BRITISH MICROMOUNT SOCIETYbritishmicromountsociety.homestead.com/bms_newsletter_85.pdf · Exeter,...

BRITISH MICROMOUNT

SOCIETY http://britishmicromountsociety.homestead.com/

NEWSLETTER No. 85 - FEBRUARY 2012

CONTENTS

Round the Tables 2011 3 New Minerals 16

Quick Snaps come to Micro-minerals

5 News Round-up 17

Ever seen one of these? 6 Cornish Mine Images on the Web 20

First Impressions 8 Acquisition of Davidite 21

British Classics at Munich Show 9 Branch News 22

An extreme way to reorganise? 15 Appeal for Photographs 24

(See Page 20)

2 BMS Newsletter 85

OFFICERS - CONTACT DETAILS

CHAIRMAN Martin Stolworthy

Homeview, 1 Richmond Place, Lyng, Norwich, Norfolk. NR9 5RF

VICE-

CHAIRMAN

Dick Belson 11 Waldemar Avenue, Hellesdon, Norwich, Norfolk. NR6 6TB

SECRETARY Phil Taylor Dunvegan, 96 Kingsfield Road, Kintore, Inverurie, Aberdeen. AB51 0UD

MEMBESHIP

SECRETARY

David Binns 3 The Dene, Hastings, East Sussex. TN35 4PD

TREASURER Greg Towning

7 Denver Road, Topsham, Exeter, Devon, EX3 0BS

NEWSLETTER

EDITOR

Mike Dannatt

The Laurels, Garden Court, South Chard, Chard, Somerset TA20 2QX

SYMPOSIUM

ORGANISER

Martin Gale 2 Coles Cottages, Rectory Road, West Tilbury, Essex. RM18 8UD

SYMPOSIUM

ORGANISER

Greg Towning

7 Denver Road, Topsham, Exeter, Devon. EX3 0BS

SYMPOSIUM

ORGANISER

(Displays etc.)

Rob Selley Flat 3, Over Garage, Paynters Lane, Illogan, Cornwall. TR16 4DJ

WELCOME TO THESE NEW MEMBERS

Veronica Read Levi Cottage, Tregony Hill, Tregony, Truro TR2 5RU 01872 530620 [email protected]

Kelvin Tiltman Journey's End, no 6 Seaton Park, Seaton, Cornwall PL11 3JF 01503 250370 [email protected]

(Changes of members’ contact details are on page 23)

BMS Newsletter 85 3

ROUND THE TABLES 2011

David Roe

My initial thoughts as I went round the tables at the 2011 BMS tribal gathering probably reflected those of many of us – anger at the uninvited intrusions from the construction industry plus a feeling of being almost overwhelmed by the sheer volume of micromounts and other material for sale and disposal from so many of our now departed predecessors. I was attempting to develop some philosophical themes about these pioneers of micromounting looking down from the Great Quarry in the Sky (which conjures up a slightly more attractive picture than the Great Spoil Tip in the Sky) only to be interrupted by someone (a certain young man from the Lower Fifth I suspect) interjecting that I was likely to be

looking up from a warmer place when it came to my time.

Notwithstanding this frivolity from the audience I continued my observations concerning my trek around the tables and related how I was relieved to find that the construction chaos quickly receded from my thoughts to be replaced with those special pleasures that the BMS brings. Where else would you have an in depth discussion on “compare and contrast libethnite with olivenite”. The downside to that conversation was the gloomy prospect of having to re-label a goodly proportion of my collection. And there could be no finer person to discuss this with than Sheila Harper who was eager to show off her metallurgically enhanced minerals. Alas, she succeeded in reinforcing my prejudice that slag mineral collectors are of dubious moral fibre when she cheerfully recounted how she had purloined them from amongst the roses in the Newlyn Garden of Remembrance. Worse still – she mounted these undoubtedly gorgeous specimens on Blu Tack. Peter Braithwaite has probably interrupted his hammering at the afore mentioned Great Quarry in the Sky to formulate a

suitable riposte which I will pass on to you all when I receive it.

At my next stopping place I am relieved to find that, as always, Rob Selly doesn’t let me down – where does he find such sublimely blue anatase? I then caught up with the Banthorpe’s and reminisced about old time (well 1990) anatase from Wheal Remfry – some of which had popped up on the “Grab table”- and we discussed the possibility of holding an ‘Anatase Fest’ in 2012. Erudite conversations continued – I find myself talking enthusiastically about black manganese minerals (would that be with Tom Cotterell?). Tom was part of the Plant, Cotterell, and Starkey gang who put on the mouth-watering display of Anglesey anglesites topped off with giveaway DIY grab bags – one of the highlights of the weekend and hopefully setting a trend for future speakers at the

Symposium.

Andy Castleton was one of many who had been digging out the garage for old

4 BMS Newsletter 85

timer specimens and had unearthed some Ladywash fluorites – I had forgotten how incredibly dark and lustrous they were. Likewise Coleen has dusted down an old timer from Eaglebrook – a cracking little pyromorphite – none of that left when I was there a few months ago. This trend for specimens from the past was continued by Ulrich who had some very nice banded barytes dug up many years

ago from a long abandoned site in Germany.

