News Nuggets

Newsletter of the Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

Volume 49 Number 11

Saturday, December 7th, 6:00pm at UNM Continuing Ed.(1634 University NE)

Theme: Western Bar-b-Que.

           Club will provide meat, bread, punch, and cake.

           Members will provide salads, casseroles, veggies, (your choice)

Guests and recruits are always welcome.  The two scholarship recipients will be our guests.

Evening will include: Door Prizes,  White Elephant Auction (juried), Live Auction, Entertainment,  2003 Officer Installation, and Scholarships recipients.

We need some help:

Questions/comments  Gwen Poe 247-1533 * Charlotte Cooper 881-4436

P.S. Need a ride? call us for a contact in your neighborhood

JAMES R. WINCHELL

Jim Winchell was one of the most colorful individuals to ever walk among us. He stood out in the crowd. He was different. He could be overwhelming at times, condescending at other times. Jim Winchell was the ultimate teacher who had a burning desire to share his knowledge and life experiences with others. He never walked away from anyone in need, whether or not he knew him or her.

(continued, p.3)

President/Editor- Orlando Garcia

home phone: 345-0520

e-mail: jabog@rt66.com

Past President-

VP-Programs - Grant Kuck

home phone: 323-1520

VP-Field Trips- Kimberly Richie

home phone: 296-8847

home phone: 822-8715

e-mail: RayDeMark@aol.com

VP-Special Events- Hank Miller

home phone: 255-7218

e-mail: rgmhgm2@quest.net

e-mail: beepbeep59@hotmail.com

Treasurer- Lloyd Keller

Home phone: 889-9357

Ad Hoc Board- Paul Hlava

home phone: 255-5478

e-mail: pfhlava@sandia.gov

Show Chair- Paul Hlava

home phone: 255-5478

e-mail: pfhlava@sandia.gov

Club Historian: Tom Katonak

Home phone: 898-5592

e-mail: tkatonak@macconnect.com

Jr. Club: Carl Johnson

home phone: 344-3178

Please call the appropriate Board member for information regarding club functions

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).

(continued from p.1)

Jim was the ultimate adventurer, with Mexico being his destination of choice for the past

35 years. Villa Ahumada, Santa Eulalia, Naica, Mapimi, Sierra de Los Lamentos, Sombrerete, Durango, Zacatecas and Ojinaga were just a few of the places and peoples he so much adored. Though hobbled by severe arthritis, congestive heart disease, pulmonary fibrosis, high blood pressure and diabetes, he did his best to live life to its fullest, rarely complaining of physical drawbacks. He wanted everyone to experience the Cave of Giant Crystals, to descend to the depths of Las Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon), to travel to the end of every road, to seek out new sources of exotic crystals and other minerals.

Rocks and Minerals were his life. To Jim, every natural earthly object possessed a story ranging from simple to technical. His greatest love was passing this story to others and, in this capacity, he was a frequent guest of various clubs, senior citizen groups, public schools and universities. He was a respected technical advisor to numerous mining interests in Mexico, including the Pinoles Mines.

On Saturday morning, October 26, at 72 years of age, time ran out as the long term effects of diabetes and associated problems finally took their toll. According to Jim, he’d already experienced more than three lifetimes! Survivors include his wife of thirty years, Ruth, and two daughters, Mary Alice of Alaska and Patty of Los Lunas.

By Leon Cooper

(Note: I knew Jim as well as, possibly better than, any other living individual. I met him 28 years ago as a result of our common interest in alternative energy applications. As a Spanish/English translator, I accompanied him on at least 40 trips into Mexico in search of new and exotic rocks and minerals. We also made similar trips across a dozen states in the U.S.)

Jim Winchell’s passing was a surprise to most of us and his unique presence will now be absent forever. He was one of four long time New Mexico rockhound mineral collectors to pass away recently. John Mastin from Roswell, Don Moore from Las Cruces, and Marge Garn from Los Alamos all passed away recently.

The 23^rd New Mexico Mineral Symposium at New Mexico Tech in Socorro was fantastic. We had

never been to the Friday night ‘tailgating’ at the Super 8 Motel. People were standing in the hallway and in rooms chatting and purchasing minerals till midnight!

Bring something nice to the white elephant silent auction at the installation dinner on December 7. Minerals, hobby related items and ‘white elephants’ (no junque please) will be auctions off that night.

This is my last issue as the editor of News Nuggets. It’s been fun the last 3 years but I need a break. Next year’s editor will be Darlene Nelson. Next issue of NN will be January 2003.

