Volume 50 Number 9

With the 2003 New Mexico State Fair in full swing as the September News Nuggets goes to print, eight people have bragging rights for the fifteen ribbons won in the Minerals, Fossils and Lapidary categories. (Note: the following names were taken from the entry forms, and in some cases first names were not given.)

Rex Nelson was awarded Best of Show and a Blue Ribbon for his collection of "Turquoise of New Mexico", five specimens of turquoise from several locations around the state showing the mineral as found in the rock and part of the same mineral after it has been cut and polished.

Perryman received the seven ribbons and the honor of the most awarded entries:

3rd Place – Apophyllite – Class 1

2nd Place –Quartz Pseudomorph-Class1

1^st Place – Celestite – Class 1

1^st Place – Vanadinite/Barite/Manganese – Class 2

2^nd Place – Galena/Calcite Pyrite Class 2

2^nd Place – Apophyllite/Stilbite – Class 2

2^nd Place – Sculptured Goethite– Class 7

PETROFES received two ribbons: 2^nd Place in Class 4 for a Crinoid Stem and1st Place in Class 6 for a Fossil Coil.

Ortiz also received two ribbons: 3^rd Place for a Class 5 Carved Heart and 2^nd Place in Class 8 for a Carved Owl.

Gwen and Howell Poe won 2^nd Place in Class 3 for their Hansonberg Collection, B. L. Maggard won 1^st Place in Class 7 for his Intarsia Collection, and Andrew Lorezeli won 3^rd Place in Class 7 for his Stone Jewelry Box.

Those AGMC members who entered specimens made an outstanding showing; however, noticeable was the small number of member entries. As a group, we have accumulated the largest and best collection of specimens in the state, but we have almost no vehicle for showing these treasures. The State Fair is the main outlet to show the world our most prized specimens. It takes only a small amount of time to label and take an entry to the fair grounds, and the reward of receiving a ribbon – whether white, red, or blue is more than worth the effort. It should be a personal goal for every member to "show the world" at least one specimen from your collection next year .It is noteworthy that the most attended mineral display was the cabinet showing specimens collected on club field trips.

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: Darlene Nelson, Editor, 817 Sagebrush Trail, Albuquerque, NM 87123, or email to agmcnews@aol.com.

-Orlando

In June 2003, the Board of Directors (BOD) commissioned Maureen Fronek, CPA, to perform a general audit/review of the 2002 AGMC accounting records. Ms. Fronek provided the BOD with a summary report of her findings, which included recommendations for future reconciliation and clean audit trail procedures, suggestions for potential investment options, and a few questions regarding reconciliations to receipts and bank statements. All questions submitted in the review were accounted for upon detailed investigation of the records. Upon discussion of the report and the investigation into the reviewer’s questions, the 2003 AGMC accounting records were determined to be free of discrepancies.

The reviewer's report is available to any AGMC member interested in having a copy. Please contact me if you would like to receive a copy of the report or make arrangements to see the 2002 accounting records.

2003 AGMC Treasurer

Starting tonight’s meeting with a Field Trip report, Ray stated that our guide & Senior Geologist Bruce Walker gave an outstanding presentation to the approximately fifteen people in attendance. The presentation covered a broad range of topics that included the geologic history of the area and region, environmental concerns, the open pit mine and underground mining operations and a tour of various outcrops. The weather started out rainy but soon stopped and cooperated for a perfect day for collecting. Ray thinks he might have found a celestite specimen, a not previous reported mineral at the mine. Paul will check this out for him. Also found along with the usual minerals was some micro apatite and a few veins of aquamarine. Kimberly stated that our next trip will be to the Zuni Mountains, south of Grants, N.M. on the 27^th of September. Details will follow in the newsletter.

Orlando noted that the Club elections are coming up in November. He along with Stephanie Bell and Hank Miller are on the Officer Election Committee and will be looking for volunteers to fill the positions of Field Trip Chairperson(s), and Secretary. The slate of officers must be published before the November elections so here is your chance to get involved.

John Scully, our Webmaster, needs your mineral pictures for our club’s website. If you have some of your favorite specimens you would like to share with the rest of the world with your name attached, send him that picture. I think this is one of the more interesting parts of the website and we would like to see lots of pictures inhabiting it.

Numerous guests were introduced which included a mining engineer and a man who worked at Chino and other mines in southern New Mexico.

