Number 64 March 2014 The Russell Society is a society of amateur and professional mineralogists which encourages the study, recording and conservation of mineralogical sites and material. Registered Charity No. 803308 The Russell Society Website www.russellsoc.org
So Much
From So
Few Clicks! RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Russell Society Newsletter Number 64 March 2014
CONTENTS: Page No
Society Health and Safety Policy ...... 2 . Editorial ...... 3
From the President ...... 4
Society Notices
Obituary: Don Alderson ...... 5 Obituary: Brian Atkins ...... 6 Obituary: Roy Frankum ...... 7 Obituary: Arnie Neale ...... 7 Remembering Bob King: Reflections on a life ...... 8 Greetings and a request from the new Journal Editor ...... 16 Events to look out for in 2014 and 2015 ...... 17 Russell Society scavenger hunt at the Bakewell Rock Exchange ..... 18 50th Anniversary of Sir Arthur Russell’s Death ...... 18 “Stop Press” Items ...... 19
News Items
Further progress at Hemerdon ...... 20 “Encouraging” initial results from North Pennine drilling project ...... 20 Scottish Gold exhibition in Glasgow ...... 21 Foss Baryte Mine - Request for Information and Specimens ...... 21 Absolute Gem: The fabulous mineral collection of a Welsh Countess 22 Rare Earth Elements (REE): A Geo-Techno-Political conundrum? ..... 22 Mineral Shows in 2014 ...... 24
Short Reports and Papers
A new location for vésignéite in Leicestershire...... 25 Vitamins are good for you! - and for removing iron stains ...... 26
Meeting and Field Trip Reports ...... 27 to 35
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 1 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
The Russell Society Health and Safety Policy:
Adopted by Council 27th September 2009.
• It is the policy of the Russell Society, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure that health and safety issues as applicable to the Society have been and will be properly addressed.
• All members of the Society are to take reasonable steps for the H&S of themselves and others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.
• All members of the Society are to co-operate with the Society, so far as is reasonably practicable, to enable the Society to comply with any duty or requirement imposed on it.
• In the event of an accident or injury members of the Society should seek the appropriate medical attention and notify Society officials who will properly document all details.
• Any member of the Society can bring to the attention of Society officials any suggestions or ideas which could improve safety and prevent accidents.
One of the aims of the Russell Society is to encourage the study, recording and conservation of mineralogical sites and material. Among the various activities undertaken in pursuit of this aim, members make many field visits to sites around the country and attend many lectures and other in- door meetings. The Russell Society promotes a high degree of responsibility amongst its members in the achievement of its aims, especially with regard to Health and Safety (H&S) matters.
It has
A Health and Safety Policy A Field Leaders Indemnity Form A Risk Assessment Form An Incident Report Form A Guide to Good Practice A Field Visit Check List
These documents are to encourage enjoyable and interesting visits and meetings that are educa- tional, involve conservation and recording, and are incident free. They also show the responsible attitude that the Russell Society and its members have to health and safety issues.
The views and opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of its correspondents, and are not necessarily agreed with or shared by the Editors, the Council, the Russell Society or its Members. The accuracy of submissions is the responsibility of the authors or Society branches and will not necessarily be checked by the Editor for validity.
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 2 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Editorial
So here we are, already well into the New Year, with the first Russell Society Newsletter of 2014. I hope all you readers managed to avoid being flooded, blown away or otherwise inconvenienced by the storms around the turn of the year and are enjoying 2014. A new year always means new opportunities – to learn a bit more about minerals and mineralogy, to go out collecting, to visit mineral shows, to attend Society meetings and events and so on. I hope you are all planning an active and productive year. It is clearly important that the Society’s membership supports and contributes actively to its programme of activities and events. On that score a couple of thoughts have recently crossed my mind.
Firstly, I notice that Peter Wallace, the long serving Chairman of the South-East Branch has had to step down due to personal circumstances. Peter deserves a lot of thanks from a lot of people for his efforts over the years on behalf of the Branch and the Society generally. Unfortunately, at the last Branch AGM they were unable to identify a successor and so the positions of Chairman and Events Secretary are now both vacant. This has lead to a decision to suspend the Branch programme of monthly lecture meetings until further notice. I think that this is a shame and I can only hope that “willing volunteers” can be found shortly to fill the vacant positions and that the Branch programme can be reinstated as soon as possible.
Secondly, by the time you read this we shall be rapidly approaching the Russell Society AGM Weekend, to be held this year from the 11th to 13th of April on the Isle of Portland in Dorset. This is the Society’s major event of the year and we are keen to see it well supported. AGM weekends are always a stimulating and enjoyable experience and anyone who has not experienced one really should do so. If you have not booked to attend what looks like a fascinating and enjoyable weekend it’s probably not too late. Get in touch with Chris Finch or Gary Morse and sign up!
On the subject of AGMs, if you are really looking ahead, you should note that the Society AGM weekend in 2015 will be organised by the Wales and West Branch. It’s bound to be a great experience – watch out for more information, for example on the Society website.