-Orlando

Tonight’s meeting began with the sad news of Jim Winchell’s death of two days ago. Jim’s longtime friend of 28 years, Leon Cooper, stood before us and reminisced with some of his thoughts about his and our friend. Leon noted that we all have lost a friend who, with his generosity, would give you anything he thought you needed and anyone whose life he touched has a little of him inside. Some of the funniest things in Leon’s life happened

while with Jim. The Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club was his life and he thought highly of the people associated with it. Its past president four times he was always willing to share his time teaching others.

After Leon spoke, Scott Wilson played a moving rendition on his fiddle in tribute to Jim.

Orlando then continued with the formal part of the meeting with the introduction of guests and then a report from Field Trip Chairman, Ray DeMark, concerning Saturday’s trip into the Chino Mine. In short Ray noted "We came, we saw, we conquered" then went on to say the trip with its 33 attendees will be given a more thorough coverage in the next News Nuggets. He announced that the Blanchard trip is set for Saturday, November the 16th with one or two tunnels opened for underground tours. Someone let it slip that tomorrow Ray’s life will have seen another revolution around the sun. Happy Birthday Ray!

We were all reminded of the upcoming Symposium in Socorro and its silent auction sponsored and run by AGMC.

Gwen Poe announced the Christmas Dinner is set for Saturday, December 7^th at 6 p.m. and after a vote by the membership decided on a

Western BBQ theme. Unlike previous years, this year the potluck main course, provided by the Club, will be free in recognition of this year’s successful March Show and all the hard work put in by most of the membership. The silent auction at the dinner will help defray the expenses of the dinner.

Paul Hlava announced the 9^th annual Jewelry and Gemstone Show will be held at the UNM Conference Center on November 23rd and 24^th. He had our club’s show flyers available for members to take for distribution to promote our March show.

At the October Board of Director’s meeting the proposed slate of elected AGMC officers for 2003 was voted upon and accepted. They are as follows:

President – Orlando Garcia

Programs – Grant Kuck

Treasurer – Stephanie Bell

V.P. Field Trips – Ray DeMark and

Kimberly Richie

Secretary – David Moats

Membership Chair – Donna Scott

Editor – OPEN (Darlene Nelson)

Tonight, with probably record attendance for the year, nominations from the floor were certainly most welcome but none were offered!

This slate was then presented to the general membership and accepted unanimously. The official voting will take place at the November meeting. As noted at this time we still don’t have an Editor. If none are willing to help, I guess we will not have a news-letter this next year! This club is run by a few volunteers through which the rest of the membership gets to enjoy the fruits of their labor. With the less labor comes less enjoyment and fulfillment in one’s life. You have control. The decision is yours and thus there should be no complaints.

Grant Kuck, our Programs VP, introduced tonight’s speaker as Wayne Holland. Wayne has been interested in geology since he was a kid growing up in central Texas. After 3 years in the U.S. Army he went to Stephen F. Austin University and Sam Houston State where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering. Shortly after that Wayne moved to St. Lucie, Florida where became the Head of the Environmental Department for the county which enabled him to earn his Masters Degree at the University of Tallahassee.

Some of the companies Wayne has worked for include the Dames & Moore Engineering Firm, Echo Bay Safety Appliance Corp., Santa Fe Gold, Newmont

Gold, Pegasus Gold, and the Getchell Mining Corporation.

Before his 1998 discovery of Ghost Jade in Navada, Wayne was known for his prospecting and metal detecting success in the San Pedro Gold Mine back in the 80’s. Jerry Simmons, the

caretaker of the San Pedro Mine, once said that Wayne has a nose for gold.

Today Wayne is doing what most of us would love to do. Rockhounding and making a living doing it. He has prospected throughout the western U.S. along with a few other countries and there in lies a tale that Wayne would tell us tonight.

By the way, when he’s not up in the hills mining or conducting geological surveys you can find him at the Blanchard Rock Shop in Bingham, New Mexico with his partner Allison Nelson.

