News Nuggets

Newsletter of the Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

Volume 49 Number 7

2002 Collecting/Tailgating/Picnic

When: Saturday, July 27, 2002

Where: San Pedro Mine Property, Sandia Park, NM

Meeting Location: Southeast corner N. 14 & 344

Meeting Time: Between 8:30 and 9:00AM (plan to leave this initial location at 9:05AM)

Vehicle Requirement: None. The last ¼ mile or so is a rough road. We will leave most of the vehicles at the picnic site and carpool to the top of Garnet Ridge. Some people may want to just walk up the hill and collect. Surface collecting only!!

This event has something for everyone! Food, great company, and great collecting! Who needs more?

The Plan: Jerry Simmons will meet us at 9:00AM, and will outline the day. He will also have a release form for us to sign. As I know it at this time, we will caravan to the picnic/parking area. We will need to leave as many vehicles as possible there. Pickups with open beds will become instantly very popular. We thought it would be fun this year to start at the top, which is Garnet Ridge! Beside the obvious, small clear quartz crystals with chlorite inclusions, white adularia, limonite pseudomorphs, and maybe epidote can be found here. Last year I was fortunate to find a full range of garnet colors: some so dark they looked almost black, dark red, reddish brown, green, orange, opaque yellow, and iridescent.

The Old Spanish Cut is the probable next stop. Chrysocolla, azurite, marble, garnet and calcite can be found there. I also expect we can visit the Richmond Shaft area. This was the major exit point for the ore when the mine was operating. Here you can find chalcopyrite, marble, malachite, Chrysocolla, and calcite. There may be another collecting location- but it will be a surprise!!

These stops are all within walking distance of the picnic area, with the steepest section on the last approach to Garnet Ridge.

We should be returning to the picnic area for lunch, tailgating, and just visiting between 1:00 and 1:30PM. If we plan on heading out about 3:00 we can stop at the Carnahan, which we passed on the way in. The micromounts found here are angelwing calcite and zinc minerals.

It should be said that once we enter the property the gate will be locked. When we return to stop at the Carnahan mine those who don’t want to stop there can exit the property.

Other important Information

- Fire danger is very real. No BBQ’s or open flames please, perhaps bring extra water or a small fire extinguisher.

- There will be a portable toilet available this year

- Jerry is loaning us 2 tables for picnic foods.

- The club provides dessert and drinks. Please bring a dish or food item to share. Also your camera.

- No Pets please!!\

- Elevation is 7,500 ft. Wear hats, sunscreen. Bring water.

- Bring shade if you wish.

The history of the San Pedro mine can be traced back to the 1700’s. We will learn about the history as well as the geology of this legendary mine.

A final thought- If you are running a few minutes late continue east on NM 344 from the meeting place to catch up with the group. Unfortunately, once we have entered the property we must lock the gate. Don’t be late!!!

-Kimberly Richie

Officers 2002

President/Editor- Orlando Garcia, Home phone: 345-0520, e-mail: jabog02@msn.com

Past President- Jim Winchell, Home phone: 831-6135, Cell: 401-4111, e-mail: galleryofminerals@home.com

VP-Programs - Grant Kuck, Home phone: 323-1520

VP-Field Trips- Kimberly Richie, Home phone: 296-8847,

VP-Field Trips- Ray DeMark, Home phone: 822-8715, e-mail: RayDeMark@msn.com

VP-Special Events- Hank Miller, Home phone: 255-7218, e-mail: rgmhgm2@quest.net

Secretary/Historian- Dave Moats, Home phone: 892-8163, e-mail: beepbeep59@hotmail.com

Treasurer- Lloyd Keller, Home phone: 889-9357

Ad Hoc Board- Paul Hlava, Show Chairman, Home phone: 255-5478 , e-mail: pfhlava@sandia.gov

Membership- Gwen Poe, Home phone: 247-1533, e-mail: gwenpoe@swcp.com

Club Historian: Tom Katonak, Home phone: 898-5592, e-mail: tkatonak@macconnect.com

Jr. Club: Carl Johnson, Home phone: 344-3178

Meeting & Show Hotline: 890-0948

The Club Newsletter; News Nuggets exists to assist the membership in communications and to provide information on club activities. Contributions from all members are welcome on any information that will promote club activities or that would be of interest to club members. News Nuggets is scheduled to be mailed prior to the monthly meeting. Mail news, articles or comments to: Orlando Garcia 1028 Solar Rd. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107. E-mail: jabog@rt66.com

The Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club was organized on January 22, 1944. The club is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and enjoyment of the Earth Sciences and associated subjects. Its primary purpose is the exchange of information and the furtherance of knowledge of Mineralogy, Fossils, Geology, Rock Cutting and Gem Faceting and to stimulate interest in the development of these studies.

