B.C. Vol. 15 Spring 2011 Rockhounder

Published Quarterly By the British Columbia Lapidary Society Contents 105–3240 Mt. Lehman Road, President’s Message 2 PO Box 10072, Abbotsford, BC V4X 2M0 Email: [email protected] Wire Wrap Jewellery 3 Tel: (604) 852-1307 www.lapidary.bc.ca Ancient Silver & Gold 5 Fossil DNA 10 Bead Trivia Fact 11 “My thanks to all that Gold Nugget Found in Sierra 12 have submitted articles Pitfalls of Rock Tumbling 12 and club news for Iron 13 publication. They are The Geology of Northern BC 14 greatly appreciated and Not Such a Silly Goose 19 enjoyed by our readers.” Messabi 20 The Largest … 22 Bam! Silver Prices Again! 23 Editor: Pearls 24 Win Robertson An Ant’s Misfortune 26 [email protected] (250) 376-4878 Dave Laurence Langevin 27 #6 – 2401 Ord Rd. Cover Photo: 10” Tile Saw 28 Kamloops, BC V2B 7V8 Vivianite, Fish River, YT Confscated Mammoth Tusks 29 Mesoamerican Jade 30 Design & Layout: Printing: Hammer Safety 32 Leah Jones Sure Kamloops [email protected] Print & Copy Centre Wagonmasters Field Trips 36 (250) 299-8990 (250) 554-1322 Summer Camp 2011 36 Kamloops, BC 552 Tranquille Rd. Around the Clubs 38 www.leahjones.ca Kamloops, BC Talk Shop 44 Club Shows and Sales 46

Submit articles for the next issue by Share your trips and August 1st, 2011 to: knowledge by sending an Win Robertson 6 – 2401 Ord Road Kamloops, BC V2B 7V8 article to the Rockhounder E mail: [email protected]

Spring 2011 | 1 President’s Message

By the time you read this, I will have handed my Tierney is the mastermind who selects the rock for the gavel over to the next in line, and have moved rock auction at the Rendezvous. I would like to thank on to the position of Past President. I have been these three gentlemen for looking after these areas. amazed, as president for the last two years, at the Sharon and Arn Hamelin manage the book sales amount of support that is given by the rockhound and dvd library for the bcls. They have been a membership to the president and the executive of traveling show, taking the books “On the road” to the bcls. There are so many people ready to help... the Gem Show, the Gemboree, the bcls agm and very talented and capable people who have stepped more. This is hard physical labor, and very time up to let me know about issues that have arisen, consuming. Thanks to both of you for maintaining and helped to provide solutions as needed. this educational aspect of the bcls, and to Sharon, for I would particularly like to thank my executive, selecting new books and interesting videos for us. Liz O’Hea, Pat Boden, and Doug Murray, Vice One fun and exciting aspect of the bcls is the field Presidents, Marie Adshead, Treasurer, and Andrew trips. I would like to thank Bob Morgan for organizing Danneffel, Recording Secretary. They have fulfilled and running the meetings for the wagonmasters to their duties faithfully, and have conducted the arrange field trips twice a year. Harley Waterson has business of the Lapidary Society along with me. sent out the details to Win Robertson, who posts them An important event put on by the bcls is the on the web site. Thank you all, for doing these jobs. BC Gem Show. There is a wonderfully dedicated The bcls has a web page, complete with news, committee that meets nearly every month. Each pictures and links, a glossy calendar displaying bc member of this committee looks after an aspect of the stones, and a beautiful, professional magazine which show. It is a very well organized show with a popular is published quarterly. Win Robertson, has produced following, not only with rockhounds, but with the them all. I would like to compliment her in developing general public as well. I would like to thank the chair, all three of these items into excellent products. She Cam Bacon, and the members of this committee for has been the one person maintaining them over their time commitment, good ideas and hard work the years. Thank you, Win, and very well done! while serving on the BC Gem Show Committee. The next general meeting of the bcls will be Another important event is the Rendezvous, held held on October 2nd, 2011, at Sullivan Hall. These on the long weekend in May. A dedicated committee general bcls meetings have been a huge success, and of five looks after the organization and details of this well attended. Special thanks to Jennifer Moore for event, and it continues to be very popular and successful. the food, Frank Tierney and Bob Morgan for door I would like to send my sincere thanks to the members prizes, Ron Wade and Elmer Beck for set up, Don of this committee who worked to keep it all running Wolf for sound, and Win Robertson for arranging so well: Win Robertson, Ken Dewerson, Lorne Morris, speakers. Thanks to the club members for attending and Pat Boden. I also want to include Pam Lott, who these meetings and making them a success! has been an enormous help to us on this committee. As you can see from all of the above paragraphs, This August, we will be meeting for a week-long my years as president would have been ineffective summer camp at Texada Island. The members of the without the help of all of you in the clubs of the committee to organize this event are Win Robertson bcls. Thank you every member, for giving me this and Doug Murray. I thank them for all the planning support and for doing the jobs you do so cheerfully and arranging they have done on our behalf. I and enthusiastically for the bcls. It’s been a good two know it will be a popular and successful event. years, and a privilege to have held this position. I would be remiss if I failed to mention the storage locker and bcls trailer. These are maintained by Arn Respectfully submitted, Hamelin. His many hours of work in keeping these two De Morgan, areas functional and repaired. are very much appreciated. President, BCLS, 2009 – 2011 Lui Porc organizes the trailer’s contents during the year and while it is loaded after the Gem Show. Frank

2 | B.C. Rockhounder Wire Wrap Jewellery: A History from the Past to the Present by Diane Mason

We should begin this journey by has samples of jewellery from the shaped into natural forms like shells defining just what jewellery is and Sumerian dynasty found in the and flowers were made on a fairly does. Jewellery is comprised of those Cemetery of Ur that contain spiraled large scale. Beautiful and ornate items that we wear toadorn our wire components. It is known that necklaces using wire to mount these clothes, bodies, and personalities. Egyptian and Phoenician artists items were found in burial sites as Wire wrap jewellery began as an practiced this craft over 4,000 early as 300 bce. Certainly as the ancient craft and continues today. years ago, and pieces have been ancient world grew and empires fell, It is the only known metal jewellery found in the Pyramids as well as the use of wire expanded and was craft that is created completely in ancient Pharaohs tombs. moved around the world by traveling without soldering or casting: this The art of wire wrapping has armies. Early explorers carried simply means that there is no heat been clearly identified around the pieces with them, and eventually applied; there is no flame or torch time of the Phoenician empire this included moving the pieces and used to melt the metals together. about 1,000 bce. At that time gold their craft across vast oceans. When Consequently, creating wire wrap or silver was hammered into thin early settlers to America became jewellery is more of a challenge since sheets, cut into thin strips, and the friendly with Native Americans, the piece must be held together only edges filed smooth to make the wire. they became extremely intrigued by the wires themselves. Wire was then woven into a basket with another form of jewellery. It is a logical assumption to of filigree and set into a breastplate. Native Americans made jewellery believe that the first items made Artisans would also use this process with bones, animal heads, claws, were of organic materials that to decorate family crests or coat of and sinew. Thus, it is believed that were available to primitive man. arms. At approximately the same this new form of craftsmanship was Such items may have included time, in the Book of Exodus, detailed incorporated into some of the pieces wood, grass, nuts, seeds, bones, instructions and shells. At some point in time were given about gemstones and metals were added. setting gemstones Beautiful and ornate necklaces It is unknown which metal was into the priestly using wire to mount these items first found. A copper pendant was garments. Biblical discovered in what is now Iraq and scholars have were found in burial sites as has been dated at about 8,700 bce. placed this event It is believed that gold appeared on near 1446 bce. It is early as 300 BCE. the scene around 4,000 bce. Artisans unknown exactly of ancient Egypt used gold to adorn which of these forms of wire the settlers were used to creating. their bodies more than 5,000 years usage might have occurred first. In the 1800s, the Bohemian ago. It is very unfortunate that By the eighth century bce, the culture made wonderful necklaces early on so many of the tombs and Italian Etruscans in the Tuscany and bracelets to connect beads and relics were looted and the metals region produced granulated stones. These items were a favorite melted simply for their value. Thus, textured gold wire that was often with European aristocracy for we have lost many artifacts and used in making open pendants to over half a century. It would be an much of our early creative history. hold perfume. A pin or decorative injustice not to mention the tinkers Examples of wire and beaded ornament thought to have been of Europe. This unique group later jewellery made by using wire wrap made sometime circa 750 bce was became known in America and techniques date back thousands found and is preserved today in a other parts of the world as Gypsies. of years. The British Museum museum. In ancient Greece, beads While their primary use of wire was

Spring 2011 | 3 to make miniature objects such as until his doors closed in 1982. Jim known as Eni Oken wire jewellery. horses, carriages, bicycles, boats, and Mavis Llewellyn, two of his This style combines the basic wire and other trinkets, they also made students, traveled to Canada taking wrap and wire sculpture forms and jewellery from wire. They played a with them his favorite pastime of adds “feathering” wire to create an great part in the spread of this craft. wire wrapping. Thus, the craft once intriguing form of wire craft. Her The earliest reference to drawn again moved across an ocean. web-site offers on-line teaching wire is in eighth century France. The In 1994, Sir Paul Howard of and instructions; however, she first commercial wire production Queensland, Australia became will occasionally teach a class in was in 1270 ce in France. This interested in the unique craft of person and delights in promoting enterprise consisted of drawing metal wire wrapping. He met Don and individuality and the creation of wire through holes in beads. Today Francis Mason of Bermuda who new designs. Today wire wrapped wire manufacturing is much more were wire artists, and became jewellery and craft items are not economical, and wire is produced intrigued with their work. Sir Paul mass produced. The jewellery is in vast quantities. Wire comes in had difficulty obtaining wire in his popular precisely because of the many sizes, shapes, and varying native Australia and eventually uniqueness and individuality of each degrees of hardness. There is always found a merchant in Sydney who piece. There are schools and internet an appropriate wire available for would make the wire for him. classes across the United States and the particular project the artisan In 1996, Sir Paul traveled to the throughout the World to instruct has in mind. The wires used in United States and studied wire interested students. The basic craft designing jewellery may be from wrap techniques at the William is simple to learn but the final many different alloys such as gold, Holland School of Lapidary Arts creation may become very complex depending on the gem stone, bead, Today wire wrapped jewellery and craft or technique the artist wishes to use. This craft, unlike many others, items are not mass produced. The jewellery is does not require the purchase of a large amount of tools. It does, popular precisely because of the uniqueness however, require a desire (and and individuality of each piece. the patience) to learn, as well as the willingness to spend the time required to create a lovely piece copper, brass, sterling silver, fine in northeast Georgia. There, he of jewellery. The next time you silver, and Argentium. The temper obtained the contacts necessary study and admire (and covet) a may be soft, medium, or hard. Hard to obtain wire commercially as piece of wire wrapped jewellery and half hard wire is better used in well as a vast knowledge of wire remember the rich amount of artisan simple wire wrap while soft wire craft techniques. Today Sir Paul history that you are holding in lends itself more to sculpting and is in the process of writing a book your hands and just imagine where allows the wire to be twisted more about his favorite craft and the this craft, will go in the future. easily. Sizes of wire vary from the gemstones of his native country. via GCLFS Newsletter, 9/10; via Mozarkite Society of Lincoln, Inc., 8/10; size of a sewing thread to the width He and wife Lady Marie travel from Lodestar, 5/10 of a watchband, thus giving the through Australia teaching, free of creator a larger selection of styles. charge, the wire wrap techniques Modern day wire wrapping in that he learned in America. England, Canada, and the United Eni Oken is another artist States can probably be attributed traveling and teaching her very to an enterprising artist named unique form of wire wrapping. c.g. Oxley. He first used wire wrap She is a Brazilian jewellery artist techniques in England as a form of currently based in Los Angeles. She occupational physical therapy for was a computer graphics artist for World War I veterans. He became so more than 17 years. Inspired by her enterprising that he opened and ran Grandmother’ s teachings, Oken a very lucrative jewellery business has developed a unique style now

4 | B.C. Rockhounder Ancient Silver & Gold

The great innovators who brought thinking: when Tutankhamen’s and tends to stick to the natural us pottery, copper, bronze, and iron tomb was discovered in 1922, it lanolin of the fibers. After a are anonymous. The first discoverers contained about twice as much time the gold-bearing fleece was of gold and silver are, too. But gold gold as the Royal Bank of Egypt at dried in the sun and burned in a very quickly attracted the attention the time. This was, of course, only high-temperature fire. The gold of the rich and famous, and the that fraction of Egypt’s wealth that dust melted into drops that were names of kings and emperors, could be buried “permanently” easily separated from the ashes. explorers, pirates, and criminals have with its dead Pharoah in 1350 bc. This method for exploiting been associated with it ever since. In 1922 this seemed to point alluvial or placer gold, still practised Gold is rare enough to be to Egypt as the region in which along the rivers of eastern Anatolia valuable even as a token of value. gold mining, purification, and in the 1930s, is the basis for the But it has special properties too. metal-working were first perfected. Greek legend of Jason and the It does not combine chemically However, in 1927 Sir Leonard Argonauts, who sailed from Greece with other elements to any major Woolley excavated a royal tomb at to search for the Golden Fleece: extent (though it will alloy with the Sumerian capital city of Ur. It in other words, they were pirates silver, platinum, and mercury); it contained enough gold and silver or traders seeking riches, probably has a beautiful appearance; and it is objects to show that the technology through the Bosphorus along the malleable. It can be hammered, cold, of gold working had reached very Anatolian shore of the Black Sea. with very simple tools, into very high levels of competence by thin sheets. Apart from anything about 2600 bc. This had been a Gold coins else, this allows a skilled craftsman very rapid revolution: only one The first gold coins were struck to apply thin gold sheets (foil, or site (Tepe Gawra on the Iranian in Lydia, in Anatolia, around 550 “gold leaf”) to make an ordinary plateau) has yielded worked gold bc. This was not due to chance: object look like solid gold. Around before 3000 bc. This seems to place the sands and gravels of the River 2000 bc, Egyptian craftsmen were the origin of gold technology in Pactolus contained a lot of placer producing gold leaf 1µ thick. Gold Iran/Anatolia rather than Egypt. gold, and this made King Croesus also welds to gold effectively at one of the first of the Rich and low pressures and temperatures: Jason and the Argonauts Famous. gold leaf can be cold-welded to The technology of mining placer Imperial Persia at the peak of gold leaf on the surface of an and alluvial deposits can be very its power controlled every known object, just with a hand tool. simple. Larger gold nuggets can be source of gold, from the Indus River The malleability of gold also found with the naked eye and simply to the Nile, and into the Balkans. means that it can be formed into picked up. Smaller particles can be However, when Alexander the tokens or coins by force-hammering concentrated by washing with water Great’s father, King Philip II of it into a mold. Minting coins in this in pans, sluices, or specially designed Macedonia, recovered Thrace and way could assure uniformity of size tables, so that the dense metallic Macedonia from Persian domination, and weight, with low technology. particles remain while lighter sand he gained with it enough timber and gravel grains are washed away. and gold mines to build a stable Ancient Gold: All these methods depend on human and relatively prosperous kingdom. Tutankhamen eyesight, because gold particles that This gave Philip the resources to Around 1400 bc, the King of are very small may be inadvertently mount a series of campaigns in Mitanni wrote to his father-in-law, washed away because they are too which he took over all of Greece. the Pharoah of Egypt: small to be seen with the naked eye. Meanwhile, King Darius I of Persia “Send gold quickly, in very great An alternative is to wash used his wealth to build the great quantities, so that I may finish a gold-bearing sand and gravel over city of Persepolis, but hoarded a project I am undertaking, because a woollen fleece. The heavier gold lot of gold bullion in his treasury, gold is as dust in [your] land.” dust sinks more deeply into the offering an irresistible target to the This was not just wishful wool fibers than lighter particles, young megalomaniac Alexander.

