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I left for Denver on September 10th.  It is a 1350 mile drive to get here so when you leave you more or less settle into a mindset that will help you cope with sitting still for 2.5 days behind the wheel of a car.  For me I like this particular drive across California, Nevada, Utah and most of Colorado.  It is a lot of wide open country with sweeping vistas.  I left Weaverville about 9:00 am and spent the first night in Fallon, Nevada.  The second night in Salina, Utah and made it to Denver around 2 pm the next day.  Below is a photo log of just a small sample of the scenery along the route.  Thanks for indulging my urge to photograph the landscape.

 

A view of Whiskeytown Lake along Highway 299.  President Kennedy dedicated this lake in October of 1963 - just one month before his assassination.

 


Entering the old gold mining town of Shasta just west of Redding.

 


East of Redding you climb on the way to Mt. Lassen.   That is Mt. Lassen dead ahead.
 

 


East of Mt. Lassen is the town of Old Station and home of Uncle Runts Cafe. They have a great array of deli sandwiches.

 


About 45 miles west of Reno on Hwy 395.

 


West of Austin, Nevada the Monitor Range comes into view.  Shortly after this the clouds started to increase.

 


About half way between Austin and Eureka, Nevada on Hwy 50.

 


About half way between Eureka and Ely, Nevada on Hwy 50. 

 

 


A little closer to Ely and wind, rain and lightning are everywhere.

 

 


About 40 miles past Ely Mt. Wheeler in Great Basin National Park is visible.

 

 


The next morning about 30 miles east of Salina, Utah on Interstate 70 - the sun is almost up! 

   

 


One of the numerous Scenic Viewpoints along Interstate 70 in southern Utah.

 


A better view of the above scene. 

 


Just outside of Green River, Utah and the Book Cliffs come into view.

 


In Colorado and the first of many tunnels to come...

 


I bet it was a lot of work to build this highway next to a river...The Colorado River by the way.

Finally here in Denver.  It was the 13th before I was able to actually hunt around to see what, if anything was new.  The first thing I had heard about was the new pseudomorphs of copper after cuprite from the the Rubtsovskiy mine in Altayskiy Kray, Russia.   This locality has been prolific for the last few years producing numerous cuprite crystals and native copper.  Axinite PM and KARP had these available but prices were pretty beefy!   


A 2 cm specimen of copper after cuprite.

 


Two miniatures of the new pseudos.


Axinite PM also had a few specimens of lustrous red cuprites with red color! That is new for cuprite from the Rubtsovskiy locality.

 

It became apparent rapidly that there was not much else new here in Denver.  There is a new find of hedenbergite with arsenopyrite from the Ilvaite locality in Inner Mongolia, Autonomous Region in China.  I have heard that there will be some decent specimens of these at the main show but the ones available currently are unremarkable.  Speaking with Marcus Origlieri I heard that there was a new find of crystallized bustamite from both the N'Chwaning and Wessels mines in the Kalahari Manganese fields in South Arfica.  I spoke with Marshall Sussman who the specimens came through and the report is that this was a very limited find.  Bustamite has been found there before but in massive material only.  The habit is different at both mines with N'Chwaning mine producing rosettes of light pink, bladed crystals.  The Wessels find has larger crystals with a rich rose pink color.  In the scarcity of anything new I bought the entire lot. Crystallized bustamite is well known from the Broken Hill mines in Australia so this represents a significant new find for an attractive mineral species.

UPDATED INFORMATION I have had email exchanges with Bruce Cairncross and his communications with K. Ludi von Bezing and Paul Balayer indicate that the bustamite specimens likely all came from the Wessels mine at different times.  None of this material has ever surfaced in South Africa so the entire amount is accounted for with the lot that Marshall Sussman brought to Denver.  Dan Weinrich got the best two. Marcus Origlieri got the third best piece and I got the rest.  Also, the specimens with the best crystals in terms of color and luster have a calcite association.  There is no hydroxylapophyllite as indicated on Marshall's labels from this find.  Lastly, the dark mineral found with the paler bustamite does indeed appear to vesuvianite.  Under the scope the red color of the mineral is clearly visible and the terminations clearly show a tetragonal habit.  Hydroxylapophyllite is found with this find.

 


Bustamite crystals with small calcite crystals from the Wessels mine are seen on this 8 cm specimen.


Light pink bustamite associated with vesuvianite from the N'Chwaning mine.

 

Tomorrow is set up day at the main show at the Merchandise Mart. That will make for a long day on the feet....


 
 

Past Shows & Reports
PLEASE NOTE: The minerals that were offered on these pages are all sold
1999
Munich Show
2000
Sainte Marie Show
Munich Show
2001
Sainte Marie Show
Munich Show
2002
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2003
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2004
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2005
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2006
Tucson Show
Bologna Show
Sainte Marie Show
East Coast Show
Munich Show
2007
Tucson Show
Dallas Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2008
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2009
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show

2010
Tucson Show
San Francisco Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show

Munich Show

2011
Tucson Show
San Francisco Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show

2012
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show 
Munich Show

2013
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
Crystal Days (Poland)
Munich Show  

 

 
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