d-roe.freeserve.co.uk!

Choose a subject of your choice - for example, your favourite location (which

might be mineral-free but wonderful scenery or wildlife), minerals that you have

looked at in the last month, your last tomato box, a museum visit, mineral shows,

chemical tests, unusual crystal forms, micromounting techniques, rock saws, labelling

and cataloguing (the prize for making a readable article for that is still unclaimed!)

book review or even mineral websites. One area in particular I need help with is

articles with a technical angle – lens, lights, camera techniques, upgrading

microscopes etc.

The next BMS Newsletter should be issued in October 2014. The timing will be

particularly tricky for me as I intend to be spending four weeks somewhere in

central Spain from 5th October so editing, proof reading, print approval,

printing and distribution is going to be tight. All contributions gratefully

received early - so please get writing! Deadline for contributions will be

26st September 2014

– but anything received before the deadline makes it so much easier to plan.