Spring 2011 | 5 Alexander’s conquest of the because the introduction of citizens to forgo their usual dividend Persian Empire resulted in a cupellation yielded greater supplies. from the mine so that the city could distribution of the hoarded wealth The power of Athens was originally use the money to build a large fleet. throughout his armies, and on his founded on silver, and they struck Lisa Kallet-Marx has argued that death this working capital was spread one of the first silver coins in the the deliberate construction of a navy over the former empire, promoting world (the Athenian drachma) was a fundamentally new concept trade and prosperity. The effects of about 580 bc. The source was the in classical warfare. At the time, this redistribution of wealth survived silver mines in the Laurion district, armies consisted of farmers and the wars that followed between 65 km south of the city in a steep citizens who could be called upon Alexander’s generals: it probably hilly area overlooking the Aegean when needed, and disbanded after affected the ancient world much as Sea. They were first worked during short campaigns. The maintenance the arrival of New World gold and the Bronze Age, but increased costs were very low: Sparta, for silver affected 16th century Europe. production after about 545 bc example, had the premier land army Rome, too, largely owed its financed the rise to power of classical in classical Greece, with little or no prosperity to military control Athens. sound financial base. Ships, on the of gold and silver, and efficient We understand the mining and other hand, cost money to build, administration of trade, industry, and smelting methods used at Laurion needed constant maintenance even finance. Rome eventually controlled very well, from contemporary in harbor, and had to be manned by all the metal deposits of Southern accounts as well as archeological large crews of professional sailors. and Western Europe, North Africa, evidence. The Athenians were Strategically effective as it could be, and the Near East. The later coinage well aware of the significance a navy demanded a rich resource of the Roman Empire was gold, of the mining operations to the base. Athens, perhaps unknowingly, silver, and copper, and was very prosperity of their city, because set out on a pathway that would effective in allowing transactions every citizen had shares in the demand that large amounts of money of all scale to be carried out. mines. Enough silver was mined be available at all times, whether and refined at Laurion to finance by mining, looting, or exacting Ancient Silver the expansion of Athens as a tribute from allies and possessions. Silver ornaments and vases were trading and naval power. One Athens already had 70 fighting found at Troy, and in the 19th estimate is that Laurion produced ships, but used the Laurion money Dynasty of Egypt. They may well 160 million ounces of silver: that is to build another 130, essentially have been made from native silver, worth a billion dollars even today, tripling its sea-power. The aim however. Ore must be smelted to when silver is abundant because was not simply to have a powerful refine silver in quantity, and this of improved mining techniques. fleet, but to achieve arche, mastery. cannot have been an easy process to Although historians always This fleet was aimed ostensibly at apply on a large scale. Nevertheless, mention the Laurion mines, I believe Athens’ local rival Aegina, but the copper smelting was well advanced they underestimate its importance to investment paid off when Athens during the bronze age, and silver Athens. The rise and fall of Athens faced its greatest challenge when and lead were being produced is closely linked with Laurion. After the Persians returned, just two or (presumably by similar methods) 512 bc, when the Persians overran three years after the new fleet was in some quantity in Armenia and the silver mines in northern Greece, built. In 480 bc the Persian army Anatolia, because Sumerians and Athens was forced to rely entirely marched southward across Greece Assyrians traded for it. After the fall on the Laurion mines. Profits from under the personal command of of the Hittites, the Assyrians record Laurion appear in the budget of King Xerxes. It overwhelmed a looting large quantities of silver in Athens in 500 bc. In 490 bc Athens small Greek army, mostly made up raids into the mountains of Anatolia defeated the invading Persians at of Spartans, in the epic battle at around 880 bc. the battle of Marathon, but it was Thermopylae, advanced relentlessly, inevitable that the Persians would and sacked and burned Athens. The Rise and return in force. In 483–482 bc a But the Athenian navy remained Fall of Athens massive new silver-lead deposit intact, and destroyed the Persian Silver became a major precious was found, and the great Athenian fleet (and the Persian supplies and metal in the 6th century bc, possibly leader Themistocles persuaded the supply lines) in the battle of Salamis,

6 | B.C. Rockhounder forcing the survivors to retreat. chronicle events in which chronic to have been accomplished by The rebuilding of Athens shortage of money led to Athenian part-time miners, who were able to its position as the leading disasters. Athens went down to to get what they needed relatively city-state of Greece was financed a long and agonizing defeat. simply. These miners never dug with Laurion silver, with Although Athens lost the very deep (no more than 10 meters consequences for Western culture Peloponnesian war and its rank at most) and there was no concept that are incalculable. Laurion was as the leading Greek city-state, of an organized, specialist industry. absolutely critical to the city: the Hellenic civilization and culture This changed as humans entered a playwright Aeschylus called it the continued to prosper for some time. metal-using society. Now, localised “treasure house of the country.” There was a mining revival in the sources were expected to produce The loss of Laurion brought middle of the fourth century, and large quantities of metal, which Athens to its fall. During the the Athenian administration of often meant mining and processing Peloponnesian war, in which Sparta Lycurgus received large yields from even larger volumes of ore. Surface was its main enemy, the Athenians the mining operations. This boom and shallow mines were soon worked sent off a major expedition to attack declined after Alexander’s victories out, and men increasing dug deeper Syracuse, the major city of Sicily. brought a lot of precious metal into into the earth for the ore. In time, However, internal politics led the the economy from the wreck of the mines became industrial-scale Athenians to recall their only Persian Empire. Most of the Laurion operations, and specialist miners effective general, Alcibiades, on silver that could be reached by evolved to run them. trumped-up charges of sacrilege, and the methods of the time had been Some metal ores occur as grains when he refused they condemned mined out by the 3rd century bc, as and nuggets among ordinary sand him to death in his absence. the shafts reached water more than and gravel, especially in rivers, river Alcibiades, not unreasonably, made 100 m below the mine entrance. deposits, and beach sands. These his way to Sparta and offered his The decline of the Laurion mines are fairly weasy to process, usually services. His most valuable advice to was accelerated by the opening of by sifting, sieving, or washing. the Spartans was to invade Attica new silver mines in Macedonia Gold, of course, is the premier and set up a fortress there instead of and Thrace, and Laurion’s decline example, and most of the world’s retreating home during the winter. also marked the end of the great gold strikes have been started The point, as Alcibiades explicitly dominance of southern Greece by discoveries of gold in this form: stated it, was that an Spartan fortress in the ancient Mediterranean. placer deposits. The Gold Rush of established at Dekalea would cut The Laurion mines were still California in 1849, the Klondike off the Athenians from their silver worked for some centuries, but strikes at the turn of the century, and supply. This does not make sense in with decreasing yields, and they the current gold rush in Amazonia purely military terms, as Dekalea is were essentially quiet by the are familiar examples, but the history north of Athens whereas Laurion is 2nd century ad. The Laurion of placer gold strikes does back to southeast of the city. But it worked. slag heaps were being reworked the discoveries along the River The historical record is clear. in Roman times because new Pactolus in Lydia, around 600 bc In 413 bc the Spartans ravaged ore was so difficult to mine and (Chapter 6). Gemstones, including the province of Attica as far as relatively unrewarding to smelt. diamond, also occur commonly in the mines, then did exactly as placer deposits, and placer grains of Alcibiades suggested, setting up Bronze Age the dense mineral cassiterite are still camp at Dekalea, only 14 miles Hard-Rock Mining the major source of the world’s tin. from Athens. Apparently the slave The Stone Age mining for flints But almost all other metal workers deserted the mines in and ochre was extensive and ores occur in hard rock, and that thousands and fled for freedom and successful, and as we saw at Grime’s immediately presents major practical safety with the Spartans. Given Graves, called for an intelligent problems for a Bronze Age miner. the normal Spartan treatment appreciation for the local geology, The prospecting for ore was fairly of slaves, they were probably for finding the layers of flint or the easy, once geologists knew which disappointed, but the Laurion mines outcfops of ochre, and for mining target rocks to search for. Rich ores were certainly crippled. Almost into them safely and efficiently. that yield copper and lead are often immediately Thucydides begins to Even so, this scale of mining seems distinctively colored, and streams

Spring 2011 | 7 flowing over them and downhill well-chosen stream or beach cobbles, were lit against the rock face until it from them may have colored sand sometimes they were carefully was glowing hot. As the rock heated or even stained water. But once the fashioned from very hard rock. unevenly from the surface inward, ore body has been found, the hard Typically, a notch was cut round or it cracked to a considerable depth work begins. Even if the ore mineral into the central axis of the cobble, (about a foot for an overnight fire), occurs in easily visible veins, the so that a handle could be attached. making it easier to prise lumps out rock of the vein and around it has Stone tools used on hard rock with comparatively simple tools. to be extracted from the earth. would be prone to chipping and (Often the rock face was cooled For most of the Bronze Age, perhaps even breakage. It cannot with buckets of water, but this did bronze was too precious to be used have been easy to haft them to the not help the cracking process. It for ordinary tools, either for the handle, either, and archeologists allowed the miners to get at the new farmer or the miner. Basically, the trying to train themselves to rock face more quickly.) Fire-setting Bronze Age miner worked with reconstruct and use these early was described in poetic terms by brains, muscle, and stone and tools have found that every mine Job, probably about 400 bc: bone tools, much as his Stone Age of any size probably had specialists As for the earth, out of it cometh predecessor had done. Once again, making and hafting stone hammers: bread; and underneath it is turned the power of laziness in generating it would have taken the miner up by fire. The stones thereof are the invention is clearly visible. The too much time away from the place of sapphire [turquoise? rc]; and methods of the Bronze Age miner working face to make and repair it hath dust of gold.” Job xxviii: 5 ff. saved him a lot of work, but plenty his own tools. Many hundreds of Some of the earliest organized of brutally hard work remained stone hammers are abandoned in large-scale mines date back to the early Bronze Age. Traces of a large underground copper-mining industry It’s likely that Bronze Age mining was such were discovered in 1968 at Rudna Glava, in a mountainous area in an awful job that there were few volunteers: northeast Serbia. The miners were we have records of slave labor in mines from exploiting first native copper, and then malachite (copper carbonate the Bronze Age and the Iron Age … ore), which occurred in veins. The ancient shafts are up to 20 m (70 feet) deep, and mark the points to be done. It’s likely that Bronze and around Stone Age and Bronze where the miners followed veins Age mining was such an awful job Age mines. The world record for of copper ore downward from their that there were few volunteers: abandoned stome hammers was surface discovery, to the level at we have records of slave labor set around three iron meteorites in which they met ground water. The in mines from the Bronze Age the Canadian Arctic, from which rock was hard, and the miners and the Iron Age that followed the local Inuit knocked off small used fire extensively to break up it, almost to modern times. pieces for hammering into weapons the rock. Pottery jugs found down Bronze Age miners used stone and tools. Around the “Woman” the mines probably contained hammers, and (where available) meteorite lay over 10 000 basalt drinks for the miners, and an altar picks and levers made from bone hammerstones, some coming from had been erected in one shaft. or preferably antler. Hardwood as far away as 50 km (30 miles). It Rudna Glava is a well-preserved levers and wedges must also have is a measure of the relative difficulty example of mining sites that been used, but naturally are less of using stone hammers that they were rather widespread in the often preserved. The hammers were were abandoned as mining tools as Balkans around 4500–4000 bc. At usually long round cobbles of very soon as iron tools became available. Ai Bunar, in southern Bulgaria, hard rock, typically weighing from Hard stone tools work well perhaps a little earlier, something 2 to 6 pounds, and were designed enough on fairly soft rock, but make like 20 000–30 000 tonnes of simply to deliver smashing blows to very little impact on hard rock. rock was excavated to yield the rock face, or to a wedge inserted Bronze Age miners used fire-setting 2000–3000 tonnes of malachite in a crack. Usually they were simply to break up the rock face. Large fires and azurite that probably gave

8 | B.C. Rockhounder 500–1000 tonnes of copper. ingredient was plentiful in the ground surface in 1884. They were The Greek historian Egyptian desert. Even in other very well engineered: many of them Agatharchides visited the Egyptian areas, these requirements often were exactly perpendicular and fairly gold mines about 150 bc, and left were the controlling factors on the uniform rectangles, about 2m by 1m. good accounts of the methods used production of precious metals. Once the ore had been mined, to mine and purify gold. We know it was hoisted or carried in sacks from archaeological evidence that Iron Age Mining up the shafts on wooden ladders much the same methods described The Laurion mine near Athens to the surface to be treated on the by Agatharchides were used as was worked by city contractors, or hillsides. It was first crushed with early as 2000 bc. Even this cannot rather by their slaves, in conditions hammers, then washed on sloping have been the earliest gold mining, that were described even by marble tables, topped with fine but technology did not change contemporary writers as “a Hell on smooth cement. In this seasonally quickly in ancient times. Shafts earth.” Using wrought iron hammers dry area, massive cisterns up to were sunk up to 100 m (300 feet) and chisels, picks and shovels, 10m (33 feet) across and lined with deep in the gold-bearing rocks, and wedges, the miners dug deep special waterproof mortar had been with the unskilled labor provided shafts and galleries by the light of built into the rock to contain the by prisoners. Rock was mined small olive oil lamps, following water needed for washing the ore. with the aid of fire-cracking. the veins of ore (mainly galena, The crushed ore was washed on In deep shafts like these, air which is officially lead sulfide, but sophisticated tables with grooves quality must have been appalling, contains silver as a major impurity at that trapped the dense grains, especially after fire-setting. The work Laurion). Ventilation shafts allowed while the country rock was washed was brutally hard, and Agatharchides the miners to work more efficiently, away. The washing water was mentions that only the strongest and doors were placed to direct the collected in a settling basin, the workers did the underground mining. air flow properly. unwanted sludge was removed, On the surface, the rock blocks By this time there was little and the water was recycled back of ore were pounded to small timber available in the Athens into the cistern reservoirs. pieces with stone hammers. This region for building homes, let The dense concentrate was fired was sufficient preparation for alone for props for supporting mine in small furnaces to extract the copper smelting, but to recover galleries, so galleries were cut so that metals, which produced a mixture gold and silver, the ore was pillars of rock were left to support of lead and silver. This mixture was ground to a powder in stone mills. the roof. (The penalty for mining then fired again in clay crucibles, The rock fragments and powder ore out of these pillars was death!) in the process called cupellation. were sifted carefully in running The miners were fortunate Some of the lead simply oxidized water on a sloping stone table to because the Laurion mines were away into the air, and some was segregate the denser, gold-bearing high on ridges in a fairly dry region, absorbed into the clay crucible fragments, which were swept up and they were able to sink shafts to form a slag, leaving behind in sponges. These grains were vertically downward over 100 m comparatively pure silver. In the then mixed with lead, salt, and before they struck ground water. end, Athenian silver was about barley and fired in a clay crucible Eventually thousands of shafts were 98% pure. Perhaps one-third of in a furnace for five days. sunk in the Laurion area: more the silver remained in the slag. This process is now called than 2000 were still visible on the cupellation. In the reactions, the lead and any other base metals are oxidized, and either burn off or settle out. After some time (apparently 5 days for the Egyptians) the SHOP TIPS impurities are largely segregated from Save The Trim Saw Scraps a layer of gold that accumulates on Most tumblers produce better results if there are small bits the floor of the crucible. Obviously, and pieces of rock of the same hardness in with the bigger these methods were fuel-intensive ones you are trying to polish. and water-intensive, and neither

Spring 2011 | 9 Fossil DNA and Other Actual Remains of Former Life

Recent news that scientists had in this field, with microbes in deep Perfect Fossils recovered actual marrow from ice that are 8 million years old. In a few places plant matter has a dinosaur fossil aroused much been preserved in sediment for many amazement. But the achievement is Dried Remains millions of years. The Clarkia beds of not a surprise. In fact, it doesn’t even The desert preserves dead matter by northern Idaho are between 15 and set a new record for the oldest pieces desiccation. Ancient humans have 20 million years old, putting their of life. been naturally mummified this way, origin in the Miocene Epoch. Tree Most of us think of fossils as dead such as the 9000 year-old Nevadan leaves can be split from these rocks things that have been petrified, known as Spirit Cave Man. Older still displaying their seasonal colors, turned to stone. But that doesn’t material is preserved by various green or red. Biochemicals including have to be. The actual bodies of desert packrats, which have the lignins, flavonoids and aliphatic once-living things can escape habit of making piles of plant matter polymers can be extracted from these being petrified for a very long cemented into rock-hard bricks by fossils, and dna fragments are known time under the right conditions. their viscous urine. When preserved from fossil liquidambar, magnolias A fossil is defined as any evidence in dry caves, these packrat middens and tulip trees (Liriodendron). of life from the prehistoric or can last tens of thousands of years. The current champions in this geologic past that is preserved in the The beauty of packrat middens field are the Eocene dawn-redwood Earth’s crust. A prejudice against is that they can yield deep forests of Axel Heiberg Island, in preservation may have kept scientists environmental data about the the Canadian Arctic. For about from looking for meat in the ancient American West during the late 45 million years the stumps, logs bones, but now we know better, and Pleistocene: vegetation, climate, and foliage of these trees have a race is on to find ever-older tissues. even the cosmic radiation of the been preserved almost totally times. Similar middens are being unmineralized, thanks to swift burial Creatures in Ice studied in other part of the world. in conditions that kept oxygen out. Ötzi, the 5000 year-old “ice man” Even the remains of extinct Today this fossil wood lies on the found in an Alpine glacier in creatures still exist in dried form. ground, ready to pick up and burn. 1991, is the best-known example Mammoths are most famous As tourists have begun to trickle of a frozen fossil. Mammoths and for their permafrost carcasses, into this remote area, acting like other extinct polar animals are but mammoth dung is known typical tourists amid this scientific also known from permafrost. These from desiccated specimens. treasure, some researchers have fossils are not as pretty as the food been caught up in controversy, in your freezer, as they undergo a Amber particularly the University of kind of slow mummification in the Of course “Jurassic Park” put amber Pennsylvania’s Fossil Forest Project. frozen condition. It’s a geologic in the public consciousness with its version of freezer burn in which ice plot based on the idea of retrieving Dinosaur Marrow migrates out of the tissues into the dinosaur dna from blood-sucking Mary Schweitzer, the North surroundings. insects trapped in amber. But Carolina State University professor Frozen bison bones nearly 60 000 progress toward that movie’s scenario who documented soft tissues in years old were analyzed in 2002, is slow and possibly stopped. Lots of Tyrannosaurus rex leg bones, has yielding dna fragments and bone different creatures are documented been exploring biomolecules in proteins that could be compared from amber, from frogs and insects to ancient fossils for several years. to existing species. Mammoth bits of plants. But the published dna The presence of those in the 68 hair turns out to be even better retrievals have not yet million-year-old bones was not the than bones for preserving dna. been duplicated. oldest of her finds, but actual tissues But Antarctica holds the record of this age are unprecedented. The discovery challenges our notions

10 | B.C. Rockhounder of how fossils form. Surely more Naturally the claim brought evidence from the salt itself, showing examples will be found, perhaps in criticism: the laboratory or the salt that it (1) matches what we know existing museum specimens. bed was contaminated, and in any of Permian seawater and (2) appears case the dna of the microbes (the to date from the time of the salt’s Salt Microbes genus Virgibacillus) was too close a formation, not a later event. For A startling Nature paper in 2000 match to more recent species. But now this bacillus holds the title reported the revival of bacterial the discoverers have defended their of Earth’s oldest living fossil. spores from a brine pocket in a salt technique and raised other scenarios crystal in a Permian salt bed in New for the dna evidence. And in the Mexico, some 250 million years old. April 2005 Geology they published

SHOP TIPS Rock Tip of Monumental Proportions: A monument maker uses a weak solution of oxalic acid to acquire the glassy shine on granite. It is used as a polishing aid. Dissolve a little oxalic acid in water, then work it into your felt buff or add to your polishing paste. Try it on agates for it really works wonders. A piece of corduroy glued to soft rubber makes a fine, inexpensive polishing material.