Gold fever came upon me when Onetta showed me her gold from Tyn Drum and recalled for me a long forgotten nugget of gold panning lore – don’t forget to pan the moss on the stream bank for the gold entrapped in the winter floods. With my appetite for gold whetted I was delighted to discover Peter Harrison’s metal specimens’ collection. Naturally it includes some gold from Hope’s Nose including a stunning gold filigree – if that was ever mounted on a little black stick in a matt black display box it would be a world beater – but for now it lies on a bed of Blu Tack. To mangle a metaphor –looking like a pearl in a sow’s

ear.

All this Blu Tack gives rise to a primeval need to return to the craftsmanship of our Micromount Founder Fathers and luckily I find some relief with the elegiac creations in plastic, stone and wood by David Roe – I understand that next year he will be introducing a drift wood range – but I did have to look hard to see his

gold from the Loddiswell Mine.

Thus refreshed I decided to tackle our esteemed Chairman’s offerings - he has returned to his Norfolk roots and provided me with a tray of Micromounted flint. My impolite sniggers were silenced as soon as I looked at them – they were seriously wonderful. So wonderful that when a few minutes later John Pearce enthused about two types of natrolites and three different forms of thomsonite collected on his epic voyage to the Faeroes I could only beam with bemused

delight.

And so every year at this time on Sunday I gather my thoughts together and fall to wondering what it all means - life, the universe and stones on sticks. Every year I give you glimpses of the lush pasture of crystals displayed on crafted plinths set in a matt black universe, I chide you on that Beelzebub named Blu Tack, I cajole you to open those dusty cabinets and drawers and bring out the treasures collected over the years so that we can share the wealth of science, aesthetics, anecdote, memories together at the next BMS Symposium. And I know that your hearts are filled with good intentions and you are inspired to find a few hours in the next 365 days to do better. But I also know too well that you are weak and feckless and those good intentions for next year will evaporate by tomorrow morning. Suddenly I am gripped by a vision of Sunday Sermons and then realise that if the BMS is the congregation then I am playing the part of the vicar – a role I have never imagined for myself. Perhaps I will be expected to

BMS Newsletter 85 5

QUICK SNAPS COME TO MICROMINERALS

David Roe

A couple of issues ago Roy did a quick review of the Veho Microcapture USB magnifier and suggested it might have some uses for micromounters. I am a serial failure as a mineral photographer and decided to buy one of these little fellows – a relative snip at around £30 - to see if it could provide the digital pictorial records that I sometimes feel I need.

As soon as I tried using the Microcapture it becomes apparent that the stand provided is hopelessly unstable. This is made worse by the excessively slippery nickel finish which makes tightening up the screws very difficult. Luckily there is an easy fix as the main body of the microscope can be prised out of the matt black “Y” holder (be brave but gentle) and the small screw fixing the holder to the stand can then be undone. The holder can then be attached to a suitable arm and then clicked back on to the microscope. I ended up using a laboratory clamp to attach it to a solid vertical so that the unit is now good and substantial.

Once I had fixed that problem it became apparent that the focus wheel is very flimsy and difficult to adjust without furiously shaking the whole picture out of focus. To overcome this I decided to keep the focus fixed and use a laboratory jack to bring the specimen into focus. I found a good compromise between magnification and depth of view is x10 which allows a 25mm box to fill the field of view – the magnification can be taken to x100 but the specimen is perilously close to the optics and the depth of field is almost non-existent.

The software installed easily and is based on standard web cam settings (so features such as face recognition can be disabled!). The first step to getting usable images is to switch off the auto settings and then play around with the various camera control settings to find the right combination. The built in LED lights are very effective and I have found that this means I can use low settings for exposure and brightness (down to -10), while leaving the contrast at default 0 and tweaking the saturation and sharpness up to 4. There is a mysterious “Gamma” setting which seems to be a key variable - turn it to maximum while

wear a dog collar and ceremonial robes at a future symposium? Taken aback by this unexpected future I decide to make a quick conversion to Quakerism – and no doubt you will all be relieved to know this creed emphasises silence – and I

will start practicing now.

6 BMS Newsletter 85

EVER SEEN ONE OF THESE?

David Green

Most of us will have encountered an invertebrate or two whilst looking through material gathered from a mine dump or exposure. Mites are relatively common and often occur on rocks, especially if there is moss or lichen on the surface. Book lice are sometimes present on specimens that have been stored wrapped in paper in a garage or shed. Book lice are particularly attracted to the glue that is used to bind books, but they also consume paper labels and wrapping material. Mites and book lice sometimes attract predators including a species with a name that is out of proportion to its diminutive size: Aristotle's Book Scorpion. This tiny creature is not a true scorpion, but belongs to a distantly

keeping the gain fairly low gives good results. The default for white balance is a good starting point but needs to be adjusted to get an accurate on screen representation of the colours.

