Only from Canada, eh?

My word, Terry! Eye catching specimen - thanks for joining the fun!

Orford Nickel Mine? Here is one that I etched out of calcite about eight years ago. Delicate!

David K. Joyce

Another Blue Bell:

Arsenopyrite	© RWMW

[www.mindat.org]

Great contributions everyone! Enjoying them all.

Feldspar family photo...

Orthoclase back row - from Penticton BC, the Carlsbad twin is approx 5cm x 5cm
Sanidine front row - from Beaverdell, Greenwood Mining Division, BC

I think I posted this before, but I don't care--and I hope you guys don't either! :)

This is my only Canadian piece but it gives me as much pleasure as a whole boxful of rocks!

John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2011 04:52AM by John Stolz.

So sorry, Gang, I just couldn't stop myself...so here is Canada's [and North America's for that matter] largest clean dolomite and it was cut from a crystal emanating from the Mount Brussilof Mine, in B.C. weighing in at 39+ carats and cut by our native son, Brad Wilson..It was the center piece of my Mount Brussilof exhibit in Denver 3 years ago.

39cts!?!?!?! Fantastic Ray! Thanks for sharing that.

David K - very nice Orford mine piece - I expect very unusual to find in that manner?

Stephanie, I really enjoy your "suites" photos

John - glad to have you aboard - that is a dandy hessonite!

Tell me, Rob W - I was checking out Google satellite view and it looks like one can drive to the Riondel - is the mine accessible from that? That is, is there still a chance of collecting should I ever find myself in the area?

Terrific piece, Ray - Brad has done some wonderful work.

And speaking of work, keep up the great effort with this thread! I'm having a blast reading all the posts!

Maggie,
You just dig through the dump and bring home likely-looking chuncks of calcite. This was a particularly nice one.

Here is a very nice crystallized copper in-on calcite specimen from Mamainse Point, Canadian Side of Lake Superior, that Reiner (and you?) collected, for all to enjoy. I think it is a dandy and am happy to have it.

David K Joyce

Oops! The copper in my previous post is 8.5cm tall.

David K. Joyce

::o

THAT is one fine copper specimen, David - and before my time with Herr Reiner -

Nice copper Dave (and Reiner and Maggie)!

Here's my faceted Mt. Brussilof dolomite (~6cts) that I got from Ray a couple years ago in Tucson (did I ever send you this picture Ray?), pictured with a 3.5cm twinned crystal I got from George Thompson (old Tyson stock).





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2011 02:30PM by Michael J. Bainbridge.

no you didn't ever show me that pic Michael...but it is a fine pic. I have a few twinned xls of dolomite that look just like that one too...thanks for sharing. That stone was cut by a Thai cutter that worked for Dudley Blauet and I think that they did a great job .
Todays fav from Canada, is a 3.83 cm DT Apatite from Wilberforce area, Cardiff Twnshp, near Bancroft, and I found it in the Babet collection that I am currently curating.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2011 06:57PM by Ray Hill.

Hello Rob,

Did they ever find native silver at the Blue Bell Mine?

I'll stick with the current theme with this, an apatite that was collected in the 1800's by my great x2 grandfather who emigrated to the Bancroft area from Ireland as told by my grandmother. Unfortunately, there is no label to go with it so I have no idea which mine, if any, this single crystal came from. The specimen measures about 9 cm tall.

Reiner as far as I know there was no native Ag at Riondell. From the specimens it looks like Trepca, Dalneagorsk or Naica, though not a lot of fluorite. I don't think there was any Ag in these hydrothermal veins.

Maggie I don't know how "rehabilitated" they made the blue blue. I think it was Cominco and they sure did a number on the Rock Candy Mine which Bob Jackson rehabilitated. There have been no specimens since the '60's (?) when the mine was closed. I think it was Louis Moyde from the national who collected there at the close. The best surviving Riondell specimens are in the National. The miners used to take xls acrossthe border and trade them for drinks at American bars. So there may be more specimens out there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2011 09:50PM by Rob Woodside.

Here is a little augite from Diamond Lake, Ontario. Approximately 3.5x3.5 cm.

[attachment 34442 augiteCanada.jpeg

Eh=Ray. Got it. Thanks Maggie.


Cheers!

Steve

Rob, Reiner and Maggie
The Bluebell shut down in Dec. 1971 due to lack of profitable ore. A lot of the miners and thier families relocated to Kimberley and I spent the senior years of high school with a lot of the kids. I know of at least two of the miners with sizable collections and there are no doubt all kinds of great specimens squirreled away in these collections. I visited the site very briefly in 1979 by boat. I did not have a lot of time to look around but did check out the old loading docks. There were odd pieces of ore lying around, but being galena and looking like Sullivan ore I didn't grab any. What was I thinking? As far as reclaimation goes, I have no idea, however if Cominco went for it the same way they went after Kimberley, there won't be anything left. They say in the early 1900s the miners dumped ore laden tailings along the shores of Kootenay Lake and it has long since sluffed beneath the waves. Scuba, anyone? I haven't heard of native silver from here, but inland from the other side of the lake (Sandon area) is supposed to have some. If you ever find your way out here, the whole area is littered with old mines and a little research would go a long way. Check out BC Gov't Site "MINEFILE" If you download the free AutoDesk Mapper you can get into the whole database, including making your own tailor made maps. At this point it is still free.
Gord

Gord Howe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
.
> There were odd pieces of ore lying around, but
> being galena and looking like Sullivan ore I
> didn't grab any. What was I thinking?

Hi Gord - "coulda-woulda-shoulda" eh? If it's any comfort, you aren't the first and won't be the last to have such thoughts!

Thanks to you and Rob for the details about the Blue Bell mine - I appreciate your taking the time to fill in some gaps - it makes the specimens all that more interesting.

Here's my Blue Bell contribution for today - sphalerite 3.2 x 2.0 x 2.0 cm - click on the photo for more views.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2011 12:55AM by Maggie Wilson.

Here are a couple of nice sphalerites. The Flamboro Quarry specimen is about 2.5cm tall, or so. The Lafarge Quarry "Dundas" crystal is 2.5 cm tall. The two quarries are very close to each other in Wentworh Co., Ontario

David K. Joyce