News Nuggets

Newsletter of the Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

Volume 52 Number 11

It’s that time again, folks! This year’s Holiday Party and Officer Installation will be on Saturday, December 10^th at 6:00 PM at the Mesa Masonic Family Center. See Grant’s (final) President’s Message for details.

The Club will provide the main dish, drinks and cake. Members are asked to bring their own table service and a side dish. Be generous and creative. Also, invite a friend and/or potential new member.

Entertainment will feature Gustavo Pimentel, who will play classical and flamenco guitar pieces in addition to holiday songs.

We still need volunteers to help with several aspects of the party.

We need someone who would enjoy decorating the tables. We need door prizes. We need set-up help. We need greeters. We need callers. We need white elephants. White elephants don't have to be mineral specimens or even related, but be creative, as they help cover the cost of the evening. To encourage interesting donations, there will be a prize for the most interesting white elephant. We need nametags. We need a money manager. We need happy bodies. We need you!

New officers will be installed and scholarships will be given.

If you have a special interest, call Gwen at 247-1533. She needs you.

– Gwen Poe

Junior Club Display Competition

A special competition for our Junior Club members will be held at next year’s Treasures of the Earth (TOTE) show in March. To encourage Junior Club members to enter their displays, the AGMC will be awarding two "Best of Display" plaques at next year’s show. Competition will be divided between junior members 11 years old and younger (novice category) and 12 to 17 years old (advanced category). All junior members are strongly urged to enter this competition. It is a great way to learn more about minerals and to gain a better appreciation for "what makes a good specimen." There will be a short announcement and brief description of this competition at this month’s meeting and a workshop will be held during January’s Junior Club meeting to show you how to put a display together.

– Ray DeMark

November is one of the busiest months for the Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Club. With the 26^th Annual Mineral Symposium, the field trip to the Blanchard Mine on the 19^th, and the regular club meeting with the election of the AGMC Board on the 28^th, there is a lot going on. Just a quick reminder about the election: If you are unable to be there in person you can still vote by writing to or emailing our hard-working Secretary, Suzanne Seymour, by noon on the 27^th of this month. It has to be in her hands by noon on the 27^th -- if it gets to her on the 28^th it will not be counted, so get it in as soon as you can.

During the last AGMC Board meeting, we talked about a number of potential field trips for the club. If you have any favorite places or some sites that you would like to visit, please make your wishes known to Ron Boyd, our much appreciated Vice President of Field Trips, or Jeff Nekola (who will be sharing the job with Ron, depending upon the results of the election).

And then on the 10^th of December, it's the AGMC's annual Christmas Party. Since we have made arrangements to rent the Mason's Lodge, perhaps some directions are in order (see map below).

        (The map did not copy into text.  )-:  Web Master)

From I-40 take the Louisiana exit and go south. When you come to Lomas turn left and go east. Go past the Cooperage restaurant and turn right on the first road, which is Chama. Go south until you come to the Mesa Masonic Family Center at 529 Chama. The Center is on the right (west) side of the street about 200 yards south of the Cooperage.

Once again the Party is slated for Saturday the 10^th of December, with set up beginning at 5 PM. The Party starts at 6 with dinner and wraps-up by 9 and clean up hopefully ending before 10 PM. Don't forget to bring something for the silent auction such as a mineral specimen or a white elephant. Since this is a Gem and Mineral Club, you can never go wrong by bringing either...a gem or mineral that is.

And now for something completely different. Since this is my last message as President, I just want to thank you for helping to make our club the wonderful organization that it is and thank you for allowing me to be a part of it. So then for the last time, "remember to carry a hand lens, put a rock book in your pocket, and keep looking down!"