The results to date have been useful but not breath taking – even at x10 the depth of field is poor and the image sharpness only average. Dark greens such as malachite and olivenite are unexciting but azurite and scorodite can be quite impressive. Surprisingly the VEHO seems to handle clear “sparklies” such as quartz and barite very well – for example anatase on quartz can be quite pleasing considering the ease at which a picture can be taken. As a result I am seriously thinking about using the VEHO to give reference snaps of new micros (it takes less than a minute per photo) and I find the original 2.5 MB file still looks good on screen when reduced to around 40KB.

A bit of cross fertilisation to finish. In the field of astronomical photography a revolution has taken place in the last five years with the realisation that the humble Phillip TouCam SPC 880 webcam costing less than £20 (available from Morgan Computers) in combination with small telescopes can provide photographs of planets equal to the best that were being achieved by professionals until very recently. Apparently the SPC 880 has a very good chip and superb pictures of the moon and planets have been obtained by running a video for a couple of minutes and then using Registax to stack the images. I plugged it into the eyepiece of my microscope and got some interesting results – although unfortunately the magnification even without the eyepiece is too high (probably around X50) – but food for thought?

BMS Newsletter 85 7

related group of animals known as pseudoscorpions.

Pseudoscorpions have a long history. They were first noticed by Aristotle, who found them among the scrolls in a library. In his History of Animals he wrote "In books also animalcules are found, some resembling the grubs found in garments, and some resembling tailless scorpions, but very small." Two millennia later, Robert Hooke described them as "land-crabs" in his Micrographia. About 30 species live in the British Isles. They are widespread but relatively little known because of their diminutive size and secretive habits.

I first saw a pseudo-scorpion while sorting through strontianite specimens from Blue Anchor bay in Somerset. A red-brown somewhat spider-like creature was lodged in a cavity among fibrous crystals. Its appearance was so otherworldly that I grabbed for the camera and took some snaps. A quick search of the internet identified Chthonius ischnocheles, a widespread species that is unusual in that it has huge chelicerae in addition to the pedipalps: that is to say there are two large sets of pincers on the front end. It piqued my interest and further searches revealed other beasts including Aristotle's Book Scorpion, Cheiridium museorum. This information was relegated to the interesting but unlikely-to-be-of-much-use part of consciousness for a few years. Then while searching through a tray of specimens from Belton Grain Vein at Wanlockhead from Norman Thomson (which incidentally was full of book lice) something moved in the corner of the field of view. And there was a tiny scorpion... and not just any species, it was Aristotle's Book Scorpion. Once more the camera came out and pictures were taken. A photo is included for readers who might be

interested, especially as micromounters are more likely than most to come across the Book Scorpion or one of its relatives. A quick search of Norman's specimens revealed a second pseudoscorpion nearby. They went back in the garage. Dry dusty habitats seem to be the ideal habitat and with a bit of luck they will now have some controlling effect on the population of book lice!

8 BMS Newsletter 85

FIRST IMPRESSIONS - MICRO-MOUNT STUDY EVENING, 14TH

OCTOBER 2011

Helena Carter - BMS Sussex Branch

‘Turn this knob to focus, this one to increase the magnification, shunt this light about so it shines on the specimen, and you’re ready.’ Mark Oddy’s instructions gave me no idea of what I was about to see. I looked down the microscope, to a diminutive sample of aragonite, and gasped – a cluster of totally clear, fanned-out rays of crystal shone and lured me into the centre of the little mineral. I spent a good five to ten minutes revelling in the beauty of this one specimen, before moving on to the next, azurite.

This time, it was blue – royal blue crystals set in a cream matrix – again, colour, form, perfect beauty – was I going to be able to stand a whole evening of these wonderful sights?

I have been coming to Sussex Mineral meetings for about five years now – why did no-one ever say – Come to the Micro-mount evenings – see what minerals are really like? For several years I have been trying to make sense of all the information about minerals – fascinating talks, lovely displays (please do not touch), field trips, wrapping minerals for the tombola at the Show – all these things have given me an acquaintance with minerals – but not this exposure to a pirate’s treasure. Specimen after specimen I looked at – each as lovely as the last, each different, each fascinating, each reminding me of the stories of Indian emeralds, South African diamonds, the Crown Jewels, rubies from the eyes of Hindu gods, Treasure Island – for these tiny specimens, so carefully selected by John Hall, are actually jewels. Never having owned much in the way of gems, I was overwhelmed by what I saw on that Friday evening.

John has made a wonderful collection of micro-minerals, with details of each one, dividing them into families, giving locality where found, chemical composition, crystal form, and often the origin of the name. Quite a few I had never heard of – surprise, surprise. bayldonite, for example, consisting of small deep green balls, was named after John Bayldon, an English physicist, who collected the original specimens from Penberthy Croft Mine, St Hilary, Cornwall. It is a lead copper arsenate hydroxide. This is just one example of the detailed effort that John Hall has gone to, making information interesting and available to members who take part.

I nearly panicked at the name of one specimen – cacoxenite – of course I had never heard of it. Through the magic microscope, I could see a rich collection of golden balls, opened up so they resembled tiny flowers – with a deep orange

BMS Newsletter 85 9

centre, surrounded by radiating acicular (needle-like) crystals. Its descriptive name was – hydrated aluminium iron oxy-phosphate hydroxide. Really!

