http://www.mindat.org/msgboard-75.html Sat, 25 May 2013 12:36:03 +0000 Phorum 5.2.15a http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,75,281119,281119#msg-281119 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,75,281119,281119#msg-281119

©

Click here for Best Minerals I and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.

Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?

This thread has been created in the hope that someone will step forward and take it in hand and write the article about Ice for Best Minerals. It can also be a place where users can bring to our attention interesting facts and tell us of worth images that have been uploaded to Mindat's database.


Ice
H₂0 Hexagonal

Ice ~12cm tall, Fairbanks, Alaska	© Walter Plant

The permafrost tunnel in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA where this crystal was collected was undoubtedly made by man. Some people feel that because man created the tunnel that this ice crystal is not a mineral. The literature is full of references to completely natural crystals larger than this. But it is hard for me think of this crystal as not being a mineral.
[Rock Currier 2013]


Click here for Best Minerals I and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.]]> Rock Currier Best Minerals I Sat, 05 Jan 2013 09:30:53 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,75,143998,143998#msg-143998 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,75,143998,143998#msg-143998 Best Minerals I and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.


Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?



Inyoite
Ca(H₄B₃O₇)(OH) · 4H₂O monoclinic

1.Inyoite with little Meyerhofferite xl inclusions, 4.7cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

Inyoite is not what you would call a rare mineral, but good crystals of it have only been found at a few localities and those found recently at the Monte Azul locality in Argentina stand head and shoulders above the rest. I would estimate them to be about ten times better than those found at other localities. The largest crystals in this new find I would think are in the 10 to 12 cm range and a few of them are transparent enough to cut faceted stones from. Mindat currently lists about two dozen localities. With time and in the polluted air found in big cities, Colemanite, a much better know calcium borate mineral tends loose it's luster. It will take time to understand if the same thing will happen to the nice new shiny inyoite crystals from Argentina.
[Rock Currier 2009]


Inyoite
Argentina
Salta, Sijes, Monte Azul deposit

2.Inyoite & Meyerhofferite 8.5cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

3.Inyoite 17.1cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

4.Inyoite 11.3cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

5.Inyoite & Meyerhofferite 9.6cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

6.Inyoite 9.3cm tall	© Rob Lavinsky

7.Inyoite 8.2cm wide	© Rob Lavinsky

Several lots of Inyoite crystals were collected at Monte Azul but all told probably totaled about 500 pieces. The best of them were collected by visiting American geologists. A few of them have little sparkling Meyerhofferite crystals growing on and in them which you can see. Probably the best lot was collected by a now retired US Borax geologist, Joe Siefke. He had been interested in crystallized minerals all his life and when he saw fine large Inyoite crystals in a trench in the tiny open cast mine at Monte Azul he made an effort to collect as many of them as he could He made plans to go back to Argentina and collect some more of them, but by the time he could manage it, he was told that the pocket zone where the crystals occurred had been mined out. A few of the specimens that were recovered had begun to alter to Meyerhofferite, but none of them were altered completely to Meyerhofferite like the specimens from the Mt. Blanco mine in Death Valley, California.

Monte Azul is/was a small deposit of borate minerals near what is thought used to be a hot spring whose borate rich waters percolated through the soil surrounding the hill and created the deposit through evaporation and crystallization of various borates like Hydroboracite and Inyoite, though only the Inyoite was well crystallized. The mine when the Inyoite crystals were collected was nothing more than a few trenches that the mining company had made to prospect the little deposit. The discovery and collection of the Inyoite crystals was little more than a lucky chance. The geologist, Joe Siefke had been sent to Argentina by the mining company to see if he could help with reclamation efforts at other borate mines in Argentina by suggesting plants that might be used to regrow the natural cover that existed before the mining process striped the vegetation away. He had been involved in a similar effort at their big borate mine at Boron, California. They visited the Monte Azul deposit and others to get some idea of the various kinds of vegetation that existed at and near those deposits. So, its good that the mining company is trying to mitigate the damage caused by its mining and it is good that some fine specimens that would have otherwise ended up in the refinery were preserved for posterity. Certainly long after this little borate deposit is forgotten, the specimens collected there will be preserved in collections around the world.
[Rock Currier 2009]


Inyoite
Canada
New Brunswick, Albert Co., Hillsborough

8Inyoite ~12cm wide	©

We need someone to tell us about the Inyoite specimens from this locality and the deposit they came from.

Inyoite
Japan
Okayama Prefecture, Fuka mine

Not significant as specimens, but an interesting example of inyoite from a non-evaporitic environment, it occurs as rare crude crystals up to 2mm size in vugs in skarn, formed by hydration of primary borates.