With gratitude,

The AGMC Board of Directors has approved the following slate of candidates for 2006:

Orlando Garcia

Kimberly Richie

& Mike Sanders

Ron Boyd

& Jeff Nekola

Kimberly Richie

& (Open)

Paul Napolitano

Suzanne Seymour

Amy Penn

Paul Napolitano

& Suzanne Seymour

President - Grant Kuck; Home phone: 323-1520; E-mail: gkuck@flc.org

VP-Membership & VP-Programs - Kimberly Richie; Home phone: 296-8847; E-mail: cattrax55@wmconnect.com

VP-Field Trips - Ron Boyd; Home phone: 262-0053; Email: rgb417@earthlink.net

Secretary & Junior Club – Suzanne Seymour; Home phone: 877-3621; Email: suzannerox5@aol.com

Treasurer - Amy Penn; Home phone: 883-4195; Email: el.chivo.Viejo@earthlink.com

Historian - Dave Moats; Home phone: 892-8163; E-mail: beepbeep59@hotmail.com

Editor & Junior Club - Paul Napolitano; Home phone: 856-2157; E-mail: tcot@spinn.net

Show Chair - Paul Hlava; Home phone: 255-5478; E-mail: hpf1@qwest.net

VP – Programs - Mike Sanders; Home phone: 256-1797; E-mail: mrsande@sandia.gov

Special Events- - Orlando Garcia; Home phone: 345-0520; E-mail: jabog02@msn.com

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. Mail news, articles or comments to: Paul Napolitano, Editor, 7304 Yorktown, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, or email to tcot@spinn.net.

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. Board of Directors meetings are held at 7:30 pm on the first Monday of each month. (Call for location). The public is welcome to both meetings.

Being a member of the Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Club does not make you an official of the AGMC. This makes it inappropriate for any member to take on any responsibility or authority for any club activity without explicit instruction from the AGMC Board of Directors.

2-4 — Austin, Texas: Show, "Gem Capers 2005" Austin Gem & Mineral Society; Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Rd.; Fri. 9-5, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5; adults $5 (3 days $9), seniors $4 (3 days $7), ages 12-18 $2, children 6-12 50 cents, under 5 free; exhibits, lapidary demonstrations, fluorescent tunnel, petrified wood identification, fossil cleaning, microscope specimen photos, rock food table, kids’ activities; contact Laura Dow, (512) 458-9546; e-mail: gemcapers@austin.rr.com; www.austingemandmineral.org.

2-4 — El Paso, Texas: Show; El Paso Mineral & Gem Society; El Maida Auditorium, 6331 Alabama; Fri. 10-7, Sat. 10-7, Sun. 10-5; adults $3, seniors and military $2, children under 12 free; contact Jeanette, (877) 533-7153; e-mail: gemcenter@aol.com.

9-11 — Longmont, Colorado: Annual show; Flatirons Mineral Club; Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Rd., Bldg. A; Fri. 9-5, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 10-4; ages 14 and up $2, 13 and under free with paid adult; dealers, door prizes, children’s activities, classes, programs, exhibits; contact John Hurst, (303) 443-7885; e-mail: john.hurst2@comcast.net; Web site: bcn.boulder.co.us/community/fmc/fmcshow.htm.

13-14 — Globe, Arizona: 49^th annual show; Gila County Gem & Mineral; Gila County Fairgrounds; Fri. 9-5, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-4; adults $2, high school students with ID and children with adults free; dealers, demonstrations, lapidary equipment, jewelry, minerals, slabs, fossils, gold and silver casting; contact Bill Morrow, (928) 425-0194, or Clyde Caviness, (928) 425-7200.

20-22 — Salt Lake City, Utah: Bead show; Gem Faire Inc.; Utah State Fair Park, 155 N. 1000 W.; Fri. 12-7, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5; weekend pass $5; contact Yooy Nelson, (503) 252-8300; e-mail: info@gemfaire.com; Web site: www.gemfaire.com.

25-29 — Quartzite, Arizona: 40^th annual show, "QIA Pow Wow" Quartzsite Improvement Association; 235 E. Ironwood Dr.; Wed. 9-5, Thu. 9-5, Fri. 9-5, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-5; free admission; more than 400 vendors, rocks, gems, minerals, fossils, beads, wire wrap supplies, jewelry, lapidary, daily field trips, lapidary and gold panning demonstrations, exhibits, displays; contact Diane Abbott, P.O. Box 881, Quartzsite, AZ 85346, (928) 927-6325; e-mail: qia@redrivernet.com; www.quartzsiteimprovementassoc.com.