A sad but regular feature of recent Newsletters has been the number of obituaries of Members and, I’m afraid, this issue is a particularly sad example. In the following pages you will find appreciations of Don Alderson, Roy Frankum, Arnie Neale and Brian Atkins all of whom were well known to many RS Members and who all died last year. As you know, in 2013 we also lost Bob King, the Russell Society’s founder. Bob’s obituary has already appeared in the last issue of the RS Journal (Volume 16, 2013). In this Newsletter you will find a further celebration of Bob’s life, including thoughts and reminiscences from some of those who knew him.
As with the last few issues, I shall be circulating an electronic (.pdf) version of this Newsletter shortly after the paper version goes out. Previous e-versions have drawn a lot of positive comment and I would encourage you to look at it – even if you have already read your paper version. In the last e-mail distribution, there were only a few e-mail addresses that “bounced” back as incorrect or inoperative. Clearly our list of members’ e-mail addresses is getting more accurate – but it’s still not perfect. Please ensure that Neil Hubbard, our Membership Secretary, has your current and correct e-mail address. If you are reading this but did not receive an electronic pdf version of the last Newsletter then clearly we did not have a valid e-mail address for you on file. If you have one, please let Neil know it.
Notably, in a recent e-mail survey of our overseas members, the great majority agreed to receive only an e-version of the Newsletter in future – although they will continue to receive paper copies of the RS Journal. This is very helpful as the costs of mailing Newsletters overseas was getting to be significant, and we are grateful to them for agreeing this.
As you know, Dr. Norman Moles has stepped down from the Editor’s chair of the RS Journal. Many heartfelt thanks must go from all members to Norman for his excellent efforts over an extended period. His place has been taken by Dr. Malcolm Southwood, a long time RS member who resides in the State of Victoria in Australia. This arrangement is made possible by the wonders of modern electronic communication and we are confident that it will work well. Malcolm has written a short article for this Newsletter to introduce himself and explain how he hopes to operate. This should be of interest to everyone, especially those contemplating writing a paper for the journal. I would add my voice to Malcolm’s and urge you to contribute material to the Society’s “flagship” publication.
Finally I would make my usual plea for comments and feedback from you the readers. I really do want to know what you think about what is after all your Newsletter. I hope you enjoy it.
Michael Doel
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 3 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
From the President:
As you will be aware from our latest society journal Dr Robert (Bob) King, the founder of the Russell Society, died in September 2013. This issue of the newsletter contains many reminisces from members who knew Bob, but it should be remembered that 2013 saw the loss of many other members who made significant contributions to the study of mineralogy in Britain, but whose work was not so high profile, or who shunned the limelight. Let us hope that 2014 proves to be a much kinder year to the mineralogical community.
2014 is the International Year of Crystallography. Minerals are used in many different ways. Crystallography is one branch of mineralogy – admittedly quite a technical branch – but don’t we all like nice crystals? There will be events held around the UK and across the world, but one which caught my attention is an exhibition called Crystals: Beauty, Science, Structure, held at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford. This exhibition closes at the end of March so hopefully, for those who are interested, you will have received this newsletter in good time.
Last November I organised a group visit to the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution which proved to be an enjoyable and informative visit. Details from this trip (and a few images) can be seen in this newsletter. Look out for visits to other institutions and museums later this year.
On a similar theme, I have offered to visit each branch and to present a talk during next winter on the ‘History of Mineral Collecting.’ This is an area of mineralogy I am particularly interested in and have been researching for many years. The idea behind this ‘series’ of talks is to provide presentations specific to each geographic area. However, as you will no doubt be aware, some parts of the UK are richer, mineralogically, than others and therefore for the South East Branch I have suggested an overview of the whole of the UK. I will be focussing on the period from the mid-eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century, but will endeavour to cover important aspects of modern collecting, so I hope these talks will be of interest to as many of you as possible.
For those of you with a detailed grasp of technology and, in particular, experience of website design, we are looking for someone, or perhaps a team, to take on the running of our website. Gary Morse established the website in 2001 and has developed it into an excellent resource for finding out information about the society and its events. Gary has decided that he would like to pass the baton (so to speak) on to someone who has experience of some of the more modern aspects of web design and operation. If you think that you can help and would like to get involved then further details are provided later on in this newsletter.
Finally, the preparations for our National Annual Society Meeting (ASM) are well in-hand, with the organisers in the Southern Branch having put together an excellent range of activities. If you have never attended one of our ASM weekends then you really have missed out. The weekend is a great opportunity to meet others who share a fascination in minerals; to learn about minerals through talks and displays; to acquire new specimens through exchange and from the evening auction; and to attend fieldtrips and visit museum collections. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the event on the Isle of Portland in April.
Tom Cotterell Hon. President
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 4 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER SOCIETY NOTICES
OBITUARY: Donald M. Alderson (1942 – 2013)
Donald Michael Alderson, known to everyone as “Don”, was born on 4th August 1942 in Middlesbrough, England, the day on which Middlesbrough Railway Station was bombed. Don first met Paddy (his wife to be) at junior school in Filey, then aged ten, but mutual interest did not blossom until they joined their local youth club. On leaving school Don studied for four years at Scarborough School of Art and Design, gaining a National Diploma in Pottery and Painting. He then went on to the University of Leeds and where he was awarded the Art Teacher’s Diploma (ATD). Don and Paddy married in Filey Trinity Methodist Church in August 1964.