John has organised all the meetings with themed minerals. This time it was Iron, although as a complete beginner I was given introductory trays, six specimens in each, and details of each mineral typed neatly on a separate sheet to go with each of the trays. This was so for the trays of iron minerals used by the other, more experienced members. Were they there to improve their knowledge, or purely for the joy of seeing such lovely specimens? I must remember to ask, next time.

It’s a lot of work to set up such an evening – John brings all the specimens, and everyone who owns one brings a microscope – large, handsome stereo-scopes, and heavy! There are also all the electrics – lamps, adaptors, plugs, whatever else is necessary – the usual moving about of furniture – but once set up – off you go. So hopefully, after this last amazing Friday night, I may be able to remember a little, and the pleasure of seeing minerals looking like those fabulous photos in the Mineralogical Record will stay with me indefinitely. Many thanks for everyone’s help and input. I’m only sorry that there are six months to wait for the next meeting.

BRITISH CLASSICS AT THE MUNICH SHOW

28TH TO 30TH OCTOBER 2011

Phil Taylor

Once again I had the pleasure of attending the Munich Show with Clive Cornwall in late October 2011. I imagine most readers are reasonably familiar with the format of this show, either from having personally visited, or through the numerous show reports available on the internet, in mineralogical

magazines or past BMS newsletters.

It is difficult to do the show justice in such a brief account, so I have decided to focus on some of the British specimens featured in the show’s special exhibition for 2011, European Classics. The British displays were drawn from the Natural History Museum (NHM) London, the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) Edinburgh, other European museums and various private

collections from around the world.

10 BMS Newsletter 85

We estimated there were about eighty British specimens in the exhibition, drawing heavily from the English mining regions of Cornwall and Devon, west Cumbria and Weardale. However, many individual treasures punctuated the displays such as two Bage mine matlockites, leadhillite (see page12) and lanarkite from Leadhills-Wanlockhead and a splendid greenockite from

Bishopton.

Adjacent to the exhibition’s main entrance were two west Cumbrian barytes on loan from the NHM London. Both were almost overwhelming in terms of their size, perfection and aesthetics. In no matter what language visitors were speaking, their expressions and enthusiasm said it all, these specimens were literally show stoppers. One, a specimen from Goose Green mine, is pictured on page 12, but my apologies for the reflections, photography can be difficult through glass. It still amazes me that such large and heavy, yet delicate

specimens were ever recovered from the mines in such pristine condition.

Weardale fluorites were well represented with fine examples from Blackdene, Cambokeels, Frazer’s Hush, Middlehope Shield and Rogerley. There were also a couple of outstanding Boltsburn specimens, displaying that typical warm lilac-mauve hue and intricate colour zoning. I always picture St. Peter’s mine fluorite as those amber-honey cubes dusted with sucrosic micro-quartz, as mined in the last twenty or so years. The NHM dispelled this notion with a variegated green and lustrous-glassy specimen of almost a foot in length (see page 13), sprinkled with occasional bright and complex galena crystals to about

1 cm.

Amongst the many Cornish and Devon specimens was a bit of a newcomer to most of the British contingent visiting the show. I think most BMS members are familiar with the famous Virtuous Lady box siderite epimorph from the Russell collection in the NHM, but the one on show on page 13 was from the NMS. My thanks to Clive for the accompanying photograph. Selecting a very limited number of photos for this article has been shear agony, but this is a specimen I just had to include; I am unaware of it appearing in any publication

that I know of.

The remaining three photos I have finally settled for are a gorgeous Wheal Maudlin horse tooth siderite group (page 14), an unbelievably big childrenite crystal from the George & Charlotte mine and a Caradon fluorite which I could

hug, I thought it delightful, both shown opposite.

The overall display of European material was simply stunning, but to me, Clive

and everyone to whom we spoke, the British specimens stood out as sublime.

BMS Newsletter 85 11

Childrenite, George & Charlotte mine, Tavistock, Devon. A wonderful large clove-brown crystal (over 10 mm) on matrix. This specimen shows the remarkable size childrenite crystals can attain at this mine. NHM London specimen.

F luor i t e w i th

Q u a r t z a n d

C h a l c o p y r i t e ,

Caradon mine, St.

Cleer, Liskeard,

Cornwall. This is a specimen I don’t re-call seeing before and thought it both u n u s u a l a n d beautiful. The repeated triangular symmetry of the fluorite is echoed by the overgrowths of chalcopyrite and quartz, making for a great aesthetic. NHM London.


Leadhillite, Leadhills, Lanarkshire. Pseudo-hexagonal, creamy-honey crystals on matrix (about 7 cm wide) from an unknown mine. NHM London specimen.

Baryte on dolomite, Goose Green mine, Frizington-Cleator Moor, Cumbria. A specimen placed at the entrance to the exhibition which literally froze all visitors in their tracks with gasps of amazement! About 60 cm long, with thick and complex, honey-yellow colour-zoned baryte crystals to 20 cm. NHM London specimen.


