GG: Mineralogical Society: Special Interest Groups

Topaz crystals from Topaz Mountain, Utah, USA Skating on the lawn of the Natural History Museum!
Photo: courtesy of D. Green

Meeting report: Nature’s Treasures II – the wonder of minerals and gems
photos courtesy of Roy Starkey and the speakers

The second in the series of ‘Nature’s Treasures’ meetings took place in London in mid-December 2009. 115 people gathered in the museum to hear eight high-quality talks from invited speakers. The meetings don’t have themes per se, but speakers are encouraged to make presentations with significant visual impact and to speak at a level which can be accessed by all members of the audience. The NTII audience included youngsters in their early teens, several others who have used their retirements to advance their interests in mineralogy/gemmology and all sorts in between, including a healthy representation from amongst the professional ranks.

It is planned to hold a follow-on event – Nature’s Treasures 3 – in 2010. Please check back here in the Spring of 2010 for further details regarding dates, venue and programme.

The opening talk on diamonds by Alan Collins, was an excellent introduction to the subject, talking about the properties of diamond which make it precious and attractive.

Martin Feely spoke about a course he runs in NUI-Galway (Ireland) which covers the cross-over area between mineralogy and gemmology, and indeed geology, with the rugged west of Ireland as his happy hunting ground.

Chris Carlon spoke about offshore mining activities of Anglo-American with stunning statistics about the amount of material now retrieved from the seafloor, even at distances of 35 km from shore.

Chris Carlon showing his sample of black smoker material to the delegates, including some of those from Rockwatch.

Norman Moles spoke about his personal history, collecting minerals from basalt quarries in Northern Ireland, his job as editor of the journal of the Russell Society, and about the activities of that Society.

After the lunch break, when delegates had the opportunity to mingle, to visit the various mineral displays and to enjoy the excellent food, the afternoon session began with a great presentation by Ruth Siddall talking about how minerals are and have been used in pigments for thousands of years. She and colleagues have examined how some of the colours were made, the careful degree of grinding required etc. She was also kind enough to display some of the wonderful paintings she has examined.

John Faithfull of the Hunterian Musuem in Glasgow, gave a most entertaining talk about the 250-year history of that museum’s mineral collection, parting with the shot that, if you want your collection to mean anything to anybody in 200 years time, you need to stick label numbers to your specimens and you need to make a catalogue now giving as much information (name, location, cost, purchase details) as possible.

"An exceeding rare Cristal mixed with fine fibrose Asbestos which is grown into the crystal." So reads the original label. This sample sold in 1777 for £15 and 15 shillings. At around the same time, William Hunter also bought a Rembrandt oil painting for a mere £12 12 shillings. More on the painting at: http://tinyurl.com/oba5a4

Jolyon Ralph, creator of the mindat.org website project, gave a fascinating account of the history of the mineral database, now the most used mineralogical website in the world. There were many astounding statistics, not least of which was that the database includes quarter of a million images, and that during the month of November 2009 it saw almost half a million discrete visits. Jolyon also noted, with tongue firmly in cheek, that mindat is the 63,686^thmost popular website in the world (not bad out of a total of 156 million!).

The final talk of the afternoon was given by Guy Clutterbuck. Guy had intriguingly described himself as a ‘gemmologist and adventurer’ in his biopic, so his talk was much anticipated. It didn’t disappoint. He spoke of his many adventures to northern Afghanistan (to collect lapis lazuli), to Burma (for emeralds) and in Zambia (aquamarine and emeralds). Though he was speaking about the business of gem purchasing, Guy spoke movingly about the human side of dealing with people who extract/collect the precious stones under what are often very extreme conditions (of terrain, weather and politics).

Night-workers leaving a lapis mine, Sar-e-Sang, northern Afghanistan (image courtesy of G. Clutterbuck).

The raison d’être of these meetings is to bring together audiences from three distinct groups (the Russell Society, Gem-A and the MinSoc). By doing so, each group is stepping out of its ‘comfort zone’ somewhat, thereby appealing to new people. The power of the combined societies, though, means that we can spread the publicity about the meeting to a wide audience, and attract very healthy delegate numbers (115 attended to the December event).