Moving to Lancashire in late 1964, Don lectured at the Accrington School of Art for a number of years, where he taught pottery, painting and design. Eventually choosing to leave academia, he began his own pottery business, naming it Isis Pottery. Having set- up a studio in the old Co-op stables next to the railway bridge in Accrington, this was a place destined to become a favourite haunt of mineral collectors in years to come. It was while running Isis Pottery that Don first became aware of, and then interested in, minerals. He joined Bury and District Mineral and Lapidary Society where he met Wally Hartshorne, a plant manager with ICI. Wally and Don became firm friends and collecting partners, making frequent trips into Derbyshire and the Northern Pennine Orefield and it was during this period that his interest focused upon collecting baryte.
In the mid 1970’s, Don decided to make a business of mineral dealing, whereby Isis Pottery evolved into Isis Minerals, while retaining the same premises with that now familiar cobbled courtyard. Following Wally’s retirement from ICI in 1980, Don and Wally when into partnership and this ran until about mid-1986. From then on the business was run solely by Don, but with increasing input from Paddy.
In addition to dealing in mineral specimens, Isis Minerals always retained its original values of good design, in that the shop had an enthralling array mineral and mining ephemera, often including framed antique geological maps, share certificates, old mining postcards, mining tokens and mining-related ornaments. In 1994 the business was relocated to the Watershed Mill on the outskirts of Settle, where it remained until their retirement in September 2005. The shop was run jointly by Don and Paddy where the name was changed to Aladdin’s Cave, based on an often heard exclamation made by customers on entering. It was also during this period that Don converted one of the rooms in their house at Whalley Road into “The Pink Room”, a Mecca for connoisseurs of choice British and foreign mineral specimens and wonderful ephemera; I for one could have spent all my holidays there!
In summer 2006 Don and Paddy moved to the village of Clachan on the Kintyre Peninsula; which turned out to be an idyllic retirement setting where friends were always made so very welcome.
Almost everyone reading this will have many specimens in their collections bought from Isis Minerals. I think that for many people Don’s table was a firm favourite at mineral shows and on their “must visit” list. Specimens ranged from items priced to encourage children to take up the hobby (although still of great quality) to those for the seasoned specialist. Whatever the quality and rarity of specimen, the price was always very fair and then a generous discount would be applied. I can remember on many an occasion arguing that I was more than happy to pay the asking price but Don, calling on his somewhat stubborn streak, would insist on reducing the price even further! Consequently, this has allowed many a collector to build a serious specimen suite on limited resources, I for one being indebted to him for this. He was also very well known for his truly outstanding baryte collection, consisting of both British and worldwide specimens. The collection was not only remarkable for the many forms of baryte and its mineral associations, but in that was rich in specimens with wonderful provenance as well as top class self-collected material. Many of these specimens have appeared in the mineralogical literature, a small sample of which is referenced later.
The first sign of something being wrong with Don came in late December 2012 when he fell at home for no explainable
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 5 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER reason. Throughout the first five months of 2013 various hospital visits were made, but with no satisfactory diagnosis. I last met Don when I visited Clachan in July and although it was known something was not right, he was still able to drive and pretty much enjoy life as normal. Not long after this his speech suddenly became affected and he was found to have a brain tumour. Despite knowing his condition and the ultimate outcome, he remained remarkably stoical and although only able to speak on the phone for a minute or two, was always keen and determined to do so.
Don passed away peacefully at Campbeltown Hospital on the morning of Saturday 12th October 2013, coincidentally the day of the Bakewell Show. The news broke at the show around 11 am, where most fittingly and poignantly, many of Don’s mineral friends were gathered.
Don is survived by his wife Paddy, their children Ewan and Frances, two grandchildren and brother David. Don was taken from us all far too early, but I know he will be forever remembered with the greatest of affection and admiration. Rest in peace Don and thank you for enriching all of our lives in so many ways.
Selected Bibliography: ALDERSON, D.M. (2003). Advertisement for the Pink Room. UK Journal of Mines & Minerals 23, 55. GREEN, D.I. & TODD, J.G. (2001). Twenty Years in Minerals: Scotland. UK Journal of Mines & Minerals 21, 22. FORD, T.D., SARJEANT, W.A.S. & SMITH, M.E. (1993). Minerals of the Peak District of Derbyshire. UK Journal of Mines & Minerals 13 & Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society 12(1), 34 & 40. SYMES, R.F. & YOUNG, B. (2008). Minerals of Northern England. NMS Enterprises Ltd., Edinburgh, in association with the Natural History Museum, London, 132-133.