Siderite, Virtuous Lady mine, Buckland Monachorum, Tavistock, Devon. A siderite “box” epimorph after fluorite, containing milky quartz and chalcopyrite crystals, surrounded by siderite. National Museum of Scotland specimen.

Fluorite, St. Peter’s mine, East Allendale, Northumberland. Bright lime to pale apple-green and lemon zoned fluorite, approximately 25 cm in length, with minor galena crystals; a magnificent old time specimen. NHM London specimen.


Rock store for sale—see opposite

Siderite, Wheal Maudlin, Lanlivery, near Lostwithiel, Cornwall. A magnificent domed specimen of the characteristic “horse tooth” crystals for which this locality is renowned; each zoned crystal is about 13 mm across. Simon Lawrence specimen.


AN EXTREME WAY TO RE-ORGANISE?

Mike Dannatt

I don’t know what 2011 was like for you but it seemed to be a stand-still one for us. We decided that this mobility problem for your editor meant that moving in to town was the key to being more independent of the car which he can no longer drive - left foot refuses to do as it is told! So, we de-cluttered in readiness for all the potential buyers we expected. We were even aware of more than one property in town offering the very basic amenities of a rock shed and work-room. Almost a year on, we can’t find things we de-cluttered, life is on hold and there are still houses available in town. With a rock store like the one you see opposite, we even thought about advertising a “West Country Rock Store for Sale with the Benefit of Adjoining Bungalow”. With no sale, it’s time to give up and get on with life. The new scooter is roadworthy and supposed to do up to 30 miles—at just 8mph that should see me into town and back in about 40 minutes!

I got to thinking how I got here anyway with an interest in minerals - and a few other things; after all, that’s partly why I ended up cluttered in the first place! I concluded that, quite simply, it is because I am curious about why ‘things’ are the way they are and why so many things are so lovely or just strange. I have written before in this newsletter how I had toyed around for a few years with macro-minerals and how Peter Braithwaite had caught my imagination with the sheer beauty of what he showed me under the microscope. That’s it really, it was the sheer beauty of what I saw that took my breath away. Somehow, I suspect that I am not alone in coming to the ’hobby’ this way - or am I? (See also page 8.)

That leads me on to those ‘other things’ to which I referred above. These include birds (feathered) and cactus and other succulent plants. I recall Sheila Harper (I think - sorry if it wasn’t you Sheila) saying that growing cacti was an interest shared by quite a number of mineral collectors. I now know that to be true. Being alone in Scordale with just a pair of Peregrines for company was so memorable and just talking about it revealed how many other collectors had at least a passing interest in ornithology! So, I just wonder how many other members have one or more of these other interests in common. I feel sure that, like me, some of them would not claim to be ornithologists, botanists or even mineralogists but remain enthusiastic about their interests.

To a greater or lesser extent, what all of these interests have in common is the ease with which they contribute to clutter. There are rock sheds, mineral cabinets, greenhouses full of plants, drawers full of binoculars, telescopes and cameras. There are books on everything. So, if we have to stay put, we must re-clutter - just so long as the opportunity is not missed to re-organise it and to ensure it is catalogued! There is obviously a message here for the handful(?) of members

who have yet to complete the curating of their collections!


NEW MINERALS

David Green

About 50 new mineral species are added to the 'official list' every year and data on each of these is published in an abbreviated form in the CNMNC newsletter, which is published in Mineralogical Magazine six times every year. After more than two centuries of dedicated research, most newly discovered species are rather small and obscure, just the sort of things, in fact, that are found by micromounters. New species commonly have unusual structures. One of the most fascinating recent discoveries was mendeleevite-(Ce), Cs6(Ce22Ca6)(Si70O175)(OH,F)14(H2O)21. It was named in honour of Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834-1907), the great Russian chemist and discoverer of the periodic table. This has a unique silicate superstructure with large channels that can contain a variety of cations. A new species that is of potential interest to British collectors is fassinaite, Pb2(S2O3)(CO3), a lead thiosulphate carbonate that looks a lot like anglesite. Fassinaite is almost certain to occur on specimens from Leadhills-Wanlockhead and the Caldbeck Fells and can be differentiated from anglesite be means of a simple chemical test. Have a look on the net and then check your specimens!

Recent new minerals with a British connection include davidlloydite, a zinc arsenate from Tsumeb in Namibia. This is named in honour of David Lloyd, a well-known UK collector who was involved in the reopening of Tsumeb Mine. Ian Bruce has also been honoured by a new species, ianbruceite, a zinc- and arsenic-bearing supergene mineral also from Tsumeb. Rick Turner, the former president of the Russell Society, has been honoured by rickturnerite, a complex lead oxychloride from Merehead Quarry near Cranmore in Somerset. It occurs as pale green to grey-white aggregates of fibrous crystals in association with mereheadite, cerussite, calcite, aragonite, mimetite, hydrocerussite, ‘plumbonacrite’ and an uncharacterised lead oxychloride, in cavities in a manganite and pyrolusite pod. Rickturnerite is one of a number of uncharacterised species from the manganese pods at Merehead Quarry that are currently under investigation and there is likely to be a number of further discoveries as time goes on.

