Only from Canada, eh?

Hello John and John! Wonderful contributions from you both!

John T - I see similar material at just about every show, but have never looked up close - next time I will pay attention. And next time I hear "If I had a $1,000,000.00" I'll think of you trucking across the country.

John D - fresh out of the ground, freshly acquired or an old-time specimen such as the Gowganda piece are all welcome here! I look forward to the close-up of the xanthoconite! Wow, what a beauty! Thank you!

Great Minds think alike (and Fools seldom differ). Yesterday I was sorting out my 20 year old filing cabinet and found the GSC print out on John's specimen and today John posted it!!!

The locality on the print out is" West side of Miller Lake, 3 Km ENE of Gowganda, Nicol Twp,,Timiskaming District. On another line it says "Castle Mine" My memory is hazy but I believe there was more than one "Castle Mine" and I remember there was some confusion about it 25 years ago.

Is or was there a Nicol Twp in Gowganda?

There is a Castle #1 Shaft Mine in Nicol Twp. near Gowganda right next to the Siscoe Mine, however there is no record of production. To add to the confusion there is also a Castle #1 shaft near there that was part of the Miller L. Everett Mine but that was in Haultain Twp. Of course lets not forget the Castle Mine which is also in Haultain Twp. and was last operated by Agnico.

Fluorite from South Shore Sand and Gravel quarry, Chester, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The central crystal is about 1 mm across. Ex- Tim Jokela stock. Enjoy!





Steve

Great stuff being posted! Enjoying them all.

AM -that Rock Candy piece looks better and better each time I see it!
John T - I took a photo of one of my Thunder Bay amethysts that looks very similar to the one you posted. I don't see any cubes unless the magnification is still not high enough. I took this photo with my point and shoot on macro mode then with 12x zoom. It is much more magnified than my 20x loupe. The colour is a rather bit shocking with the red spots, so sorry if you are reading this in the morning before your eyes adjust

When you think of Jeffrey specimens you would normally think of gemmy minerals such pink or green grossulars, and purple and green vesuvianites. This specimen is not a gem mineral but I still find it interesting due to the colour zoning and good coverage with some associated light grossular aggregates. Specimen photos have been uploaded but these below are not linked to the gallery (I haven't figured out how to do that yet).

Clinochlore
Jeffrey mine (Jeffrey quarry; Johns-Manville mine), Asbestos, Les Sources RCM, Estrie, Québec, Canada
overall approx 4cm x 3.5cm





cheers,
stephanie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2012 04:55AM by Stephanie Martin.

I am hoping to access some new Rock Candy material in May....will send out a pic when I do...
Really nice pics of fluorites Steve..what was the setup you used...was there a stacking program involved?

Thanks Reiner, I also found your long lost manuscript that I apologized for losing some years ago!!! A package is now under construction.

I believe That "" West side of Miller Lake, 3 Km ENE of Gowganda, Nicol Twp," is correct. That would imply that "Castle #1 Shaft Mine in Nicol Twp. near Gowganda right next to the Siscoe Mine" is the correct locality. I remember the was some confusion about the locality back in the day. Perhaps we should ask the National for their locality info on NMC #015591 ?

Awesome, thanks Rob!

Thanks for posting the image Stephanie. That one does not appear to have the cubic inclusions, it seems only a small percent of the specimens have them. You may find one in your collection by looking for one a bit different, they appear as tiny black specks... Still no? PM me your shipping address and I'll send you one.

J T

Hail

Here is a nice Natrolite with Analcime from Nova Scotia, got it at the 2012 Peterborough Gem & Mineral Show.

It is 4.9 cm tall, & 5 cm wide.

Michael.

How nice to see a Canadian as a POTD! Congratulations, Xiao-dong!


Stephanie, I really enjoy your photos here and elsewhere on the site - the clinoclore makes for a pleasing photo, thanks!

Sorry we missed you at Peterborough, Michal - we arrived about a half hour after opening and I think just after you left! Thanks for you photo - hope to see more!