All Meetings are held at the NM Museum of Natural History. The general meeting is held on the 4^th Monday of the month at 7:30 pm The Junior Club meets at 6:45pm prior to the general meeting. The public is welcome to both meetings. Board of Directors meetings are held at 7:30 pm on the first Monday of each month. (Call for location).

All memberships are family memberships and can include all members of the household. Dues are $20. Send checks to the AGMC, P.O. Box 13718, Albuquerque, NM 87192 or pay the Membership Chair at the monthly meeting.

FREE,FREE, FREE

How would you like to earn an all expenses paid trip to the New Mexico StateFair?   Free parking! Free admission! And lots of fun!  All you have to do is volunteer for a couple of hours manning the AGMC booth at the Creative Arts
building.  The rest of the day is yours to enjoy the fair.  We will operate the booth on three weekends, the 7 & 8, 14 & 15, and 21 & 22 of September.
It's easy, you just sit at the booth talk about our great Club to interested fair goers and hand out free mineral samples.  It's fun and a great way to relax
before or after taking in all the sights and sounds, thrills and chills of the many attractions the fair has to offer.  So sign up early and often! Sign-up sheets will be available starting at the July meeting and continuing through the August meeting.   If you can't make it to the meetings call Hank Miller at 255-7218 to sign up by phone.

President’s Message

It’s hard to believe that we are on the short side of 2002 already. The midsummer picnic will take place on the 27^th with what may be a record number of people signed up for the trip. We have 60+ people going this year and it should be a fun time for everyone. With so many people on that hill, please make sure you watch out for others while you do your collecting. Please police the area before you leave so we don’t overstay our welcome at this terrific collecting site. No Kleenex, TP, or anything left to tarnish our image. OK?

Hank needs volunteers for the fair in September. We also need small specimens as early as possible so they can be labeled. You will know what you are giving away as samples this year and we will have more literature to give away and talk about.

I hope you are all having a great summer!!!

-Orlando

 GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

Monday, 24Jun02

We had a good attendance tonight with 76 people. The State Fair looming nearer and nearer we need donations of lots of small mineral specimens for handouts. Hank Miller says Mama’s Minerals will generously provide some thumbnail specimens for us to give away. Orlando is still looking for someone to volunteer to bring two bags of ice to our meetings to be used with the drinks. He doesn’t yet have a membership list to hand out but it should be forthcoming soon.

Ray reported that it was a fun trip for the 42 that showed up to collect at the MolyCorp molybdenum mine and Bruce Walker, the mine geologist, says we are his favorite group. Fortunately it had rained the night before the collecting and nicely washed off the rocks on the dump making it easier to find the good specimens which had been covered with dirt and dust. With the count of 45 that attended the Taylor Springs collecting trip on June first, it shows our field trips have been generating lots of interest! Specimens from the last two trips were on display to examine for those who didn’t make these trips. Ray and Kimberly reported that the annual picnic/collecting trip will again be held at the San Pedro Mine. July

27^th is the date, no restrictions on numbers of people and we’ll probably be collecting again at the Apex Pit area for garnets where some can be found that are zoned and some iridescent along with the possibility of finding quartz scepters, pyrite pseudomorphs and some chalcopyrite.

Jim Winchell just returned from a trip to Mexico and brought back hundreds of specimens, a few of which were on display at the meeting. After decades of traveling to and from Mexico, he is still conducting tours down there for those interested in the minerals, history and ambiance of the area and he can get you to places you might otherwise miss or not even know about. Contact Jim for details.

Since the Durango Show had to be canceled due to the forest fires perhaps the second weekend in August would be a good one to attend the "Cotton Tail Show" in Buena Vista, Colorado where there is free camping at the rodeo grounds, a fluorescent show Friday night, and a silent auction.

