- The Cochise County Rock
- Monthly Newsletter of the Sunsites Gem & Mineral Club
- http://sites.google.com/site/cochisecountyrock/
- http://picasaweb.google.com/cochisecountyrock/
- "Finding and Grinding Rocks in Cochise County, Arizona since 1965"
- February 2012
- This issue edited by Don Hammer
- ____________________________________________________________________________________
- The next General Meeting of the Sunsites Gem & Mineral Club is on Monday February 13, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Sunsites Community Center. The program will be a mining video shown by Jack Light.
- General Meeting Minutes - January 9, 2012
- President Diane Dunn called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm and opened by welcoming 2 new members, Jeff & Judy Bernard, along with several visitors.
- Minutes: The minutes from the last business meeting, November 2011, were published
- in the December newsletter. As there was no discussion, Larry Edgett moved to approve the minutes as written and that was unanimously agreed upon.
- Presidents Remarks: President Dunn briefly reiterated on the success of our mineral display at Pearce Heritage Days, November 2011. She suggested that "if we are invited back for the next festival,' a display of rocks and minerals which belong to members along with their names would be most interesting.
- Diane also mentioned the great time we had at the annual Christmas party and thanked everyone who participated.
- Treasurers Report: The Treasurers Report appeared in the last newsletter as reported by Walter Sigel, Treasurer. The yearly audit was conducted by Diane Dunn and Jim Brower and was found to be without question. The proposed budget was also without question. It is noted that the Board of Directors recommended that $100-$150 be set aside for future honorariums leaving us with a net profit of approximately $450.00.
- Don Hammer approved Walter's report with Jack Light as second.
- Hospitality: Chairperson Cherie Robb thanked Renate Leduck, Bette Green & Wally Hozjan for providing this evenings refreshments.
- Announcements:
- A) Don Hammer reminded us of the upcoming Tucson Gem & Mineral show being held on January 28 through February 11.
- B) Larry Strout mentioned that Silver Solder class is available on Tuesday am.or pm. If interested, please indicate your preference by calling Larry at (520) 678-1272.
- C) Diane stated that if anyone has any idea's for future field trips, see Henri.
- D) Rock samples from New Mexico's Rock Hound State Park, were on display courtesy of Henri who cut and polished some spectacular geodes.
- Before breaking for refreshments and program, the monthly raffle was held. The General Meeting was then adjourned at 7:30.
- Program: The program for the evening was presented by Mr. Hall Stewart, Vice-President for Exploration of Commonwealth Silver explaining their progress and plans at the Commonwealth Mine in Pearce, AZ. After Mr. Stewarts informative presentation, there was a question and answer session. (Ed note - 52 members and guests attended).
- January Field Trip
- On Saturday January 21, 29 members assembled at the Benson Feed and Supply and left at 8:30 am heading north on the Cascabel Highway to MP 8. Don Hammer showed us specimens of epidote and one of massive epidote and we scattered out across the countryside and through the washes. Some nice small epidote crystals were found along with seams of the same material within a few rocks that appeared to be polishable. We continued north to Kelsey Wash where he again showed specimens of red, yellow and dark brown jasper. The group proceeded up the wash finding mostly small pieces of red and yellow jasper although a few larger, stones that could be slabbed were also found. We turned around and went back south to Gammon's Gulch and had lunch in the comfortable surroundings of the saloon followed by an entertaining tour of the 1880's movie set punctuated by Jay Gammon's numerous anecdotes from his experiences over the years in the movie industry. We thank Gary Mattusch for his help in finding interesting sites for this field trip.
-
- February Field Trip: We will go to the Carlyle Mine dumps northeast of Duncan in New Mexico for copper minerals, pyrite, amethyst, agate, jasper and other minerals. Meet in the Willcox Safeway parking lot at 8 am to leave at 8:15 am on Saturday February 18, 2012. Mostly we will be digging through dump piles but there is a vein of amethyst in a rock wall that will require heavy rock breaking tools. High clearance is not needed. Bring water, lunch, lawn chairs, sun protection, camera, bags or pails, light and heavy digging and rock breaking tools.
- Club Website
- The address of the Club Website is on the masthead of this newsletter. The Website has past newsletters, photos from almost all of our field trips and other Club information.
- Lapidary and Silversmith Classes
- Our lapidary class meets at 9 am on Tuesday and silver soldering class meets at 6 pm on Tuesday; both in the lapidary lab behind the fire station. If you're interested call Larry Strout at 826-3991 now.
- Lapidary Equipment For Sale
- 6" trim saw - $125, 2- 8" grinders $125 ea, 1 lb vibrator/tumbler - $15, 10 lb tumbler - $170, combination unit with 6" trim saw and 3-4 6" wheels - $350, electric kiln 2' X 2' X 1' - $75, 1 lb vibrator/tumbler - $15, 6" flat lap - $175, faceting machine and supplies - $300. Call Wally Hozjan at 520-384-4582.