His interest in looking for gold started with his father in 1974 in Colorado, near Alma surrounded by fourteen thousand foot peaks and contact metamorphic rocks. Panning in the freezing stream waters with no wet suit was a rough but inspirational introduction to this life of a gold prospector. His father taught him where to look. At this period of time there were lots of areas that were not even claimed as the price of gold was still low. Before knowing better he would enter

some old and dangerous mines near Ouray, Colorado. Some of these mines could have carried poisonous gasses. He was able to high grade some surface deposits near there and then at the American Mine near Breckenridge, CO., found crystallized gold. In 1981 Wayne moved to New Mexico where in the Nogal Mining District he used an old noisy gas drill that tears up a person’s back, until getting a jack-hammer. There he bore a deep hole where he found significant quantities of native wire gold. We were treated to a picture of Wayne holding a 10 ounce gold nugget he found at the San Pedro Mine in 1986. He showed us nuggets from the famed White Oaks, N.M. area and dendritic silver from the Silver City area that he has found. He showed us pictures of working the dry washes in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona where he found gold nuggets and crystallized gold in the hard rocks above. In Nevada’s heavily oxidized mountains he didn’t have a lot

of luck except his metal detector did find a bomb or two and maybe a meteorite. Heading to Australia, he found the ground to be highly mineralized. Working in the northern, hot, desolate part of the country he had to first burn off the needle-like grass before looking for gold. He noted this

took care of the numerous (20 varieties) of poisonous snakes in the area as well. We were treated to pictures of a headframe, steam engine and a ten stamp mill well over a hundred years old and one of a "Bottle Tree" strangely shaped with a huge diameter trunk. Some pictures of aborigines were shown and he noted that, unexpectedly, they spoke excellent King’s English. Wayne needed a permit to prospect the alluvial deposits for gold but what he didn’t have was a permit from the English authorities to prospect the "hard rock." Even so he managed to find 450 ounces of gold in Australia. Back to Nevada from Australia he found 50 ounces of gold. On the Klamath River, in one week with a dredge, he found five to ten ounces of gold. He worked his way north by Mount St. Helens and showed us a picture of the way it looked about a year before it blew. Up in Alaska’s Gold Circle area, the tundra is knee deep and one gets eaten alive by mosquitoes while avoiding the huge moose and bears that can take the moose down with one swipe of the claws. Working the near freezing stream waters in wet-suits with dredges where previous large dredges had worked in the 1930s and ‘40s, he had fantastic luck, coming out with 200 ounces. He made a discovery in 1998 of chatoyant nephrite jade in

Nevada along with "honey sage" jade which he now mines and sells at the store in Bingham, N.M. Many specimens of gold he has found were waiting for our inspection at the front table.

Thank you Wayne for a very enjoyable presentation we’ll see you in November on our way to the Blanchard Claims.

Door prizes were drawn and refreshments enjoyed by all at the conclusion of the meeting.

-Dave Moats

Secretary

Thirty-three eager club members met at 0800 sharp at the intersection of U.S. 180 and NM 152 in Silver City for the much-anticipated Chino mine field trip on the 26^th of October. The air was crisp and the skies clear for our venture into the "pit". We drove as a group to the mine gate near Bayard and met Bob North, Bill Worthington and Pam Pinson (our drivers/guides/mine experts). Everyone who did not have safety glasses and hard hats was supplied with Phelps Dodge equipment and we piled into three white vans for our descent. Phelps Dodge is not currently mining ore and is recovering copper only through leaching. This made driving in the pit (left

land driving) easier as we didn’t have to content with monster ore truck threatening to crush our puny vans.

Our first stop was at a stock pile which Bob North recently had bull dozed and which was full of copper. Metal detectors were soon beeping all over the place. Bill Schwiner found a particularly nice plate about ten inches across and weighing roughly 2.5

pounds. Todd Brown also picked up a large mass of copper still partially embedded in rock. Mike Sanders broke up a large boulder and was seen hauling off an armload of sheet copper. Tom Massis wasn’t having much luck but fortunately he brought along Loretta who had a sharp eye for copper. It wasn’t long before everyone had congested around a rich zone in the dump with a large amount of copper-bearing monzonite rock. Hammers were busy and most everyone collected some excellent specimens. Reluctantly pushing on to our next stop, we descended further down the pit to a zone containing some cuprite and also chrysocolla. Ponds of water in the floor of the pit were an eerie blue due to the dissolved copper. Some chalcotrichite (hair-like cuprite xtals) were recovered. John Corbin and others worked pretty hard at a fissure containing the cuprite but most others

concentrated on the rock on the floor.

The final stop was at a skarn zone containing huge boulders of brecciated rock containing pyrite, garnet, magnetite, and epidote. The rock was rather attractive in large masses and I understand it has been cut into ornamental pieces called "Apache Gold". Large chunks of this stuff were seen migrating to the vans. The trip wrapped up

around 2:00 o’clock and all I saw were big smiles and happy faces. A fun-filled AGMC field trip.

