The Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club meets on the 4^th Monday of the month. All meetings are held at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, 1801 Mountain Road NW in Old Town, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The entrance is on 18^th Street. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. There is a short business meeting prior to the evening’s presentation, which begins at approximately 8:00 PM

My Memories and Experiences with the AGMC

by Ruth Bronson

Ruth will talk about her memories, experiences, and what she has learned from people and things done in the past. She will bring some of her souvenirs for show and tell.

(See AGMC this month section for a short biography of Ruth)

Summer is rapidly approaching and it's going to be hot! BE PREPARED!! Take plenty of water, sunscreen, wear hats and good foot wear. Watch out for snakes.

We have some exciting field trips coming up including the Annual Picnic at the San Pedro Mine.

Is there any interest among the membership in learning Photography, Lapidary. Rock & mineral formations and identifications? Also, are there members who like to get involved in teaching these classes???

Remember, this month's regular meeting will be held Tuesday May 26th due to the holiday. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

John

Interesting Tidbit

12 Feb 67 newspaper article  -  ….It was Dr. Kelley, who in 1944, taught a non-credit class in minerals and prospecting at UNM Community College. During the class, Oscar Branson, a graduate student, suggested a club composed of people interested in gems and minerals in New Mexico would be an interesting continuation of the course. Other class members agreed and the Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Club began. The Club’s first president was the late Guy Shockley.

The Next Meeting is on Tuesday May 26, due to Memorial Day on Monday.

The Membership Chairperson has name tags for: Pat Palmer, John Palmer, Viola Mahan, and Ed Clark. Please see Michael Johnson, at the next meeting to get your tag.

Nobody could fail to find us at the meeting place for this trip, there’s not much else out there. Twenty-five attended the trip, and as hoped the drive to the location was passable by all and took less than half an hour. The location consists of Tertiary dike swarms and skarn formations that will be one of the planned stops for the NMGS Fall Field Conference. Some very interesting geology occurs here, so some wanted to explore that before collecting.

(Editors note: current thinking is that this is not a skarn area as stated in previous literature, see the soon to be published NMGS Fall Field Conference guide book).

Once on site, folks spread out pretty well to collect at one of three or four spots with the most promise. Some surface collected, and some dug. Boy did they dig. Though I wasn’t there to see it, I heard that Grant narrowly missed entombment when the overburden came sliding down. Most concentrated on looking for nice crystals of magnetite, and, or pyrite, selenite, and actinolite/tremolite. I heard from the micro crowd that titanite (the official name of sphene) was present in a dark honey color.

The weather was fair, with the wind not roaring too badly, and a fine time was had by all. The many personal thank yous were most appreciated by the trip leader.

Suzanne

Our April Jr. Club meeting was attended by 15 (or was it 17?) Jr. Members. The meeting topic was "Earth Resources" and also a review of "Field Trips" for those who were unable to attend the meeting in March.

The first activity was to think about everyday uses of rocks and minerals. We looked around the classroom and talked about the different minerals that were used to make things such as the walls, lights, tables, chairs, etc.

Jim and Earlene brought in everyday objects and the minerals that went into them for the second activity. The items were scattered all over a table, and we challenged the kids to see if they could match up the object with the appropriate mineral. Examples included a copper nugget and some pennies; a crystal of fluorite and a tube of toothpaste; ulexite and some laundry detergent.

Finally, we discussed careers in Earth Sciences, some of which included economic geologist, museum curator, surveyor, hydro geologist, volcanologist, meteorologist, and many more.

If you would like more information about the AFMS and their merit badge program, visit their website at www.amfed.org.

Earlene

John Reinert called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. He welcomed the new members and guests. He announced that club business cards are available and can be given to people interested in knowing more about the club.

Hank Miller introduced this year’s science fair winners, Andrew Sword and Sarah Burford, and awarded plaques, medals, T-shirts and gift certificates to them.

Amy Penn announced that the DVD on the selenite cave was available for loan.

Paul Hlava said that we had a successful TOTE show. Next year’s show will be in the Creative Arts building on the first weekend in March 2010 (March 5^th-7^th), which is the weekend before the Deming club’s annual show.

Jim Hill said they had 17 kids at the juniors’ meeting tonight, and they talked about earth resources. Earlene Shroyer reported they have a field trip planned to Del Agua Canyon near Placitas on Saturday. Those who did not make it to the Trinity field trip can earn their field trip badges at this weekend’s trip.

Jay Penn reminded people to share their news, such as field trips taken, or submit short articles to be included in the newsletters.

Michael Johnson has some name tags that people have ordered. He also has new member packets and updated membership rosters available.