Philip Taylor
OBITUARY: Dr F. Brian Atkins (1937-2013)
I’m sad to have to tell you that Brian died unexpectedly, but peacefully in his sleep on Boxing Day morning. He was the first Curator of the Mineral Collections at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. When he took up this post in 1969, the collections were overcrowded, poorly organised, and had a big backlog of cataloguing. Brian was a really able curator who loved minerals and took pride in turning the collection into one of the best cared for and organised in the UK. He started to build the collection, and was one of the few curators to be seen at mineral shows or welcoming amateur collectors behind the scenes. I feel incredibly fortunate to have learnt from and worked with him.
Masterminding the turn-around of the collections was all the more admirable given that Brian also had a full workload of teaching and research to do in the Earth Sciences Department, including supervising annual student field trips to the Isle of Arran as well as occasional forays further afield, for example Greenland in 1966 and Ascension Island in the 1980s. Besides being curator, lecturer and researcher, Brian would take his turn at being Principal Curator, in charge of the Museum, and in this, he was trusted and respected.
Brian was good company, witty and always clever with words, and he helped make the Museum a fun place to work. He took early retirement in 1997, and gave up mineralogy to spend more time on another of his passions, local history research. Our condolences go to his wife, Pat, and their family.
Monica Price
Roy Starkey adds:
“The Annual Dinner of April 1986 saw one of the best after dinner speeches I’ve ever had the pleasure to hear. Dr Brian Atkins of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History enlightened us with a witty and at times hilarious talk which embraced mineralogy, the Book of Job, the pursuit of wisdom, and the joys of marking undergraduate exam manuscripts. Brian concluded his address with an “Owed to the Russell Society”, which for those of you who were not there, is reproduced below:-
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Owed to the Russell Society Recording, study, conservation; these we strive to do, Understanding what we find at sites both old and new. Specialists or novices, it matters not a jot. Saving for posterity both clay and peridot. Educating others in the practice of our craft, Leaving some in-situ for the ones who follow aft. Lectures, field trips, competitions, auctions once a year, (Sothebys will tremble at the prices when they hear!). Our journal is a treasure, and a credit to our King, Considering the price it is, it hardly costs a thing. In short, in matters mineral (as Gilbert would have said, Except that he hasn’t heard of us – that’s chiefly ‘cos he’s dead), The Society of Russell is the foremost in the land. Young men and women – hammers out! – and join our happy band!”
OBITUARY: Roy Frankum (1928 – 2013)
Roy had always had a keen interest in the natural world. In his younger days he had been a rock climber, mainly in Derbyshire, the Lake district, North Wales and Scotland but also going to the French Alps. He was also loved caving mainly around the UK but also in Norway, north of the Artic Circle. His caving skills came in very useful when, as part of the Orpheus Caving Club, he helped rescue a young woman who had fallen in Giant’s Hole in Derbyshire.
He was a very practical man, for many years he was a senior lecturer at Southfields College, Leicester teaching students the building trade, but he was also very quite and unassuming.
Roy was introduced to Maggie, his future wife, by a friend, and later fellow Russell Society member Ron Johnson while they were on geology and mineralogy courses at Vaughan College, Leicester. Roy and Maggie shared so many interests (except rock climbing !) and together they lived life to the full.
Their shared interest in the natural world also included minerals and to learn more, they enrolled into an evening class run by Bob King and so became founder members of the Russell Society when it was launched by Bob in 1972.
They were both active supporters of the Society, their camper van was a firm fixture on field trips and they both served on the committee of the Central Branch, although in recent years, Roy’s illness had preventing both of them from taking part in Society activities.
Roy will be sadly missed by all those who knew him and our condolences go to Maggie and their children Neil and Alison.
Neil Hubbard
OBITUARY: Arnold (“Arnie”) Neale (1945 – 2013)
Arnie was born in Wallasey and was an only son. His parents were members of the Wallasey Village United Reform Church, with which Arnie maintained a life-long connection, being the church organist for many years.
He attended Oldershaw Grammar School and developed an interest in minerals as a result of family holidays spent in Shropshire. This interest later prompted him to specialise in chemistry. On leaving school Arnie attended a technical college in Flintshire. One adventure from this period of his life involved driving a Wallasey double decker bus to the Munich Beer Festival. Also, during this period the “Mersey Beat” was all the rage and Arnie, with some friends, formed a group which played at many local gigs.
After college Arnie went into industry as an analytical chemist but later went on to be a technician at the Jane Herdman Department of Geology in the University of Liverpool. There he worked mainly with Dr. Atherton, who specialised in geochemistry. It was during this time that I first met Arnie, but this early acquaintance was short lived due to his move to Zambia.
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After being accepted as a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of Chemistry Arnie spent some years in Zambia. There he worked mainly at Kabwe (Broken Hill) where he supervised the water treatment department. Whenever possible he visited the open pit to collect minerals and, from this and judicious trading, he amassed a fine collection of local minerals which included outstanding specimens of libethenite and cornetite.
On his return to the UK, Arnie continued his interest in collecting and we met again at the Wirral Mineral & Lapidary Society where, in due course, the late Ken Savage also became a member. Together we three made several collecting trips to the Lake District, Shropshire and North Wales. With my encouragement Arnie joined the Russell Society and became well known as an active member in the North-West Branch.
