Above:
Willemite in Tephroite - Sterling Hill, Ogdensburg, New Jersey.
Tephroite does not fluoresce, but the willemite shows up as striking patterns of green lines. The willemite / tephroite assemblage is a sort of brown to pale reddish-brown in normal light. |
The Sterling Hill zinc mine ceased operation
in 1986, after having produced rich zinc ore for more than seventy years.
The Hauck brothers acquired much of the Sterling Hill property around 1989,
and they opened up the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in 1990. For collectors,
they created the "Mine Run Dump" by bringing tons of ore and rock from the
mine and surrounding property. They acted just in the nick of time
to save many specimens from being lost to the rising mine waters.
Mine Run is open the last Sunday of each month except January and February
(I'm pretty sure December too, make sure you call ahead!). There is a poundage
fee; last I checked it was $1.50 / lb. You can find some nice
stuff there. There are large amounts of willemite, calcite, and franklinite,
with zincite and smaller amounts of many other interesting minerals. I have
found andradite, tephroite, diopside ("zinc-schefferite"), "jeffersonite",
friedelite, hydrozincite, aragonite, cerussite, galena, biotite,
rhodonite, schorl, sussexite, scapolite, serpentine, and several others.
Don't forget the World Minerals pile; the possibilities there
are endless.
The largest, best franklinite crystals I've ever found have come from Sterling
Hill. The same goes for willemite. There are some rocks where,
if you're patient, you can work out franklinite crystals of 1/2 to 1 cm diameter.
Yes, I realize that pales in comparison to what used to come out of the mine
itself, but such giant franklinites have disappeared into collections and
now command very high prices; by today's standards a 1 cm franklinite
crystal is a great find. So, where was I? Oh yes, I also found
a fairly large gahnite crystal back in the pits; as I recall it was
about 1.5 cm across. I have also seen willemite crystals 2, 3, even
4 cm across; these, too, have been found in the pits in recent years.
The collecting areas, including the Mine Run Dump, do not allow anyone younger
than 13. These places are for serious collectors. ( If your
child is a budding scientist but is not old enough to go to Mine Run, take
him / her to the Buckwheat instead. )
When the museum has scheduled digs, they open up the Mine Run Dump, the Passaic
and Noble Pits and the Fill Quarry to collectors. There is a lot of
great collecting to be done in these places.
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As with the Buckwheat dump at Franklin, there
are plenty of micromineral specimens to be found at Sterling Hill.
If you are a micromounter, this place could keep you busy forever.
The willemite / calcite / franklinite ore rocks sometimes contain cavities
of tiny, fibrous or radiating white crystals which appear "puffy", like cotton.
I don't know for sure what this stuff is, but it might be chlorophoenicite.
I have also heard brandtite mentioned as a possibility by one or two other
collectors, but I can't verify this right now. Occasionally, some of
the fibrous crystals prove to be willemite (they fluoresce bright green).
Obviously, not all the tiny, fibrous crystals one finds at Sterling
Hill are going to be the same species. The dark, weathered rock back in the Noble Pit often contains vugs and cavities that have tiny crystals. Again, there's an opportunity for great collecting. There can be azurite, cerussite, malachite, chlorophoenicite, aragonite, fluorapatite, franklinite, magnetite, and quite a few others in there. I once found a specimen of galena in the Passaic Pit that contained a couple of tiny, red-orange crystals of mimetite. I have never before or since found another like it, though I'm sure it must be there. Perhaps you will find it. |
