Hello to my fellow Mindaters!

The MineraLyon 2011 show has just ended, and I would like to share some of my impressions with you all once again. The show was, as usual, held in the “Espace Tête d’Or” conference centre, Villeurbanne, which provides a large display area with rooms for the conferences and space for a food-and-drinks area and ‘the usual facilities’. I didn’t count the number of stands, but there were once again many exhibitors (ca. 70) covering a wide range of localities from France and many countries around the world. The vast majority of stands were selling mineral specimens, from beginner’s material to top-range specimens capable of tempting even very experienced collectors. There were also a fair number of stands exhibiting fossils and/or meteorites and a few offering lapidary material. “Bling-Bling” was notably absent!

As usual there was a thematic exhibition - of Baryte, this year. Many specimens were from French localities, sometimes little known to collectors from elsewhere, but with a number of classical specimens from around the world – including an old-time Frizington blue barite that had my mouth watering! The quality French magazine “Le Règne Minéral” (The Mineral Kingdom) and its companion “Fossiles” (no need to translate??) was represented on its stand by Louis-Dominique Bayle, the Editor and founder of the series. He offers a wide range of magazines and books on mineralogical subjects ranging from rare antiques to the most recent publications. Several museums or sites of mineralogical interest were also represented.

This year we have had a splendid autumn here in Lyon, and the park de la Tête d’Or, which covers 117 Hectares (290 acres) of land immediately adjacent to the show site, was a riot of autumn colours in the bright sunshine.

As a backdrop one can admire the ‘Fourvière’ Hill to the west of the town centre, crowned by a basilica and a miniature ‘Eiffel tower’, attractively lit up at night.


The hill gets its name from the site of the old Roman forum (Forum vieux) dating from shortly after its foundation in 43 BC by Munatius Plancus, a roman soldier. The town was known as Lugdunum after the Celtic god Lug (or Lugus), who’s symbol was the crow, and ‘dunum’ – a hill fort. The name has become Lyon, and there are not many Roman soldiers to be seen now, but the crows still nest in the Parc Tête d’Or – and elsewhere. In the Gallo-Roman museum, sited near the impressive amphitheatres on the Fourvière hill, you can admire, among many other treasures, a collection of Roman jewellery of astonishing modernity showing that interest in ‘pretty stones’ is not a new fad in Lyon… Lyon today is famed for the quality of its restaurants, and you can eat food prepared by some of the best contemporary chefs – if you book a table sufficiently in advance! For the less well provided, there are numerous small restaurants and bars where you can find delicious treats at prices ranging from frankly inexpensive upwards. As to drinks; Lyon is sited on the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, but the locals say there are three rivers in Lyon - the third being the Beaujolais wine that flows through the town! The other low hill is the Croix Rousse (The russet cross) where the silk workers toiled on looms set up in their apartments. A recently renovated museum relates this important time in Lyon’s history, and guided tours are available. At the local town hall, the native gold specimens encrusting the roof decorations are strictly off-limits to collectors!
Now, let’s get back to the mineral show, while leaving the family to ‘see the sights’, perhaps. A team of receptionists meets you at the entry and your ticket includes a token for the lottery for souvenir specimens held at regular intervals throughout the three days. You might then like to admire the theme exhibit – Baryte – where there are some nice big honey coloured specimens from the Puy de Dôme (Côte d’Abbot, St. Saturnin – collected by W Peraud), some with amusing light-coloured ‘ears’ on the m faces (I think?) – and many other attractive pieces.

On to the 36th edition of the show, organised this year by the association Planet’Mineral, taking up the relay after many years of effort by M. Laverrière, who is, however still very much present as an exhibitor. He was offering his usual range of excellent specimens, including some large anhydrites from Naica and a new find of azurite from Siberia (Rubtsovskiy mine, Altaiskiy Krai). Among the few other novelties on offer were some interesting specimens of pristine modified cubes of galena on pale yellow fluorite from Giromagny in the Territoire de Belfort (France) – an unusual locality and a limited discovery – that were on offer at William Peraud’s stand.
He had, as usual, a very wide selection of micromount and thumbnail specimens of rarities, as well as a range of showcase specimens. We again had a nice display of minerals from Panasquiera Mine, Portugal, and Mr. Mahmadou brought some nice pieces from Mali. For those interested in meteorites, we had a good range of certified specimens from Mr Hmani (Sahara_nayzak), who even had some wristwatches with meteoritic iron dials… As usual Mr Astier presented a choice selection of top-bracket specimens – including this lovely zoned fluorite…
Alain Martaud was showing choice specimens, including a large and lovely Chamonix fluorite.

French mineralogy was not forgotten with some nice uranocircites from the Morvan and much other interesting material. At one stand, the Christian Romer collection was being sold, Nearby I saw Dr Guiseppe Siccardi of Your mineral collection offering a lot of interesting specimens at very reasonable prices. He had even managed to obtain a poster for the 2nd Mindat conference at Midelt next year – I had requested one for the show, but got no reply, so I was delighted to see it there!

To finish, I would like to mention two special exhibits. The first is the museum called the ‘Pierres folles’ (Crazy rocks) sited some 20 minutes drive from Lyon in the Pierre Dorée (Golden stones) region of the Beaujolais and very close to the historical site of Chessy les mines. The museum offers a great display of fossils from around -250 to -195 MY BP, and offers a geological and botanical trail in this interesting area to visitors. Try their site at www.espace-pierres-folles.com.

The other mention is for Mr Simon Abi Semaan
who gave a remarkable conference on the fossil quarries at Hgula, Haqil and Ennamoura in the Lebanon. The first two are exploited uniquely for scientific specimens and offer a range of fossil fish, invertebrates (shrimps and starfish) and turtles from anoxic episodes in the Tethys sea some 100 MY BP. A few terrestrial plant fossils and one feather imprint have been found, representing river- and/or airborne debris. The preservation is remarkable including much soft tissue.

I am generally not much tempted by fossils, but these specimens are fascinating, and the conference with practical demonstrations was a delight. More information is available at: www.memoryoftime.com

If you would like to share in this pleasant event sited in a great tourist region of France – come and see us next year – we’ll make you welcome!

Cheers

Tim

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