Jim Hutchins said that he lost a pick at the field trip to Jones Camp and asked that anyone with information about it contact him.

Mike Potts announced there will be an opportunity to buy minerals this next Saturday at his office beginning at 11 a.m. A man he knows will be coming from Mexico with a truckload of minerals for sale.

Suzanne Seymour said that 25 people showed up for the Jones Camp field trip and indicated that everyone had a good time. There were a lot of new people, and it was a good trip overall.

Anita Willard introduced Dr. Virgil Lueth from New Mexico Tech, the speaker for tonight’s meeting. Dr. Lueth gave a very entertaining and informative presentation on smithsonite pseudomorphs found in the Magdalena District.

Kathy Lawicki needs volunteers to bring snacks to the meetings and reminded everyone that the volunteers will be reimbursed for the cost.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. for refreshments and door prizes.

Submitted by Janey Johnson, Secretary

Bruce Walker the mine geologist for this mine has kindly offered to provide us of a tour of this ongoing mining operation.

We will assemble at the parking lot of the Administration Bldg from 8:30 til 9:00am at which time we will assemble in the Administration Bldg for a briefing. While touring the area we will observe such features as alteration scars, an open pit, an ore body subsidence area, and some major rock piles, one of which we will be allowed to collect from.

The elevation of the tour varies from 7875’ to as high as 9800’ so dress accordingly. Long pants, boots, safety glasses, and hard hats are required. If you don’t have a hard hat or glasses they can be borrowed from the mine, but bring your own if you have them. We will not be going underground. Gloves are a good idea while collecting rocks at the ore pile.

The minimum age has traditionally been 9 years old.

The mineral collecting portion of the trip is confined to a huge ore pile. Suggested tools for this surface collecting are a geology pick, chisel, and a 3-4 pound hammer for breaking up larger rocks. Bring wrapping paper as these specimens are often delicate. Bruce has indicated that we could find some beryl if we are fortunate. The most common minerals to collect are molybenite, pyrite, quartz, muscovite, biotite, fluorite, calcite and feldspar. Due to the remoteness of the mine bring your own food for the lunch break.

The mine is 3 ½ hours from Albuquerque. Drive north of Espanola on NM 68 to Taos. Continue north from Taos on NM 522 towards Questa. Travel east from Questa on NM 38 toward Red River. The mine entrance is about 3 ½ miles east of Questa and across from the Goat Hill Campground. Turn left and follow the road uphill to the Admin. Bldg. Allow plenty of time for a safe and successful trip.

Bruce is a very knowledgeable geologist and the "expert" on this mine, so please feel free to ask questions during the briefing.

The features we will observe and the scenery are worth the trip so make every effort to go on this tour and be sure to give Bruce Walker a hearty thank you at the end of the day.

We will be caravanning on the tour, and street vehicles are sufficient for the tour. Please remember you must check out with the leader before leaving the facility.

Remember long pants, boots, hard hats and safety glasses.

See you there,

Suzanne Seymour

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In this month's meeting we are going to explore The Earth in Space. We may make a model of the solar system, learn about "alien visitors from space" (the solid rocky kind, not the Roswell kind), discuss famous craters and what happened when they were formed, and how you can collect meteorites of your own right at home. Come to the meeting and have fun with us. See you there....

Earlene and Jim

My Memories and Experiences with the AGMC

by Ruth Bronson

(See page 1 for abstract of talk)

I grew up on a farm in southern Michigan where the fields were dotted with stone piles collected from rolling hills left by the glaciers. Those rocks always interested me as I studied their composition and asked questions about them. It was that interest that led me to learn how to polish rocks.

My first formal class was at Michigan Tech in the Upper Peninsula where we were stationed with the ROTC. There we collected agates on the beaches of Lake Superior and at the mine dumps left by the copper miners.

We were next stationed in Georgia where we continued to hunt for interesting rocks. So when we moved to Albuquerque in 1965 and I heard about the Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Club I felt that I just had to investigate. At the first meeting I was greeted by George and Pauline Tennant in a warm and friendly way and this began my many years of association with the club.

May ?, Ghost Ranch (near Abiquiu)

leader: Anita Willard

Moved to June

May 23, Molycorp (Chevron) Mine (east of Questa)

leader: Suzanne Seymour

Jun 6-7, Woodland Park, CO (west of Colorado Springs) leader: Michael Johnson

Trip Canceled

Jun 6, Ghost Ranch (near Abiquiu)

leader: Anita Willard

Jul 25, AGMC picnic, San Pedro Mine

(east of Albuquerque) leader: John Reinert

leader: ?? Moved to May

Aug ?, Harding Mine (South of Taos)

leader: Jim Hill

Sep ?, Zuni Mountains (Southwest of Grants)

leader: Jane Bardal

Oct 24, Turquoise Trail (East of Albuquerque)

leader: Paul Hlava

Nov ?, Blanchard Mine (east of Socorro)

leader: Ray DeMark

Dec 12, Club Christmas Party Potluck

leader: Gwen Poe

Questions? Contact: Brian Anderson 573-8872

Editor's note: Confusion and miscommunication caused by not having a field trip coordinator resulted in the above changes, including the cancelation of the Colorado trip.