Blanchard Mine, Bingham, NM

November 19^th, 2005

For the month of November we are heading south to the Blanchard mine group near Bingham New Mexico. We will meet at 9:00 AM on the dirt road just east of the rock shop on U.S. 380 in the "town" of Bingham.

In order to do some successful collecting you will need hard rock mining tools (hammers, chisels, pry bars, etc). You also need safety glasses along with long sleeve shirts and pants, please wear boots!

There will be an opportunity to collect underground, so if you desire to collect underground, you will need lights and a hard hat.

The Blanchard mines have produced world class specimens of fluorite and linarite along with a number of rare minerals including spangolite, brochantite, cyanotrichite just to name a few! This area is generally considered one of the finest collecting localities in the U.S.!

To reach the mine, take I-25 south to U.S. 380 (8 miles south of Socorro), then east on U.S. 380 for approximately 30 miles to Bingham. The drive time from Albuquerque is about 2 hours.

Hope to see you there!

The October meeting, on the 24^th, was called to order by President Grant Kuck at 7:40 PM.

Following the welcome and acknowledging of visitors, Grant reminded us of the upcoming Mineral Symposium. This will be held in Socorro on November 12 & 13. There will be the usual "Tail Gating" at the Super 8 Motel, on the Friday evening prior to the symposium. There will be many fine speakers, and a wonderful chance for renewing acquaintances and sharing mineral talk. Orlando said there will be one table for the club, and asked for donations of specimens. For those interested, tables cost $20 each.

In Kimberly Ritchie's absence, please see Amy Penn for new memberships.

Paul Hlava spoke about the October field trip. Fifteen hardy souls attended. Paul also spoke about the March show. He is now mailing the contracts to dealers. There are about 35 that will be on the December 1^st deadline. After that, there will be openings for new dealers that are anxious for an opportunity to display at our show. Our small show has achieved a reputation of excellence and has become very desirable. Paul says that one of the highlights of our show, the Silent Auction, needs a new leader and a crew of people to volunteer for the 9 auctions. It is a fun, though important, job, and too much for one person to handle. Volunteers are also needed for the set up, tear down and all aspects in between. The show dates are March 17-19. The theme this year is "All Things Green", in keeping with the St. Patrick's Day motif.

Paul Napolitano spoke of the Junior Club meeting, held just prior to the adult meeting. There were 13 eager kids. He thanked Ray DeMark for the contributions of pyrite clusters. Lynda Katonak presented a program of rock and mineral identification called "Rock Detective."

Gwen talked about the Christmas party to be held on December 10^th. At the next meeting there will be a vote on the entree. Again this year, there will be a White Elephant auction. There is a new location, this year. It will be in the Shriner’s new building. Gwen announced that the classical musician Gustavo Pimentel would be our entertainment.

Dave Moats has been contacted by the daughter of Merrill Murphy, recently deceased, about selling his collection. The date conflicts with the symposium, and it was suggested she be contacted to change the date. The address is also available from Dave.

Karen Peterson is helping the Junior Club with a table for the March show. Some donations are already received, and many more will be welcome.

Field Trip chairman, Ron Boyd spoke of the upcoming, November 19^th field trip to the Blanchard mine. The meeting site is the road just east of the rock shop. Time: 9:00 AM. Although the sign indicates you must check in at the Rock Shop, it is not necessary. There will be an opportunity to go under ground, so come appropriately prepared if you plan on doing so. The adit will be the Sunshine #3. Fluorite, galena, brochantite, and lots of other goodies can be collected.