Arnie died in his sleep some time between the 9th and the 15th of December 2013.
Bill Bolton.
Remembering Bob: Reflections on a life.
This tribute is intended to complement the formal obituary which was published in the Journal of the Russell Society (Starkey, 2013), and to provide the opportunity for members to recall some of their personal reminiscences of Bob. We also include here a selection of archive material from Bob’s personal files and photo albums which it is hoped will help to build a rounded picture of “Bob the man” for those who perhaps did not know him well or did not have the opportunity to meet him.
Our story starts with Bob as a youngster, finding his feet in the world as a Choir Boy. The following notes are taken from Bob’s uncompleted autobiography. He wrote “Music began to dominate my life. I was always welcome in the music room of my old home. [His mother was a singing teacher]. Mother did much of her practising in there and I graduated from listening to her, to joining in and eventually singing duets and (if we could corner my father) trios. Mother realized I could sing and set about teaching me voice control and projection. Each day, twice a day, I would stand at the open window for deep-breathing exercises. In due course (in spite of having had diphtheria) I was able to sing the whole verse of a hymn with one breath. Now, sadly, I’m lucky if I can manage two lines!”
His mother realized the potential of her son and he was auditioned for Leicester Cathedral Choir. It was an easy audition he uncharacteristically bragged, however “my initiation ceremony was far from easy”. “If my readers attend Choral Evensong in any Cathedral (which they should do for their soul’s sake) they should take no notice of the angelic appearance of the boys!”
Bob discovered a fellowship that had been lacking in his school, but part of that membership required being baptised. “My Father (an atheist) was sceptical but comforted himself with the thought that I should eventually come round to his way of thinking!”
The choristers (probably including Bob) led Mr. George Gray (the Cathedral Organist and Choirmaster) a merry dance. They were his “naughty boys” according to a parishioner, but this was a wonderful experience which lasted a lifetime. Bob came to love the Psalms – “I interpret the merits of a choir, say on Choral Evensong each week, by how the choir sings the Psalms”.
During his days as a fine treble, Bob made an appearance on BBC radio at 6.30pm on Sunday 18th July, 1933. He was selected to sing two groups of songs with the Aston Hippodrome Orchestra – The Smiling Hours (Hercules) by Handel; and A Pastoral (Carney, arr. Lane Wilson), and Where the Bee Sucks by Arne. The Radio Times featured a photo of Bob in his Choir Boy outfit. When Bob’s voice broke at 16½ he became, in his own words, a “run-of-the-mill bass” (although his voice was big and deep, apparently). It was all a bit of a shock to him. He notes that, when singing the solo part in the Magnificat in G by Stanford “his voice shot off at an angle in an uncontrolled manner without any warning”. Mr. Gray fortunately knew what had The Radio Times in July 1933. happened. The young Bob King features in a radio broadcast.
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 8 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Of course, at this time Bob was also attending school and in his own words (extracted from his unfinished memoirs) we learn that: “I enjoyed the sciences. I had always loved biology in all its branches and had won prizes for its presentation at junior school. I do not think that Mother thought much of my biology. The boiling of a cod’s head on the kitchen cooker and the dissection of a worm on the draining board did little for her appreciation of the natural world. My attempts at enthusing her fell on stony ground, which was disappointing”. He also noted that; “I enjoyed physics, especially lenses and magnetism, although some of the mathematics involved troubled me. Chemistry I could not have enough of. We even talked about minerals in inorganic chemistry, which helped to crystallize my life-long fascination in them”.
At times the science lessons got particularly exciting, as Bob recalls: “The masters were obliged to wear black academic gowns during lessons, but white coats during practicals in the laboratories. On one exciting occasion, Mr Smith [chemistry master] was talking about the chemistry and properties of phosphorus in our form room. There were jars of both kinds of phosphorus on the desk at the front of the class. He turned round to write a formula on the blackboard and caught one of the jars with his gown and tipped it over, whereupon it rolled down the desk and dropped off the end onto the floor. Hearing a noise, he admonished the class for making it, but failed to realise that it was of his own making. A few moments later a curl of smoke appeared at the end of the desk and, shortly after that, a full-blown phosphorus fire. We were told to file quietly down the stairs and congregate in the yard. Shortly afterwards boys were ejected from the physics laboratory situated under the chemistry laboratory. The phosphorus had burnt right through the floor of the chemistry laboratory and through the ceiling below, much to the consternation of the physics teacher. There was no more physics or chemistry that day.”
Bob also enjoyed participating in the school Chemistry Club, where “We also made a complete model of a coal-gas works, which produced a lovely mess of coal tar and gas which burnt cleanly. Subsequently I built another from milk bottles etc. in the garden shed at home. It was powered by a petrol blow torch. Petrol was 1 shilling and 6 pence [7.5p] per gallon [4.544 litres]. During one operation the torch overheated, the safety valve stuck and I just had time to throw it out of the shed onto the lawn where it exploded like a grenade. It was suggested [by his mother presumably!] that I should discontinue the experiment which was a pity. Science cannot advance if one stops at every minor hiccup. Anyway, I learnt a lot of chemistry at school which helped me greatly in later life.”