We should consider ourselves lucky that a hodge-podge assortment of folks are trying to put together trips at all, but with no one coordinating their efforts things like this would likely happen again. However, Brian Anderson has agreed to act as a single point of contact for field trip issues. Thank you, Brian.

We will be going to Ghost Ranch and meeting Alex Downs, Paleontologist, at 10:00 AM, at the Museum, which is on the left as you come into Ghost Ranch.

Directions: Coming from Albuquerque, take I-25 north to Santa Fe. You may take the 599 bypass to US 84/285 or take the St. Francis Drive exit which is US 84/285. Once in Española take US 84 toward Abiquiu and Chama.

Once on Highway 84, watch for the Ghost Ranch sign between mileposts 224 and 225 (about 13 miles north of Bode's Store in Abiquiu).

We are very lucky to be able to go to a very inportant dig.  This is the Fossil Locality of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation.  This is the very same formation that is in the Painted Desert of Arizona.  We will be going to the Hayden Quarry, where paleontologists and grad students will be on a dig.  This is a very diverse a site that was discovered in 2002.  There are a large percentage of land vertebrates.  Normally, in the Chinle Formation we would find water and mud vertebrates.

We won't be able to participate in the dig, but we will learn a lot about what they're finding, and Alex needs to recruit volunteers for future digs.

This dig produced the first recognized dinosaur precursor in North America.  The thinking is that it is going to produce a new dinosaur that hasn't been published yet.  The site also produces a lot of burned fossil wood/ charcoal (which we can collect) from an ancient forest fire.

Bring your lunch and be prepared for a fascinating presentation on the dig and its findings and talk to the paleontologists!

Questions? Anita Willard 344-9884

April 1954, AGMC newsletter

THIS IS THE NIGHT of your Club’s ANNUAL auction. More fun than a barrel of rocks, and remember, all proceeds go into the Club’s treasury and eventually enriches every member. By tradition, this is your Club’s only fund raising project during the year, and need we say, should be enjoyed and supported by EVERY MEMBER. What happens? Briefly, each member donates a rock specimen (no junk please) to the club, then our auctioneer auctions it off to the highest bidder.

May 1954, AGMC newsletter

Several of our members have not yet picked up their notebook. It will be at this meeting for you, and if you are a new member and have not yet received the packet of rock specimens, the club presents to each new member, we have one for you.

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This section is for the not for profit exchange of goods and services between club members (cars, boats, rocks, minerals, tools, equipment, -------- anything). For profit (stock in trade) items will not be published.

Hint: This is a good place to post requests for

rides to field trips or other club events. Or, to offer rides to help cover fuel expenses.

For Sale: Diamond Pacific Genie with 8" saw attachment. Also includes extra arbor with new buffs for polishing metal. Wonderful all around lapidary machine, $1,000.  A new machine with these attachments would cost $2,700.

Also For Sale: Sphere machine 3 cup design works just fine, $200.

Contact Dylan Newman, 505-269-6054

For Sale: Cab making machine, 6" wheels, Star Diamond (currently Barranca model GP6), 3 station plus buff, easily converts to diamond wheels, has motor etc., ready to cut cabs, $400. Walter Morris 345-3245

Rockhounders’ Garage Sale: Everything you need to get the most out of your hobby: rock tumbling system, ultrasonic cleaner, hard rock tools, picks, reference books, USGS maps with mine locations, mine tunnel maps, hardhats, minerals and more!

Saturday, June 13 from 9:30AM until Noon at Mike Potts’ house. 1556 Summit Hills Dr. NE.

From Tramway go east on Indian School for 0.6 mile and turn right on Camino de la Sierra (just after the fifth speed hump). Take the first right on Summit Hills and follow the curve around to the left. My house is on the corner with a small white RV parked on the side. Call if you get lost: 550-7880.

For Sale: Sailboat, Coronado 34ft., equipped for cruising, $25,000. Bentz 857-0728

Lost: I cannot find my How to Make Cabochons CD by Jim Barzee, maybe I lent it to a club member.

Penn 883-4195, el.chivo.viejo@earthlink.net

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On Saturday, May 2, about fifteen club members met at my office to peruse and purchase minerals brought to Albuquerque by Jose Nunoz, formerly of Santa Eulalia, Mexico.