Hank Miller has copies of the pertinent page out of the State Fair’s Premium Book that describes the specifications for entering a competitive mineral exhibit. Apparently Lapidary and Minerals are in the same competitive category this year. The Board may want to change this prior to next year’s Fair. If you are interested in entering an exhibit contact Hank. He also has application forms for you to fill out if you want to attend the November 8^th and 9^th Mineral Symposium in Socorro. We have hundreds of bagged mineral specimens, labeled and with our website noted on the label. We need lots of minerals so if you have any, donations are being accepted by Kimberly and Orlando.

Grant introduced tonight’s guest speaker, mining engineer Jack W. Burgess. Mr. Burgess will be giving a similar talk at this November’s Symposium. This time we are privileged to hear it first! Tonight’s talk "Rocks and Relics" would be concerning the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (CDRI), near Fort Davis, Texas, a very special museum. Here at about a 5000 foot elevation, on a 500 acre land site, research and education functions occur that include hands on activities and periodic symposiums. They have a website at www.cdir.org.

Jack Burgess is a native Texan, born in Gonzales and raised in the Big Bend Country at Alpine. He attended Texas Western College in El Paso on a basketball scholarship, and graduated in 1961 with a degree in mining Engineering. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in New Mexico. Over the course of his mining career, he worked at a number of metal mines in New Mexico, Arizona, and Montana. As an Engineer, Mine Superintendent, and General Manager, his mines produced zinc, lead, copper, gold, silver, uranium and platinum group minerals. He spent three years in Chile as Country Manager for Chevron Resources developing the huge Collahuasi Copper Mine. Consulting assignments have included mine evaluations in Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and South Africa. Over the past six years, he has served as mining advisor to Rio Grande Mining Company for evaluation of the Shafter, Texas silver deposit. Jack maintains strong interests in the natural sciences, especially birds, cactus, and geology, and is a member of the Board of Directors (and Board of Scientists) of the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute. He also is involved with Rio Grande ecology as a member of the Corrales Village Bosque Advisory Commission. He and his wife, Kay, currently reside in Corrales, New Mexico.

The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute is dedicated to promote public awareness, appreciation and concern for the natural diversity of the Chihuahuan Desert region through the study of and education in the natural sciences and ecology of the huge Chihuahuan Desert. The Institute conducts research, provides scholarships, designs and implements educational activities, promotes the area, and produces films, publications and other media about the Chihuahuan Desert region. Because of the favorable geology, minerals and their exploitation are an important part of the region’s history. To call attention to this, a Mining Heritage Exhibit has been constructed on the site complete with displays illustrating early labor-intensive small mining. These include a replica 18-ft. high timber headframe and 1898-1903 Davis Horse Whim hoisting system, a tramming layout with ore chute, track, battery powered locomotive with ore cars and, under a pavilion, many smaller relics such as drill, hard hats, carbide lamps, maps and old mine pictures. Rounding out the exhibit is a variety of rocks containing ores from some of the mines of the region, including Morenci, Santa Rita, Lake Valley, and Shafter. Tonight’s slide presentation would illustrate this unique exhibit and many of its historical displays.

The Chihuahuan Desert covers a huge area from deep into Mexico up into the lower New Mexico and Texas. Many different natural resources such as coal, silver, talc, sulfur, limestone, fluorite, copper, lead, oil and gas have been and are being mined in this district. Today’s standard of living here in this country is a result of our abilities to exploit natural minerals in an environmentally friendly manner. A core of limestone and picture of a limestone quarry helped make this point by showing how even common rocks are very important in making our highway system the best in the world. The Mining Heritage Exhibit shows how labor intensive it was in the not so distant past to extract minerals from the Earth. Of the many interesting pictures shown one was of a 1963-65 hoist into the Chino Mine. Alfonso, a guest and soon to be member who worked in that mine and many others in the region, correctly identified the time period and mine. The exhibit has an extensive collection of all kinds of mining equipment from a wide region scavenged from many sources. The whole project has cost only about $7500 with not a cent paid for a single relic. Many mining companies were very helpful in donating items. Funding is being sought for many aspects of the exhibit which will be constructed largely through volunteer labor. Scattered among the relics are 40 to 60 pound boulders of ore loaded with colorful minerals. This size specimen was purposefully chosen so that any specimens on display don’t "walk off" with the visitors. Some of the other unusual pieces on display is a 76 pound mercury flask, the first electric (about 1930) blasting box, one of the first stoper drills where water was added to the drilling to keep down the dust, a "widow-maker" stoper, a head frame, a hand forged four inch circumference chain, a hard to find hoist operator’s signal bell, an authentic car full of real silver ore, a windless perhaps 75 years old, one of the first hand cranked drills, an ingot mold circa 1960 for poring silver and gold into to form bars, a light for the first hard hats which came into use about 1930 along with the usual assortment of early lamps, blasting cap box and a crimper, powder boxes, tamping stick, etc. We were shown many pictures of some of the minerals from this region. Several pictures of the Morenci Pit were shown and Mr. Burgess stated that it is the premiere Pit Mine in North America. There they are now leaching everything. One picture showed a 350 ton truck that he said would hold the total production from the Shafter mine, where he once worked, in one load with room left over!