Grant introduced tonight’s speaker, Bob Eveleth, our state’s Senior Mining Engineer who got his Mining Engineering Degree at N.M. Tech in l969. After working in places such as Leadville, Climax, Silverton, Colorado and Silver City, N.M. and a short stint with the U.S.G.S. he ended up in l978 in Socorro with the Bureau of Mines thinking it would be only a temporary assignment.

Having researched and studied the history of many mines in New Mexico, tonight we would hear the history, folklore and geology of the Graphic and Waldo Mines near Magdalena, popular mines our Club has collected at on many occasions. Bob’s presentation was accompanied by many rare, historic pictures of the mines and area plus pictures of minerals collected from the mines in the early days. We viewed a hundred year old plus picture of the "face of Mary Magdalena", an unusual formation of talus and brush on the east side of Magdalena Peak which is an intrusive pluton into the overlying limestones. The folklore of this image, of the entire profile of a lady’s face, originated with the Spanish explorers by at least the early 1700’s. From this mountain the town of Magdalena derived its name. What is striking is how little this seeming fragile formation has remained the same over hundreds of years! The church at the nearby old site of Kelly is not original but built in the l950’s from salvaged materials of other buildings. 

Uplifting of this limestone fractured it providing channel ways thru which hot mineral solutions made their way into the limestone depositing most of their metal mineral load below the impermeable argillaceous band (the "Silver Pipe", greenish in color) within the Lake Valley limestone and forming the replacement deposit of rich ore bodies. The "Father" of the Magdalena mining district is "Old Hutch", J.S. Hutchason, who found rich silver float in the area in l866, traced it to its source and staked three lead-silver claims which were later named the Graphic, Kelly and Juanita Mines. In l881 the Gustav Billing Rio Grande smelter was built in nearby Socorro and soon after a railroad spur from Socorro into Magdalena reduced transportation costs enormously which was an impetus for a large development of the mines. The smelter closed in l894 after the fall of silver prices from $l per ounce to 39 cents per ounce. The claims passed thru several hands over the years but Asa B. Fitch (died l916) was the most instrumental in the development of them. During the hard economic period l894 – l904 he saved the economies of Magdalena and Socorro by building the Ozark smelter plant in Magdalena with its l l/2 mile long aerial tramway to the Graphic which turned into a resounding success as now lead and silver bullion was shipped instead of ore. We were shown early pictures of the Traylor Shaft which is still standing over the Kelly and another picture of 50 mules or horses pulling a heavy boiler up to the mine with ropes slung laterally over it used by men on each side to steady the load as it swayed up the hill. Fitch developed and set up the first electro-magnetic separator concentrating plant and then sold out his interest in the mining venture. We were shown a l916 picture of the recently burned down Ozark Smelting and Mining Companies smelter which was soon rebuilt. The Mining district was so famous that President Roosevelt and entourage paid a visit to the mines as noted in a l914 picture. Even the builder of the Empire State Building was financially invested in this enterprise.

We learned that in the Graphic Mine level 6 and above are the oxide levels and in the Waldo level 7 and below is the sulfide zone. Emplacement of the first minerals are the sulfides in the order of iron pyrite, sphalerite, galena and then chalcopyrite. The Graphic is now owned by N.M. Tech and used for training and tours. Small amounts of smithsonite were still being mined in the area in the l950’s by a Mr. Baca. The mined smithsonite was not the beautiful stuff we seen in collections but a dullish brown ugly rock. No wonder it took so long (l903) for someone to wonder what it was and investigate it! We were shown a beautiful picture of Tech’s "mascot", a 75 pound chunk of blue-green botryoidal smithsonite upon which the Smithsonian Museum made a offer to buy for $20,000 back in the l960’s and was turned down. We enjoyed many pictures of the unusual minerals from the Asa B. Fitch collection (now owned by Tech) of pseudomorphs of smithsonite after cerussite, copper, galena, calcite, goethite and cuprite.

The night’s presentation ended at about 8:50 p.m. when we broke for refreshments and visiting while the door prize numbers were drawn and some minerals were purchased from Tom Katonak’s large assortment.