Bead Trivia Fact In 1291 the citizens of Rialto, Italy became ouraged with Americas. the local bead makers because of the fire dangers that The Vikings are known for their admiration of glass bead production created. The building structures were beads. There is archeological evidence that indicates all made of wood and susceptible of burning. And bead that they imported glass canes to make mosaic/millefiore makers used plenty of fire. The bead makers were told beads in addition to other designs. Record of bead-maker that they had to move their operations to the island of workshops have been found in Scandinavia from the 9th Murano, Italy to spare Rialto. The bead guilds made and 10th centuries. Vikings are known for “sword beads”— sure trade secrets were closely guarded and craftsmen their beautifully adorned swords with beads of the day. were sworn to secrecy under the penalty of death. As Egyptians were the first culture to use glass a result there is little documentation of their bead to imitate precious stones such as turquoise and making techniques and the places where they did their lapis lazuli. Their glass beads were opaque and manufacturing. By the 16th century Murano became made as early as 2181–2160 bc Their larger known as the center commercial market developed around 1400 bc. and heart of bead and glass production. By this time Before its fall Egypt held the monopoly beads had become a major trade item with Africa and the on glass bead making in the world.

Spring 2011 | 11 Huge Gold Nugget Found In Sierra Up For Auction By Martin Griffth

Some 150 years after the forty-niners While bigger nuggets have Washington Nugget is thick and rushed west in search of riches, a surfaced in Australia in recent oblong, and resembles a “squished new gold discovery in the Sierra decades, no similar-sized placer loaf of bread,” Holabird said, Nevada is stirring excitement. A nuggets from California have adding it was found in the same 100-ounce nugget, found by a man turned up in museums, he added. area where hydraulic mining was last year on his property near Nevada The Smithsonian Institution’s invented in the 19th century. City, Calif., is expected to fetch largest placer nugget from California A lack of records makes it difficult between $225 000 and $400 000 weighs about 80 ounces. to determine how the nugget when it goes up for auction March “The chances of finding compares in size historically, said 15 in Sacramento, California. Fred something like this anymore are John Clinkenbeard, senior geologist Holabird, a mining geologist whose beyond remote. It could be one with the California Geological Reno-based company is one of the in a trillion,” Holabird said. Survey in Sacramento. But he country’s largest sellers of Western The man was using a metal said he’s unaware of any similar Americana and is handling its sale, detector in an unmined ancient 100-ounce placer nugget being found thinks it’s the largest California gold stream bed near the old Mother in California in recent decades. nugget left in existence. Virtually all Lode mining camp of Washington “I can’t put a numerical value of California’s gold fields have been when he stumbled on the nugget on how rare it is to find a nugget thoroughly combed by miners, he in February 2010. The Union of like this,” Clinkenbeard said. said, and other monster nuggets from Grass Valley, Calif., has identified “All I know is that large nuggets the Golden State have been melted him as San Francisco businessman are very rare and your odds of into ingots for money. Jim Sanders. The so-called finding one aren’t very good.”

Pitfalls of Rock Tumbling 1. Never pour the waste product from your 3. Never allow any grit to contaminate any barrels down the sink—it sets rock-hard machinery—your washing machine, your even under water and will rapidly cause a tumbler, your dishwasher etc. Grit destroys blockage in your pipe work. Find somewhere all machienes quickly and effciently. else to pour it—on the garden or I prefer to use a large outdoor water barrel— 4. Never leave your barrels for more than 2 pouring the water out and then taking days without checking them—always keep the slurry to the tip from time to time. an eye on them so that in the event of a problem—such as a lid popping off—you 2. Never use a barrel which has had grit can be around to sort it out quickly. in it for the fnal polish phase—always ensure that you have one barrel especially designated for this purpose only.

12 | B.C. Rockhounder Iron: Not Just Your Basic Base Metal By Andrew Alden Iron is serious stuff. It not only with the world to themselves, Minnesota, where the Mesabi and makes up the Earth’s core, but it is breathing carbon dioxide and Vermilion Ranges have supported a the base of civilization. Iron was making oxygen as a waste product. great industry for well over a century. long ago categorized as a base metal, Ferrous iron in the water scavenged (That mine is being recycled as opposed to the noble metals that poisonous waste, turned into as a physics laboratory, too.) like gold and silver, but in fact its solid minerals—magnetite and As the premium ores gave out and fundamental role makes it a “base hematite—and settled in vast, techniques arose to cope with lower metal” in quite the other sense. thin layers. grades, the iron industry changed Only meteorites give us plain, For over 2 billion years this went into the dull, mammoth-scale solid iron, and they’re very rare. on, until the iron ran out, and then undertakings in regions like Western Tools made from meteoritic iron are the oxygen bubbled up into the Australia, the largest ore exporter an expensive curiosity. To get useful atmosphere. The clear, oxygenated in the eastern hemisphere. Now amounts of metal requires ore and atmosphere we know dates from iron ore is a matter of geopolitics, ways to smelt it. Earth is fortunate about 1 700 million years ago, as the former Soviet Union vies to have enormous bodies of iron ore, after two-thirds of Earth history. with the ore producers of the but they occur only in peculiar and The vast layers of iron minerals south—southern Africa, India, extremely ancient settings. Whereas stayed behind in rocks called Australia and South America. the human Iron Age began about banded iron formation, or bif. Today it may seem like there is 3 000 years ago, a tiny fraction of no romance left in iron ore, just big our lifetime as a species, Earth’s Iron Iron Ores and Mining industry and government agencies. Age lasted over two billion years. BIFs are the algal legacy that we But you can relive the days of iron mine today. Nowadays, such iron mines and their iron men as you visit The Precambrian Iron Age deposits can form only in the airless historical sites where old techniques Some 4 billion years ago, during bottoms of bogs. “Bog ore” was the and blast furnaces and ironworks the Early Archean era, the first main source of iron in ancient and from the 19th century are preserved. blue-green algae or cyanobacteria medieval times. Visit the great ore ships that still went about their lives. This was a bifs aren’t very pretty, but in a ply the American Great Lakes, or time when the atmosphere was a few places this material has been ride the trains that carry the ore. choking mix of nitrogen and carbon altered into spectacular tiger iron. And let us not forget the artisans dioxide. In the shallow anoxic seas Old iron mines are rarely preserved, for whom the industry began—the lapping upon the early continents, but there’s a good example at blacksmith in the village square. the cyanobacteria were in Fat City the Soudan Mine in northern

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Spring 2011 | 13 The Geology of Northern BC By Al Price The geology of Northern bc is as fascinating and diverse between the island arcs was the limestone rich seafloor as anywhere in the world. Geology is the foundation of of the Cache Creek Terrane. All four are now known as what is today called natural history, and our knowledge the Intermontane Superterrane, which collided with the of the rock and land formations around us is evolving continental shelf. Rather than sliding below the shelf rapidly as our base of understanding grows. Geological in a relatively peaceful process, portions of each terrane formations, the mountains and valleys, plains and began to peel off, and the rocks were jammed and folded plateaus, define the environment around us, and tell us into what are now the Cassiar, Omenica and Columbia the history of the area around where we live, and how it mountains. By 120 million years ago, the western edge came to be. of the Rockies was stacking up. At about the same time, About 4.5 billion years ago, the earth’s outer skin the Wrangellia and Alexander terranes were meeting up started to cool, creating separate slabs of rock known as with the Stikinia Terrane to create more mountains. tectonic plates. Though we may think of rock as hard The Wrangellia Terrane is now manifested as the and stable, the plates are anything but. The heat of the Queen Charlotte Islands, Vancouver Island and parts of earth itself causes the plates to float and move, banging the coastal areas from the Sunshine Coast north to the up against each other, forcing some areas upward to create area opposite the northern tip of Vancouver Island. The mountain ranges, while other parts are forced down. Alexander Terrane is a thin strip of islands and coastline Where cracks in these giant slabs occur, molten magma from Central bc through Alaska. Another thin strip rises and igneous intrusions or volcanoes are formed. of Undivided Metamorphic Rock formations extends Northern bc has gone through all of these processes, from the Lower Mainland north through Terrace and and the changes are still taking place. Earthquakes up along the Alaska-bc border. The Stikinia Terrane remind us frequently of the earth’s shifting plates, cuts a wide swath from the Cache Creek area north and mountains accurately measured many years through Smithers to the Yukon border, and from near ago may now be a few inches higher or lower. Terrace east to around Burns Lake. The Cache Creek Some 200 million years ago, there was no Northern Terrane is a narrow sliver running from its namesake bc as we know it now. In fact there was no bc at all west in the south through Vanderhoof and north, and the of the Rocky Mountains. In the north, likely around Quesnellia Terrane runs from the US border with the Dawson Creek, the land of North America sloped off Kootenays through Prince George, narrowing as it into the sea where, for the previous 1, 500 million years, meets the thin strip of remaining Cassiar Terrane. sediment had been deposited on the continental shelf All of which, to make a long story short(er), explains that stretched from the Okanagan through Quesnel to why oceanic fossils can be found in the Rockies and Cassiar. Up to 2, 000 kilometres offshore, the volcanic why in Smithers and everywhere else in Northern bc, island chains of Quesnellia and Stikinia sat on two rocks found in one spot can be totally unrelated to terranes, exotic pieces of the earth’s crust which still others found five metres away. Igneous rocks, formed exist today but in much different form and location. from molten matter deep inside the earth, have Other terranes now part of bc may actually have squeezed upwards to fill cracks, or occasionally spill been forming farther south, and then slid into place out as lava or magma, right next to the sedimentary along major faults such as the San Andreas Fault. rocks containing fossils, or metamorphic rock which When the pattern of plate movement changed has been greatly altered from its original state. and the continent began moving west, it inevitably In the Tertiary epoch, bc was the focus of large collided with these island terranes some 181 million and small volcanoes, some of which were silica-rich, years ago, in a slow-motion process which was most forming typical cones and domes, and others more dramatic, but which also took 30 million years. iron-magnesium rich that formed broad flat flows Between the islands and the mainland of the day, such as are seen in the Cariboo. There were also was the seafloor of the Slide Mountain Terrane, and many inter-volcanic sedimentary basins in which

14 | B.C. Rockhounder we now find well-reserved fossils, such as Princeton, and Ginko are species that still exist in China. Kamloops, and Driftwood Creek near Smithers. Examples of petrified wood and marine fossils including The age of glaciation, culminating about 10 000 to ammonites (coiled squid-like animals) can be found in 20 000 years ago ground at the mountains, creating huge the Skeena Group formation. Sedimentary rock of the lakes such as Babine, and deposited enormous amounts of Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous period yields some sediment at river mouths. (At one time, the headwaters ammonites and gastropods (snails), as well as many types of the Skeena River, including the Babine system, were of pelecypods (oyster relatives) in the sand and siltstone dammed by huge chunks of ice, forcing its waters to flow of the Trout Creek outcroppings where it meets the out through the Nechako River into the Fraser. A large Bulkley River between Smithers and Moricetown. “The glacial lake formed in the plains around Vanderhoof.) first known coral reef of Jurassic age (Sinemurian) found While this hodgepodge of relatively new rock adjacent in North America, and perhaps the world, outcrops in to ancient formations has made it much more difficult the Telkwa Mountains,” says L’Orsa on the website. to unravel the history, it has also made Northern bc a Other fossil sites occur at Ashman Ridge, the haven for geologists. Among the foremost in their field Spatsizi Plateau, along Babine Lake Road, Dome is Smithers geologist Tony L’Orsa, who was born and Mountain, Perow, near Granisle, and at Copper raised in the area and has produced numerous papers River near Terrace, as well as Silvern Lakes near and reports on the geological history of the region. Smithers and in many places on the Queen Charlottes. On a web site dedicated to Fossils of North-central Multi-lobed clay concretions, which look like alien British Columbia, L’Orsa points out that: “ … volcanic fossils, can be found in the clay banks of the Bulkley ash and flows showered down on swamps and forests River. Visitors are reminded that collecting fossils in a climate like that of North Carolina today, in the anywhere in bc for the purpose of sale in any form Cretaceous period of 140 to 65 million years ago. Coal requires a site-specific permit and is closely regulated. fields were formed locally (at Telkwa, among other sites), Prospecting for minerals, particularly precious metals, indicating a moist climate with thick forests.” Even was a major factor in the early settlement of Northern though glaciers did deposit till on many of the valley bc, with everything from gold, silver, lead and zinc to floors, they also exposed fossil beds in numerous places. copper and molybdenum being found in a wide area. Fossil sites from many different ages are listed on the Many productive mines have been operated over the site, including those being formed today in calcareous years and some are still in production. But a fairly steady springs that are scattered around the area and at sites decline in the price of base metals, creation of new of active iron oxide deposition in Silver King Basin parks and protected areas, native land claims and strict and near Telkwa Pass. “Also of interest is the discovery environmental regulations have curtailed much of the of the remains of a mammoth, dated at about 34 000 exploration once done in this area. Interests have turned years before present, found in a silty pond deposit during stripping at the Bell copper mine on Babine Prospecting for minerals, particularly precious Lake in 1971,” L’Orsa says. Among the best known of the metals, was a major factor in the early settlement many fossil sites is Driftwood of Northern BC, with everything from gold, silver, Canyon Provincial Park, just north of Smithers towards the Babine lead and zinc to copper and molybdenum … Mountains. The lands on which the fossils are found was most generously willed to the province of bc provided that visitors are to precious stones, and there are now major efforts under not prohibited from collecting fossils. Plant, insect and way to determine the extent of an opal deposit in the occasionally fish specimens can be found in the thinly Whitesail Mountains of the Ootsa Lake region, new laminated shale, which formed from eruptions of fine jade discoveries in the Dease Lake area, and emerald volcanic ash from the neighboring Babine Mountains deposits recently discovered on the bc-Yukon border. into a small freshwater lake. There would seem to be a good chance that small mammals, birds and perhaps Opals even amphibians might also be found. Some of the leaf While prospector Bob Yorke-Hardy, formerly of Smithers, fossils at Driftwood, the Metasequoia (Dawn Redwood) discovered the Klinker opal deposit in 1991 and has since

Spring 2011 | 15 developed the Okanagan property into the first working revered for carving and tools. These visitors were not opal mine in Canada, Northern bc is not without opals. the first to use the versatile material, however, as several Best known is the Eagle Creek Provincial Park deposit jade implements have been found in archaeological digs, outside of Burns Lake where rockhounds can find small indicating use by the area’s first inhabitants. Much of the samples of the glowing stone for their collections. Opals bc jade production is still shipped to China where it is have also been found along with chalcedony, calcite, made into beads, cabochons and carvings. However, bc chlorite and quartz-filled amygdules at the south end of carvers including Lyle Sopel of North Vancouver also turn Sloko Lake, about three miles south of Atlin Lake. out many prized carvings. The Eagle Creek occurrence is commonly referred Cassiar jade is unusual in that it contains to as “Eagle Creek Agate and Opal Beds”. It is located specks of uvarolite (chrome bearing) garnet, approximately 6.5 kilometres from Burns Lake. one of the rarest of gemstones, which gives Walking time from the picnic area to the opal/agate the jade its brighter, emerald-green color. bearing outcrops is about 30 minutes, but it involves Last summer, the Jade West Group of Vancouver some steep climbs. Mineral collecting is permitted in announced what it called a “spectacular” jade this area which has been withheld from staking by discovery, an 18-ton gem-quality boulder at its Polar the town of Burns Lake, having turned it into a park. Jade mine site 50 kilometres east of Dease Lake. Agate nodules and common opal are abundant. Rare Jade can also be found at Provencher Lake, 80 fire opal but no precious opal has been found there. kilometres east of Dease Lake by “very bad road.” Further information on this site may be Barry Price, A Smithers-born geologist who knows obtained from Burns Lake Chamber of Commerce the north intimately, advises people heading for (Tel: 250-692-3773 Fax: 250-692-3493) Provencher to “ … take two extra batteries, lots of And though some high quality opals have been found food, a 45-galloon drum of gas, several bottles of op at Maxan Lake and in rock faces on the many logging rum (for the mosquitoes) and three extra wheels — roads around the Burns Lake area, the most exciting find there are no gas stations or convenience stores.” is Bruce Holden’s North Lights claim. It sits in the alpine area of a mountain north of Tahtsa Lake and Tweedsmuir Emeralds Park, 90 kilometres south of Houston by helicopter. In the fall of 1998, Expatriate Resources Inc. discovered Still in the explorative stages, the Northern Lights emeralds at the Goal Net Property in the Finlayson Lake property has yielded a combination of common District of southeast Yukon. (pale beryl or emerald had and precious opal. Its types range from nodules previously been found in pegmatite bodies near Rancheria similar to Mexican opals, thin sheets that resemble on the bc-Yukon border.) In June of 2001, True North Queensland boulder opal, to matrix opal in which Gems acquired the Regal Ridge Emerald project from the matrix ranges from hard and polishable black Expatriate Resources, and in the last year, sampling and basaltic material to much softer brown stone. Clarity processing of subcrop and talus material has produced varies from opaque to transparent, and some even numerous small, gem quality emeralds with excellent exhibits the highly prized red and green flashes. color and clarity. Much work has yet to be done, but Many top-quality agates have also been found at this the discovery has sparked renewed interest in gemstone deposit, including one which combined agate and possibilities in the area. opal. White or greenish attractive opal can be found in While some people are interested strictly in water-washed pieces at Francois Lake on the beaches. gemstones, many others call themselves rockhounds, and are looking for any unusual stones that may be Jade displayed, polished for jewellery, or simply found and Northern bc has always been known for its jade deposits, traded or collected. Following are some of the many from Ogden Mountain near Germanson Landing to sites that have been documented in northern bc Please Cassiar, where top-quality nephrite jade was pitched into remember that collecting is not permitted where staked the waste piles as miners excavated the highly valued claims are still in good standing. Some of the sites asbestos around it. (When the value of the jade was are near road access, while some require 4x4 vehicles realized, the sale of jade contributed thousands of dollars to get close to, or long hikes. Good sources of exact to the recreation fund at the mine.) The alluvial deposits information on these and many other rock and gem of jade in the area were discovered by early Chinese locations are local museums, visitor infocentres in each miners, and shipped back to China where the stone is community, lapidary magazines, books and web sites