Outreach to other groups is a common aspect of much of what we do throughout the Society, from conferences, one-day SIG meetings, publications, and co-operative ventures such as GeoScienceWorld and Elements.

Diamond - a unique mineral and the ultimate gemstone
Prof. Alan Collins, King's College, London

The presentation contrasted the properties of graphite and diamond and deal with the formation of diamond in the Earth’s mantle, and transport to the surface. Physical properties which are relevant to the use of diamond as a gemstone were introduced, and the reasons why some diamonds are coloured outlined in simple terms.

Alan Collins is Emeritus Professor of Physics at King’s College London. He has carried out research on the optical and electronic properties of diamond, some of which has considerable relevance to the gem trade. He has been involved with Gem-A for many years, is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Gemmology and is a member of the Editorial Review Board for Gems & Gemology.

The new Diploma in Scientific Studies (Gemmology) at NUI, Galway provides an introduction to gemmology for people with a general interest in gemstones as well as for those working in the jewellery and related trades in Ireland. It is promoted by the Adult and Continuing Education Department, National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). The course provides the student with a broad introduction to the study of gemstones, demonstrates the laboratory techniques used to identify gemstones and provides hands-on experience in gemstone identification. It is an evening course and is now midway through its third two-year cycle. Thirty-three students have successfully completed the course. Two gemmology MSc research projects have evolved from this diploma course. One is focused on the characterisation of the University’s collection of gemstones; the other is involved in fluid inclusion studies of Brazilian emeralds. The programme makes full use of the University’s wonderful geological hinterland through fieldtrips to Connemara to study typical geological settings of crystals/gemstones in the field. Marbles, skarns, igneous and metamorphic pegmatites and mineral veins host minerals that include serpentine, garnet, fluorite, andalusite, cordierite and quartz euhedra.

Martin Feely is a senior lecturer in the School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) and is adjunct Professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences at James Madison University, Virginia. He teaches BSc degree courses in petrology and mineralogy and runs an adult education evening diploma course in gemmology at NUIG. He is also involved in summer schools for US university students in Connemara. His current research interests include: (1) fluid inclusion studies of a) Granite related molybdenite deposits, b) Brazilian emeralds and c) Hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusion studies, (2) Geoscience 3D visualization studies and (3) Investigating the interface between seaweed holdfasts and bedrock.

The Russell Society: promoting mineralogy and helping mineralogists in the UK and Ireland
Dr Norman Moles

Exhibits in museums such as the NHM include beautiful crystals and other mineral specimens with information on where the specimens are from, how they formed, and sometimes on their economic value. But who collected these specimens? And how do we know what they are composed of and how they formed? This talk was about the people who collect mineral specimens, both for their personal satisfaction and for the benefit of others (e.g. museum visitors), and the people who investigate minerals for the advancement of scientific understanding (mineralogists). ‘Topographical mineralogy’ is the study of mineral occurrences and their formation. In the UK and Ireland, the Russell Society supports amateur and professional mineralogists who are interested in topographical mineralogy, and promotes the conservation of mineral specimens and localities. It achieves this by publishing a biannual newsletter and annual Journal, and by organising field visits and talks by mineralogists. The talk concluded by considering the future of topographical mineralogy, an area of science where the contributions of informed amateurs are equally important to those of professional ‘experts’.

Norman Moles is course leader for geology degree programmes at the University of Brighton, having transferred in 2001 from Queen’s University Belfast where he began his academic career in 1990. Before then he worked for 5 years with a mineral exploration consultancy in Ireland and Australia. He graduated with a BSc in Geology and Mineralogy from Aberdeen University, and then obtained his PhD from Edinburgh University for research on the Foss barite deposit in Perthshire. His research interests broadly involve metals in the environment, specifically sedimentary exhalative ore deposits, alluvial gold and metallic contaminants in sediments, soil geochemistry and landscape evolution. He is a ‘dormant’ mineral collector, mainly of zeolites, and has published articles on zeolite occurrences in Northern Ireland. Norman has been a member of the Mineralogical Society and of the Russell Society since the 1980s and became Editor of the Journal of the Russell Society in 2004.