The slate of officers to be voted on at the November meeting was reviewed. Mike Sanders introduced our speaker of the evening, Ray DeMark. Ray is well known to many of us. His talk was a collaboration with Paul Hlava. Ray finds, and Paul identifies. This talk was about new mineral occurrences from the New Mexico boot heel. The Apache mine is just south of the community of Hachita, and the Red Hill mine is located on the east slope of the Animas Mountains. Ray spent parts of the spring in 2004 exploring the area for new and or unusual minerals. On the dump area of the Apache 10, species not previously reported from the mine were collected and identified by a combination of microprobe analysis and physical characteristics. New to the Apache mine are bromargyrite, cuprotungstite, hemimorphite, jixianite, mottramite, rosasite, shattuckite, stolzite, willemite and wulfennite. Jixianite [Pb(W,FE³⁺)₂(O,OH)₇] has only been reported from two world-wide locations Jixian, Hebei, China and the Clara mine in Germany. The single 3" x 4" specimen bright crimson red octahedral crystal was found associated with scheelite, cuprotungstite, bromargyrite, calcite and muscovite. Another mineral, Shattuckite [Cu₅ ²⁺(SiO₃)₄(OH)₂] was found sparingly. It occurs as robin's egg blue spheres and blebs up to 5 mm embedded in calcite. The Red Hill mine workings consist of a vertical shaft (partially caved) and "glory hole" trenches. There are also several dumps and a ramp-like structure made up of dump material. Small wulfenite crystals, vanadinite, mimetite, coronadite and pyromorphite (identified by microbe analysis) were found, as well as hemimorphite, rosasite and willemite. Many of these were new to the Red Hill documentation. Ray enhanced his talk with marvelous slide pictures taken by Dan Behnke. Thanks, Ray, for such an interesting talk.

Following refreshments so generously provided by Todd and Patricia Brown, the raffle of door prizes stirred quite an interest. Grant made one final reminder to be sure to check out the Museum at New Mexico Tech.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:10.

– Sitting in for Suzanne,

Lynda Katonak presented October’s Junior Club meeting titled "Rock Detective" to an eager crowd of 13 Juniors. Lynda taught the Juniors how to identify sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks.

Ray DeMark generously donated some excellent pyrite clusters from his Bosque Draw claim, which were distributed to grateful Juniors (they just love those shiny things!). Thanks Ray!

What’s planned for this month? It’s a big surprise. You’ll have to join us to find out!

Even though we are only in November, we are already planning meeting topics for 2006! If you have any ideas that you think would be interesting (or would like to present) at a Junior Club meeting, please email or call either Suzanne or I. Some potential topics for 2006 include: gold panning, jewelry making, flintknapping, making crystals, and more!

If you liked the meetings in 2005, just wait ‘till you see 2006!

– Paul Napolitano

Paul Hlava

Sandia National Laboratories, NM

&

Access to Gems and Minerals, Inc.

From antiquity, gemstones have been so very highly prized for their beauty and rarity that they have always been expensive to acquire. Therefore it seems only natural that people would try to mimic them with less costly, artificial materials. In olden times these artificial materials were mere substitutes (of variable quality). It wasn’t until the end of the 18^th century, when the science of analytical chemistry was well developed, that people knew what elements and contaminants were needed to form the desirable stones. From then on the race was afoot to produce synthetic materials identical to the best, perfect, natural stones.

In this well-illustrated and colorful talk, I will discuss many of the technologies used to produce true synthetic gemstones. After defining a few terms, I will follow a somewhat chronological path to briefly cover flame fusion, Czochralski, flux growth, hydrothermal, high pressure – high temperature, skull melting, high temperature diffusion, and chemical vapor deposition techniques used to create man-made gemstones. The stones discussed include ruby, sapphire, emerald, diamond, amethyst, citrine, cubic zirconia, and moissanite.

Come prepared. There is a short quiz at the beginning of the talk to test your pre-talk knowledge of synthetic gemstones.

As I write this, it is a day before the New Mexico Mineral Symposium and a week and a day before the last field trip of the 2005 season. I hope that everyone can attend both! Most importantly, I'm happy to say that Jeff Nekola Has kindly agreed to help me this coming season. He's got some great ideas and we are fortunate to have his help!!!!