-Ray

Many of our club members seem to be getting more and more interested in fluorescing minerals and enjoying the availability of our UV light and view box. We want to continue to support that interest; however, I am running out of personal fluorescent minerals to show without continuously repeating. So, here's the new plan.

I will bring the UV light and view box to the meetings six time a year which is every other month beginning in January. All the "odd numbered" months will be for the "odd" fluorescent minerals! I will continue to bring some specimens. but you should

contribute to the viewing if you can. Please bring display minerals if you have them from time to time and bring any specimen you wish to put under the UV light to see if it will fluoresce. This is especially fun after a field trip to discover the potential for hidden beauty in the samples you collected.

I will be asking our Field Trip leaders to plan at least one trip with the potential for collecting

fluorescent minerals and will plan a separate overnighter specifically for these minerals if the regular schedule does not accommodate this desire.

Please let me know what you would like to see and where you would like to go in conjunction with this phase of our hobby.

-Mike Potts

By now, some of you may have noticed that the club has been getting’ mighty generous lately. First, the club picked up the cost of the picnic this summer, instead of collecting a small assessment. Now the club is popping for the cost of the main entrée and the hall for the Christmas Party/Installation of Officers. Just what is going on? Well, the board of directors of the

AGMC decided that we did so well at the Treasures of the Earth – 2002 show that we can afford to pay for these things. That show would NOT have been a success without the help of almost every member of the club. So this is our way of saying Thank You Very Much!

In addition, you will be pleased to note that the dues for next year are not going up even though we ran short of cash in the club budget. This is because

we transferred $905.00 from the (separate) show budget into the operating budget to achieve a balance of income and expenses. We’ve also done this in the past because the dues and interest income can’t cover the usual club expenses. But we were not in the habit of revealing that your help at the show helps to support club activities. (The other option would be to raise the dues - $5.00 x 181 memberships = $905.00.) I do hope that most of you approve of this way of doing things.

Thankfully,

Paul Hlava, 021111

For November, 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 oxide of a common element that is special treat for the holiday season. This mineral is usually sedimentary and precipitates from super-saturated aqueous systems. It often forms as beautiful, hexagonal (dihexagonal dipyramidal – with cell dimensions similar to iodargyrite) crystals with a pinacoidal habit and dendritic pattern. This mineral can also precipitate as sub-spherical

agglomerates of these platy crystals or as banded, ball-like accretionary masses. Accumulations of the precipitates can metamorphose first into coarse, highly porous deposits and then, if massive enough, into

large, dense, granular masses that move downhill under their own weight. Large pools of the molten mineral can form massive, surface sheets of this mineral under the right conditions. The crystals have no cleavage, Brittle, Fracture = conchoidal; Hardness = 2.5; Gravity = 0.99; Luster = vitreous; Color = almost always colorless or white in small chunks, large masses have a blue color similar to aquamarine; it has a very low melting point.

Questions

What is the name of the mineral?

What is the chemistry 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? Smithsonite

What is the chemistry of the mineral? Zinc carbonate

What is the origin of the name? James Smithson, he donated his wealth to the USA to start the institution.

What is the mineral used for? Minor ore of zinc, some ornamental and gem use.

What mineral does it form from? Sphalerite, zinc sulfide

Localities – (Just list the famous ones)

--NM – Kelly Mine

--USA – Leadville, CO; MO; AR; WI; VA; Kelly Mine, NM

--World – Tsumeb, Namibia; Laurium, Greece; Sardinia; Broken Hill mine, Zambia;

-Paul Hlava 021111

Our own Tim Tessendorf will give a talk on uranium mining at the November 25^th General Meeting.

Saturday, November 16

Thirty Seven club members went to the Blanchard claims on this year’s last field trip. It was a beautiful, sunny day and everyone had a great time. Ray guided most of the group into the Sunshine#3 and the Portales. The rest of the group enjoyed the surface collecting till sunset. Everything from smithsonite to fluorite xls. with purple phantoms were collect.Thanks to everybody who made the trips

this year. Ray and I hope you enjoyed them!! See you next year.

-Kimberly

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: Dues are $20.00 per family.

Send this form and check to: AGMC

PO Box 13718,

Albuquerque, NM 87192

November 25- Tim Tessendorf will give a talk on uranium mining in New Mexico

The Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club meets on the 4^th Monday of every month (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.

1^st Place Winner

RMFMS Editor’s Contest 2002

Category: Large Newsletter

10^th Place Winner

AFMS National Editor’s Contest 2002

Category: Large Newsletter