Inyoite
USA
California, Kern Co., Kramer District, Boron, U.S. Borax Open Pit Mine

9.Inyoite ~4cm wide	©

Considering the vast tonnage of Colemanite that has been mined at Boron, there shroud probably have been more Inyoite found, but although tons of them may have been destroyed in the mining process, few specimens of any quality at all have been collected and preserved. The one pictured here is probably one of the best ones collected, and you can see that is is nothing special when compared to the ones from Monte Azul Argentina.
[Rock Currier 2009]



Click here to view Best Minerals I and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.]]> Rock Currier Best Minerals I Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:19:32 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,75,143434,143434#msg-143434 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,75,143434,143434#msg-143434 Best Minerals I and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.


Can you help make this a better article? What good localities have we missed? Can you supply pictures of better specimens than those we show here? Can you give us more and better information about the specimens from these localities? Can you supply better geological or historical information on these localities?



Inderite
Mg(H₄B₃O₇)(OH) · 5H₂O monoclinic

1.Terminated Inderite crystal ~10cm tall	©

Inderite is a fairly rare magnesium borate mineral know from less than ten localities. The type locality was at Inder in Kazhstan but I never saw a good specimen from there. From Boron, California the crystals are are at least an order of magnitude larger than those of other localities. They are known up to about 30 cm in length. Good micro crystals come from Italy but I hope that someone will come forward and tell us about the Inderite from some of the other localities. The crystals from Boron tend to be long and prismatic as are those from Italy, but vastly smaller. Inderite was first described by Russians, but not all the mineral data they provided was correct and this initially caused those who analysied the Inderite from Boron to think that they had a new mineral which they called lesserite. Later when some of the type material became available to study, it became evident that lesserite was the same as the mineral the Russians had previously named Inderite.


Inderite
Italy
Piedmont, Torino Province, Canavese District, Léssolo, Cálea, Brosso Mine

2.Inderite, FOV 6mm	© O. Dziallas

3.Inderite, FOV 5mm	© jo-esche 2006

4.Inderite, FOV 10mm	© luigi chiappino

5.Inderite, FOV 2mm	© C.Boutry

I have seen a few find Inderite micromounts from this locality, but know little about them. I hope that someone will come forward and tell us about the locality and its Inderites.


Inderite
USA
California, Kern Co., Kramer District, Boron, U.S. Borax Open Pit Mine,

6.Inderite & Ulexite, ~14cm wide	©

7.Inderite & Ulexite ~8cm tall	© Joseph A. Freilich

8.Inderite xl 7.7cm tall	© Rob Lavinsky

The Inderite crystals from boron were found during the early days of the open pit where a fault zone in the western part of the deposit was uncovered. It was in this place that large crystals of Kurnakovite were also found. The Inderite crystals were always prismatic and some crystals up to 30 cm long and square in cross section were found growing in the distinctive blue/green/tan mud of the deposit. These really big crystals were found in the mud and cracked into sections. Terminated crystals were rare and specimen #1 pictured above may be the largest and best single crystal of Inderite know. Some free standing crystals of Inderite are known, and there were a few specimens of Inderite crystals on matrix found, but I don't think I have ever seen a terminated of Inderite on matrix. Some matrix specimens covered with Inderite crystals of more than a foot in diameter do exist and they are all associate with intergrown felt like knobs of Ulexite like those in pictures 6 & 7. A very few specimens were found where Inderite crystals were found growing with Kurnakovite crystals. I have seen perhaps four or five of them. When these crystals are brought from the relatively clean dry desert air at Boron, California down into the Los Angeles basin where the work smog originated, these crystals develop little whit spots and eventually become coated with a white film. Those that remain in the relatively clean dry air of the desert and kept in a cool place seem to be immune to this alteration. This alteration is often glibly said to be the result of dehydration, but I do not believe this to be the case. I believe this film is a chemical reaction between the mineral and pollutants in the air.The white film and spots can be removed by briefly washing the crystals in water. Inderite is quite heat sensitive. So if you clean them, do so with water and specimen at room temperature to avoid cracking them.



Click here to view Best Minerals I and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of completed Best Minerals articles.]]> Rock Currier Best Minerals I Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:26:49 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,75,129401,129401#msg-129401 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,75,129401,129401#msg-129401
Ideally what we want to know about each significant mineral from each locality is:

1. What is the largest crystal of the mineral that the locality has produced?
2. What do the best specimens from this locality look like and where can one be seen?
3. Does the locality produce a variety of different kinds of specimens of this species, and what do the best of each type look like and how many of them were found etc.
4. What are the associated minerals found with this species and what is its geological setting?
5. How abundant are these specimens and when were they found? A type locality? In other words, how rare are they.
6. How do they compare to other specimens of the same mineral from other localities?
7. How much is it worth. This should probably be optional, but in cases where specimens are worth thousands of dollars we should probably say something of the value of these things.
8. What kind of care and feeding do these specimens require? Are they delicate, radioactive, unstable, color changeable etc.?
9. Are the specimens commonly faked, and if so, how to tell if they are?
10. Are there any interesting stories relating to the collecting of these specimens or their discovery as a new mineral?

Of course this is in reality impractical, but if we keep these questions in mind, we will do a lot better job when writing about them.]]> Rock Currier Best Minerals I Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:17:14 +0000