All of these new finds start with sharp-eyed collectors noticing something a bit odd or unusual.


NEWS ROUND-UP

Roy Starkey

Starting in the south-west, readers may be interested to look at

Geology Cornwall

http://geologycornwall.com/Library.htm is the web site of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, founded in 1814. The website has recently added links to a number of old mineralogical/geological publications which may be of interest to BMS Members. These include:-

Mineralogia Cornubiensis: A Treatise on Minerals, Mines, and Mining. William Pryce (1778 )

The Laws of the Stannaries of Cornwall: To which are Added the Several Acts of Parliament. Tregonning (1808 )

Observations on the rich parts of the lodes of Cornwall. Prof. L. Moissenet (1877).

A Handbook to the Mineralogy of Cornwall and Devon: With Instructions for Their Discrimination. J.H. Collins FRS (1871).

A Sketch of the Geology of Cornwall: Including a Brief Description of the Mining Districts and... B. Symonds (1884).

Memoirs of the Geological Survey of England and Wales Vol.1. H.M.S.O. (1846).

The Geology of Falmouth and Truro and of the Mining District of Camborne and Redruth. J.B. Hill (1906).

A guide to the Mount's Bay and the Land's End; comprehending the topography, botany, agriculture, fisheries, antiquities, mining, mineralogy and geology of western Cornwall. John Ayrton Paris (1828).

On another page on the website the Society has also made available high quality scans of historical editions of the Transactions of the Geological Society of Cornwall, from Vol.1 through to Vol.11 (with the exception of Vol.3 which is not yet available). These provide a fascinating resource for the historical researcher interested in delving into contemporary accounts of Cornish mineralogy in the 1800s.

Do take a look.


Wolf Minerals – Hemerdon Tungsten Project Update

Wolf Minerals Limited has announced (15 December 2011) that it has selected Bardon Contracting to build the 600 metre link road between Lee Moor Road and West Park Hill in Plympton. This is an important milestone for the Company as Wolf will be in a position to break ground on the Hemerdon project during 2012. As specified in the conditions of the main mine permit, Bardon will construct a section of public road to remove a long term constriction in the transport network, prior to developing the mine. It is intended that the new road will benefit other local extractive operations and create a long term piece of infrastructure to support safe and efficient transportation in the local area. Completion of the link road is scheduled for June 2012.

Wolf is focused on developing the Hemerdon project into a large scale, long life, open pit mining operation, and is continuing with other pre-production activities. On 13 January 2012 the company announced that it has received formal UK Government support (directly from the UK Minister of State for Trade, Lord Green) for the development of its Hemerdon Tungsten and Tin project in Devon, in Southwest England.

Moving further north there is also exciting news of a renewal of exploration activities on Anglesey.

Diamond drilling recommences at Parys Mountain

Anglesey Mining plc announced on 11 January 20 12 that work has commenced on a new drilling programme. The company also conducted an Induced Polarisation (IP) geophysical survey and an associated Deep Overburden (DOB) geochemical survey during December 2011. The results of these surveys have now been received and analysed and have provided good guidance for the location of holes for the on-going drilling programme.

The first hole in the initial stage of drilling is reported to be progressing satisfactorily. This hole has a target depth of 220 to 250 metres. The initial stage will consist of four holes totalling in excess of 800 metres of drilling and is expected to be completed in five to six weeks. Subject to results obtained from these first holes it is planned to drill a further six to eight holes for an additional 1,200 metres of drilling. These second stage shallower holes are likely to be located between the current holes and the target area identified from the IP and DOB surveys.

The drilling is targeting the potential sub-outcrop location of the Engine Zone mineralisation which has been shown to be a major resource bearing structure


around the bottom of the Morris Shaft at some 300 to 400 metres below surface. Previous exploration particularly during the last drilling programme at Parys Mountain in 2007 and 2008 traced the Engine Zone upwards to a depth of about 200 metres.

Providing the existence of the Engine Zone at these shallower depths can be defined in sufficient size and continuity it could enhance the development of the nearby White Rock zone as a relatively small decline based mining operation. Planning permissions for such an operation and for an associated processing plant remain in place.

As the results from the current phase of drilling are received a review of the mining and production options available for the White Rock and potential shallow Engine Zone resources will be carried out. This review will be designed to identify the optimum mining and processing routes available and to generate capital and operating cost estimates at a preliminary feasibility study level.

Additionally a broader review of the overall potential of the Parys Mountain area will be conducted and in conjunction with White Rock/shallow Engine Zone study will consider the various commercial options available to enhance the value of Parys Mountain for shareholders.

Subject to satisfactory and timely completion of both phases of the current drilling programme and receipt of analytical data it is expected that both these reviews will be completed during the second quarter of 2012.

However, in Yorkshire, the recently announced prospective new Potash Mine has met with stiff opposition as reported by the BBC and the Yorkshire Post in January.