Now that we are at the end of the field trip season, lets start thinking about next years' trips, so:

A REQUEST FOR IDEAS FOR THE 2006 COLLECTING SEASON!

I want to ask everyone to start thinking about collecting sites for next years' field trips. We would like for the trips to head to the southern part of the state in winter and early spring. Then, as the weather heats up, let’s head north to the cool mountains. Both Jeff and myself have some ideas, but we want to get your input!

So, let’s start doing some research, reading and plotting over the coming month and half, and see what we can come up with. Remember; this state is rich with minerals and fossils! Let Jeff and/or myself know your ideas this coming January.

Take Care, Ron Boyd

For November, 2005

From the devious mind of Paul Hlava

This year I have been discussing minerals that are named for geographic localities. So this time I thought I’d do a wrap up of the year’s offerings. These were:

January – Andesite after a mountain range.

February – Vesuvianite after a volcano.

March – Coloradoite after a state.

April – Elbaite after an island.

June – Columbite after the old name for the USA.

July – Calaverite after a county in CA.

August – Squawcreekite named for a creek in NM.

August – I also alluded to Tripuhyite a valley in Brazil.

October – Guanajuatite after a town in Mexico.

This month I won’t ask questions, but I’ll mention an oddity. Some might have asked why I did not mention santafeite (from NM!). The reason is that santafeite is not named for the city of Santa Fe. This mineral that is found in the Grants uranium district is named for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company because they were instrumental in the exploration and development of the deposits!

That’s all for this year folks. What devious direction should I take next year?

Answers to October’s Questions

What is the name of the mineral? Guanajuatite

What was the mineral named for? The city of Guanajuato, which is close to the mine of origin.

What is this mineral mined for? Mostly bismuth but the selenium may be recovered as a by-product.

Localities – (Just list the famous/important ones)

--NM – none

--USA – NV (Red Top or Mayville’s Mine), CA (Darwin Dist.), ID (un-named prospect)

--World – Mexico (3 sites), Australia (2), Canada (1), France (1), Germany(4 or 5), Russia(2), and Sweden (1)

The stuff is not common.

There was an interesting "review" of a website that had results of research related to who collects rocks, how old collector are, how we got started, how much people spend, etc. It starts on page 389 of the Nov/Dec Rocks and Minerals. Unfortunately, the URL of the website was wrong in the article (I sent an email to R&M to let them know). The correct address is: www.tomaszewski.net/Kreigh/Minerals/RockhoundsReport.v.4.pdf

You will notice a misspelling and missing capitals in the article (the capitals may not be important but obviously the misspelling is). It occurred to me that members would be interested in this information. I'm planning to be at this month's meeting and I'll be glad to stand up to tell people about it. I can bring a few copies of the report, too.

Although it is November, it is not too early to think about donations for the Junior Table at the March TOTE show. We know the kids would appreciate nice specimens (labeled, if possible) to choose from, that they can be proud of and incorporate into their displays. So if you find you need to get away from the family this holiday season and take refuge in the garage amongst your collection’s ‘overflow’, take a few minutes to sort through and find some nice pieces that kids will appreciate more than your garage will.

Please direct donations to Charlotte Cooper, Karen Peterson, or me. Let’s make next year’s Junior Table the best yet!

Thank you for your support!

Paul Hlava

Gemstone Synthesis

In this well-illustrated and colorful talk, Paul will discuss many of the technologies used to produce true synthetic gemstones. After defining a few terms, Paul will follow a somewhat chronological path to briefly cover techniques used to create man-made gemstones.

Paul graduated from the UNM with a Master’s of Science in geology in 1974. Paul has been in the electron microprobe laboratory (as staff member in charge of the lab since 1980) at Sandia National Laboratories since 1974. As a result of his research, he has written, co-authored, and/or presented over a hundred papers on a wide variety of materials. He has been president of the AGMC three times and is currently the Chair for AGMC’s annual show, geological/mineralogical expert for the New Mexico Facetor’s Guild, and often gives well-received talks on geological/mineralogical/crystallographic/gemological subjects.