The Best from Down Under

Great topic, thought I'd jump on board with some of the unusual varieties of scepter Quartz and distorted Quartz crystals from the Entia (Entire) Valley in Hart's Range, NT. Here's a suite of specimens collected in 2009, and they range in size from 2cm to 8cm tall.

There is an amazing range of crystalline quartz in this area and there's great potential for finding fine specimens outside the "usual" collecting sites in the Entia Valley.

I have a few more collected in 2010 that are wonderfully odd and distorted, I'll try to take some pics of these soon.

© Patrick Gundersen

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2011 10:27PM by Rock Currier.

I don't mind Jasun. Is that a Magnet Mine cerussite?

Trevor - that cerussite was probably on someone's "bucket list"!

Thought I'd add another gold specimen, this time from South Australia...


Regards
Steve

Lovely smithsonite, Jason. Thanks. Here is another Australian classic. Bustamite, NBHC Mine, Broken Hill, size 85 x 65 x 28mm. There are gemmy areas towards the top of the crystal. ......Greg

Fantastic quartzes, Patrick! They resemble the quartz from Peterson Mountain here in the US.

Here's some of my suite of minerals from South Australia.
1. Scholzite - Reaphook Hill - 8 x 5 x 4 cm sample.
2. Scholzite - Reaphook Hill - given to me personally by Chris Johnston, the operator of the mine in the 1980's. 5 x 3 x 2 cm sample.
3. Atacamite - Poona Mine. Moonta - self collected in 1989 during a field trip there with the Tea Tree Gully Mineral Club. Atacamite crystals are 1.5 cm long, sitting on quartz rock.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2011 03:29AM by Trevor Dart.

And I couldn't resist but to put up some classics from Arkaroola.
1, Stilbite - Arkaroola Bore. Found high up on the ridge above Arkaroola bore about 1.2 km up the valley from where you can park. There is a gully with several large seams of stilbite and actinolite outcropping in the watercourse. 10 x 5 x 3 cm sample.
2. Ilmenite on Stilbite - Arkaroola Bore. Collected on my recent trip up to Arkaroola, three weeks ago. Ilmenite crystal is 4 x 2 x 2 cm.
3. Actinolite - Yudnamutana Smelter Site. At this location there are boulders made almost entirely of actinolite, with some crystals reaching up to 30cm in length. Sample size - 13 x 7 x 5 cm.

More from Arkaroola.
1. Large orthoclase crystal with attached quartz crystals. From one of the Mawson Valley pegmatites. The orthoclase is 10 cm on edge.
2. Nice malachite pseudomorph after azurite sample from the Sir Dominic Mine. 5 x 4 x 2 cm sample.
3. Magnetite in talc from the Lady Buxton Mine, on the eastern side of Arkaroola. 5 x 3 x 1.5 cm sample - largest crystal is 1 cm.

Here is a real cracker of a Calcite from Blackduck Creek, SE Queensland.
it is part of a friends Calcite collection from a vug they called the cave.
i think from memory that it measures 47cm.

WOW that is a ripper! I remember reading an article years ago in an old "Gold Gem and Treasure" magazine about large calcites being found inside basalt cavities back in the hinterland behind the Gold Coast. Could this be one of these? I think the article referred to the area as "The Lost World". I'll have to seek out the article and compare.

Trevor
l have an idea that the area from Killlarney through Cunningham's Gap to Pilton, has great potental for these huge cavities,
East to NNE from Warwick towards Toowoomba, along the edge of The Great Divide.

Last year at the Warwick Rock Swap, i met an elderly lady who told me that when she was a teenager she was taken to one of these cave like vugs on the edge of the range somewhere possibly near Killarney, where you could walk into a cavity & it had large crystals hanging from the walls, but couldn't remember where it was.

The crystals i posted above are from near Pilton..

Phil, put that thing away, you show off ;)

What a stunner !! ::o

They are not mine Craig, they belong to a friend of mine.
here are a couple of others from Willy's collection, aren't they crackers?

Crikey Phil what a couple of ripper specimens...and Craig is right, you can put them away now...point proven, you win on Aussie calcite's this week.

Donald, ..a comment re the Crocoite you posted on the 6th, I think it is is from the Adelaide mine not the Dundas Extended mine. Frank M produced a small number of specimens of short double terminated crocoite,s back around 2000/2002. I have a couple like this almost exactly the same. They are a little unusual for the location and are a bit special. The colour/luster of the crocoite also is more down the Adelaide Mine for this time period.

However you might have better info on the specimen and would be very happy to be contradicted.

Andrew T

Philip, I remember where the article said the crystals came from. It is called the Lost World and is near Darlington at the western edge of Lamington National Park. It is all part of a large shield volcanic complex that could also be associated with the rocks in the Toowoomba Range. This whole area is famous for basalts and cavities filled with minerals, notable locations include Square Top Mountain near Dalby and the Kyogle quarry over the NSW border. Lets hope that some more great finds are discovered in the vicinity.

I agree Andrew

Regards,
Ralph

Actually my mate was collecting in that cave when they heard something fall & crash to the floor of another vug nearby.....probably another huge Calcite..... they never did find that other vug.....they needed GPR

OK Phil. Enough of the big calcites. Here's a small one...


Regards
Steve

OK Steve, we'll give the Calcites a break, how about something from your neck of the woods?
A Crocoite.....

Hi Andrew:
I bought the crocoite from Shane Dont the last time he was at the Tucson show which was some time ago. He had a few others and they were all labeled as from the Dundas Extended. I know he mined the Red Lead Mine mostly . I don't think I got it mixed up but I may have to look for my old receipts or contact Shane. Nice photos everybody. I will have to dig out some of my others.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2011 05:41PM by Donald Slater.