Recent Activities -Total Wreck Mine Visit, January, 2020, Page 2
Here are some more pictures of our underground Explorations and mineral finds. We did not find any "Museum Quality" mineral specimens but did find interesting pieces!
Chris took a picture of me hard at work trying to excavate some unsual white mineral formations from quartz veining.
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I caught a nice silhouette of Chris moseying down a tunnel, deep down in the mine. He had a much better underground mine headlamp than I did and I ordered exactly the same kind the day after returning from this trip!
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Hopefully, you can make out Chris wrapping our finds to place in a flat in order to try to get them to surface intact. The matrix was VERY fragile for many of the specimens.
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It was one of the dirtiest places that I have collected. Good clean dirt, mind you. The iron oxides really clung to everything. It took a long time to get them all out of my hands, hair and face.
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This was one of the first things that I encountered underground. The white mineralization, I assume a carbonate, was brilliant in our headlamps and especially on the matrix of sparkling tiny hematite-tinted quartz crystals. 19.0cm wide
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A close-up of some of the white carbonate(?) mineralization.
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An the white mineral was also fluorescent!
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While excavating a vein of drusy quartz crystals, I happened upon this "flower" of chalcedonic quartz on thequartz crystals. Unusual. 8.0cm across
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An IT was fluorescent, as well. A light green colour.
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I wondered if this mineral was hydrozincite. It was so white and occurred with galena and, presumably sme sphalerite somewhere.
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AND it fluoresced fairly brightly, as well.
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Nice, micro mimetite crystals with lighter yellow-zoned terminations.
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