Jose presented hundreds of mineral specimens, most from the mines near Santa Eulalia, but with a number of nice pieces from the mine at Naica, Mexico. You may be familiar with Naica as the home of the "Cave of Giant Crystals" – a TV special by National Geographic. The stars in the special are huge selenite crystals weighing up to fifty tons each and discovered in a natural cavern the size of a football field one thousand feet below the surface. (Worth seeing if you can catch one of the many reruns.)

The minerals from Santa Eulalia included Smithsonite, hemimorphite, several forms of calcite, mimetite, fluorite, quartz, aragonite and others. There were nice calcite/ galena/ sphalerite mixes and some spectacular selenite crystals and calcite/ anhydrite mixtures from Naica.

Most of the attending club members left with at least one full box to add to their collections and everyone seemed to appreciate the opportunity to buy nice mineral specimens at very reasonable prices.

Because there were some club members who wanted to attend, but could not, I bought some extra pieces from Jose and intend to bring them to the May meeting. I will sell them for the same price Jose was asking. If you might be interested, be sure to bring some cash or your check book.

Mike Potts

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Editor's note: The following article is a "mineral safari" report of a trip taken by AGMC webmaster John Scully and his wife Laurie.

A Far Far Away Field Trip

As promised to some of you, here is a summary of the trip that Laurie and I took this past April 12-24 to Namibia with Doug Coulter and Colin Corser of Geodite Minerals (http://www.geodite.com/minsafari.html.)

In summary, this was a fantastic trip, extremely well managed by Doug and Colin. While this was billed as an African Mineral Safari (complete with that logo on our hats), it also included plenty of other delights including two days in the Etosha game park. I will be developing some pictures for a few of you which will accompany this, but if you want to see a truly excellent and thorough pictorial version of our trip, check out the website of one of our trip companions, Rodney Moore, at http://www.digforcrystals.com under field trips. Our group totaled 10 people.

April 10. Laurie and I traveled to NYC to make the April 11 flight to Johannesburg late in the day. Our 24 hours in NYC were a delight. We stayed in a funky hotel called the POD on 230 East 51^st street. It’s called this because the rooms are truly tiny with shared bathrooms but at half the cost of other hotels. Right around the corner was a whole block of great little restaurants.

April 11. We walked (in the rain) all over town getting up to Central Park and lunch at the Tavern on the Green (a true treat), through Broadway and down to Grand Central Station. I wanted to see the GCS again having been through there many times as a student 40+ years ago. Then, off to JFK airport to meet with our group and start the journey.

April 12. The flight on South African Airlines took 17 hours. I swear, if riding in economy class for 17 hours were listed in the CIA’s version of "enhanced torture techniques" it would be prohibited under the Geneva Conventions. Of course those techniques don’t include free beer and wine and decent movies. We arrived in Johannesburg at 7 PM and headed for a classy hotel called Le Chateau where we checked in and immediately headed for the bar where Doug went over his plans for our trip. Rodney’s website has some nice pictures of this hotel. Laurie and I took a long walk around the community surrounding Le Chateau the next morning and remarked on the extraordinary security arrangements not only surrounding the whole community but redundantly protecting each home within. The rolls of barbed wire and electric fencing made me feel like being in a luxury prison. From this limited experience and what our hosts at the hotel told us, white South Africans are feeling very insecure.

April 13. Midday we flew to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, formerly called Southwest Africa. We piled into our van and headed for the town of Usakos and the Banhoff hotel. Usakos is a tiny town, which reminded me of some western movie set. The Banhoff is a very comfortable place with a nice outside patio and pool and an inside bar which could have been the set of Crocodile Dundee. While the town is not a center of mineral mining, the proprietor, Jaco Smith, is a dealer with a fair sized room full of very excellent specimens. I spent $300 on a nice dioptase on shattukite, bright schorl cluster, topaz crystal and aquamarine cluster.

April 14. We pile in the van (trailed by a luggage trailer) and head for Tubusis and the aquamarines, schorls and red garnets to be had. This is a poor mining village in the Erongo Mountains. Getting there was a real experience because we had to cross a wide dry riverbed that did not want to be crossed. I never did get the name of the river, but it is in the middle of nowhere!! The government has built a substantial concrete road across the middle 2/3 of the river. But, for some unfathomable reason, this road does not connect with either shore. So, during the rainy season, the end unpaved sections became fully washed out and covered with 50 yards of deep sand on each side of the river. Not wanting to miss this fabulous collecting experience, we decided to brave the crossing in our low clearance, two wheel drive van.