Rob, that's too funny! You must keep cleaning out your files - never know what you might "un-earth"!

Happy Hour for Retired People
Four old retired guys are walking down a street in Weslaco, Texas.
They turn a corner and see a sign that says, 'Old Timers Bar - all drinks 10 cents'.
They look at each other, and then g o in, thinking this is too good to be true.
The old bartender says in a voice that carries across the room,
'Come on in and let me pour one for you! What'll it be, Gentlemen?'
There seemed to be a fully-stocked bar, so each of the men ordered a martini.
In short order, the bartender serves up four iced martinis - shaken, not stirred,
and says, 'That'll be 10 cents each, please.'
The four men stare at the bartender for a moment. Then look at each other.
They can't believe their good luck. They pay the 40 cents, finish their martinis, and order another round.
Again, four excellent martinis are produced with the bartender again saying,
'That's 40 cents, please.' They pay the 40 cents, but their curiosity is more than they can stand. They have each had two martinis and so far they have spent less than a dollar.
Finally one of the men says, 'How can you afford to serve martinis as good as these for a dime a piece?'
'Well, I'm a retired tailor from Phoenix,' the bartender said,
'and I always wanted to own a bar.
Last year I hit the Lottery for $125 million and decided to open this place.
Every drink costs a dime......wine, liquor, beer, it's all the same.'
'Wow!!!! That's quite a story', says one of the men.
The four of them sipped at their martinis and couldn't help but
notice seven other people at the end of the bar who didn't have drinks in front of them,
and hadn't ordered anything the whole time they were there.
One man gestures at the seven at the end of the bar without drinks and asks the bartender, 'What's the story with those guys?"
The bartender says, 'Oh, those guys, they're all retired snowbirds from Southern Ontario, Canada.
They're waiting for Happy Hour when drinks are half price.'

Time for another Canadian piece...

A few years back I obtained 4 small samples of this material from Al and Sharon Burnett. It must have been old stock or from an old collection.
I finally got around to taking some photos and when I did, my imagination was a little over-active (as usual lol) and this one reminded me of a butterfly with wings closed.

Silver in pink Calcite
Pan Silver Shaft, Silver Miller Mines (Brady Lake property), Coleman Township, Cobalt area, Cobalt-Gowganda region, Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada
Approx 20mm x 15mm

Also from the Burnetts this set of grossular clusters, some with diopside accents.

Grossular
York River Skarn (York River Tactite Zone), Dungannon Township, Hastings Co., Ontario, Canada
2.5cm x 1.5cm
2.0cm x 1.5cm
2.2cm x 1.5cm

Hey Steph - thanks for the photos. Coincidentally, Reiner and Robert Land spent the weekend in Cobalt and poked around the Brady Lake mine - now we too have specimen for our TN collection.

Here's something unusual that we acquired from Bill and Ronni Plavac - pyrite concretion from Newfoundland - click on the photo for more views.

Another specimen of grossular and diopside from York River Skarn, Hastings Co. Ontario to add to Stephanie's beauties. Mine was gifted to me by Kelly Nash ( who collected several specimens from here in the mid 90's), which was wonderful of him, especially since this site, near where I live, is now closed to collectors ( click on pic for details)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2012 07:51PM by John Montgomery.

Love that little silver in calcite, Stephanie. And those grossulars; it's funny, but they remind me of something from Indiana.

This one has been around for a while; I've had it since 1967.



Stilbite with minor chabazite,Cape Blomidon, Kings Co., Nova Scotia. 2.5x5 cm.

Cheers!

Steve

Native Silver, from our fantastic Badger Mine. Ore assayed up to 20,000 o.p.t. Ag.
No fakey arsenic, cobalt, or nickel, that folks are led to believe are silver dendrites.
Ours is ALL SILVER.

Just in case you think that all I have is ONE piece. LOTS more, and we haven't even swung the detector out there yet, this spring. This is what genuine Native Silver looks like, pure "jack frost herringbones" in quartz, not thoseAs-Co-Ni rosette impostors...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2012 03:00PM by Raymond Hietapakka.