16 | B.C. Rockhounder or other rockhounds such as members of the Lakes More recently, very attractive pink rhodonite has District Rock and Gem Club, based in Burns Lake. been mined near Cassiar, and attractive quartz, serpentine (for carving) and asbestos are common. Queen Charlotte Islands: Grossular garnet in yellowish-white crystals can be found Dease Lake: at Lepas Bay, south of Cape Knox on the northwest tip Transparent crystals of pyroxene, peridot and olivine can of Graham Island. The crystals are said to be perfectly be found in some of the volcanic rocks in the formed trapezohedrons. Dease Lake area Agates and chalcedony have been found along the northern shorelines of Graham Island, and Atlin Lake: along the southeastern shores near Skidegate. Red jasper occurs in the chert rocks at Sentinal Mountain Many ammonite localities are found in sedimentary (east side of Atlin Lake, 20 km. south of Atlin village, rock near Queen Charlotte City. The source of with a road to the base from the village) and Gold the argillite for the famed Haida carvings is kept Bottom Creek (a tributary of Sloko River). Some rare secret and is not open to the public. Many old purple and lavender varieties have been reported. mines such as Tasu have dumps with crystals, East of Atlin, crystals of colorless topaz have sulphide minerals and garnets or magnetite. been found on the surface, with some specimens being quite large (65 carats uncut). Underground, Prince Rupert: the crystals are champagne-colored. Metamorphic schists in this area are part of a belt which extends to Wrangell, Alaska. Some almandine garnet Sloko Lake: crystals found are 1 inch in size. Other minerals such Opal, Chalcedony, calcite, chlorite and quartz-fill as kyanite (pale blue), staurolite (pink to brown) and amygdules in the basalt flows at the south end of the lake, pyrite may also be found in this area. There is also an about three miles south of the south end of Atlin Lake. area of petrified wood at Alastair Lake (Which my uncle, Vic Giraud, found but would never identify the exact Stikine River: location, though he gave us samples). Perfect, clear-red almandite garnet crystals up to 3 cm. In diameter occur in mica schist along the Stikine River Stewart-Cassiar area: near the mouth of the river. Petrified wood can be found in the Hank Creek – Ball Creek area 10 km. west of the Stewart-Cassiar Road. Terrace: Emerald-green beryl can be found in the narrow Near Kalum Lake, there is a deposit of Chiastolite, quartz-calcite-pyrite veins on Red Mountain near Stewart, (Staurolite crystals with carbon segregations in Ash Mountain near Cassiar and near Surprise Lake near symmetrical distribution). Atlin. Others have been found in the surrounding area, Amethysts in quartz veins in granitic rock were though they are small, fractured and often opaque. discovered in the 1960s by prospectors Art and Dick Bates and can be found at the west-end of the Cassiar-McDame: old highway bridge at Terrace. One of the better Beryl (Aquamarine) has been discovered in the specimens is a 10.19 carat pale-colored amethyst Horseranch Range (near McDame, 150 kilometres north now in the collection of the University of bc of Dease Lake and southeast of Cassiar), and at Mount Foster near Bennett. Also found in the area are topaz, Hazelton area: smokey quartz, phenacite, fluorite and microline. Crystals of white scheelite measuring two inches in Also in the Horseranch Range can be found diameter have been found in the quartz-rich fissures of garnet (Hessonite), some of which are a rich the Rocher De Boule mine, which is up an 12.8 km. road orange color which produce stunning gems when heading east from Skeena Crossing (the condition of the cut, and rose and smoky quartz, which ranges road is unknown). Some even larger crystals have been from very light to very dark. One cut specimen of reported. Other minerals include quartz, hornblende, 80.75 carats was extracted from Mount Foster. actinolite, feldspar, calcite, siderite, chlorite, titanite, Placer gold was found in many of the creeks in this tourmaline and rutile. Also, apatite can be found as pale area, and panning can still turn up small “colors.” gray to greenish white prismatic fibrous crystals up to 1

Spring 2011 | 17 inch across and 6 inches long. Similar materials are found are the high grade silver deposits found by Sweeney. at the Red Rose Tungsten Mine, 5 km. south of Rocher West of Houston towards Smithers, Hungry Hill and De Boule. It is controlled by Western Tungsten Copper Grouse Mountain are riddled with old shafts and tunnels. Mines Ltd., present ownership unknown. Bill Yorke-Hardy found a molybdenum deposit in one or more large breccia pipes associated with an “alaskitic” Smithers: (light colored granite) intrusion. At the top of the The Cronin Babine Mine and Duthie (Sil Van) Mine mountain is a small but interesting copper-zinc deposit, were both high grade silver-lead-zinc ores, with good which Barry Price explored many years ago, He drove an specimens on the dumps. There are hundreds of prospects old Volvo to the top, and almost had to leave it there. on Hudson Bay Mountain, most around the large Glacier Tony L’Orsa reports agates can be found at Barrett Gulch intrusion. The late Bill Yorke-Hardy, newspaper Hat, a small volcanic neck west of the highway. editor and prospector found a very large molybdenite deposit directly under the glacier. Someone actually Burns Lake-Francois Lake: suggested dusting the glacier with coal dust to melt it Beautiful agates can be found on the beaches and in some more quickly, however Mother Nature seems to have rock outcroppings, as well as thunder eggs (agate-lined done just that over the years. In the gulch itself, there cavities weathered into round balls), amethyst and opal. are also old gold and silver veins, one with native gold. One agate weighing 300 lb. was found near Burns Lake. Smithers prospectors Grover Loveless and Wesley Banta, A beautiful agate resembling the Mexican red Donald Simpson and J.J. Herman discovered many of agate can be found on the shores of Francois Lake. the prospects. More recently, Smithers prospectors Lorne It is banded and varies in color from pink to scarlet, Warren, the late Mel Chapman, Tony L’Orsa, Jim Hutter, found both in pebbles and nodules in the basalt along Hunter Simpson, the late Paul Kindrat and many others the shoreline. Associated with this deposit are geodes have pursued numerous prospects, employing countless containing quartz (some amethystine) crystals. others in the process. A rare phosphate mineral known as Collinsite can be found with quercyite nodules in a vein of andesite Telkwa Range: at the Collier Ranch, 3.2 km north of the Francois Well known Smithers prospector Lorne Warren found Lake post office. The nodules are from 208 inches a deposit of deep blue lazulite (not lapis) in the Telkwa in diameter and are composed of both collinsite and Range. There are hundreds of prospects in this area, quercyite arranged in concentric layers of radial fibres. mainly copper. In years past, the Telkwa coal beds kept The light brown fibres have a silky luster, and the many an area family warm during the winter (including nodules are coated with black asphaltum. The deposit my own). may have been formed by metamorphism of “guano.” Tchesinkut Lake, north of Francois Lake, is known Houston: as a source for good quality blue agates. Chalcedony This area has been a haven for prospectors, such as the nodules can be found on the shores of Ootsa Lake. legendary “Kid” Price, Bill Sweeney and E.G. Bellicini. Kenny Dam area: An attractive jasper/agate occurs Thousands of claims have been staked on deposits of in shades of blue and brown in a 0ne-foot vein about silver, copper, lead, zinc and gold, but few mines resulted. 3.2 km. north of the dam, opposite a slide on the west The Equity Silver mine closed in 1994 and Huckleberry bank, about an hour’s walk off a road which stretches 96 Copper is still operating in the Tahtsa Reach area, kilometres south of Vanderhoof. Agates can also be found but few of the exciting deposits have sufficient reserve along the road and in the adjacent streams along the way. quantities, though they do provide excellent mineral samples. Old placer gold workings can still be found Whitesail Mountains: a few kilometres south of Houston on Buck Creek. In addition to the opal and agate reported above, Bruce The Nadina Mine near Owen Lake 48 kilometres Holden and Randy Lord have found occurrences of south of Houston has beautiful crystals of galena, unusual “pineapple” and “hedgehog”) shaped quarts sphalerite-banded cockscomb quartz, some chalcedony, crystals and clusters. rhodochrocite and manganese carbonate. The mine is flooded and closed, but material can still be found Granisle: on the dumps. This is on the road to the Huckleberry A huge copper deposit was the base of this community mine. Nearby on Sweeney Mountain near Tahtsa Reach for many years, but it is now closed. A similar deposit,

18 | B.C. Rockhounder Bell Copper is situated to the North of Granisle on Prince George: Newman Peninsula. Copper resources remain at Bell, Agates ranging from red to honey brown and black but copper economics are no longer favorable there. can be found in the gravels of the Nechako and Fraser Silver mineralization was known in small veins on Silver rivers in this area. They include moss, iris, turtleback, Island and at Taltapin Creek, where an early promoter dendritic and sagenitic patterns. Fragments of petrified envisioned a railway and power dam. wood can also be found. Best collecting spots are the Miworth gravel pit about 12.5 km. west of Prince Endako: George, and at the Big Slide on the north side of the A major molybdenum mine is still operating 8.5 km. Nechako about 11 km. west of Prince George. Dark red south of this community. Interesting yellow oxides of garnet (Almandine) crystals can be found in the granite molybdenum and uranium are present on pegmatite in the Prince George region, with transparent Nithi Mountain. red specimens of up to 5 – 6 mm found in the river gravels of the Fraser. Fort Fraser: Amber occurs in the black lignite beds of the Nechako Quesnel: River to the south of this community. Agate and jasper are found in Hixon and Ahbau creeks, north of Quesnel, and in other streams around the Stuart Lake: community. Ahbau Creek also has locations where gold Agates are found on the beaches, most abundantly specks can still be panned. Small grains of amber have reported at the Sowchea Bay area due west of Fort St. been reported in the lignite beds on the south bank of the James on the southwestern end of the lake. The old Quesnel River. Some up to 2.5 cm. have been found in Pinchi Lake mercury mine, operated for many years a yellow color with greenish tinge, with occasional plant by Cominco, has interesting cinnabar specimens and inclusions. Historically, the Barkerville and Wells areas high-pressure metamorphic minerals glaucophane and have placer and lode gold mines, and nuggets or jewellery possible jadeite. can be bought from several local dealers including Smithers-born prospector John Bot.

Not Such a Silly Goose Next fall when you see geese heading south for the winter are headed the same way we are. … flying along in a V formation … you might consider When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back what science has discovered as to why they fly that way. in the wing, and another goose flies point. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift It is sensible to take turns doing demanding for the bird immediately following. By flying in a V jobs … with people or with geese flying south. formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent Geese honk from behind to encourage greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. those up front to keep up the speed. What People who share a common direction and do we say when we honk from behind? sense of community can get where they are Finally … and this is important … when a goose gets going more quickly and easily because they are sick, or is wounded by gunshots and falls out of formation, traveling on the thrust of one another. two other geese fall out with the goose and follow it When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly down to lend help and protection. They stay with the feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies; and only … and quickly gets back into formation to take then do they launch out on their own, or with another advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front. formation to catch up with their group. If we have the If we have as much sense as a goose, sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that. we will stay in formation with those who

Spring 2011 | 19 Mesabi … a Tale of Red Jasper By Rick Hudson “How many times is this?” mid-Atlantic on a 40 day research and farmer, now living in Victoria. “Five.” cruise. The nights are long and His basement was a library of old “Five times! How diversions few when you’re at sea. geological information about the 50s big is the place?” To while away the wee hours, I’d and 60s, and what he’d done. And “Not that big. At least, it’s brought along a copy of minfile, in amongst the piles of old maps, not huge. But it’s very steep. that amazing collection of all the and aerial photos, and scribbled Simon Deane and I have spent mineral deposits on record in notes, and correspondence with the whole days climbing up, and British Columbia, complete with bc Dept of Mines, was Mesabi. dropping down, and climbing descriptions, mineralogy, references, “I staked it in 1965,” up, and … till my legs ached.” locations (more about that later) he said simply. “And you still can’t find it.” and history, all compressed onto “Then you’re the person “I found one piece. Once. Down a few computer disks. About a to ask,” I cried excitedly. near the bottom of the hill.” thousand nautical miles west of “Perhaps not. Roads “Jasper?” the Canary Islands, I “discovered” change, you know.” “The best jasper you ever saw. Mesabi. Just up from Musgrave He was right. The lines on his It’s blood red .. shot through Landing, on Samsun Narrows. faded pages bore no resemblance with snow white veins of quartz. Practically on my back doorstep. to the tracks I’d trudged during my I’ve never seen anything like it. The documentation mentioned a reconnaissance trips. Not that we Not in the Nanaimo Basin, not field geologist’s report of “deep red didn’t try to make them agree. The even up at Labour Day Lake.” jasper interlain with hematite and result was a confusion of lines. “So that’s the attraction?” cut with quartz veins”. On my own “Better take all this stuff “That’s the attraction.” doorstep. And no one in the vlms with you,” said Ed. Phillipa and I are sitting on the knew about it, when I asked later. I borrowed a stereo viewer from Salt Spring Island ferry, bound So I set out to find it. The first a friend, and spent long hours with for Fulford Harbour. It’s a cool time we went, Simon and I were Ed’s airphotos, looking at the relief spring day; clouds are low, with looking for Hollings’ rhodonite on the west side of Mt Sullivan few gaps, and it looks like rain by quarry as the primary objective, and and Bruce Pk, where they dropped noon. That doesn’t seem to deter Mesabi as the fallback. We found down towards the Narrows. Only the the other passengers; mountain neither. It took me three trips and Narrows weren’t in the picture, so bikes and kayaks abound on cars. a lot of research to pin down the I could never be sure exactly where You’d think it was mid-summer, rhodonite. and when we found it, the little red dots were in relation not the wettest spring on record. it had been under our noses all the to the slope I knew. But the feeling I have this ‘thing’ about a jasper time. Well, you had to expect that. grew that I had to find it ... Ed had deposit on the southwest side of Salt Hollings had worked that famous given me a report that described Spring. “Mesabi”. For a start, I’ve deposit for twenty years, so there the deposit as being 200 metres in always liked jasper. It’s one of my had to be a well-defined road to it. length up and down the slope, and favourite gemstones. Rich in quartz, But Mesabi was different. There 60 metres wide across slope. Surely stained red or yellow or green, or a had been a little exploration back I could find a deposit of that size! multitude of subtle colours between, in the 20s, and again in the 60s. We couldn’t. Visit after visit, jasper symbolizes diversity within But no development. So, no road. and we returned empty handed. a group, differences, variety, that Few clues. We searched for days, Except for one tantalizing piece makes it all the more interesting. and found nothing. Then I had a of float, found well down the Believe it or not, I learned about stroke of luck: quite by chance, I slope, which did nothing to show this particular deposit while in met Ed Travers, retired prospector where the deposit was. It only