We were shown a picture of four of the crew who along with Mr. Burgess developed this project, all 1958-61 classmates. This is a non-profit organization, however those who donate $20 will get their name on a tag to hang on a board. This is reminiscent of how a mining operation works when a miner goes underground. He has to hang his name on a board and take it off again when he exits.

After the talk we took a refreshment break, purchased door prize tickets and some minerals for sale thanks to Tom Katonak. We then reconvened for the door prize drawings at the conclusion of which this month’s meeting was formally called to an end. Many stayed on to visit until closing time at 10 p.m.

Thank you Mr. Jack Burgess for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm.

Back in the desert hills,

I found a crumbling mine

that had been abandoned

for a very long time.

Into the stope I went,
lamp lit, head low, back bent,
the old mine to explore.
Also, to find some ore.

Just inside the entrance,
where lingered light of day,
I saw where he had chanced
to live a miner's way. 

Against the wall, his things –
table with coffee pot,
a wooden shelf with cans,
and a crude wooden cot.

Then, I went farther back
to the interior,
and soon in total black,
the mine got scarier. 

With my dim lamp alit,
along old tracks I went,
finding lots of tools, a
sledgehammer and drill bits.

It began to appear
as if he were still here.
Looking this way and that,
I felt a prick of fear.

I came to some rubble,
at a bend of the tunnel,
and all of a sudden,
my hair stood on the ends!

There was a funny smell.
Then I looked down to see
dynamite at my feet
oozing a nitro gel. 

Into a wall of gold,
in holes drilled long ago,
I saw old fuses go,
oozing some more nitro.

I was scarcely breathing,
not ready for heaven yet,
and, ever so slowly,
I turned around and fled. 

When back at the entrance,
I paused to take a look.
Sitting on his old bench
I spied a crumbling book. 

Usually in life,
without a backward glance,
to look through our old mines,
we do note get the chance.

Now, this chance came my way,
as I opened the cover
of Pat Derry's diary
and his mining ledger.

His was a hard story

of danger – muck, drill, blast –
to find a lode of gold,
and escape from his past.

Perhaps the hour was a little early for some of our AGMC members as we only mustered seventeen folks for our Questa mine tour and field trip. We met at the Molycorp mine office at 9:00 a.m. (three-hour drive from Albuquerque) and were welcomed by Bruce Walker, the company geologist. We were ushered into a room and Mr. Walker gave us an excellent overview of the history, geology and environmental concerns regarding the Questa mine. Rain was threatening but never really materialized, and the temperature was ideal for mineral collecting. As in previous years, our group was given a tour of the area which included some points of geological interest, areas of environmental concern (mine dump creep) and the former open pit mine and mill areas. Of course, by this time, everybody was "chomping at the bit" to get to the mine stockpiles and some serious mineral collecting. Parts of the stockpile were rich in brecciated ore, which allows for the growth of crystals in voids between the clasts. The primary minerals of interest were molybdenite, fluorite, phlogophite-biotite, orthoclase, apatite, calcite, and beryl. Fluorite was more prevalent this year and some crystals were collected. Bill Schwiner found a specimen containing micro xtals of a barite celestite appearing mineral on quartz xtals in a small vug. Similar appearing material was found in another bug along with fluorite. Microprobe analysis by Paul Hlava revealed this mineral to be celestite. Bruce Walker advises me that this is the first recorded occurrence of celestite from the Questa mine. Some beryl xtals were collected by Kimberly Richie and others, but they were not as high a quality as those collected last year by Rex Nelson.

As always, a fun day with some interesting collecting and a new mineral from the mine!

Our field trip for September will be to the Zuni Mountains southwest of Grants. The plan is to meet at the Bandera Volcano Visitor Center at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, the 27^th of September. To reach the visitor center, take I-40 west to Grants, then exit south on NM 53 (exit 81). The visitor center is about 25-26 miles from the I-40 exit. Total mileage from Albuquerque is about 95 miles, so plan about a one hour-45 minute to two hour drive.

