This China Update – April 2014 features excellent new chalcopyrite/siderite and tennantite specimens from the Kaiwu Mine (the tennantites have been confirmed by analysis). The update also includes amazing highly distinctive new calcites from Chenzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province (including some unique mushroom-shaped ones). I’ve also included a few other excellent quality calcite specimens from Shimen, […]

This Dravite Tourmaline Update is a group of super crystals from Serra Branca, Rio Grande do Norte – an older find just coming to light for the first time. Sharp and lustrous, these crystals show textbook form and many look like crystal models.

Excellent specimens from travels in Peru, including a trip to the Quiruvilca Mine. This Peru Update features barite, hubnerite/quartz, epidote, a great pearceite, pyrite and more. I hope you’ll find them interesting. If you are curious about Quiruvilca and what it is like to be searching for crystal specimens at the mine, have a look […]

Each year when “Tucson” nears, I’m like a kid who can’t wait to race downstairs on Christmas morning. Just the chance to experience the sprawling mineral shows all over the city (known collectively in Mineral World simply as “Tucson”)… there is so much to see! This is a brief blog post about a few finds from Tucson 2014.

Welcome! This website is brand new. Which means it’s not good enough yet, but that’s ok. You’re here and I’m hoping you’ll enjoy looking around, even though I’m still working on it day and night. Kinda like entering a mineral dealer’s show room/setup while flats are all over the place and display cases are only […]

High in the Andes, Southern Peaks Mining operates one of Peru’s most famous historical mines, the Quiruvilca Mine. Quiruvilca is one of Peru’s most important mineral specimen producing localities. I was invited to go to Quiruvilca, resulting in an adventure that included some amazing time underground to explore the sulfide veins as they were being mined.

Who could pass up the chance to adventure in one of the world’s greatest mineral countries? Morocco hosts to some of the great contemporary specimen producing localities of our time, in a beautiful region with stunning landscapes.

After the Sahara adventure, it was time to descend into the workings of the world famous Mibladen mining district.

None of us wants to think about the inevitable, let alone plan for it. (“What happens once the last Lord of the Rings/Hobbit movie has been made and there are no more?” No, I mean the other inevitable. We can’t live forever.) Planning for what happens to our mineral collections is a tough and controversial subject. I’m thrilled that Steve Chamberlain, Chairman of the Rochester Mineralogical Symposium, has agreed to share his excellent editorial on Disposing of Your Mineral Collection here. (And check out this Millerite!)