Melanterite is a perishable product of iron ore weathering, forming awesome green stalactites and crusts in the abandoned mines. Its shaky existence is a nice example of natural processes, but admiring melanterite beauty often includes trips to hardly accessible underground places.
Outside well known collecting areas, the tiny Ústup village offers a little secret collecting spot with huge almandine garnets. And what is even more interesting, they were really used as the cannon balls!
Høydalen is a very interesting hybrid LCT-NYF pegmatite in southern Norway, about 40 km NW from Kragerø. It is famous for it's amazonite and lepidolite, as well as many REE minerals. It still provides excellent collecting opportunity.
It is that time of year again – autumn is here and also the Munich show. For those unfamiliar, this is the biggest mineral show in Europe and probably the second most important show after Tucson.
The small town of Lom is located in southern part of Norway, just next to the famous Jotunheimen National Park. A very interesting mineral museum Fossheim Steinsenter is located at the western end of the town.
Thulite (pink zoisite variety) is a Norwegian national stone and popular lapidary material. One of the well known thulite localities is Søre Lia Quarry near Lom, Norway. Here is the trip report from the visit in summer 2017:
Munich show is probably the most important European mineral show. Munich 2017 was well worth it, many new mineral finds, many interesting mineral deals and offers.
Collecting minerals is like driving. If you do stupid things and make bad decisions, you might get yourself or someone else injured or even killed. It is less painful to learn from mistakes of someone else.
Munich show is the important European mineral show. Munich 2016 was definitely worth to see, many new minerals, many old friends. The exposition of the Alpine minerals was very nice, as well as wide selection of minerals for sale.
Beryl is extremely popular mineral, which occurs in a diversity of shapes and colors. Popular gemstone varietes include emerald, aquamarine and heliodor. Beryl is the only common source of beryllium, which is used in many hi-tech applications.
Opal is most valued for the rich variety of colors it exhibits, their interplay in ordinary light, and their unusual range of fluorescence. These attributes have guaranteed its continuing value as a gemstone since pre-Roman times.
Mineral cleaning and preparation is such a complex subject that it could easily fill a whole book. This article is a brief introduction of available mineral cleaning methods and their pros and cons.
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