20 | B.C. Rockhounder confirmed what I knew already There is still about ten road is higher up. Perhaps the … it was there somewhere. minutes before we have to deposit is below the present road, Finally, this Sunday with Phillipa. leave, if we’re to catch the 3:45 and above the old road. Perhaps ... Simon is away at some competition, ferry back to Swartz Bay. Fifteen minutes later, I am and sends his regrets. Phillipa is my “You know, we’re not that far working the slope, eyes peeled, rockhounding buddy. Plus Bali, a from where I remember finding that searching for any sign of the mother 9 week old puppy, who proceeds to one and only piece of jasper. I think lode. A piece of crystalline quartz get very sick during the long drive I’ll just go and take a quick scout catches my eye, and when I crack over Mt Tuam to Musgrave Landing. around there, even though the maps it open, its interior is covered in The gravel road is in terrible all say it’s higher up the hill ...” metallic black flakes of hematite. shape, and the old Ford shudders There is little time, so I jog along The colour contrasts are striking, at every pothole. Finally we are at a heavily overgrown track. Alder and I am delighted with the sample. the road’s end. Taking the aerial and young fir crowd in on both I carefully wrap it and place it in a photos, we start the long, very steep sides, and I find myself sweating in pouch. As I bend down to close my climb up the flank of Mt Sullivan, the afternoon warmth. Crossing a pack, I realize that I am looking at following the line of a creek that I small creek, I examine the contents a gray boulder on the slope in front believe is the same one as in Ed’s of the stream bed. Schists, a bit of of me. It is about the size and shape photos. At the top, we are almost greenstone … nothing interesting. of a car wheel. It is like thousands of in cloud. It is gray and cold, with Farther on, the slope is still other boulders on the slope around a stiff breeze, but the views down surprisingly steep. Arbutus trees me, … only … it has a red blush across to Duncan are breathtaking. block out the sky above, and the to it. I chip off a corner, and the Waves of rain are approaching from ground is densely carpeted in old freshly broken surface is blood red. the direction of Shawnigan Lake. leaves that crackle as I walk across It is solid jasper! I stare in disbelief, The light on Saanich Inlet is like them, despite the rain. I glance at while my mind races. This is too burnished steel. Or hematite. my watch. Five minutes are up; large to be far from the source. There is no hematite in the I must turn back. And then, as I Then I notice another rock most likely area. Lots of crystalline turn, I see something that makes close by. It is red too, under its quartz, and a blush or two of my heart skip a beat ... a piece of weathered exterior. And the one jasper. A little green chert too. But blood red jasper, shot through with next to it! And the one next nothing to convince me that this snow white quartz. It lies gleaming to it! The whole slope is red, is Mesabi. Two hundred metres amongst the leaves. We look at and I haven’t even noticed! by sixty metres. Definitely not. each other for a long, long time. There is a vertically dipping We case the upper slopes for over “Hello, Mesabi,” I say, not dyke, striking se up the slope an hour. The puppy is surprisingly caring who hears me. above me, and as I climb up to it, I bouncy, given she has climbed over Back at the truck, Phillipa realize with delight that the whole 500 m up a rugged mountain. The has already turned the truck formation is jasper. It’s red, red, weather starts to lift, and patches of around on the narrow track, but red. Only, from a distance, it looks sun break through. The rain veers at the sight of the sample, she is ... well, it looks quite ordinary, north, and sweeps over Maple Bay as excited as I am. “It looks like really. Just like any other dyke instead. Everything is improving. the 5:15 ferry, doesn’t it.” It’s not running up and down the hill. Except, there is no Mesabi. a question, but a statement. Over the next half hour, I On the way down, I check With an hour to spare, I can examine the full length of the another possible valley. Lots of deer, now give the area the attention it deposit. It is indeed almost 150 undergrowth, nettles, deadfall, but deserves. In all our visits, we have metres up and down slope, and no jasper. Back at the truck, we eat a searched the upper slopes, based certainly 10 metres wide. Some late lunch and watch the puppy sleep on the site locations given by the pockets have druzy quartz; other the kind of sleep that only puppies minfile and geology reports. (To areas contain vuggy jaspers offering are capable of. Motionless. Like a be fair, minfile seldom claims to all sorts of minerals within. Some brown rag, flat on the warm moss. be more accurate than +/– 1 km.) of the jasper has a sugary look to “Well, it was a lovely day.” So, perhaps the old road was lower it, due to a high concentration “Another time.” down the slope. Perhaps the present of quartz facets. In places, green

Spring 2011 | 21 chert borders the deposit. Bands prospectors: the rhodonite deposits winter). About 600 m before you of hematite and magnetite of Salt Spring Island and Hill 60 get to the Musgrave Landing jetty interlay the quartz and jasper, and lie in this complex, as do the jasper (there is no town, just a cluster of possible psilomelane (manganese deposits of Mesabi, the Upper houses) turn up right onto a private hydroxide) deposits are also visible. Nanaimo River, and Camron River. road. The gate round the corner is Perhaps the best known deposit of usually unlocked. Drive about 2 km A geological history significance today is the Mt Myra/ (steep) to where the road splits 3 The Mesabi deposit is part of the Lynx copper mine at the south end ways, the downhill going through a Mt Sicker complex, which is the of Buttle Lake in Strathcona Park. locked gate (the Kellogg property). oldest formation comprising what The formation is named after The other 2 roads deteriorate into is today Vancouver Island. Formed Mt Sicker, which lies between little more than tracks. Park here, about 280 million years ago, these Duncan and Chemainus. At the turn or drive N another half kilometer igneous basalts and associated of the century, the Mt Sicker copper (4wd) until the road peters out. materials were thrust up from the mines just north of Duncan were so Continue on foot another 300 m deep, close to where Hawaii stands rich and so famous that two entire until you cross 4 small creeks within today, and formed in much the same towns were built on the mountain, 50 m that have washed out the road way as those modern islands. The and two separate rack railways completely. Just beyond, cut down Mt Sicker materials never reached brought ore down to smelters at and across the slope 200 m over the surface, and were subsequently Cowichan Bay and Ladysmith. The semi-open ground to the overlain by numerous other one line had the steepest grade in jasper deposit. formations to form the Wrangellia Canada, and adventurous Victorians Terrain. Riding on a tectonic plate, travelled to Duncan (on the e&n Origin of the name the formation (which includes much Railway), from where they could be ‘Mesabi’: of modern day Vancouver island, thrilled with a ride up the gravity The Mesabi Range is one of the Queen Charlotte Islands and sw defying railway line, with its tight world’s largest iron ore mining Alaska) was pushed ne towards the corners and triple switchbacks. regions, located in Minnesota, usa. North American continent. About 80 million years ago, the two terrains To get to Mesabi: collided. From Fulford Harbour, take the The Mt Sicker formations are Isabella Pt road and then the of particular interest to island Musgrave Landing road (4wd in

The Largest … Did you see the cover story on January 2011 Rock and carat (229 pounds) aquamarine found near Marambais Gem? magazine? The Ausrox Nugget was discovered in Brazil in 1910. It yielded over 200 000 carats of Australia by two guys and a metal dector. It turned out gem quality stones. (again over 100 years ago!). to be 51 pounds solid gold. If you go to Tuscon, it will be t
The largest Pearl weighing 14 pounds, 1 ounce, on display. Enjoy! Speaking of the Largest—the following was found in Palawan, Philippines on May 7, facts were published in the Cedar Valle Gems newsletter 1934 inside the shell of a giant clam (that must May, 2005. have been a very large giant clam!) Note: wasn’t t
The largest known opal is a yellow-orange one there a larger pearl discovered more recently? weighing 220 troy ounces and unearthed in t
Finally, from the usa, A turquoise weighing Australia, January, 1910 (wow over 100 years ago). 218 pounds was found in Riverside County, t
The largest recorded stone of gem quality was a 520 000 California on January 17 1975.

22 | B.C. Rockhounder BAM! Silver Prices Again! “BAM!” is what Emeril the chef says on his cooking show. I am told that the Earth has roughly 20 times And “BAM!” is what I felt when I saw the price of silver more silver than it does gold. This means the top the $30 mark on Monday. Lately, listening to the ratio in the chart above for the year 1970 was news has seemed surreal. The Chairman of the Federal reflective of that natural balance. If Silver were Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has been quoted about “fears to return to a 20:1 ratio as compared to today’s of deflation”. Yet here is $30 silver, where just a couple prices on gold, we would see $70 silver! months ago it was half that price. What is a jeweler Gold is generally recovered after its useful life. Silver, supposed to do? on the other hand, is being used in applications from I recently talked about rising metal prices with Hugh which it is unlikely to ever be recovered. For example, and Alan Bell, two of Rio Grande’s Directors. Hugh and many photos use silver—which will never be recycled for Alan have decades of experience in the jewellery supply the silver. Bandages are using silver due to its medicinal business, growing up with Rio Grande, and they have a properties—again, unlikely they will ever be recycled for lot of insights about what might be going on. the silver. Electrical switches use silver, due to its unique There are several signs that silver might continue to electrical properties, and while these may eventually be rise in price. No one knows for sure, of course, but here salvaged, the amount per switch is so small, they may not. are some facts worth noting: Depressing, eh? But there are some good points to These days there are more people investing in silver consider too. Even though silver is expensive relative than gold. Somewhere close to 400 000 000 ounces of to the past, it’s still affordable. While we may yearn for silver have been purchased by electronic trading funds. the days of $5 silver, $30 per ounce is still far cheaper The relative value of silver and gold are often shown as a than the $1400/oz. that gold commands. Further, ratio. Check out the chart below. customers will accept silver as a precious metal. Hugh and Alan had a couple of suggestions on how to cope YEAR GOLD SILVER RATIO with high metal costs: Base your sales price off of the replacement cost of the materials used to make your piece of jewellery. Try to buy as much metal each day 1970 $35.94 $1.64 21.9 as you sell. That way the cost of the metal is carried through by your daily sales, and you can see your real 1975 $161.04 $4.09 39.4 margins. No doubt about it, these are challenging times for jewelers. But while silver is more expensive than we 1980 $612.56 $16.39 37.4 have traditionally thought it ought to be, it still remains a precious metal that the public likes, and it trades at prices 1985 $317.22 $6.13 51.7 far below what gold has commanded since the 1970s. 1990 $383.51 $4.83 79.4

1995 $383.79 $5.20 73.8

2000 $279.11 $4.95 56.4 SHOP TIPS 2005 $444.74 $7.32 60.8 Cleaning Druzy Specimens: To clean and shine most druzy specimens, use Easy-Off 2009 $972.35 $14.67 66.3 Oven cleaner (fume free is ok). Spray the specimen and leave it overnight in a closed container or bag before 2010 (average) $1 213.26 $19.48 62.3 rinsing. This works on iron stained quartz crystals. Via Del Air & Moroks—Contributed by Florence Meisenheimeir 2010 (current) $1 420.00 $30.12 47.1

Spring 2011 | 23 Pearls A traditional gift for brides, June’s Akoya cultured pearls are white which most often will be green or birthdays and the third and thirtieth lustrous pearls with usually cream or pink. Tahitian cultured pearls differ wedding anniversary, Pearls were rosé coloured overtones. These are from other pearls in one important believed by the ancient Babylonians the classic pearls most often used respect. Yes, they are cultured, to have life-giving powers and the in pearl strands. Classic Japanese as opposed to natural, but their ability to restore youth. Even in Akoya cultured pearls come in black colour is naturally produced today’s informed age, their allure is shades of white, the most valuable by the oyster, which makes them timeless. shades being rosé and white. “naturally black” cultured pearls. Pearls are unique in the world The other shades are white-rose, Colour does not affect the of coloured gemstones as it’s the silver-white rose, greenish-white quality of a pearl, but does affect only gemstone formed within a rose, and greenish-white. the perceived beauty of the pearl living creature. It is a treasured Freshwater pearls come in according to the individual taste gift of the sea, revered for its various pastel shades of white, of the “eye of the beholder”. Some colour, shape and luster. pink, peach, lavender, plum, colours have become more popular Pearls were so cherished by man purple, and tangerine. than others in particular markets. that as the sources of natural Pearls South Sea cultured pearls come in For example, white pearls are the became exhausted, he learned shades of lustrous white, often with most popular in America, while to cultivate them by implanting silver or rosé overtones. They are silver are more sought after in Asia. an irritant into an oyster. Today, larger in size than the Akoya pearl This regional colour preference cultured Pearls are grown and and are also used in the creation usually has something to do with harvested in many parts of the of fine pearl strands and ropes. the skin tones of the wearers. world including the fresh waters of Black pearls are known as Most jewellery experts agree the Tennesse River. The majority Tahitian pearls, and come most often that a buyer’s colour choice should of the cultured Pearls come from in shades of black and grey. While be primarily based on what will Japan, China and the South Pacific. a Tahitian pearl has a black body look good on the person who will Cultured Pearls come in many colour, it will vary in its overtones, wear the pearls. In generals, pink different colours, from palest creme and white to rose, lilac, green, gold, gray, and the dramatic Tahitian black. Cultured Pearls come in many shapes and sizes, and can be acquired in both graduated and uniform strands.

Colour Mollusks create pearls in a palette of colours referring specifically to the colour of the pearl’s body, considered the fundamental colour of the pearl. Colours generally range from cream to silver-white, to black. But there are also colour overtones reflected across a pearl’s surface. In fact, the colour of a pearl more often than not is a meld of its body colour and its overtone, just as the term “white-rose” will describe a white pearl with a rosy-coloured hue.

24 | B.C. Rockhounder pearls look best on fairer skin high-contrast surface that is almost determined by diameter and tones, while yellow or golden pearls mirror-like in its reflective qualities. expressed in millimetres, since look best on darker skin tones. “Very high” “high”, “medium”, pearls are sold by the millimetre. “low” and “very low” are the five Pearls, of course, come in a range Pearl Lustre categories used in the industry to of sizes, these being the average: When a mollusk senses an irritant grade the lustre of any pearl. t
Akoya: 6 to 8 millimetres within its body it secretes layers in diameter, with 8 mm of semi-opaque calcium carbonate Size considered large. called nacre (nay-ker) to coat the The size of the oyster directly affects t
Freshwater: 5 to 6.5 irritant. This substance builds up the size of the pearl it creates. Larger millimetres, for the best quality. over time and becomes a pearl. mollusks, for instance, create larger t
South Sea: 11 and 13 The thicker the nacre, the more pearls. millimetres, large by lustrous the pearl. Though there are However, large cultured any pearl standard. exceptions to that rule, the amount pearls require a larger nucleus t
Tahitian: The match of the of nacre determines the reflective to be implanted into the oyster, South Sea pearl, also between quality of the pearl’s surface. And which increases the chance of 11 and 12 millimetres. lustre is the most important factor the mollusk either rejecting the Pearl strands are sorted by size, determining the quality of a pearl. nucleus, or dying before a pearl with a specific millimetre range: It is especially important that the has an opportunity to develop. t
Petite: 6 millimetres and below. surface be without blemish, because A large nucleus also affects t
Classic: 6 to 7.5 millimetres. lustre is more often seen on a smooth the complexion of the pearl. t
Most Popular: 7 to surface without ridges that deflect It’s more likely that a larger, 7.5 millimetres. the light. mature pearl will be formed t
Outstanding: 8 millimetres. A low-lustre pearl is dim and with greater surface defects. A pearl’s size doesn’t necessarily monochromatic, but a higher grade Round pearls are measured indicate its quality, but it most of pearl with thicker nacre produces according to their diameter, while certainly does affect its price. a resilient pearl with far few surface baroque pearls are measured by All things considered, the larger blemishes. This creates a sharp, their length and width. Size is the pearl, the higher its value.

Spring 2011 | 25 An Ant’s Misfortune is Science’s Gain

An ant’s misfortune is science’s gain Insects and other small animals old photo, what life looked like in … this insect found in the Cambey may be trapped in resin flowing India just before the collision with amber deposit in western India has down tree bark or as it covers their the Asian continent,’’ Dr Rust said. been preserved for millions of years. dead bodies on the forest floor. The “The insects trapped in the fossil resin hardens into a translucent resin cast a new light on the history yellow material that preserves them. of the subcontinent,’’ said Michael The insects have been Engel, a professor in the department entombed in the vast Cambay of ecology and evolutionary deposit in western India for biology and curator of entomology some 50 million years. at the University of Kansas. Scientists had long assumed that “What we found indicates Photo: AFP/American Museum of Natural India was for a time an isolated that India was not completely History island-continent, and consequently isolated, even though the Cambay WASHINGTON: expected that the insects found in deposit dates from a time that the amber would differ significantly precedes the slamming of India The discovery of a trove of insects from those elsewhere in Asia. into Asia,’’ he said. “There might preserved for millions of years in But a study published in have been some linkages.’’ amber raises new questions about Proceedings of the National Insects and other small animals how long India was isolated before it Academy of Sciences says the may be trapped in resin flowing joined the Asian continent. insects were not unique, as down tree bark or as it covers their Jes Rust, a palaeontologist would be expected had India dead bodies on the forest floor. The at Bonn University, said the been sequestered for as long as resin hardens into a translucent creatures, including ancient bees, scientists originally believed. yellow material that preserves them. spiders, termites, gnats, ants and “We know India was isolated, The insects have been flies, were in remarkably good but when and for precisely entombed in the vast Cambay condition considering their age. how long is unclear,’’ says deposit in western India for Researchers have identified more David Grimaldi, curator in the some 50 million years. than 700 arthropods, a group of division of invertebrate zoology Scientists had long assumed that animals that includes insects, at the American Museum of India was for a time an isolated crustaceans and arachnids. Natural History. “The biological island-continent, and consequently “They are so well preserved,’’ evidence in the amber deposit expected that the insects found in Professor Rust said. “It’s like shows that there was some the amber would differ significantly having the complete dinosaur, biotic connection,’’ he wrote. from those elsewhere in Asia. But not just the bones. You can see India separated from present-day a study published in Proceedings of all the surface details on their Africa and after about 50 the National Academy of Sciences bodies and wings. It’s fantastic.’’ million years collided with Asia, says the insects were not unique, creating the Himalayas. as would be expected had India Rather than finding evolutionary been sequestered for as long as ties to Africa and Madagascar— scientists originally believed. land masses that geologists say “We know India was isolated, India was most recently linked but when and for precisely to—the researchers found how long is unclear,’’ says relatives in northern Europe, Asia, David Grimaldi, curator in Australia and the Americas. the division of invertebrate The remains of two praying mantises were also found. “The amber shows, similar to an zoology at the American

26 | B.C. Rockhounder Museum of Natural History. India just before the collision with “The biological evidence in the the Asian continent,’’ Dr Rust said. amber deposit shows that there was “The insects trapped in the fossil some biotic connection,’’ he wrote. resin cast a new light on the history India separated from present-day of the subcontinent,’’ said Michael Africa and after about 50 Engel, a professor in the department million years collided with Asia, of ecology and evolutionary creating the Himalayas. biology and curator of entomology Rather than finding evolutionary at the University of Kansas. ties to Africa and Madagascar— “What we found indicates land masses that geologists say that India was not completely India was most recently linked isolated, even though the Cambay to—the researchers found deposit dates from a time that relatives in northern Europe, Asia, precedes the slamming of India Australia and the Americas. into Asia,’’ he said. “There might “The amber shows, similar to an have been some linkages.’’ old photo, what life looked like in