Not!!! On the far side of the river, the van bogged down deeply in the sand and our out-of-shape, middle-aged crew was simply not up to getting it out. Then first one, then several and finally about 10 passing locals showed up and helped us out. They knew just what to do, including jacking up the rear end, placing boards on the sand, hooking up a donkey team to the front end, etc. And, within an hour we were out. Rodney’s websight has some great pictures of this. We were so relieved; we gave them $100 US, a huge amount in this poor country.

We arrived in Tubusis and promptly put out word that we were ready to see specimens. Unfortunately, what was on offer was not as good as past trips according to Doug, but Laurie and I were pleased. Within an hour, about 20 villagers gathered around offering specimens. They mobbed us with each trying to get our attention and shoving each other out of the way. It got a bit uncomfortable at times. I got a few minor schorl and topaz specimens. The best piece was scored by Laurie -- nice green fluorite cubes interspersed with small but very blue aquas. I bought a small bag of beautifully red, translucent garnets – a real score for my gem cutting customers. Prices were very cheap and negotiable.

A thoroughly funny thing occurred here. I put my flat of specimens off to the side on the ground so I could have my hands free for further shopping with the assembled miners. At one point, a young boy thrust a specimen in my face. It was mine, taken out of my box, and offered again for sale!!! I immediately went to the box and found it empty. I then went to the young man who had sold me the garnets and asked him to tell the villagers to return my specimens. I had sensed he was a respected figure among the throng. Amazingly, I got every piece back within a few minutes.

He got one of the three Obama hats I had taken to barter or give away!!! Obama is very popular in Africa, so he was totally happy.

After a couple of hours in Tubusis, we headed for Uis. En route, we stopped at a small ranch house where Doug knows the owner named Harold. Harold was not home, but his daughter let us in the house to look through the minerals scattered in a real mess all over the house on the floor etc. We each made a pile of specimens and told her when we returned we would negotiate a price on each pile with her father. Laurie and I put aside a huge translucent fluorite crystal with incredible emerald green and black zoning, a bag of really nice clear topaz crystals, two very nice aqua specimens, a bag of tourmaline pieces, a really nice quartz crystal pair in the shape of animal horns, and some other pieces. When we stopped by on the return trip, Harold was there and charged us about $100 for the lot. I didn’t even bargain.

  We arrived in Uis late in the day for a two-day stay. Uis is another tiny town reminiscent of a small 19^th century western town. We stayed at the White Lady Inn, which is a luxury facility in the middle of nowhere. We planned to take the long trip to the Brandberg quartz area the next day. Before dinner Laurie and I walked the 4 blocks to the food store on the other side of town to get some $$ from the ATM. We met three young men offering small and lesser quality Brandberg crystals. We totally enjoyed bargaining with them and bought most of their offerings, maybe 30 crystals in all including a few enhydros.

  On the way back to the Inn, before dinner, we spied a sign for minerals ("Ring the bell") in the yard adjacent to the Inn. We rang and were greeted by a fellow named Monte van der Smit a fellow about our age who has rooms full of top quality specimens. I could not resist a large and very heavy (it came home in my carry on back pack) specimen with a huge, showy center vug of beautiful dioptase crystals from Kaokoland, a huge topaz crystal filled with rainbow colors, a 5 inch perfect crystal-clear Brandberg crystal with vivid smoky and amethyst phantoms and a huge water inclusion and two bi color beryls (aqua base with helidor caps – very unusual). Laurie got some nice pieces too but I neglected to record them in my notes.

  April 15. We neglected to use our mosquito net. I was devoured during the night. I need to charge Laurie for my services because, while I am being eaten alive, she never gets a single bite. Up early and to breakfast in a pleasant ramada around the pool. One of the gardeners had laid out 10 flats of minerals, but these were of very poor quality. No sales.

  Then, into the van for the long and rough 2 hour ride to buy directly from the miners at the Brandberg quartz location. We had spotted a German fellow who had been in Uis for several weeks and who periodically went to buy at the mining camp. We decided that we had to beat the "German" to the site. He became a bit of an evil character in our imaginations. So, we left early with the "German’s" truck still safely parked in the driveway.

  The Brandberg Mountains are truly impressive, a giant eroded block of granite towering over the desert. But, the crystals are mined in a smaller set of mountains called Goboboseb. You can google them and get a bunch of websites with pictures. The trip there was fun – we saw a huge herd of Springboks, a kind of antelope named for their ability spring very high into the air. We were not disappointed when we saw a cluster of them go nuts bobbing up and down in incredible leaps seemingly straight up in the air. We also marveled at the ability of our van to take the constant beating of a truly bad road.