Molycorp Questa Mine

Field Trip Report

Our meeting at the Molycorp mine office at 9:00 a.m. necessitated an early departure from Albuquerque (3 hour drive). Some of the not-so-early risers opted to camp out the night before in the area and others took a room in Taos. Passing through Taos at 8:15 a.m., I noticed Jim Westmoreland standing in front of Michael’s Kitchen, so I pulled over to say "Buenos Dias!". I was pleasantly surprised by being presented with a breakfast roll compliments of Jim and Sylvia! When I arrived at the Molycorp mine office, Kimberly already had everything organized and was efficiently signing up attendees (42 registered). Shortly thereafter, I met our host, Molycorp Geologist Bruce Walker and his grad student assistant Amanda Rowe. Both individuals were exceptionally friendly and eager to provide our group with all the information we could handle. Mr. Walker gave us an excellent overview of the geology of the area including handouts before we drove to the next stop (mill site) for a thorough briefing on the milling process required to concentrate the molybdenite ore. This was followed by a short drive and picnic lunch along the Red River (great weather!). After lunch, we were off to the open pit part of the mine which is no longer being mined. All mining activity is currently underground and, as the price of molybdenum has been going up, Molycorp was planning to add a second shift to their operation. While overlooking the impressive open pit, Mr. Walker continued his excellent narrative on the history of the mining operations at Questa.

About 1:00 p.m. we reached the collecting area which was basically the Molycorp ore stockpile which had been transported by conveyor belt to an area near the open pit. The collecting was excellent! It is always fun to look over fresh material and an added bonus was that recent rains had washed the dirt off the rocks. Very nice specimens of large flake molybdenite were ubiquitous. Well-developed, hexagonal crystals were much more scarce but available. The rock was brecciated which provided cavities for very nice pseudo-hexagonal crystals of biotite/ phologopite along with some crystals of calcite and quartz and, of course, molybdenite. Fluorite was scarce but Jesse Kline found a very nice specimen with green cubo-octahedrons about ¼" in size. Rex Nelson found a boulder containing some of the beryl veins. With careful splitting, excellent micros of gemmy aquamarine crystals were obtained. Massive purple anhydrite was also found by a number of collectors as well as some colorless gypsum (selenite). Micro crystals of fluorapatite were quire commonly associated with the biotite/phologopite but they are colorless to cream colored and quite small, thus easily overlooked. They fluoresce orange under short wave UV.

The trip wound up about 4:30 p.m. with the last die-hard collectors departing. Molycorp should be commended for allowing groups such as ours to visit and collect at the Questa mine and Bruce Walker deserves many kudos for his great tour/presentation.

-Ray DeMark

Small Fry Prospect – Field Trip

The field trip for August will be on Saturday the 31^st to the Small Fry Prospect in Rio Arriba County. This is a fluorite location but calcite, barite, and some zeolites may also be found. Fluroite at this location is found as purple reniform (botryoidal) masses in altered Tertiary volcanics. Fractures in the rock have been predominantly mineralized with fluorite and calcite, but barite xtals are also found associated with both types of veins. About 1,000 tons of hand-picked fluorspar containing more than 65% CaF₂ was shipped from these deposits to a flotation mill at Los Lunas, New Mexico.

To reach our meeting point, take U.S. 84 north from Santa Fe, through Espanola (en route to Abiquiu). We will meet at 9:00 a.m. just west of the intersection with NM 554 which is about three miles east of Abiquiu. There is a small store there with a large parking lot in front. From there, we will proceed north on NM 554 for 4.1 miles (from the Chama River bridge). To reach the prospect, we must cross a barbed wire fence and hike about ¼ mile. Much fluorite and calcite can be found on the surface but a rock hammer and or pick would be useful. Chisels and digging tools might also be of use.

Driving time to the meeting point is a minimum of two hours and there are no facilities or water in the area of the mine. En route to the Small Fry prospect on U.S. 84, we will pass through a road cut between mile markers 197 and 198. The road has been cut through a basalt flow and zeolites can be collected. This is called the Del Oso River zeolite location. Harmotome, levyne, chabazite, thomsonite and a couple of unknowns occur here. Barite xtals can also be collected. I will discuss the geology and mineralogy of the area more thoroughly at the Small Fry prospect.

-Ray 

Speakers

This month two of our more adventurous members, Mike Potts and Tom Katonak will give their talk ‘Mike and Tom’s Excellent Adventure, Canyon de Cobre, Mexico’. If you heard their last talk on collecting wulfenite in Naica, Mexico then you know this is a must see presentation.