“Groups unite against North York Moors potash pit plan” A fighting fund has been set by the support groups of every national park in the country over plans for a potash mine in the North York Moors. Sirus Minerals Ltd said the mine would provide jobs, and modern technology would reduce its environmental impact. Tom Chadwick, chair of the North Yorkshire Moors Association, said there were fears it would be an "undesirable industrial intrusion" on the park. Potash is a potassium compound used in fertilisers. The UK's only mine is at Boulby in North Yorkshire, a few miles north of the North York Moors National Park. Mining company Sirus Minerals has been sinking boreholes to establish the exact site where it plans to have the pithead. It has planning permission for 13 exploration sites using drills reaching further than a mile underground. On the evidence it has so far, Sirus has admitted the pithead would need to be inside the park. The company proposes to use new technology


to have low-rise pitheads, bury spoil back in the tunnels and says it will not use rail or lorries to take the potash away from the site. It wants to build an underground pipeline to take the minerals as slurry to a processing plant on Teesside.

Ruth Chambers, deputy chief executive at the Campaign for National Parks, said: “Every year we appeal to members to donate funds for all our campaigning work of which the potash mine will be one if it comes into being. Obviously it doesn’t exist yet, so this is a stance on what we think will come forward.” Tom Chadwick, the chairman of the North York Moors Association, one of the organisations represented by the Campaign for National Parks, said “There’s no such thing as an environmentally-friendly mining operation. “

In Scotland, following the successful outcome of the Planning Appeal in October last year, The Herald Scotland ran a story on 19th January 2012 “Scotgold reshuffle ahead of Cononish project”.

“SCOTGOLD Resources, the mining firm focused on extracting gold and silver from the Highlands, has announced a management reshuffle that sees chairman John Bentley take on an executive role. Mr Bentley has been non-executive chairman of Scotgold since February 2009 but activity in the company is likely to step up after the recent granting of planning permission on the Cononish gold and silver project in Argyll.”

A spokesman for the company, based in Tyndrum some 50 miles north of Glasgow, said chief executive Chris Sangster would be staying with the company. "It is just adding to the management team. It in no way affects Chris's position," he said. Mr Bentley, who will be executive chairman, said: "My colleagues on the board felt it sensible that I take on executive status at this juncture.”

CORNISH MINE IMAGES ON THE WEB

Simon Jones

Roy Starkey drew our attention to this web-site which has some superb images of what remains of Cornish Mines. Simon Jones, whose work the web-site fea-tures, introduces it as follows:

This is a project that has been on my mind for more than a few years. Mainly due to my interest and love for the County of Cornwall, Mines, Min-ing history and 35mm Black and White Photography. I have been working on websites for the past few years at work, so I thought in September 2011, I would have a go for myself.


I have been an underground explorer for thirty years and a camera user for more than I care to remember. I started my underground investigations as a caver then progressed onto disused mine exploration. Twenty years ago, I discovered the wealth of mines and history of Cornwall above and below ground. This is a photographic record of remaining surface features and a selection of underground sites I have been privileged to see over that time. I have my own darkroom and all pictures on this site are my own work, unless otherwise stated on the image. If any visitor would like an original print, 10” x 8” or 16” x 12” I would be glad to quote a minimal cost for time and mate-rials. All images have been taken on 35mm Black and White: Agfa, Ilford or Kodak print film, usually on Olympus equipment ranging from OM1’s to OM4’s with Zuiko lenses. The underground photographs have been taken on a selection of older and cheaper manual cameras, this is due to the limited life spans of photographic equipment in the harsh underground environment. The various Cornish Photographs date from the early 1990’s to the present day. Those images in the “Other Galleries” listed under “About Me” are dif-ficult to date, but are still worth seeing. As time goes by, these Galleries will expand to cover other Mining and industrial areas of the country, but pre-dominantly this will remain a Cornish based website.

This is my way of preserving a bit of history and giving something back to the County that has given me so much.

I hope you enjoy the way I see Cornwall and its history.

(To see Simon’s work, go to www.cornishmineimages.co.uk - a link is provided

from our own web-site.)

ACQUISITION OF DAVIDITE

Mike Leppington

A recent picture of davidite from Zambia in ‘The Mineral Record’ reminded me

of how I obtained the specimens I have in my collection.

When I was working in Zambia a friend told me that if I visited the A.G.I.P. Exploration offices in Lusaka the staff would give me some davidite specimens. Off I went, met one of the geologists who said “Yes, come back tomorrow.” Next day, I was there again and the geologist told me, “See that wheelbarrow in the garden, go and help yourself.” This I did and obtained half a dozen

undamaged crystals.

I then went back to the geologists office, thanked him and said “Why did I have to come back today?” “Oh!” he said, “We keep the material buried in the


garden so we had to get the gardener to dig it up for you.”

After seeing the pictures in ‘The Mineral Record’ I looked up davidite from Zambia on the internet. I cannot remember the company but it had eight specimens for sale with the comment that the specimens had just come to light in a drawer in the geology office in Italy. Six of the specimens were being sold for $250 each whilst the other two, which were massive, were priced at $2000 each. There is a possibility that even after 45 years all the material that I saw could still be buried in the garden in Lusaka. Of course, my regret is not taking

more specimens, but I suppose one shouldn’t be too greedy.

