Cassiterite constitutes the chief ore of tin, as well as highly aesthetic and popular mineral specimen. Tin was a foundation of the beginning of metal smelting in the early Bronze Age and still constitutes one of the core materials of modern technology.
Cuprite is a minor ore of copper, usually appearing as secondary encrustations on primary copper ores. Nice and rare cuprite crystals are a popular among collectors. It is prized as a gemstone because of its vivid red internal reflection, but its softness precludes wide use in jewelry.
Titanite is a common titanium silicate, which can form outstanding and gemmy crystals. It is an attractive gemstone and collector material with vibrant green and yellow crystal forms. However, its low hardness and intrinsic fragility makes it unsuitable for commercial jewelry use, keeping it from becoming a mainstream product.
Hydraulic mining is easy and efficient method to move huge amounts of dirt. It was used by Romans in their placer gold mines and later became very popular during California and Alaska gold rush events.
Smithsonite, aka zinc spar, is an uncommon and colorful secondary carbonate. It was rarely mined as a zinc ore, but its rich variety of colors and aesthetic specimens make it a highly valued mineral by many collectors.
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.
Siderite is both an iron ore and gangue mineral. Its principal economic value lies in its high iron content and the absence of process contaminants such as sulfur or phosphorous. It is part of a large group of isomorphous minerals, the calcite group carbonates, which share similar physical properties, and rhombohedral crystal form.
Dioptase is a secondary copper silicate, occurring naturally as an oxidation product of hydrothermal copper deposits. It is renowned as a spectacularly colorful rival to emerald, but is too soft and too fragile to be cut as a gemstone, mainly because of its perfect cleavage.
The Klondike (Yukon) Gold Rush holds the record as one of the shortest-lived mining booms ever, lasting a scant 2 years, from August 1896 to September, 1898, when it was undermined by the slightly longer-lived Nome (Alaska) Gold Rush (September 1898 to 1905).
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