We will have copies of the membership list available at the July meeting on the 22^nd. If you cannot attend that meeting you can call Gwen Poe at 247-1533 and she will mail you a copy.

We still need people as volunteers to scan club historical records. These paper records are getting pretty old and it’s going to take a few people scanning old News Nuggets and other club documents so they can be burned as CD-ROMS for more secure storage and retrieval.

Buena Vista, CO Aug. 9-1

Annual Contintail

Silver City, NM Aug. 31- Sept. 2

Grant County Gem &

Mineral Society 19^th Annual Show

Denver, CO Sept. 13-15

35^th Annual Denver Gem & Mineral Show

Mystery Mineral

For July, 2002

From the devious mind of Paul Hlava

The Game Plan – I will describe a mineral and you have to guess/decipher/research the name of the mineral and the answers to the other questions asked about uses, history, notable facts, etc. I expect the Top Guns in the club to be able to guess the name off the top of their heads. The learners will need a reference book or two. You will benefit most if you do not ask others for the answers but work it out for yourselves. When you have decided on the name you can compare notes with others or wait for the answers to be announced at the meetings or published in the News Nuggets. Good luck and have fun.

This Month’s Mystery Mineral is—

a rare carbonate of a heavy alkaline earth element and it is usually found associated in low temperature veins with galena. The orthorhombic crystals often twin to form pseudo-hexagonal dipyramids with deeply striated faces. It has a distinct pinacoidal cleavage and a poor prismatic cleavage all parallel to the C-axis. Hardness = 3.5; Gravity = 4.3; Luster = vitreous; Color = colorless, white, gray; Soluble in cold, dilute HCl with effervescence (gives a white precipitate if sulfuric acid is added to the solution).

Questions

What is the name of the mineral?

What is the origin of the name?

What is the mineral used for?

Localities – (Just list the famous ones)

--NM –

--USA –

--World –

Answers to Last Month’s Questions

What is the name of the mineral? Andalusite

What is the origin of the name? Location in the Andalusia province of Spain

What is the name of the variety with the carbonaceous inclusions? Chiastolite

What is the origin of that name? Chi is the Greek letter that looks like an X, therefore it is Greek for cross.

What is the name of the variety with the olive green color? Viridine

What is the origin of that name? From the Latin for green.

What causes the olive green color? Manganese

What is the mineral used for? Heated to form mullite used in the manufacture of chemically-, thermally-, and shock resistant ceramics like that in spark plugs.

Localities – (Just list the famous ones)

 --NM – Rio Ariba county, black "knots" in schist on road to Harding pegmatite and viridine in the Pilar cliffs.

--USA – White Mountains near Laws, CA; Standish, ME; Delaware County, PA; Chiastolite – Westford, Lancaster, and Sterling MA

--World – Andalusia, Spain; the Austrian Tyrol; minas Gerais, Brazil; Chiastolite – Bimbowrie, Australia

Paul Hlava 020715

 Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

Membership Form

Last Name__________________________ Renewal from 2002? Y N

Senior Member Names: 1.___________________________

2.___________________________

Junior Member Names: 1.___________________age______

2.___________________age______

3.___________________age______

If this is a renewal, is the News Nuggets going to the proper address? Y N

Please fill in the following information

Mailing Address:______________________

Apt. # ________

City:____________________

State: _______ ZIP + 4: _______-_____

Phone: (_____) _____-______ Please include. This is only for club use and not for any other purpose

e-mail Address: _____________________________

Annual Dues: $20.00 per family.

Send this form and check to:

Information provided to AGMC will not be used for anything other than club business. Anyone not wanting their telephone # or e-mail on the membership list please initial below. Only your name will still appear on the membership roles.

_______________

AGMC

PO Box 13718,

Albuquerque, NM 87192

July 22 Speaker: ‘Mike & Tom’s Excellent Adventure, Canyon De Cobre, Mexico’ Mike Potts and Tom Katonak

The Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club meets on the 4^th Monday of every month (May’s meeting is on the 20^th due to Memorial Day falling on the 27^th) except December. All meetings are held at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Sciences. The meeting begins at approximately 7:30 PM. There will be a short business meeting prior to the evening’s talk, which begins at approximately 8 PM.

Refreshments and door prizes will follow immediately after the talk. We have the room till 10:00 PM. 

Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

Orlando Garcia, Editor

PO Box 13718

Albuquerque, NM 87192-3718