We arrived in the mining camp, which is a collection of shacks where the miners, mostly very poor, live. Within minutes at least 20 of them had gathered with their wares. Unlike Tubusis, these miners were very well organized. They arranged themselves in a semicircle and waited patiently for us to browse. The specimens on offer ranged from small and inferior to extremely fine crystals with deep amethyst and smoky phantoms. Also, some very nice prehnite specimens, some with amethyst crystals. We bought bunches at prices which are about 1/10 of those in Tucson. What a delight. I gave my last Obama hat to the wife of one of the miners who is a long time friend to Doug.

  About the time we were finishing up in the mining camp, the "German" showed up in his rental truck. He did not approach us but stayed in his truck taking some pictures. We all felt a bit smug about beating him to the prize.

Doug then led us to a home site around a bend in the mountain. Here, a white man and his family lives and sells specimens that he buys from the miners. He had some very nice prehnites for sale, but they were pricy and too large for my aging back. He did have two pet meerkats one of which was very friendly and permitted me to hold and photograph it. What a total treat. I love these little mammals.

Then back to Uis and a gas refill at the store. This time at least 20 young men awaited us with offerings mainly of Brandberg crystals. Oh, well, what the heck. There went a bunch more $$.

Just a note on bargaining. The miners and the young men selling in places like the gas station are very poor. They do start high in their asking prices but will generally sell for 1/3 of their initial price. After a while, however, bargaining became a moral issue with me. I have so much compared to them and simply could not push too hard when really good specimens were offered.

Back to the White Lady Inn for dinner. While having a beer and awaiting dinner, Doug stopped by to say a fellow was offering some high end specimens out of his car trunk. Laurie and I went over to him and, indeed, he had a few. I bought two including a huge, fat Brandberg totally translucent and pure deep amethyst and a whole vug carefully sawed out of the parent rock and filled with two clear, translucent Brandbergs. Oh, wow. How my $$ was disappearing.

April 16. Off to Omaruru and the home of Heinz Malsahn who has a show room and shipping container full of exquisite Erongo schorl and aquamarine combination specimens as well as some nice Okorusu fluorites including some genuine, small fluorite scepters. Unfortunately, Heinz’s prices were too steep for me to buy much, but I did get some nice smaller pieces. Laurie bought a bunch of specimens including topaz and some deeply colored sodalite. Before heading to Heinz’ place, we stopped to draw funds from an ATM in town. Guess who was behind us in line – The "German". Turns out he is a totally pleasant fellow.

We lunched at a beautiful old mansion built by a wealthy trader at the turn of the 20^th century. While there, some vendors came by the gate. Laurie bought a beautiful plate of schorl crystals with one bright blue aqua (about an inch long) smack in the middle for a reasonable price.

Then on to the town of Otjiwarongo and the Otjibamba lodge and game preserve. This was the nicest of many nice places that we stayed with beautiful grounds, a nice bar and great restaurant.

A note on eating in Namibia. Food is very cheap and good. Wine is $5 to $7 a bottle AT DINNER. Beer is excellent with several local brands available and 80 cents or so a bottle AT THE HOTEL. The water in every place we stayed was pure. Most restaurants offered excellent wild game including Oryx, Ostrich and kudu. All of it was really tasty.

April 17. For the first of our non-mineral treats, we headed for the morning Cheetah run at the Cheetah Conservancy about an hour from the lodge. This was an incredible treat. For $35 each, the Conservancy stages a morning run of 4 semi tame cheetahs. These beautiful large cats act just like the wonderful house cats in my life – put a piece of string on a stick and wiggle it around and my cats would chase it forever. Well, the conservancy has rigged a square of land with a long wire along its border. Along the wire at very high speed runs a rag that acts as the equivalent of the string on a stick. The Cheetahs pursue this rag at their full speed in an endless chase. One of them caught the rag, tore it off the line, and refused to surrender it to the handlers hissing at them all the while. All of this was with us watching with no barrier and no more than a few feet away. On the way to and from the conservancy, we saw many warthogs and baboons browsing along the side of the road. What a treat all of this was!!!

Back in the van and off to the Okorusu fluorite mine on the way to Tsumeb. At this huge mine, we were met by Roy Verburgt, the mining engineer who took us to the specimen storage shed and then for a tour of the mine. The mine permits collection and sale of the specimens the proceeds of which go to the miners’ benefit fund. By this time, my backpack and luggage were groaning with weight, but this did not stop me from buying 10 or so nice specimens.

After many thanks to Roy, we headed for Tsumeb and the luxurious Makalani Hotel about a block from the old mine head frame.