Paints are made up of two main components; pigments which provide the colour and a medium which is generally liquid when the paint is applied and subsequently dries to form a solid surface, bonding the pigments grains together. Paints (and paintings) are often described in terms of their medium - we have all heard of oil paintings, watercolours and temperas, but what are the pigments? The coloured portion of paints are usually finely particulate solids, many of them derived from minerals or synthetic compounds analogous to minerals. The techniques used by petrologists are perfect for identifying these phases both under the polarising light microscope and using techniques such as the scanning electron microscope, electron microprobe and Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. This talk presented examples of the microscopic examination of pigment phases, from the mundane to the weird and wonderful, and how their identification can help us understand ancient and historical technologies and identify fakes in the art world. Examples ranging from Roman wall paintings to Victorian house paints were used to illustrate the talk.

Ruth Siddall has BSc in Geology from the University of Birmingham and a PhD in Geology from UCL. She has remained at UCL as a lecturer in the Earth Sciences, but her interest have turned from plate tectonics to scientific archaeology and the analysis of cultural materials. Ruth is a member of the Pigmentum Project and is co-author of The Pigment Compendium, an encyclopaedia of the pigments used in worldwide archaeological and art-historical contexts. Her main research interests are in the pigments and supports used by Roman artists and she has worked in Pompeii, Corinth, several Romano-British villas and on Roman-Egyptian material from The Fitzwilliam and Petrie Museums.

Mining the Ocean
Dr Chris Carlon - Head of Geosciences and Strategy, Anglo American plc London

AngloAmerican actively mine millions of tonnes of sand and gravel aggregates from the seafloor, produce detrital gold, tin, zircon, ilmenite, rutile, monazite and diamonds from marine sediments and oil and gas from sub-seafloor sedimentary sequences under 2kms of water. However, although the world’s seas and oceans cover about 70% of the planet very little mineral wealth is extracted directly from the ocean floor.

Economic ‘hard minerals’ are principally resistant and dense fragments carried in rivers to the sea and deposited along beaches and in shallow marine settings. However in the 1970’s great excitement was generated by the discovery of hot saline fluids flowing from cracks and depositing metallic sulphides on the deep ocean floor. These ‘black smokers’ together with the earlier discovered ‘manganese nodules’ were seen as potentially significant sources of metals, but the technology to mine them economically did not exist and they became geological curiosities.

With societies growing requirements for minerals, particularly in the most recent decade with the demand from the developing countries, notably China, exploration and mining has turned to the earth’s frontiers. Diamonds have been mined 30kms off-shore under 100m of water in the world’s largest “super-placer” along the coast of Namibia and precious metals are being sought around island-arcs in the ocean basins of the SW Pacific and elsewhere. The geology, exploration and mining of these diverse minerals make interesting comparisons

With an Honours degree in Geology from Swansea University and a PhD from the University of Manchester, Chris has been an exploration geologist for 32 years and has worked and consulted on mineral resource projects in over 40 countries for a wide range of metallic and industrial minerals. Working initially for Consolidated Goldfields in Europe, then BP Minerals in the UK, Sweden and globally, he later joined Rio Tinto in 1989 as a senior geologist in global mineral exploration and subsequently managed exploration projects in Siberia and Mongolia. Chris joined Anglo American in 1999 as the Vice President of Exploration Europe-Asia. In 2002 he transferred to Santiago, Chile, as Anglo’s Regional Vice-President Exploration South America and in 2006 he returned to the UK as Anglo’s Head of Geosciences and Strategy.

For nearly ten years, the mindat.org community has been building a free database of minerals, gems and mineral localities worldwide. It is now the internet's most visited website for mineral information and the aim of this talk was to give a quick introduction to the operation and aims of mindat.org, and a brief view of how it may develop in the future.

Gem merchant and adventurer, Guy Clutterbuck, gave a presentation on the mining and marketing of emeralds and aquamarines from Zambia. He also drew on personal experience in Afghanistan, Burma, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to explain processes used in the mining of the stones, how they are sourced, and ways in which they are marketed.

Nature's Treasures II: the wonder of minerals and gems