BRANCH NEWS

South-East Branch - Meeting held on November 13th 2011

This meeting was well attended with sixteen members and one visitor present. This continues the trend of previous years, that the November meeting consis-tently records our highest attendance.

At the meeting Peter Wallace raised the question of the increase in the fees at the Ringway Centre, brought about by the financial cutbacks, resulting in the Centre getting a reduced grant from Lewisham Council. Over a number of years we have received a discretionary discount on the amount we pay for the room, but that has now been withdrawn, which will make a considerable difference to our cost. In 2010 we paid £80.00. with a discount, with the increase in the fees and no discount fees for 2011 will be £125.00. and in 2012 £132.00. With roughly 20 members income from our subscriptions at £2.00. a year clearly would not cover our expenses, so there is no alternative but to increase the sub-scription to £5.00. a year, after twenty plus years at £2.00.The income from the raffle should cover the balance and our other expenses.

Richard Belson brought in some fluorescent specimens, following the display at the Haywards Heath mineral show, a lot of these specimens becoming “freebies” by the end of the afternoon. Mark Oddy provided a box of “freebies” from the Stonycroft Smelter, Keswick and Brandy Gill, Caldbeck Fells, Cum-bria.

Peter Wallace brought in six specimens from the Gannal Smelter, near Newquay, for our now regular identification exercise. The specimens were, di-


abolite, phosgenite, anglesite, gypsum, laurionite and cumengeite. With the help of the book on the Laurion slags, most members were able to identify most of the specimens correctly.

Meeting Dates For 2012:

FEBRUARY 12th MAY 13th

AUGUST 5th

NOVEMBER 11th THE NEXT BRANCH MEETING IS ON FEBRUARY 12th 2012

USUAL PLACE STARTING AT 2.00.PM

Devon & Cornwall Group

The meetings in 2012 will be on March 10th, June 2nd, Sept 8th, Dec 1st. Meetings will be held at Liskeard Public Rooms, 3. West St. Liskeard and will start around 1:00pm. There is a public car park 100 yards from the venue. There is a charge of £1 to cover the cost of the room and the refreshments. Visitors are

most welcome. For further info contact Chris Jewson.

Sussex Branch

16th March 2012 An Introduction to Crystallography. (See also Helen Carter’s article on page 8 - Ed.)

CHANGES OF MEMBERS’ CONTACT DETAILS

Andy & Melissa Banthorpe - new mobile telephone: 07885 159 380

Richard Belson - new e-mail address: [email protected]

John Bottomley - new e-mail address: [email protected]

Tom Cotterell - new address: 4 Julius Way, Lydney, Gloucestershire GL15 5QS

Kevin Johns & Sally Whiteford - new address/telephone: 33 Abercom Street, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA14 2QS; 01229 208819

David Middleton - new address: The Hawthorns, Village Road, Hatch Beauchamp, Taunton, Somerset, TA3 6TH

Steve & Christine Rust - new address: 130 Elliotts Drive, Yeovil, Somerset BA21 3NR


The views and opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of its correspondents, and are not

necessarily agreed with, or shared by the Editor, the British Micromount Society or its

Members. The accuracy of submissions is the responsibility of the authors and will not

necessarily be checked by the Editor for validity

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED MATERIAL.

Please send all contributions for the next Newsletter - preferably in electronic format by e-mail, to [email protected] (WORD, RTF, WORKS, OpenOffice.org, Publisher or plain text) with photos attached as separate jpeg files, or by post to Mike Dannatt, The Laurels, Garden Court, South Chard, CHARD, Somerset, TA20 2QX

The next BMS Newsletter will be issued in June 2012. All contributions gratefully received - so please get writing! Deadline for contributions to go in the next newsletter is 25th May 2012.

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

Well, that’s the usual appeal! I want to expand on this further. The printer

we use is a small organisation whose charges are very modest. This has

enabled us to incorporate 4 A5 pages of colour photographs by printing them

back to back on the middle A4 sheet. The snag is that we can only print

images which are sent to us - I can’t think for a minute that anyone wants to

share my holiday memories! So, may I add a plea for more photographs of

people doing things, of collecting sites, of specimens, of the results of your

photo stitching experiments or of whatever you want (within reason).

That leads me on to a related topic. I found that the cost of overseas postage was not covered by the overseas subscription rates. I asked all overseas members whether they would be content to receive electronic copies or would they prefer to pay a higher rate to receive paper copies. Only three members preferred to receive printed copies in the ‘standard’ format and they would be happy to cover the cost of postage. All of the others would be happy with electronic copies. In these cases there is no reason to charge a higher overseas rate.

When I circulated this information to committee members, it was suggested that I should take the thought a stage further. Clearly, any member, home or away, who accepts a copy by e-mail instead of a paper one is saving the Society money.

The AGM would present an opportunity to discuss whether there should be a discount for members opting to take electronic copies. If members want to express their views sooner, please send an e-mail to me at:

[email protected]

I will collate them and make them available in time for the AGM and, perhaps, put together a summary in the June issue.

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