April 18-19. The Tsumeb mine is closed and the one rock shop in town is abandoned. In the morning, we took a side trip to the giant Hoba meteor outside of town. Later, in town, Rodney and Ray Lahti found a shop with a disorganized bunch of flats in the back. We found them there and joined the rummaging. I found a great descloisite specimen, and Laurie scored some nice topazes, but we did not have time to really look. The town also has a very nice museum with some good Tsumeb specimens on display. Rodney got a tip that a collection was for sale somewhere in the town, but we did not have enough time to really search for the address given for the collection.

At 1 PM we climbed back into the van for trip to the Etosha national park and two days of animals. The park has 3 lodges for tourists. We stayed at Okaukuejo. The lodge is an island of luxury in the middle of a million acres of African wildlife. It is the opposite of a zoo – the people are in the (luxurious) cage watching the animals outside. The lodge is on a major water hole where the whole drama of African wildlife plays out. As game comes to drink, lions, hyenas and jackals hunt, kill and eat. We watched it all in safety and only 100 yards from a luxury bar and restaurant. Rodney got a great shot of a mischievous jackal teasing a warthog and, at one point, sniffing its behind. A small, sharp pleasure was given to us by jackals roaming through the compound. One fellow walked back and forth through the bar. These animals are about the size of our coyotes but with very pretty black markings on their backs. On the morning of the 19^th, we piled into the Van for a morning drive of about 50 kilometers around the park. Saw bunches of giraffes, zebras, etc.

April 20. We left the park and the daylong drive to the coast. On the way, we stopped again in Uis for a fill up. Again a swarm of young men with Brandbergs swarmed us. And, again, some $$$ left the wallet. At Hentiesbay there were no rock buying opportunities beyond a few beach venders with poor wares. Doug took us there to see the vast colony of seals about an hour north of the town. This was a truly spectacular site with thousands of seals lounging on the rocky shore and swimming in the high surf. They also stank to high heaven. The upper shore was covered with seal bones and bits of fur. Jackals hunt baby seals along the perimeter of the herd and eat their catch right there. Kind of gruesome.

April 21. On to the port town of Swakopmund a couple of hours away. Arriving in Swakopmund in early afternoon, we settled into a nice hotel in the middle of town (I neglected to record its name), and then fanned out across the city in search of rock shops. The first place Laurie and I found was a place called the Bargain Corner, which seemed to be a cross between a thrift shop and hardware store. There were also 3 cabinets full of specimens. Laurie’s main purchases were 3 slabs of beautiful pietersite at a tiny fraction of the Tucson prices. My beauty was a 4 by 4 inch plate of medium sized dioptase crystals at a very low price. The owner said it was from Tsumeb, a truly excellent find, but later the owner of a real rock shop identified it as from Kaokoland.

We then headed for a very nice and high end rock shop called Stonetique. After browsing for an hour, I bought several exquisite large brandbergs including a cluster, a very nice dioptase, and a perfect and huge orange garnet the size of a small lemon. Laurie purchased a couple more beautiful pietersite slabs and the rest of the orange garnets. While a high end shop, the prices still were 1/3 of offerings of similar materials in Tucson. Then on to the Desert Gems rock shop. This was a fairly pricy shop but I still managed to get three beautiful aquamarine clusters.

In the late afternoon, we wandered through a large area set aside by the city for street vendors. Not much of interest to us there (a ton of crafts) with the exception of 5 Himba women selling wares and charging for pictures. The Himba are noted for daubing their hair, faces, and whole bodies including clothes with red mud. From a distance, they look like red boulders in the red rock country of Moab.

April 22. Laurie and I took a long walk along the beach before breakfast. Then into the van for the trip back to Windhoek. At the edge of town, Doug stopped at the home of a businessman and collector who sells the lesser specimens that he gets along with the better ones he keeps. And what fine rejects they were!! I got a truly beautiful 6 by 6 inch specimen of dioptase and malachite on a shattukite matrix along with some smaller dioptases. Wow.

On the way to Windhoek, we stopped at an intersection of the road leading to Spitzkopje Mountain off in the distance. At this place, perhaps 40 women in small stands sell specimens from all of the country. We paused there for an hour happily buying lesser but very cheap specimens of aqua in schorl, topaz, garnets, etc. Truly fun. Google Spitzkopje and you will find a site with some pictures of these stands. Then on to the Hotel Christoph, Windhoek.

April 23. The last day of the tour. Doug, Colin and I head for the Ministry of Mines for mineral export permits. I needed a permit because Laurie and I were leaving separately after our own three-day extended stay in Windhoek. No bureaucracy here. The ministry process was quick and easy. Interestingly, no one asked for the permit at the airport.