Dave Laurence Langevin August 2, 1951 – April 5, 2011

Dave Laurence Langevin was a wanted to listen. He spent many that was the friend of many that is friend to many. He was a man who hours turning his claim into a place how he should be remembered. He loved life and always seemed to where young and old could dig. will be sorely missed by many. have a smile on his face. He faced And if people did not find exactly life’s ups and downs with his quirky what they had been looking for, expressions, loud bellowing calls, or Dave only had to reach into one of hugs. He was also a rock-hounder his many pockets and smiles would who never thought the next hill was begin to appear. He has turned many too far away if it held the promise of a young person onto the natural a big agate lined with shiny crystals. geological wonders of our local area. He always had to collect more than Dave shared his hill and his fossils the next person because he needed with everyone. Dave also donated extras for the ones he would give hundreds of fossils to science, away. But what Dave will be best many of them being scientifically known for was his love of fossils and significant. Although he will be his passion for McAbee. Dave had forever remembered in connection always wanted to share his passion with McAbee, it is as that simple guy for fossils with as many people who with that easy going way about him

Spring 2011 | 27 10” Tile Saw By Andy Oriel

What if I told you that one of the best kept secrets of savvy lapidaries is a tool that wasn’t designed for gemstones at all? It’s true. Lew Wackler, a nationally recognized cutter from Boulder, Colorado—who owns almost every tool known to modern man has discovered a lapidary workhorse in disguise. Eureka! It’s a 10” electric tile saw! Well-known gem cutter Lew Wackler calls this If you’re surprised, don’t be. MK-101 tile saw a Anyone who has used the traditional “lapidary wolf in sheep’s clothing.” lapidary equipment is aware of the paradox specialized tools present. Inc. The saw comes equipped with lapidary equipment, and since Power tools can greatly expand your a 1.5 hp motor, a water coolant the blades are mass produced for capabilities, yet the ones you lust system, and a calibrated conveyor the tile industry, they are readily after most—such as that large slab table and alignment indicator. available at discount-house prices. saw you didn’t get for Christmas— The same rugged dependability “Dollar for dollar, it’s amazing are expensive and typically perform found in its bigger brothers, the how much cheaper the tile saw is only a single task well. So how do MK heavy-duty concrete and to operate compared to grinding you get the most for your money? masonry saws, is apparent here. wheels,” says Wackler, now making Wackler found the solution, as he “A lapidary wolf in sheep’s parallel passes across the high so often does, by looking outside the clothing” is how Wackler describes corner of an agate slab. “Where I lapidary world. As the “workmaster” the compact, portable unit, used to use an 8” grinding wheel to for a group of highly skilled especially when equipped with rough-out a preform, I now use this. craftsmen who specialize in making its optional “Supreme Diamond The difference is, I only use up a small objets d’art, he embraces Sintered Blade.” Often, only a few dollars’ worth of the diamond any technology—new or old—if few minutes of work on a tile saw sintered blade versus the best it promises to enhance creativity can duplicate a much longer and part of a $150 diamond wheel.” and make difficult jobs easier. costlier effort on conventional For Wackler, who has spent his “We use equipment from optical companies, the dental industry, aerospace, woodworking, SHOP TIPS and now the tile trade,” he says, quickly roughing out a palm-sized Patching Soft Stones: quartz. “If I could only afford Some soft stones such as malachite, azurite, etc. can be one saw, this is the one I would patched to fill small pits and cracks. Take a scrap of material get. It can do so many things so to be patched, crush it and mix with epoxy. Clean the stone well. And when you’re done, thoroughly with alcohol, warm and coat the pits with epoxy. you can tile your bathroom!” Then fill the pit with the mixture of epoxy and powdered Since he is a full-time stone. Work it well with a toothpick or pin, leaving it a little professional, Wackler always buys above the surface of the stone. Let it cure completely, sand the best tools he can afford. In this well and polish, using care not to get the stone hot. case he has chosen the mk-101 tile Excerpted from The Rollin’ Rock March 2001—via several others. saw made by mk Diamond Products,

28 | B.C. Rockhounder adult lifetime trying to eliminate bearing and a table with alignment slab saw are the lapidary standard, the inefficiencies associated with indicators for accurate cuts. Wackler and they’re good,” he says, pointing improper tooling, that is high praise, has even mounted a mini-lathe on to his 24” saw, “but they have but the machine’s advantages go the table, using the saw to preform limitations, especially when it comes beyond economy. “It’s really good rock-crystal vases and jade bowls. to creativity. With any craft, you for thickness planning and for It has a cutting depth of 3.75” find that a certain combination of quick and rough preforming of which can effectively be doubled tools go a long way to overcoming relatively inexpensive materials,” by flipping the stone upside-down. problems. The tile saw is one we he says. “And since the blade is Of course there are trade-offs. keep coming back to over and over.” fixed, you can use it almost like The aggressive blade eats up too As with any power tool, Wackler a carving arbor, to say, block out much stone to use it for expensive urges every safety precaution be the legs of an animal carving or materials. And carving, slabbing, taken. That includes wearing to do some freehand carving.” cabbing, and turning all have eye and ear protection—and The big advantage of a fixed-arbor dedicated lapidary machines that being careful where you put tool is that it allows you to use your can do their respective jobs better. your fingers. After that, he body as a human tripod to give But before spending a wad of cash recommends enjoying yourself. yourself an almost vicelike control on them, Wackler suggests you Andy Oriel is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to Lapidary Journal. of the stone. Other pluses are a could be buying rough instead. conveyor cart on a smooth linear “Dedicated machines like the

Confscated Mammoth Tusks St. Petersburg, Russia | Thu Jan 20, 2011

If you were waiting to purchase Republic, also known as Yakutia. a mammoth tusk from the cold The tusks have survived thousands permafrost covered tundra of of years in the permafrost that northern Russia, you’ll have to wail covers vast part of the region. just a little longer. Russian authorities have confiscated three tonnes of mammoth tusks from a criminal gang which tried to smuggle them out of the country. The court office of the northern city of St. Petersburg said on Thursday that it had confiscated some 64 full and 14 reconstructed tusks, but would not say when. A small group of criminals has been involved in smuggling tusks and bones from the extinct beasts across Russia’s borders since 2004, the court said in a press release. The court said that the tusks come from a species of mammoth that once inhabited the Siberian Sakha

Spring 2011 | 29 Mesoamerican Jade By Anna M. Miller

With the arrival of gold-hungry conquistadores, the sought-after type of jade. Guatemalan jade is jadeite. Central American jade mines were lost to history. Now, That jadeite in serious quantity and in a rainbow of this rare and beautiful stone is reemerging. natural colors (no heat treatments or other enhancements are used in the Guatemalan jadeite) is being mined in Guatemala comes as no surprise to researching geologists and archaeologists who have long believed that all the native Central American ancient cultures —Olmec, Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec, Aztec, and Maya—got their jadeite from Guatemala. In Jades of Mesoamerica, author and jade expert Fred Ward has compiled exhaustive research on Guatemalan jadeite used in the ancient Maya culture. He writes that discoveries of jadeite in the Motagua Valley area of Guatemala (also known as the Motagua Fault Zone) confirm the country as the source for most if not all of the jadeite used by Mesoamericans for three thousand years. There are some visual differences in the jadeites of Myanmar and Guatemala, the most obvious of Aztec Mask Pendant of Coyolxauhqui. Jadeite. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University which is color. Although some individual pieces of Guatemalan jadeite cannot be separated from their The master craftsmen at Jades, S.A., produce replicas Burmese counterparts (particularly after they are of many famous jadeite masks, tools, and utensils. This worked into jewellery), the majority of materials is a replica of the Plumed Serpent and Jaguar God, a have distinct color and often textural differences. For jadeite mosaic lidded vessel found in Tikal, Guatemala. example, the intense and highly saturated Imperial Poised as if to speak, the original Mayan portrait jar green of Burmese jadeite is not often found in the has been dated 758 ad Photo: Anna M. Miller Guatemalan material. This does not mean it doesn’t Until recently, serious gem and jewellery collectors exist in Guatemala, rather it simply means that at and buyers looked to Asia for the purchase of fine this time, ongoing exploration has failed to produce jadeite. Traditionally thought of as a Chinese product, any sizeable quantity of this highly desirable color. but principally from Myanmar (formerly Burma), What is abundant is jadeite in natural colors of lilac, jadeite has been cut and shipped from Hong Kong blue, pink, white, yellow, black, and a unique black with to the west for decades. Today, North American jade natural precious metal inclusions, along with many shades enthusiasts are finding jadeite is being mined and cut of green. Guatemala is now producing the world’s newest closer to home. Fine jadeite material in natural colors jadeite colors, including “rainbow jadeite” (several colors ranging from a bright, intense green to soft lilac, blue, in one slab or boulder). Ward is particularly fond of the pink, white, and yellow is available from Guatemala, black jadeite. “Black jadeite from the Motagua Valley in Central America. Although jadeite occurs in area,” he says, “represents the creamiest, richest, and best several locales around the world, Guatemala has been black jadeite in the world, far exceeding Burma’s darkest, the least-known as a producer of this material. which is gray and can only be sold as charcoal.” As far “Jade” is the generic term describing two distinct as the textural differences in the jadeites of Burma and stones: nephrite and jadeite. While the two are visually Guatemala, a high percentage of Guatemalan material similar, they are different in mineralogical characteristics. has a coarse, granular crystalline structure, whereas the Nephrite and jadeite are both white in their pure state, Burmese material generally exhibits a finer texture. with all colors caused by inclusions of other minerals. Galactic Gold is the name given to this black jadeite Jadeite is the harder and denser of the two, with a richer, with natural inclusions of precious heavy metals. more brilliant range of colors. For these reasons and Laboratory analysis has confirmed the identity of gold, because of its scarcity, jadeite is the most precious and silver, pyrite, and platinum, among others. Precious

30 | B.C. Rockhounder black jadeite with heavy metal inclusions had never in Guatemala: in the departments of Izabal, El Progreso, been seen before this material was discovered by Zacapa, Baja Verapaz, and El Quiche. It takes an expert’s the Ridingers in 1987. Photo: Juan C. Menendez eye to find jade because the boulders are generally covered For most people, the word “jade” evokes exotic images with thick, black-brown, or gray rind, making it almost of richly laden Chinese emperors. Few people realize the impossible to distinguish jade from ordinary rock. rich jade history of the Americas. To the Pre-Columbian One of the most fascinating of the jadeite discovery people of Mesoamerica, jade meant life, fertility, and stories is the true adventure of an American couple, Mary power; it was revered above gold. The association Lou and Jay Ridinger. In 1975, Mary Lou Ridinger, an of the aristocracy with the brighter greens indicated archeologist, used her extensive background knowledge that they valued jade above all other materials. Just as of ancient Mayan culture and art to concentrate on bright green jade was reserved for Chinese emperors, a single location in Guatemala, the remote Motagua in Mesoamerica, bright green jadeite was reserved for Valley. It was a “Eureka!” moment for her and husband kings and royalty. As an example of its desirability, the Jay when the search finally paid off with the discovery Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortés was given four jade of in situ jadeite boulders. Later, further exploration beads as tribute by Aztec leader Moctezuma, with the in the valley produced jadeite in a variety of colors. counsel that each bead was worth two loads of gold. The Using the basic designs of her ancestors, this Spanish conquistadores, lusting only for gold, dismissed master carver is aided by a power tool to speed up these treasures as nothing more than green rocks. carving on tough jadeite. Photo: Anna M. Miller. Following the Spanish conquest of the native Even more exciting, the Ridingers identified culture and religion, and in order to hide the jadeite centuries-old Mayan jadeite work sites with tools and from the conquerors, Indians withdrew from jade small bits of pottery where outdoor carving factories mining and carving for generations. So much time had actually operated. Still another mystery was solved lapsed and so many generations passed that no one when the Ridingers found an in situ source of the foamy knew where to find jade; the mines were lost to the blue-green jadeite that was favored by Olmec carvers world from the 1500s until the late 20th century. and often found in Costa Rican graves. That particular The rediscovery of the Maya jadeite source is as discovery proved that both the Olmec and Maya exciting as any Indiana Jones movie. In the 1960s, mined jade in the Motagua Valley. Due to the diligent archeologists followed scientific work begun after World work of the Ridingers, the Mayan jade quarries were War II by William Foshag, the Smithsonian’s curator reopened for the first time since the Spanish conquest. of geology. They were all searching for the source of The Ridingers’ company, Jades, S.A., opened in Mesoamerican jadeite. Jade is found in several locales 1974 and remains the largest jade mining and cutting operation in Guatemala. The Jades, S.A. factory showroom, in Antigua, Guatemala, has become internationally known for its variety of beautiful jadeite jewellery and fine quality carvings. The jade factory is well known among tourists, international celebrities, and politicians; in March 1999, President Clinton spent two hours at the factory learning about jadeite and picking out gifts for staff and family. Museums have commissioned Jades, S.A. to produce replicas of famous Mayan jade masks. The handmade replicas (all labeled as such) are produced by Mayan descendants who are just beginning to realize the impact local jadeite had on their ancestors.

Spring 2011 | 31 Hammer Safety by Bill Klose, EFMLS Safety Chairman

Hammers used by rock hounds come in every size, type hardware stores will replace hammer handles and construction, and include rock hammers, bricklayer’s for a nominal fee. They can also provide a or mason’s hammers, blacksmith’s or sledge hammers, rubber sleeve for sledge hammers, which will machinist’s peen hammers, jeweler’s hammers, setting prevent handle damage just above the head. hammers, soft face hammers, lead or copper faced Bricklayer’s or mason’s hammers are designed for hammers, trimmer’s and welder’s hammers, as well as a setting or splitting bricks, masonry tile, and concrete variety of mallets, such as rawhide, rubber, and tinner’s. blocks. Never use them to strike metal or drive tools such I have even seen napping hammers (a 3 pound high as chisels. The blade of a bricklayer’s hammer should carbon steel hammer with tapering faces used for forming be kept sharp by redressing at a 40 degree angle with a stones during road construction or similar stone work) bench grinder. Keep the metal cool while grinding by and railroad track mauls (used for driving railroad spikes). quenching often in water to protect the metals tempering. As it is hard to anticipate what a rockhound’s “favorite Hand drilling hammers are used with chisels, star weapon” will be, I thought I would present a list of drills, punches, and hardened nails. Never use common general hammer safety practices followed by the proper nail (claw) hammers for striking metal, such as chisels, use of some of the more common hammer types. as they are designed for driving unhardened nails and 1. Always select the proper type, size, and their shape, depth of face, and balance make them weight of hammer for the job. unsuitable for this use. Machinist’s peen hammers (ball, 2. Always wear eye protection. cross, or straight) are designed for striking chisels and 3. Always strike a hammer blow squarely, punches and riveting, straightening and shaping metal. avoiding glancing blows and over and under Blacksmith’s or sledge hammers are designed for strikes. The hammer’s striking face should be striking wood, metal, concrete, or stone, depending on parallel with the surface being struck. size, weight, and shape. When using a hammer, grip the 4. When striking a chisel, punch, or wedge, the striking handle near the end where it is designed for gripping face of the hammer should be 3/8” larger than the and it will give you the best control and impact with struck face of the tool. Both the striking hammer’s face the least effort. Watch your hands, shins, and feet. It and the struck face of the tool should be free of oil. may be advisable to wear gloves, long sleeve shirts, and 5. Do not strike another hammer with a hammer. high lacing safety shoes to protect from flying debris and 6. Do not strike a harder surface with sharp shards if the situation warrants it. When storing a hard surface hammer. hammers for a period of time, lightly lubricate metal parts, 7. Never use a hammer with dents, cracks, chips, but wipe any oil or grease from rubber mallets or rubber mushrooming, or excessive wear. Replace the handle grips to prevent damage to the rubber. for the job. hammer, redressing is not recommended. 8. Replace worn or damaged handles. A qualified individual should replace hammer handles. Most

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Spring 2011 | 33 34 | B.C. Rockhounder THE GEODE MAN 17315 29th Avenue LEAH Surrey, BC V3S 0E8 Specializing in JONES -Faceted Montana Sapphires -Cut Geodes graphic designer -Brazilian Agate -Thundereggs -Rough & Polished Slabs -Petrifed Wood

PRINT DESIGN WEB DESIGN Ivan & Wendy Leversage BRAND IDENTITY PHOTOGRAPHY 604-535-9005 www.leahjones.ca [email protected] Please phone for an appointment 250 299 8990 [email protected]

Spring 2011 | 35 Wagonmasters Field Trips Spring/Summer 2011 Keystone Mine Harrison Garnets Leader: Jean Dyck, phone: 604 852 2735 Leader: Cam Bacon, 604 854 1711 Date/Time: Sunday, June 26, 2011, 10:00 a.m. Date/Time: Sept, 18, 2011. 10:00 a.m. Meeting Place: washrooms at the Coquihalla Toll Meeting Place: Happy Prospector, on Booth Harrison Lake Road Material: Pyrite, sphalerite, galena Material: Garnets in mica schist Extra Info: check the mine dumps, 4x4 not necessary Extra Info: gas up, bring hammer, chisels, sledge

