Tucson 2014 - 3rd Update
Last Updated: 16th Feb 2014By Jolyon & Katya Ralph
Tucson 2014 - Third Update
Tucson remains as busy as always, and with so much going on and so little time to report it, I've decided to put everything left in the run-up to the TGMS show in one report. This also includes an update on things I didn't get to write about in the previous reports on Inn Suites and Pueblo.
Inn Suites (Update)
Baby diplodocus being chased by Triceratops
Chalcocite from China - Jordi Fabre specimen
From Gunnar Farber, The oldest rock in the world (3.962 billion years) - Acasta-Tonalite from near Point Lake, 350km north of Yellowknife, NWT, Canada
Dinosaurs from the Cardboardiferous period
Pueblo Show (Update)
My previous report for the Pueblo Show was written before I'd had a chance to visit all the dealers - here is the update.
Riverpark Inn - Home of the Pueblo Show
Fine Art Minerals specialise in minerals from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Microlite with Cassiterite and Topaz from Skardu, Pakistan
Emerald - Panjsher Province, Afghanistan
Fluorite - Hunza Valley, Pakistan
Mustafa from Fine Art Minerals
Childrenite- Mawi Pegmatite, Nuristan, Afghanistan
Shannon & Sons sell an enormous number of rare and unusual mineral species.
Native lead replacing plant root - Tubac, Arizona
Tyuyamunite
Metamunirite
Assorted rare Hg minerals
Mineraly's ML Creations is a dealer I had not come across before with some interesting items:
Iranian Wulfenite
Madagascan beryl
Calcite pseudomorphs after Vivianite in oyster shell fossils, from southern France
Sound Minerals, another dealer who hasn't appeared on these reports before, had an interesting selection of good pegmatite gem minerals.
Kunzite - Pala Chief Mine, California
Unusual beryl from Ukraine
The Kristalle Party
Every year Kristalle and Crystal Classics host a themed party - and this year the theme was Jamaica!
Kristina Bode, Katya Ralph and Diana Schlegel
Dave Waisman and Bryan Lees
Night view over Tucson
Justin and Brandy Zzyzx
One of these three is American. Can you tell which?
John Veevaert Open House
John Veevaert, Steve Perry and Brett Keller had an open-house to show John and Steve's minerals and Brett's wine.
Marshalsussmanite from South Africa (John Veevaert specimen)
Wine from mineral-wines.com
Day off!
We managed to escape for the day to visit Mt Lemmon. Snow in Arizona!
Fine Minerals International
Fine Minerals International have a superb building right next door to the Inn Suites show.
Fine Minerals International - Outside
Fine Minerals International - Inside
Fluorite - Denton mine, Illinois
Russian Tourmaline
Mindat meeting
Every year we have a mindat.org meeting - and as usual this year it was held in Rock Currier's Jewel Tunnel ballroom at the Inn Suites.
Attendees of the mindat meeting
Westward Look Show
The weekend prior to the TGMS show is the Westward Look show, where a smaller number of fine mineral specimen dealers set up in this exclusive resort for four days.
Beautiful alpine Fluorite - Christophe Gobin specimen
Native gold (230g) - Western Australia - Crystal Classics specimen
Native gold - Colorado Quartz Mine, California - Crystal Classics specimen
Variscite from Fairfield, Utah - Crystal Classics
Native copper with Willemite and Franklinite from Franklin Mine, New Jersey - Kristalle specimen
Unique Minerals had a new find of cuprite from the Milpillas mine, Mexico.
Cuprite
Cuprite with light
Cuprite
Cuprite
Slices of Variscite from Fairfield, Utah - Unique Minerals specimens
Ludlockite from Tsumeb, Namibia - Unique Minerals specimen
Becquerelite from Shinkolobwe, Katanga, DRC - Unique Minerals specimen
Incredible Mimetite with Wulfenite from the Rowley Mine, Arizona - Unique Minerals
The Arkenstone had bigger pieces of the interesting Chalcocite from China that we'd seen previously with Jordi Fabre.