During the Second World War, Bob served in the army. Trevor Ford recalls that: ”Regarding his army service, he was in the Royal Signals, briefly captured a few days before the fall of Tunis, and then released by the Allies. He was also involved with the battle of Monte Cassino and told me of collecting minerals in shell craters with other shells whizzing overhead”.
Bob was part of the assault force in Operation Corkscrew – an amphibious assault on the small Italian island of Pantelleria on 11th June 1943. The taking of the island was partly operational and partly experimental, and marked the first significant use of sustained aerial bombing in advance of an amphibious landing. During June of 1943, 14,203 bombs, totalling 4,119 tons, were dropped on 16 gun batteries. Significant damage was done to control communications, gun emplacements and munitions stores. An hour in advance of the landing, a naval bombardment commenced, and the invading force landed without casualties. The Picture Post (Vol.20, No.1, 3 July 1943) carried a report of the attack, and one of the photos is thought to include an image of Bob on the landing beach.
During his military service Bob had a record of sending mineral specimens back, from wherever, to his mother, some of which are preserved in his collection, now at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
During the 1960s and 1970s Bob featured in various articles in the local Leicester press. The Evening Mail for 14th April 1961 included a review article by Bob “University Probes Hidden Wealth”, which provided an overview of the geology and mineralisation of Leicestershire, and trailing the possibility of future economic exploitation, although the concluding paragraph noted that “Much more geological evidence must be produced before any conclusion may be reached, but it is a line of research which we Page from “Picture Post” in July 1943. should keep well in mind.” After the landings on Pantelleria.
In July 1973 the Leicester Mercury profiled Bob on the occasion of the award of his PhD, billing him as “The man who
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 9 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER found gold in Charnwood”, and reviewing his mineralogical interests and personal collection, stated to be “what is probably the finest private collection in this country.”
One article titled “King of Rockers – Doctor Bob survives mine explosions to add to his 15,000-specimen collection” (Leicester Mercury 15th July 1977) included mention of a lucky escape when Bob was nearly blown up in a mine in Matlock, Derbyshire. He recalled that “They were emptying a shaft by blasting and unfortunately the miners had forgotten all about me. There was a tremendous bang and I suddenly found myself flying through the air in a stream of rocks and boulders. I eventually came to rest after a 30-40 foot fall in an ore bin at the bottom of the shaft. People looked at me a bit askance when I finally made my way out, but I still had my samples, after all, that was the object of the exercise.”
The event was immortalised at the time in a cartoon by Rudy Obial, a former student of Bob’s.
As the outcome of the public enquiry into mining of coal in Part of the Leicester Mercury article from 1973. the Vale of Belvoir (later known as the Selby Coalfield) was awaited, the Leicester Mercury for 28th November 1980 ran a headline “Gold! Right here under our doorstep”, reporting “old news” of Bob’s discovery of gold at Bardon Hill ten years previously, and repeating much of the article about local rocks and minerals which had appeared in the Evening Mail back in 1961.
Bob was perhaps, above all else, an avid collector, and was never happier than when he donned his mining gear and disappeared into a muddy hole, or perhaps underground. A photo, taken by Nigel Moreton at the Isolation Mine in Snelston, Derbyshire in 1975, shows Bob with his faithful hound “Piper” digging into the overgrown spoil heaps.
Bob’s collecting ensured that his dog lived a life not without incident. Trevor Bridges recalls how, on a visit to Bwlch Glas Mine the unfortunate dog was underground and, being without its own head lamp, fell down a Cartoon depicting Bob’s “unfortunate incident” in a laddered shaft. It was luckily unhurt but Bob, along with mine near Matlock. John Jones, had to descend to the depths in order to bring it up.
One of the highlights of Bob’s mineralogical and mining career must surely be the rediscovery and excavation of the Tickow Lane Mine, at Shepshed, Leicestershire. Back in the halcyon “can do” days of the early 1970s, a crack team of Russell Society volunteers came together to sink a shaft, and so began an adventure that lives on in the memories of all those involved. Rudy Obial captured a couple of amusing aspects of the project in cartoon form.
Bob’s expertise, both mineralogical and literary, and his contributions to the science of mineralogy were well known on the World stage. In 1982, he won the prestigious Friends of Mineralogy award for “Best Article in the Mineralogical Record” for his contribution on The Boltsburn Mine, Bob collecting at the Isolation Mine in Snelston in 1975. although the type-setter managed to mis-spell fluorite as Photo: Nigel Moreton.
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Two cartoons by Rudy Obial satirising Bob’s involvement with the Tickow Lane Mine. flourite several times, which must have irritated Bob more than somewhat!
The mineral bobkingite was described in 2002 and named for Bob (Hawthorne et al., 2002). The story of the discovery (by Society Member Neil Hubbard) and characterisation of this new species (by a multi-disciplinary international team) is told in an article by John Carney in Mercian Geologist
The Tickow Lane Gang in 1978. Bob is standing third from the left.