Hill 60 Always call the trip leader the day before Leaders: Bob and De Morgan, 604 599 6938 to ensure the trip is going, and that there Date/Time: Sunday, July 10th, 2011, 10:00 a.m. have been no other changes. Meeting Place: Junction of Island Hwy and Hwy 18 (at the park n ride) For all of the above trips, all club members are welcome, Material: Rhodonite including our rockhound friends from the US! For Extra Info: bring chisel, shovels, crowbars, updated information, please visit the hammer, sledge. Lapidary Society of bc. As always, any US rockhounds in The road is extremely rough. only 4x4 with high good standing with their clubs are invited to join our clearance can make it up that hill! field trips! Be sure to call and let Bob and De know Also, please see what the Washington State if you are coming. Mineral Council has for trips, just in case something interests you! Washington State Mineral Council August: Summer Camp on Texada Island

The British Columbia Lapidary Society Presents: Summer Camp 2011 August 1–6, 2011 When you get off the Texada ferry stay on the Blubber bay road, until you reach the Gilles bay road, Turn left on Gilles bay road and the RV Park is 2 minutes from the junction. There are 20 to 23 full hook-ups sites and some tenting sites, showers and Laundromat. Cash and personal cheques. $25.00 a day or $125.00 a week , cost for tent sites to follow. Texada Storage & RV Park Ph: (604) 486-7838 Van Anda, Texada Island, BC Cell: (604) 414-3613 www.texada.org/Memberhomepages/texadarvparkandstorage.html 2610 Gillies Bay Road PO Box 171 Van Anda, BC, V0N 3K0 36 | B.C. Rockhounder Other Accommodations for Summer Camp 2011: Texada Island Inn suites, Both suites have private decks with bbqs, po Box 98, Van Anda, bc, v0n 3k0 private entrances, full kitchens and laundry facilities. Phone: 604 486 7711 Fax: 604 486 7771 Both have satellite tv and are fully furnished. Email: [email protected] www.texadaislandinn.com The “Blue Suite” has one bedroom, a The Inn’s rooms have a fridge and microwave in them. hideabed sofa in the living room, and a There is a restaurant and they will also make lunches lovely bathroom with roomy shower. and will do them for others if notified the night before. The “Green Suite” has two bedrooms, a Rates 1 person $70.00 a night + hst $78.40. 2 persons futon in the living room, and a clawfoot tub $78.00 a night + hst $87.36 If we get more than 4 with shower in the shared bathroom. rooms booked they will give use a 10% discount. So Blue Suite (1br) $80 based on double occupancy mention you are with Rockhound summer camp! Green Suite (2br) $100 based on four residents Minimum stay of 2 nights. Extra children under Bob & Brooke’s Texada 12 add $5 each. Extra adults add $10 each. Island Retreat 1110 Gillies Bay Road, Van Anda, bc, v0v 3k0 Captain’s Table Bed & Breakfast Phone: 604 486 7022 201 Sturt Bay Road, po Box 68 Van Anda, bc, v0n 3k0, Email: [email protected] Texada Island, bc www.texada.org/Memberhomepages/ Your hosts, Bob & Maggie Timms bobandbrookes.html Phone: 604 486 0274, or Cell: 604 414 5897 Includes Continental breakfast with fresh fruit Email: [email protected] in season from our own orchard, pool, sauna, pool www.captainstablebb.com table. Luxurious accommodations. $ 99.00/night Sandpiper Suite: Upper floor suite tastefully decorated with two rooms and ensuite bathroom. Ocean view. One Blubber Bay Cottage queen bed, double futon and single bed sleeps up to 5 Phone: 604-486-7715 Cell: 604-414-8267 people. Fax: 604-486-7701 Email: [email protected] Rates are $85/night for first two people, plus $15/night for each extra person Rates inlcude a full home-cooked http://blubberbaycottage.com/CottageRentals.html breakfast of your choice with delicious home-made jams Cottage #1 is a two bedroom cabin. The master and jellies, fruit juice and your choice of tea or coffee. bedroom has a queen size bed. The second bedroom also Both suites have cable, dvd and internet access. has a queen bed. Cottage #2 is a two level home with three bedrooms upstairs. Each room is furnished with For more accommodation listings check the queen size beds for your comfort. We also have satellite BC Travel Guide or tv in this cottage. Both cottages are fully equipped, just www.texada.org/VisitorServices/Accomodations/ like home. As well as high speed Internet connection. Accomodations.html Bargain rates for Cottage #1 $100/day. Bargain rates for Cottage #2 $120/day. All on double occupancy. For ferry schedules & costs check out: Rosebank Cottage www.bcferries.com/schedules/mainland Contact Karen May or Clarence Wood Mainland – Vancouver Island – Sunshine Coast Email: [email protected] Schedules Phone: 604 486 7284, Clarence: 604 414 9638 or Karen: 604 413 0994 www.rosebankcottage.bc.ca This charming older home has two very private

Spring 2011 | 37 B.C. Rockhounder Around the Clubs

BCLS Meeting: If You Make it Fun, They will Come! Abbotsford Rock & Gem Club March 27th: 2011 Club Contact: Georginga Selinger The rockhounds dribbled into the Sullivan Hall slowly, by two’s and three’s. By (604) 852-1307 the timethe meeting started, it was our best attended meeting during my term [email protected] as president, withthe hall 75% full. Alberni Valley Rock & Gem Club Jennifer Moore created a beautiful variety of food, and everyone snacked Club Contacts: Dave West and chatted. It’s a very enjoyable time to hear tales of field trips and greet (250) 723-0281 old friends. We had the usual business meeting, with news from the zones. [email protected] Highlights to note: Burnaby Laphounds Club Club Contact: Nacy Dickson Interior Zone: Lorne Morris (604) 444-4464 t
5th Okanagan Gem Show is at Winfield in July [email protected] t
Interlakes Rockhounders are looking for a 16” to 18” saw t
Penticton Club will have demo days May 6 – 7, Courtenay Gem & Mineral Club at Cherry Lane Shopping Center Club Contact: Jack Boyes (250) 337-8461 t
Raft River, now with 51 members, will host Rendezvous in 2012 [email protected] t
Shuswap Club is having their show and sale July 9 t
Thompson Valley Club is teaching lots of wire wrappers Cowichan Valley Rockhounds t
Vernon Club has a sale coming up at Village Green Mall April 29 – 30 Club Contact: Brent Heath (250) 743-3769 t
Yellowhead Club is hosting the Zone Campout [email protected] June 24 – 26 Kootenay Zone: Bob Lerch t
Kokanee and Selkirk Clubs are hosting the gmfc Creative Jewellers Guild of BC meeting and show in Castlegar onJune 2 – 5. Club Contact: Eric Kemp Vancouver Island Zone: Joan & Jens Hoys (604) 278-5141 [email protected] t
Gemboree hooks onto the Ripple Rock Club Show: June 9 – 12, 2011 Northern Zone: Dave Abel Creston Valley Prospectors and t
Burns Lake Club is combining with Spruce City Club to have some of Lapidary Club those amazingnorthern field trips. There is so much material there. Club Contact: Lana Edmonstone The BC Gem Show is well on track, as reported by (250) 428-3550 [email protected] Cam Bacon, showchair of thislarge committee. Wagonmasters meeting: Bob Morgan and his committee organized field trips Fraser Valley Rock & Gem Club until September, and they are listed on the web site at: www.lapidary.bc.ca Club Contact: Robert Brown Rendezvous is at Princeton, May long weekend. (604) 794-7296 [email protected] See details posted on the web site. Summer Camp is on Texada Island, August 1 – 5, 2011. Hastings Center Rockhounds Details are posted on theweb site. Club Contact: Micheal Edwards The speaker was Lara Loughrey, an sfu student, who studied (604) 987-1471 emeralds from the Emmaville-Torrington deposit in Australia. She [email protected] did a power point presentation withinformation on the geology of the Lakes District Rock and Gem Club location, the emeralds found there, emeralds ingeneral, the chemistry Club Contact: Leanne Miranda, involved in the color zoning, and measuring water inclusions byboiling (250)698-7337 and freezing them. It was a fascinating talk, and enjoyed by all. [email protected] I thanked Lara and presented her with a gift of a jade necklace and earrings I had made. I thanked Professor Dan Marshall, who arranged for Lara to speak to our group. I then presented him with a garnet in matrix, which I had tapped out of a big rock inArizona.

38 | B.C. Rockhounder Spring 2011

The door prize, a beautiful polished agate slab on a stand, was donated by Bob Morgan. It was won by Ivan Leversage, a local dealer, and member of the Richmond Club, who very generously decided to Maple Ridge Lapidary Club draw another ticket. This made Lynne Johnston, of Port Moody Club Club Contact: John Bastiaanssen very, very happy, since the ticket Ivan pulled belonged to her! (604) 8466-2843 [email protected] The meeting was a nice mix of business, fun and a good rockhound gathering that was well attended and interesting. Port Moody Rock & Gem Club Respectfully submitted, Club Contact: Lisa Elser De Morgan, President (604) 469-2298 [email protected] BC Gem Show, 2011 By Terry Bacon Richmond Gem & Mineral Club Club Contact: Darlene Howe Despite the gem show chair Cam Bacon being in a wheel chair from Tues. on (604) 274-2893 the 2011 gem show was a great success thanks to participants , volunteers and [email protected] dealers. The dealers were as usual generous in their donations to the members Ripple Rock Gem & Mineral Club draws and to the volunteers draws. Club Contact: Douglas Murray I know the volunteers do not do it for the prizes but its nice (250) 339-7091 to get recognition for helping ; without the wonderful help [email protected] there would not be the friendly successful show we have. The dealers appreciate all your hard work and realize that Selkirk Rock & Mineral Club Club Contact: Maureen Kromha their costs would go up substantially with out it. (250) 367-9605 Without the volunteers the show would have a completely different [email protected] feel and flow to it and I would like to take this time to thank you all. I believe our oldest volunteer: Ida Bacon at 92 put in all 3 days at the Thompson Valley Rock Club kids corner which I think shows incredible dedication and patients. Frank Club Contact: Helen Lowndes (250) 314-1943 and Betty Tierney also did all 3 days at Spin & Win also in the senior class. [email protected] Putting some of the younger volunteers to shame for their endurance. Some of the prizes were donated by demonstrators and Victoria Lapidary & the following is just a sample of some of the prizes: Mineral Society t
Native Chieftain Carving by a Quebec Native Artist Club Contact: Cameron Speedie, (250) 385-0597 t
An Ammonite cab [email protected] t
Crystal sphere from Brazil t
Mexican Geode and stand Vernon Lapidary & Mineral Club t
Japan Law Twined Quartz Crystal Club Contact: Dale Daignault (250) 250-6603 t
Smokey Quartz Point with Inclusions [email protected] t
couple of Cabbed Rutilated Quartz t
Bag of Natural Aquamarines Yellowhead Lapidary Club t
Amethyst Quartz Pieces from Brazil Club Contact: Lita Hansen t
Ammonite (large) (250) 672-5876 [email protected] t
Large Ocha Thunder Eggs t
Sterling silver necklace For More Information t
Sterling silver pendants about the BC Lapidary Society or a club These are just a few of the prizes for volunteers, remember if you don’t near you, visit us online volunteer you can’t win anything not even the good feeling of a job well done. www.lapidary.bc.ca Thanks again to you all who participated. To get in on the draws you must have your name on the Yellow foolscap/ with your phone number that was at the entrance by members desk.

Spring 2011 | 39 B.C. Rockhounder Around the Clubs

I sorted the pop/ beer cans and donated $25 to the our ongoing activity book, a new booklet on local spca for the returns and took all the tabs to be tumbling and more. The Directors will be holding given towards the training of guide dogs. Wendy & a teleconference on April 17th , 2011. Ivan Leversage are still collecting the beer/ pop tabs for We have some vacancies on our directorate so if that charity. Please continue to save them for them. you are interested in learning more about the bigger The winner of peoples choice case was Julius picture of Canadian Rockhounding please call me: Cotter “Violins” and at take down he played Dave Barclay a couple tunes on them it was great. Phone: 250-766-4353 For those that think that they have to volunteer for the week end we can always use help from Weds. Port Moody Rock & Gem Club of the show to Sunday night of the show. There The new executive has been voted in and they are many different aspects and jobs from setting up look a lot like last year’s. Because they are the displays to sweeping the floors to helping tear down same people. They obviously enjoy what they are without the volunteers there would be no show , so if doing otherwise they would have headed for the you want the show to continue start thinking about hills. Good to have you all on board again. helping out even if its putting out leaflets in your own We have a theme for the 2011 Annual Show. Lynne area to advertise the show all help is appreciated. came up with the brilliant title of “Rocktoberfest”. Remember, it is the BCLS GEM SHOW, Subtitle is “A Celebration of Everything Mineral”. which means all of us. We hope to have displays of big jewellery, carvings, Cecil’s whimsical vehicles and critters, Emma’s hand made rock egg collection, lots of fabulous mineral, crystal and fossil specimens and many, many more creative and wonderful things. The club workshop is an active place. Coffee time on Mondays and Thursdays is a noisy time even with the machines turned off. We are constantly critiquing each others’ work and sharing ideas for design and methods for the best possible result. Because of this, the quality of our work is improving and some clever ideas have come about. The latest are new templates cut from plastic folders and playing cards for free-form designs. Margaret and Emma are to be applauded for their ingenuity. GMFC Golden Rock & Fossil Club The Annual meeting and show for the gmfc will take Book dedicated to local “rock hounds” place in Castlegar on June 4, 5, 2011 at the Castlegar A book was dedicated in the memory of Irene Brook by Arena Complex. The Directors will meet on June 2nd, the Golden Rock and Fossil Club on January 20th at prior to the annual meeting. There will be a 2 day show, the Golden Library. Present were Sid and Judy Brook a banquet and a presentation of awards at the Annual representing the Brook family. Glen and Irene Brook were meeting. On Friday June 3rd, a field trip under the avid rock hounds and enjoyed sharing their hobby with direction of Dr. Lesley Anderton retired Head of the everyone. They both became life members of the Golden Geology Dept. of Selkirk College, will be held. Come if Rock and Fossil Club. The book will be added to the you can a day early and enjoy this delightful lady who expansive selection of literature accessible in the Golden knows so much about the geology of this area. Rock Club section of the the Golden Library for all to Things being discussed will include a possible read and enjoy. raising of insurance coverage, scholarship funding, ‘Rock Hounds’ remembered. The Golden Star.

40 | B.C. Rockhounder Spring 2011

Island Zone Northern Zone Cameron Speedie Our first meeting of the year was held at our President’s The Island Zone Delegates from the Various Clubs met home on February 5, with me and the President on March 20, 2011. The meeting was very brief and was attending. I guess everyone else forgot that we resumed wrapped up pretty much in 45 minutes. our schedule after breaking in January because of the We had a guest speaker, Dave Barclay of the gmfc holidays. Our shop is currently inhospitable to work in as spoke on what is happening in the gmfc as well as the it has been moved to an unheated shed. When it warms various shows going on in the interior. Dave brought our up I will carry on teaching the one new member who has attention to the gmfc begun lessons on lapidary work. We have a potential new Scholarship, the Kid member who attended our December meeting and it looks Activity book, and the like she may join. I hope so—we need all the help we can fact insurance cost may get. Our field trips were pretty well nonexistent due to all be going up to ensure the fires in the area last year. There were fires everywhere. we have $5 million I was host to Ernie Olinyk of the Burns Lake Club liability coverage. one afternoon last fall and made tentative arrangements The usual club to combine field trips this year. I gather their club is reports were read, doing well. I must say I’m rather disappointed with with several of the the choice of location for Summer Camp this year clubs reporting as I really enjoy them but I’m afraid it’s out of the their ongoing activities. Discussion was had about question this year. There’s no way I can see myself having more joint activities. As well the intended making a 1200 mile round trip with multiple ferry purpose of the show cases given to Ripple Rock was rides to boot. It’s just beyond my capacity. I stress again reiterated so there was clarity in the fact that they are you’re always welcome up here again. Sure would for all the up-island clubs to draw on as needed. like to know what’s happening with Rendezvous. We also discussed that we need to ensure that we Respectfully Submitted, David Abel, Northern Zone cross link the various club websites and ensure we are keeping up to date on the electronic end of keeping in Surrey Rockhounds touch. Also discussed was the implementation Leo was a member of the Surrey Rockhounds for of the Island Zone website to provide a many years. He spent many hours climbing over venue for information specific to the Zone hill and dale to find rocks in Arizona, British and the Member Clubs. The meeting Columbia and in Quebec. Not only did he concluded and lunch was enjoyed. work with rocks but he taught us how to A big “Thank You” to Molly take beautiful pictures. He was a talented Beddington for hosting the lunch. photographer who has donated his priceless items to a museum Kootenay Zone in Quebec. The Kokanee Rock Club and the Selkirk Leo was born Nov. 16, 1915 in Quebec Club are in the planning stages to host and passed away on Feb, 21, 2011. He the gmfc meeting and show on June 2 – 5. was predeceased by His wife Marie and son The gmfc show will be great fun with a full Bobby. He is survived by his daughter Wendy slate of venders, a field trip, auction table, and of St. Albert, Alta., daughter in law Jackie of many surprises. We are planning our field trip Nevada, sister Laure Ann of Quebec, granddaughter schedules for this season, The Selkirk and Kokanee Cheryl, grandson Wayne and four great-grandsons. clubs share field trip schedules to double the fun. That’s it Leo was born and raised in Quebec, was a professional for now have rocks too pick up. photographer and was with the air force in his Respectfully Submitted, Bob Lerch, Kootenay Zone younger years. He was a jolly fellow who loved to be hugged by all his lady friends. He will be missed.