Chalcocite from the Tongshan mine, China - Arkenstone specimen
Chalcocite from China - Arkenstone specimen
Very interesting new fluorite from the De'an fluorite mine, Wushan, China - Arkenstone specimen
Calcite from the Elmwood Mine, Tennessee - Fine Minerals International specimen
Metatorberite from the Old Gunnislake Mine, Cornwall - Dave Bunk specimen
Sperrylite from the Broken Hammer property, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada - Dave Bunk specimen
Gersdorfite from Bou Azzer, Morocco - Mike Bergmann specimen
Gold, Round Mountain mine, Nevada - Miners Lunchbox specimen
Wulfenite and mimetite pseudomorph after cerussite, from the Glaze Claim, Death Valley, California - Miners Lunchbox specimen
Gold, Breckenridge, Colorado - Miners Lunchbox specimen
Silver from Kongsberg, Norway - Miners Lunchbox specimen
The fourth and final report will come shortly from the TGMS show! Thank you for reading.
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Comments
Nice report, thanks!
Concerning "chalcocite" from China it would be fine to make polished sections and WDS analysis. It is very similar to partial pseudomorphosis of chalcocite and bornite after stromeyerite from Vrančice, Czech republic.
Kind regards
Pavel
Pavel Skacha
15th Feb 2014 8:15am
Concerning "chalcocite" from China it would be fine to make polished sections and WDS analysis. It is very similar to partial pseudomorphosis of chalcocite and bornite after stromeyerite from Vrančice, Czech republic.
Kind regards
Pavel
Pavel Skacha
15th Feb 2014 8:15am
Reticulite, eh? Looks a lot like pumice to me.... ;-)
Nice report, BTW!
Paul Brandes
16th Feb 2014 4:12am
Nice report, BTW!
Paul Brandes
16th Feb 2014 4:12am
Yes, the suspicious 'reticulite' has been removed from this report. Sorry about that - IANAP (I am not a petrologist).
Jolyon & Katya Ralph
16th Feb 2014 4:21am
Jolyon & Katya Ralph
16th Feb 2014 4:21am
I really enjoy your reports on Tuscon. I hope to get there one day. I also hope you don't mind a correction. It is my belief the oldest rocks in the world come from Jack Hills, Western Australia. Can only hope people did their research before buying any. Maybe they are the oldest rocks from Canada.
Kim Macdonald
17th Feb 2014 3:32pm
Kim Macdonald
17th Feb 2014 3:32pm
The oldest rocks on Earth are, to my knowledge, part of the Acosta Gneiss in Northwest Territories of Canada dated at 4.00-4.03 Ga, originally reported to be 3.96 Ga. These are metamorphosed granitic rocks of the basement complex between Great Slave Lake and Coronation Gulf (Arctic Ocean). The material from Jack Hills, Western Australia is zircon dated at 4.404 Ga. This zircon is the oldest dated material originating on Earth. However, they are detrital grains of zircon deposited in a now metamorphosed conglomerate generally thought to have been deposited about 3.0 Ga. So the Jack Hills rock is not older than the gneissic rock from NWT, and Gunnar's information is basically correct.
Norman King
17th Feb 2014 5:28pm
Norman King
17th Feb 2014 5:28pm
Back in 2008, scientists from McGill University discovered rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt on Hudson Bay in Quebec that were dated to about 4.28 Ga and are thought to be the remnants of a portion of Earth's primordial crust. I am sure that when Gunnar obtained the specimen of Acasta Gniess shown, it likely was the oldest known rock on Earth at the time, so one can't really fault Gunnar (or Jolyon for that matter) for labeling it as such.
Paul Brandes
18th Feb 2014 1:23pm
Paul Brandes
18th Feb 2014 1:23pm
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