(Carney, 2006). Beginning with a walk across a muddy footpath around the New Certificate issued to Bob by the Friends of Mineralogy Cliffe Hill Quarry in 1982 for his article on the Boltsburn Mine. in 1993, John traces the tortuous process of x-ray determination, at the NHM in London, of tiny fragments of an unknown blue mineral, known to be a copper chloride, but with insufficient material to make a full determination. The big break came in the February of 1999, when Neil attended the Tucson Show in Arizona where he met Frank Hawthorne of the University of Manitoba. Frank is a native of Somerset and a world leader in determining the crystal structures of minerals. Frank happened to be working on the structures of copper chloride minerals and was keen to see the samples from Cliffe Hill. The two remaining tiny samples - possibly the last in the world - were sent off to Canada……. The gamble paid off, and in July of 1999, Frank was able to report that this was indeed a new mineral, and provided the details of its chemical formula and crystal system. Neil suggested that the name of the mineral should be ‘bobkingite’ after Dr R J King.
A page from Bob’s Boltsburn Mine To many, Bob’s greatest legacy is his creation of the Russell Society. A short article. Complete with “flourite” history of the Society appeared in Newsletter 61 (Starkey, 2012), and it is not mis-print!
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 11 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER proposed to repeat the content here. However, a brief précis of the Society’s history does seem appropriate for the sake of completeness. The Society was born out of an evening class on the 27th October 1972 when approximately thirty people, all from the area in and around Leicester, met to inaugurate the Russell Society. Early leadership and direction was provided by Bob who was President from 1973 – 1975.
The first Newsletter (1973-74), edited by John Jones, was a Roneo-stencilled typewritten publication running to 37 pages. In the early years of the Society the Annual Competition evening was a very popular event. Field meetings were (and still are) a major part of the Society’s activities, and during 1978 included visits to a range of working fluorspar mines in Derbyshire, and that year, work was completed to secure Tickow Lane mine. The membership list at that time included such well-known figures as Sir Frank Claringbull, Sir Kingsley Dunham, Emlyn Evans, Professor R.A.Howie, Dick Barstow, Roger Harker, Ralph Sutcliffe, and Morrison Thomas.
The tenth anniversary of the Society in 1982 was marked by the publication of a “Special Photographic Record” [You can download a PDF copy of this booklet from the Society website].
In the autumn of 1983 Bob King announced his intention to move away from Leicester to take up a post with the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. These were testing times for the Society, and the decision to launch the Journal of the Russell Society injected a renewed impetus to Society activities, providing for the first time, a vehicle for members to publish the results of their field work and investigations.
The Society continued to develop, with the establishment of a number of branches, and the range of field trips expanded dramatically – in 1988 the programme included a total of around 30 different field trips all over the country. It celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 1992 by establishing a new international award for outstanding services to mineralogy – the Russell Medal, and the first award, made during the Society’s conference weekend at Loughborough University, was presented to none other than Dr R.J. King, founder of the Society!
During the 1990s the Society was engaged in a long-term project to restore the 200-year-old mineral collection at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, led by Mick Cooper and Franz Werner. This is perhaps the most high profile project that the Society has been involved in to date, and attracted international acclaim and publicity for the Society.
The Society initiated its on-line presence in mid-1998, and the website and e-Journal of the Russell Society are now both well-established parts of our offering. Voluntary work in museums and similar institutions has proven to be a particular strength of Society members, and institutions which have received support include the Natural History Museum; Manchester Museum; Oxford University Museum of Natural History; the Lapworth Museum, Birmingham; BGS Keyworth, South Wales RIGS, Beacon Museum Whitehaven, Bolton Museum, and Botanic Gardens Museum, Southport. Such activities are very much in-line with Bob’s original vision of the Society, and something of which he strongly approved.
One of Bob’s notable characteristics was his obvious enthusiasm for his subject and his ability to inspire a similarly strong and enduring enthusiasm in his “disciples”. A significant number of Russell Society members have paid tribute to the role Bob played in their early days in the hobby. For example:
“Bob helped me enormously in my early days of mineralogy and encouraged me to start writing papers. Paul and David met him when they were 10 and 12 initially. They said he was very kind and was happy to spend time teaching them and giving them bits on field meetings (he did the same for me).”
Trevor Bridges
“I was first introduced to Bob, in 2009, at a National ASM arranged by the Wales and West Branch in the Forest of Dean. I had arranged a display of classic British minerals using specimens from Bob’s collection which was acquired by the National Museum of Wales in 1983. Bob was unhappy at the time, but unbeknown to me he had not long suffered a stroke which had adversely affected his eyesight.
Shortly afterwards I was invited to lunch at Bob and Sally’s home near Tewksbury and Bob recounted many stories from his collecting past. I learned more about Bob’s collection from that few hours chat than many years of studying his specimens in the museum. Bob took great pleasure in showing me his, ‘New King’, collection, assembled for the purpose of writing his ‘Minerals Explained’ articles for Geology Today. This new collection was auctioned a few years ago at an event which attracted bidders from as far away as the U.S.A.