Spring 2011 | 41 B.C. Rockhounder Around the Clubs

Interior Zone vegetables, jewellery from 100 Mile House, lapidary Most Clubs got in a few last minute field trips before the equipment for sale from Burnaby, local jewellery snow flew, held elections of new officers and celebrated and Discover Gemstones came from Edmonton the year end with Christmas parties. Activities retreated selling gemstones, minerals and crystals. The local to the indoors during the winter and early spring periods. musicians kept the place rockin’ with their talents. Our Christmas party was held at the Flour 1120 Club Meadow Bakery for an old fashioned steak bbq. The 1120 Club suffered the loss of one of our most Election of Officers was held on January 20, active collectors and field trip leaders in the person 2011 at the Evergreen Acres meeting room. the Dave Capstick who passed away suddenly in President: Leslie Wolfer November, 2010. We began negotiations with the Wagonmasters: Mel Sasek and Gary Wolfer Public Trustee’s office to try and save his collection, The new executive is looking at planning new maps, notes and equipment from being dumped or events for the club with more socials and field trips destroyed. We were able to achieve this in early this summer. Our club show will once again be March by paying some monies for the equipment and held on Canada Day at Watauga Village. Plans are having a 2 day “move it out” event. Thanks to all who well on the way for another successful event. helped with this huge effort. Dave will be very much We are hosting Rendezvous 2012 and missed by the Okanagan Rockhound fraternity. look forward to meeting everyone then The club has purchased a dvd on geology and have watched the first of 36 lectures. We Thompson Valley Rock Club are finding it entertaining and educational. Three sold-out wire-wrapping workshops have been The club enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner held. Planning another for beginners, then possibly an catered by one of our members. We are making advanced course. plans for some 2011 field trips and are planning to The wagon master trip list has been published, participate in the Good News Bears food bank fund with many fun and interesting places to explore. raiser by buying a companion bear for the Vernon Club’s The workshop is in full swing, with sessions Rocky Rockhound. She will be Ruby Rockhound. on Saturdays, Sundays and Thursdays. A new executive has been elected Raft River Rockhounds and settled into their positions.. It is hard to believe that the Raft River Rockhounds started their club only one year ago with 51 members Interlakes Rockhounders and growing. All is well here, regular meetings at the Bolivars at Fawn We have had numerous field trips going on in Lake every third Wednesday at 7:00pm. Mike Bolivar the North Thompson Valley. We went to Silence has set up a winter place in his custom auto shop for Lake and found red garnets, gold panning up the members to cut and polish stones. This is especially Eaten Creek, rhodonite in Joseph Creek and purple good for teaching new members the basics of cutting and fluorite in the Fog horn just to name a few. polishing. We held the first Club Show on Canada Day Our raffle of stones has done quite well enabling with a huge turnout and many events Gold panning us to have enough money to aquire a club saw. We demonstrations, “Dig your Treasure” and “Rock are presently shopping for a used 16” – 18” saw. Painting” for the children. Barbeque, Popcorn sponsored by Home Hardware, cake donated by the Election of offcers was held last month with the District of Clearwater, live music, silent auction and following elected: more. We had numerous vendors selling cookbooks, President: Robert Babcock Vice Pres: Cynthia Green artist prints, Canada Day balloons, fudge, old fashion Secretary: Iris Staeheli Treasurer: Elsie Babcock candy, Native crafts, herbs one of a kind mosaic pieces, Wagonmaster: Larry Stacheli and Mike Bolivar fortune teller, medicine woman from Valemount, fresh Correspondence: Garry Babcock Shop Chief: Mike Bolivar

42 | B.C. Rockhounder Spring 2011

First rock trip was March 12, 2011 High Country Rock Club to Tranquille Kamloops Lake Meeting regularly, except December and January, with a new slate of officers Club members will help out at Shuswap Rock Club Kids Day at the Kamloops Exploration Group(KEG) 85 members. Meet first Tuesday each month here at conference April 4. Toad Hall. Silversmithing classes delayed this winter due to too We have had a very active year with the club. Our field many “snow days”—but are expected to start soon. trips set up by our 6 wagon masters, have been numerous and adventurous. They have been fairly well attended and Penticton Geology and Lapidary the best part being no one came away empty handed. Club The club had their annual Open House and Some decent agate was found on the last field trip of Sale in July which we hold in conjunction with 2010, in October. Sorrento’s Festival of the Arts. We always do well The final 2010 club sale, at a local shopping financially from the sales and different members mall in October, produced good results for do various demonstrations throughout the day. some of the ten attending members. Rendezvous held in Lillooet was attended by a The annual Christmas dinner in December good number of our members. Summer Campout generated a tidy sum from the silent auction, at Little Fort being in such close proximity which was donated to a local soup kitchen. had good representation from our group. The club will hold Demo Days at Cherry Lane We had a cleanup of the rock room which was long Shopping Center on May 6–7, to illustrate lapidary overdo in early July and I was happy with the member arts, and possibly find some new members. participation … many hands make light work. Lorne and Michelle graciously hosted our annual President’s Picnic in August. We had members attend the Tailgate Sale in Vernon Sept. 18th. We are fortunate in having a real dedicated core of members that really make my job as president very easy and enjoyable. Respectfully Barry Nesbitt, President Vernon Lapidary Club Elections were held in November, 2010. We supported a Good News Bear last year and Will again this year. December, 2010: No meeting. We had our annual Christmas party and also donated to the Food Bank January 2011: New year with new executive. Planned Activities: 12 Field trips and 3 Mall Sales. Vernon and Kelowna Gem Show in Winfield July 16th and 17th. Membership: 118 members including 24 juniors. Fees: Single $20. Family - $30. Membership includes shop use at no extra cost. Drop-in fee to Arts Centre: $5.60 inc. Tax.

Spring 2011 | 43 Talk Shop

Step by Step Guide To Protecting Your Find you can mine. You should always check with the Province or State authorities before marking your Do the research claim as regulations differ from Province to Province First of all, you need to ensure that your discovery or State to State. The most common practice is to isn’t located in one of the following areas: National mark each corner of your claim with a post, made Parks, National Monuments, Indian reservations, most out of either wood (at least 3.5 inches in diameter), reclamation projects, military reservations, scientific plastic or metal (at least 2 inches in diameter), with testing areas and most wildlife protection areas (such a minimum visible height of 3 feet. You can also as Federal wildlife refuges). When you’ve ensured that, mark the corners with rock cairns (man made pile you need to check that the area isn’t already claimed. of stones). You start with marking the ne corner of You don’t want to be caught claim jumping! the claim, known as the number 1 corner, where you Where do I go to find information about mineral titles also post the location notice. Then you mark the in bc? other corners, numbered in a clockwise direction. Answer: The Location Notice should contain To find any information about mineral titles in the following information: bc visit Mineral Titles Online www.mtonline.gov. s Date of location on the ground bc.ca/mtov/home.do. Mineral Titles Online (mto) s Name of the locator (That’s you!) is an Internet-based mineral titles administration s Name of the claim or site system that allows mineral exploration industry to s Type of claim or site acquire and maintain mineral titles by selecting s Acreage claimed the area on a seamless digital gis map of British s Description of the parcel on the ground. Columbia and pay the associated fees electronically. 3. Take Care of the Paper Work 1. How do I obtain a prospector’s license? All claims in British Columbia today are “staked” over Answer: the computer. There are a few steps involved. In British Columbia a prospector’s license is referred to Step A: You must get a bceid number, available as a “Free Miner’s Certificate”. through the local Service bc (Government Agent) Visit the Ministry of Natural Resource Operations or FrontCounter bc. Online registration is available Mineral Titles www.empr.gov.bc.ca/Titles/ at www.bceid.ca/register/personal but you still MineralTitles/Pages/default.aspx page to obtain must appear in person with two pieces of id (no information on Free Miner’s Certificates. photocopies, one with photo – see website for details). The Mineral Titles office administers the laws Step B: Using your bceid number, you may apply and manages the recording system pertaining to the for your Free Miner’s Certificate in person at the local acquisition and maintenance of mineral, placer and Service bc or FrontCounter bc or you can mail your coal rights in the province. The Ministry maintains completed form with the cheque payable to Minister records and maps which indicate areas available for of Finance (details here: www.empr.gov.bc.ca/Titles/ location and acquisition of title as well as the location MineralTitles/faq/Pages/fmc.aspx). There is a charge for and status of mineral and coal titles acquired under the this Certificate (currently, $25 for an individual and Mineral Tenure Act and Coal Act. $500 for a corporation). The Certificate is valid for one Visit the Ministry of Natural Resource year and can be renewed. Renewals are done on-line Operations Free Miner’s Certificate Frequently at www.mtonline.gov.bc.ca/. Log on to mto with your Asked Questions www.empr.gov.bc.ca/Titles/ bceid and Password, then click on the ‘fmc Client’ MineralTitles/faq/Pages/fmc.aspx page. tab. From there you will click on the ‘fmc renewal’ 2. Mark Your Claim hyperlink and follow the steps through to completion. The next step is to go out and mark your claim. Step C: You are now ready to stake your claim! This is required so that other people can see that Access Mineral Titles Online at www.mtonline. the area is taken, as well as showing you where gov.bc.ca and follow the instructions to log in with

44 | B.C. Rockhounder Talk Shop

your bceid number. Take advantage of the faq and of virgin dirt without the claimant’s permission. tutorial sections while you get familiar with the site. Question: Can a claim holder allow 4. Keeping Your Claim a club to dig on his claim? In addition to the yearly fees, you must fulfill Answer: That is up to the claimant. Clubs requirements of “annual labor” in order to keep that dig with permission have to follow some bc the claim. You must basically be able to show that Forest Service specific rules about overhangs, safety you are actively working the claim or improving barriers and bench heights. Liability insurance for the site. If you don’t do this you’ll loose your claim the club doing the digging is essential these days. and won’t be able to restake it for one year from Ask permission to work in a minder’s claim. the “date of abandonment”. During this time some Respect the land, land owner, miner and claim. other prospector may stake a claim at your spot. 5. Fancy Signs To Keep Prospectors Out We welcome your feedback on this article and/or submit a new topic for the next B.C. Rockhounder. Send your comments to: [email protected]

US Sample Claim Etiquette First and foremost respect the land, land owner, miner and claim. Do the research—see 1 above. Dig a hole—fill the hole. Ask permission to work a miner’s claim. Question: Can I cross another person’s claim to reach mine? Answer: Yes. You can’t work on another claim, but you have the right to cross because it is public land. You cannot, however, cross any private or patented land; you must provide advance notice. A miner must wait at least 8 days after the notice has been served. Question: On a lode claim, if someone is walking along and sees a huge crystal sitting on the ground surface of the claim, can that person legally pick it up and take it home? Is this legal, as long as the person doesn’t dig up the crystal? Does this differ from a placer claim? Answer: Lode and placer claims are treated identically. Surface material is treated as waste in mining law, so anyone can surface pick any claim. This also includes tailings. No one can dig a teaspoonful

Spring 2011 | 45 Spring 2011 Club Shows and Sales

CREATIVE VANCOUVER ISLAND SHUSWAP ROCK JEWELLERS GUILD GEMBOREE 2011 CLUB Open House June 8, 9 & 10 “Open House, Show & Sale” Saturday June 4, 2011 This years Gemboree will be held July 10, 2011 9am – 4pm 10:30am – 4am at Charlie and Lena Hallstrom’s Toad Hall Richmond Cultural Centre place: 3906 South Island Highway, Trans Canada Hwy, Sorrento, BC 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC Campbell River, B.C. V9H-1M1 Admission is Free in the Atrium on the main foor. The actual Gemboree and free Contact: Pat Boden at Featuring demonstrations dry camping will take place in 250-675-2849 including: Silver Smithing, Chain Charlie and Lena’s backyard Making, Stone Setting, Glass and front yard, there is lots of Bead Making and much more. room for everyone. Contact: Ken McIntosh Contact: 250-923-5670 604-599-6789 Guenter Otto 604-687-6071

THE GEM & MINERAL RIPPLE ROCK THE 1120 ROCK CLUB FEDERATION OF GEM & MINERAL of KELOWNA CANADA CLUB and the THE VERNON and the KOKANEE “Annual Show” LAPIDARY & MINERAL ROCK CLUB June 11 & 12, 2011 CLUB Gem & Mineral Show & Saturday 10am – 5pm “Agates & More” Convention Sunday 10am – 4pm July 16 & 17, 2011 June 4 & 5, 2011 Timberline School Gymnasium 1681 South Dogwood St. Saturday 9am – 5pm Saturday 10am – 5pm Campbell River, BC Sunday 10am – 4pm Sunday 10am – 4pm Adults $3.00, Children under 12 Winfeld Memorial Hall, Castlegar Arena, Castlegar & free (accompanied by an adult.) 3270 Berry Road, Winfeld, BC District Community Complex 5th Annual Okanagon Gem 2101 6th Avenue, Castlegar, BC Show Featuring: Displays of Rocks, Gems, Dealers with rocks, crystals, Minerals and Crystals minerals, beads and supplies Dealers with crystals, beads, RAFT RIVER for the lapidary hobby. gem stones, jewellery and ROCKHOUNDS Displays & demonstrations lapidary supplies. Artisans “Annual Show & Sale” Lunch counter open during the demonstrating the lapidary arts. show. Adults: $4 Adults: $4 July 1, 2011 Watauga Village Children 12 & under: $2 Children 12 & under: $2 Contact: Dave Barclay, Contact: Bob Lerch 734 Clearwater Village Road, Clearwater, BC 250-766-4353, Ken Dewerson, 250-226-7556, or Dave Barclay, 250-707-0618, 250-766-4353 Gold Panning, Rock Painting, Pick your Gemstone, BBQ, Silent Auction, Guess the Stones, Information Booth and more. Small Fee to participate in Events Contact: Louise or Fay at 250-674-0085

46 | B.C. Rockhounder Club Shows and Sales Spring 2011

INTERIOR ZONE FRASER VALLEY VERNON LAPIDARY & CLUBS ROCK & GEM CLUB MINERAL CLUB Rockhound’s Tailgate Sale Annual Rock & Gem Show “Mall Sale & Display” Saturday, August 20, 2011 September 24 & 25, 2011 October 28 & 29, 2011 9am – 3pm Saturday & Sunday 10am – 5pm, Mall hours south parking lot Old Age Pensioners Hall Village Green Mall Swan Lake Nurseryland, 3015 273 Street, Aldergrove, BC 27th Street & 48th Avenue, Hwy 97, N Vernon, BC. Demonstrations, Displays, Vernon, BC Rocks, Minerals, Beads, Hand Dealers, Admission by donation. Contact: Pat & Phylicia O’Brien Crafted Jewellery, Crystals, Contact: Karen Archibald, 250-545-1274 Used Lapidary Equipment. 604-532-8734 Contact: Gloria Bordass, 250-493-1027

VERNON LAPIDARY & SURREY DELTA ROCKHOUND MINERAL CLUB ROCKHOUND CLUB CLUB “Mall Sale & Display” Annual Rock & Gem Show Annual Gem Show September 10 & 11, 2011 October 15 & 16, 2011 Presents Mall hours Saturday & Sunday 10am – 5pm “Rocks to Gems” Village Green Mall Sullivan Hall November 5 & 6, 2011 27th Street & 48th Avenue, 6302 152 Street, Surrey, BC Saturday & Sunday 10am – 5pm Vernon, BC Demonstrations, Displays, South Delta Recreation Centre Contact: Pat & Phylicia O’Brien Dealers, Hourly Door Prize, Kids 1720 56th Street, Delta, BC 250-545-1274 Creative Corner, Snack Bar Free tumbled stones to open during the Show. elementary and younger visitors Admission by donation Demonstrations, Displays, Contact: Alice Clarke Dealers, Snack Bar open 604-584,5592 during the Show. Admission by Donation RICHMOND GEM & PORT MOODY ROCK MINERAL CLUB & GEM CLUB 51st Annual Gem Show Rock & Gem Show featuring October 29 & 30, 2011 “Jazzy Jaspers” Saturday & Sunday 10 am – 5 pm Kyle Centre, 125 Kyle Street, September 17 & 18, 2011 Port Moody, BC Saturday 10am – 5pm Sales/Marketplace, Displays, Sunday 10am – 4:30pm Demonstrations, Prize Draws Richmond Cultural Centre Lapidary Workshop Tour, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC Holistic Healing, Kids’ Creative Demonstrations, Displays, Workshop, Rock Smash, Silent Dealers, Spin and Win, Door Auction, Spin ‘n Win, Grab Prizes, Book Sales. Bags, Food & Beverages. Admission by Donation Admission by Donation Contact: Livia Waterson Visit www.portmoodyrockclub.com 604-590-3289 Spring 2011 | 47 your B.C. Advertise Starting at Rockhounder $30 per year! Send in your interesting stories about Here club events, up and coming shows or Business Card $30 sales, photos, even amusing anecdotes Eighth-page $40 and interesting facts! Quarter-page $60 Make the most Half-page ad $120 Full-page ad $240 of your BC Full-page inside back cover $360 Rockhounder Full-page inside front cover $400 Advertising fees prorated for partial year. Submission Guidelines: All ads are black and white, no taxes. Text: Microsoft Word Document For further information contact: Article Photos: 300dpi (min) 4” x 6” Katrinia Walter, (604) 614-5702 300dpi (min) 8.5”x 11” Cover Photos: email: [email protected]

Please contact Win Robertson for details. Club Members may place a BC [email protected] free classifed ad in the Rockhounder

48 | B.C. Rockhounder