- Dues are due.
- Dues are $15 for individuals and $25 for a family. Bring your dues to the next meeting or mail your check to Sunsites Gem & Mineral Club, PO Box 87, Pearce, Arizona 85625. Unpaid members will be dropped.
- Club Calendar:
- February
- 13 General Meeting
- Field Trip
- March
- 1 Board Meeting
- 12 General Meeting
- 17 Field Trip
- 29 Board Meeting
- April
- 9 General Meeting
- 14 Field Trip
- May
- 3 Board Meeting
- 14 General Meeting
- Field Trip
- June
- 2 Picnic
- Upcoming Regional Events
- January
- 26- February 12. The Tucson Show. This is actually many shows - most of the Tucson motels have a show. The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show runs from February 9-12 in the Tucson Convention Center. http://tucsongemandmineralshows.net/2012-tucson-gem-show.htm lists all of the shows with dates, locations and contact information. The Electric Park Show (renamed the Rock Show), January 28- February 12, has something for everyone from tools and equipment to rough and finished gems, rocks, fossils, jewelry, beads, clothing and arts and crafts. A Morroco vendor brings many kinds of fossils including complete crocodiles and turtles and one from Brazil has many huge amethyst cathedrals. Access is easy: exit I-10 at 263, turn right on E. Ajo Way, turn right just before the hospital, turn right just before the parking lot, turn left at the stop sign and follow that street around behind all the booths and park back where the vendors park. You can also park in the main parking lot but it gets busy. There is another adjacent RV show where vendors sell alongside their RVs but I've usually played out before I got to that show. Wear comfortable walking shoes and sun protection.
- Officers for 2012
- President: Diane Dunn 520.826.0278
- V-President: Jack Light
- Secretary: Zoe Schnable
- Treasurer: Walter Sigel
- Deleg-at-Large: Carl Schnabel
- Hospit Coord: Cherie Robb
- Field Trip Crd: Henri van den Bos
- Past Pres: Paul McKnight 775-434-8395
-
- Epidote
- Epidote is one of the most outstanding display minerals. The finest and most desirable form of this mineral is in delicate elongated crystals that are extremely lustrous and often interconnected. This form is highly treasured by collectors and creates one of the finest mineral showpieces. The color of Epidote is almost invariably green, in all different shades and tones, with a pistachio color habit being very typical.
-
- Epidote forms a group of related minerals, with the mineral Epidote being the most prominent member of the group. Two uncommon members of the Epidote group are Epidote-(Pb) (which is more popularly known as Hancockite), and Epidote-(Sr). Though often regarded as varieties of Epidote, these two forms are classified by the IMA as individual mineral species.
-
- Epidote is also almost identical in composition to Clinozoisite but lacks significant iron in its structure. It forms a series with Clinozoisite, and in many cases the actual distinction between these two minerals cannot be made. In fact, some specimens from certain localities are labeled as Clinozoisite-Epidote since they are intermediary between these two minerals without an exact determination, or may even contain both these minerals in different parts of a single crystal.
- Basic calcium aluminum iron silicate. Color light to dark-green, olive-green, yellowish-green, brownish-green, brown, black. Transparent forms can be strongly pleochroic with a greenish color on one angle and brownish color on the other angle.
- Usually in long slender prismatic crystals; also in thick tabular crystals. Crystals are sometimes striated and may have interesting wedge-shaped terminations. They also may have etchings or growth layers, and may contain late-growth small crystals layers growing upon a larger crystal. Also columnar reticulated, acicular, radiating, in fan-shaped and wheat sheaf crystal groups, and in long, slender fragile interconnected crystal groupings. May also form as a thin microcrystal crusting and may be massive.
- Epidote occurs in several different environments. It is found in hornfels and skarns in contact metamorphic rocks, and in metamorphosed limestone and in schists in regional metamorphic rock. It is also found in igneous rock in basalt and diabase, and is occasionally found in granite pegmatites.
- The most famous and productive Epidote locality in the U.S. is Green Monster Mountain, on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, where dark lustrous Epidote crystals have been found in very large crystals. Large dark green to nearly black crystals come from Garnet Hill, Calaveras Co., California; and good crystals from several deposits in Death Valley, Inyo California. Other important localities include Hawthorne and the Julie Claim, Mineral Co., Nevada; the Calumet Iron Mine, Chaffee Co., Colorado; the Oxford Quarry, Warren County, New Jersey; and Eden Mills, Orleans & Lamoille Cos., Vermont. The variety Hancockite comes from the Franklin District, Sussex Co., New Jersey.
-
- SUNSITES GEM AND MINERAL CLUB
- P.O. Box 87
- Pearce, Arizona 85625