Our plan is to visit mines in the Section 21 area, which have produced nice cubic fluorite crystals in the past. We may also visit some prospects near the Mirabal mine, which is about 20-25 miles north of the Sec 21 mines. Plans are somewhat tentative, as I will have to visit these areas to ensure that they are still open and accessible. Prospects near the Mirabal mine have yielded fluorite, barite and some malachite in the past. I will have more definitive word about specific sites and vehicle access at this month’s regular meeting. This will be a good opportunity to visit some less-frequented mineral locations

The Zuni Mountains near Grants in Northwestern New Mexico are not well known as a mineral-collecting locality even though some nice specimens of fluorite, Barite, and copper oxides have been found. The eastern mountains contain Precambrian veins and Paleozoic stratabound sedimentary copper deposits that have produced more than 30,000 lbs of copper, 260 oz of silver, and 2 oz of gold. However, the most important production in this area came from veins that produced more than 192,l000 tons of fluorspar ore from 1909 to 1962. Thus, the eastern Zuni Mountains contain one of the largest fluorspar districts in the state.

Fluorite with subordinate amounts of quartz, calcite, and rarely, barite and galena occurs in veins up to 7 ft wide and several thousand ft long. The veins typically intrude Precambrian gneissic granite, although a few fluorite veins intrude Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The veins are concentrated in two major areas, one near the mines in sections 21 and 27 and the other at the Mirabel mine in Diener Canyon.

Blue, purple, green, and colorless cubes of fluorite up to ½ inch across are common in both areas. Specimens of small stacked fluorite cubes sometimes exhibit an iridescent or pearly luster. Massive, banded, blue and green fluorite provides nice slabbing material and can be found in veins near the sections 21 and 27 mines. Some banded fluorite also occurs at the Mirabel mine. Clusters of bladed pink- to salmon-colored barite, occasionally with fluorite, occur near the Mirabel mine. Some of the specimens near the Mirabel also contain blades of malachite with fluorite and barite.

Many of the fluorspar deposits occur on national forest land and are readily accessible to the public. Mineral collectors should be careful, because many of the underground workings are extremely hazardous. Good material can be obtained from mine dumps and shallow open trenches.

*********************************

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, isometric, lead mineral that looks a lot like galena (but isn’t) and it comes from hydrothermal vein deposits, often associated with gold. It is tin white with a black streak but it often tarnishes yellowish white to bronze yellow. Hardness – 2.5, Density 8.1 to 8.2, Cleavage – 3 perfect all perpendicular, Luster is bright metallic.

What is the name of the mineral?

What is the origin of the name?

What is the mineral used for?

What minerals might it be associated with?

--NM –

--USA –

--World –

What is the name of the mineral? Boleite

What is the origin of the name? Type locality of Boleo, Baja California, Mexico

What is the mineral used for? Minor ore of silver, Mineral specimens

What minerals might it be associated with? Cumengite, diaboleite, other silver and chlorine rich minerals.

--NM – none

--USA – AZ

--World – Australia, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Greece, Iran, UK

It seems that each of the Southwestern states has an apparent geologic specialty. If so, and Arizona is the big Canyon state, Utah is the Mesozoic fauna state, and Colorado is the big snow-capped Rocky Mountains. New Mexico is the Volcano state. It has one of the greatest concentrations of young, well-exposed, and uneroded volcanoes on the continent. And as a bonus, it is also the Rift Valley state; it has one of only four or five big continental rifts in the world, East Africa being one of the other ones. The fact is, New Mexico is one of the best places to study the natural history of volcanoes.

The type example and one of the largest young calderas in the world (Valles Caldera) is in New Mexico. Yellowstone is a caldera, but it is a less visually obvious example of this type of volcanic landform.

One of the greatest concentrations of young volcanic steam explosion craters (referred to as "maars" by geologists), occur in New Mexico. Zuni Salt Lake Crater and Kilbourne Hole Crater are two maars in New Mexico often used as type examples in textbooks. The remains of maars literally fill White Rock Canyon and they pepper the surfaces of many of the other volcanic fields, like the Mount Taylor and Potrillo fields. They are more abundant, better preserved, and more diversely exposed than those in the type area (Eifel district of Germany). European geologists come here to learn about maars.

Volcanism in New Mexico is not "extinct," but is dormant. The record of volcanism in New Mexico is continuous over tens of millions of years, and there is no reason to think it stopped magically 3000 years ago with the eruption of several cubic kilometers of basalt (McCartys lava flow, El Malpais). New Mexico has one of only three large mid-crustal active magma bodies (Socorro) in the continent. (The others are Long Valley, California and Yellowstone, Wyoming.) The Socorro area is one of the few areas where there is a dearth of young volcanoes, so perhaps the Rift is working on filling out its volcano landscaping.