April 24. Doug and company left for the airport leaving Laurie and me wondering why on earth we had decided to stay an extra three days. It turns out, there is very little to do immediately outside of Windhoek, and because the town is so small, there are not three days of things to do in town. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly between wandering around town, reading by the pool and dining at the incredible Heinitsburg castle just up the street and a fantastic outside restaurant overlooking the city. We also found a rock shop not visited by the group before they left where I got some genuine Tsumeb dioptases at a high price but the real thing.

April 27. To the airport. In my case, the carry on backpack had 45 pounds of my best specimens and the check in bags had another 65 pounds. Laurie had somewhat less but enough to totally torque her back out of whack by the time we got home. Almost all of our specimens arrived home intact.

A wonderful trip and highly recommended. You can get a hold of Doug at the website mentioned in the first paragraph for information about future tours. This is probably the best tour for a mineral lover available.

John Scully

Here are events located in NM, TX, OK, CO, UT, and AZ for the near future.

You can see a more comprehensive list at:

www.rockngem.com/showdates.asp

16-17--Lubbock, TX: 51st show; Lubbock Gem & Mineral Society; Lubbock Civic Center, 1501 Mac Davis Ln.; Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5; contact Archie Scott, (806) 894-1584; e-mail: asscott3@windstream.net

23-24--Fort Worth, TX: "Jumpin' for Geodes"; Fort Worth Gem & Mineral Club; Will Rogers Memorial Center, 3401 W. Lancaster; Sat. 9-6, Sun. 10-5; adults $5, seniors $4, children 12 and under free; jewelry, gems, beads, minerals, fossils, more than 25 dealers; contact Steve Hilliard, P.O. Box 418, Decatur, TX 76234, (817) 925-5760;

e-mail: fwgmc@embarqmail.com; www.fortworthgemand mineralclub.com

Email me at hpf1@qwest.net and let me know your guesses by copying the questions below and answering them. This includes AGMC members and everyone else who reads "News Nuggets". I have gotten very few responses, folks. EMAIL me! I have been gratified by folks responding that they WORK at these minerals. Good, that IS the idea. This way you learn about them.

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. 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 published in the News Nuggets. Good luck and have fun.

Last year I discussed minerals and rocks that are used as gemstones. This year I think I’ll work on minerals with metallic and sub-metallic lusters.

This month’s MM is a rare mineral found in hydrothermal vein gold deposits. It can be found as isometric crystals and also as massive chunks. It exhibits three perfect cleavage directions, all at right angles. It is opaque with a bright, metallic luster, the color is tin white but it is often tarnished to various shades of yellow, yellow brown, and blue. It has a black streak. Sp. Gr. = 8.1 to 8.2, H = 2.5.

What is the name of the mineral?

What is the origin of the name?

What metals does it contain?

What non-metals does it contain?

What other minerals might occur with it?

What other mineral might it be easily confused with?

What is it mined and used for?

What is the metal used for?

Do you have some in your collection?

In NM –

In the USA –

In the World –

What is the name of the mineral? Molybdenite.

What is the origin of the name? Greek molybdos = lead (Because it looks like lead?)

What metals does it contain? Molbdenum

What non-metals does it contain? Sulfur

What other minerals might occur with it? OK, it occurs in igneous rocks so let’s ignore most of the normal minerals there and concentrate on the vein stuff. Quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, calcite, rhodochrosite, ferrimolydite, fluorite, biotite, chlorite, etc.

What other mineral might it be easily confused with? Graphite – which has a lead gray streak and no bluish tint.

What is it mined and used for? Molybdenum ore and as a dry lubricant.

What is the metal used for. Additive in many ferrous alloys

Do you have some in your collection? Yep.

In NM – Questa Mine

In the USA – AZ, CO, NJ, WA

In the World – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Italy, Norway, Portugal, lots more

Paul Hlava

May 7, 2009

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, Albuquerque, NM. The general meeting is held on the 4^th Monday of the month (unless otherwise announced) at 7:30 p.m. The Junior Club meets at 6:30 p.m. prior to the general meeting. The public is welcome at both meetings.

Board of Directors meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. on the first Monday of each month. All club members are welcome.

All memberships are family memberships and include all members of the household. Dues are $20. Send checks to the AGMC, P.O. Box 13718, Albuquerque, NM 87192-3718 or pay the Membership Chair at the monthly meeting. All memberships expire Dec 31.

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 approximately one week prior to the monthly meeting. You are cordially invited to mail news, articles or comments to:

Jay Penn

el.chivo.viejo@earthlink.net

Instructions for entering the Members' Page are provided in the new member packet.

jrhall49@gmail.com

el.chivo.viejo@earthlink.net

el.chivo.viejo@earthlink.net

klawicki@gmail.com