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Bob and Sally regularly attended the annual Wales and West Branch/Cheltenham Mineral and Geological Society event at Maisemore, near Gloucester, and despite deteriorating health Bob was always keen to find out how things were going at the museum and wanting to be remembered to staff. My one regret is not having made contact with Bob earlier, but at least I was able to meet with him and learn a little of his background and the history of his collecting – in a time before health and safety dominated.”
Tom Cotterell.
“This is a treasured slice of polished Tiger’s Eye that Bob gave to me as thanks for being his “Class Secretary”, doing mundane things like fetching the register and ordering coffee for members of the evening classes at Vaughan College (in pre-Russell Society days, in Leicester, back in the 1960s) whilst Bob inspired us all with his knowledge of mineralogy and localities where to go to take a closer look. This specimen is even more special for me now, because it was at Vaughan College that I met my husband Roy and we went off in search of those minerals. Sadly this year, Roy died soon after Bob.”
Maggie Frankum
“I personally first came across Bob King in 1986. I had recently moved to a new job in South Wales, and one of my tasks was to read the newspapers each morning to see if there was anything of interest or relevance to work. One day I noted an article, all about the setting up of a RS branch in South Wales in November 1986. I must have phoned Bob pretty quickly, and joined. Although never having met Bob up to then I knew of him because I had previously read his PhD thesis on the minerals of Leicestershire. I was living in rural Herefordshire Polished slice of Tiger Eye gifted by at that time, I asked for the thesis through the inter library loans service, and the Bob to Maggie Frankum. travelling library brought it direct to my front door - super service from them! I remember reading his thesis with great interest.”
Lynda Garfield
“Bob, through his enthusiasm for minerals, succeeded in igniting that same enthusiasm in a group of novice geologists attending an evening class at Vaughan College in Leicester. After a while, the class under Bob moved to Leicester University where, in addition to lectures, we were able to learn laboratory techniques including the replication of fossils in plaster. Bob was somewhat taken aback I think to find that a number of his students had developed a production line system to speed up the rate of manufacture! We also made trips to Charnwood Forest which included looking for gold – which was unfortunately not successful. Bob had also researched old documents which referred to the existence of an old lead mine. Eventually this was discovered on the side of a defunct canal near to Tickow Lane. Bob with members of the Russell Society Wales & West Branch at After a while it was suggested by Bob that a their AGM in 2009. society should be formed to further interest and research into minerals. As a result the Russell society was formed, but I do not think that, at that time, we saw it becoming the worldwide organisation it is today. In my view the Society is Bob’s memorial.”
John Ingall
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“When I was a Leicester undergraduate, Bob seemed a rather formidable-looking custodian of the collections, quietly working with his devoted dog at his heels, so I was a bit nervous when I found myself his only geologist on the postgraduate Museum Studies course. Then I discovered the huge pleasure of regular Monday afternoon one-to-one lessons, soaking up his curatorial wisdom over strong black coffee brewed up in a chemistry beaker over a Bunsen burner. It was there I cemented a warm friendship with Bob, and heard all about the exploits of the early Russell Society, much about Sally and family, and quite a bit about gardening, something we both enjoyed. He gave me free access to explore his superb private collection, sowing the seeds of my love of minerals. Without a doubt, I owe my career at Oxford to Bob, but I feel very fortunate to have had him as a quiet, kind and wise teacher and friend”.
Monica Price Head of Earth Collections Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Bob was also quick to acknowledge his debt to those who had helped him in the early days of his mineralogical interest. Dr Helen Boynton who was researching information about H.H.Gregory, former curator at the New Walk Museum, Leicester was contacted by Bob, who knew Gregory well. Bob noted that “I owe him a great debt of gratitude for what he taught me. I took several enquiries to the museum when I was very young (aged about six or seven) which included flint nodule from the Pleistocene gravels at Stoughton in which there was a cavity with quartz crystals in. Gregory carefully explained how the crystals had got there and how they had formed. He also explained why and how gypsum crystals had developed in the Upper Lias clays at Alexton, where we went as a family on holiday. “This he explained to me with marked patience for an inquisitive young lad. I must have stretched his patience, and little realised that I would have to do the same thing again for young people myself, many years afterwards, but I never forgot his teaching technique.” (Leicester Mercury 12th March 2010)
When you have lived such a long and interesting life as Bob did, you garner a rich collection of interesting stories and anecdotes. One particularly which sticks in my mind, is that of a chap named Raymond Walsh. Bob told me that he had developed something of a friendship with this man whom he met through attending H.H. Gregory’s evening class at Leicester New Walk Museum. He had trained as a civil engineer, and became a member of the Geologists’ Association in 1942. He then proposed Bob for membership, but it is not clear whether or not Bob joined at this time as he was away in the Forces (Walsh having gained an exemption from war service).
Walsh and Bob had made many joint collecting trips to mines around Britain, and they exchanged specimens, a considerable number of Walsh specimens still remain in the King Collection at the National Museum of Wales, in Cardiff (T.Cotterell, personal communication). Walsh wrote many letters to Bob, mostly relating to Northern England – for example, Rotherhope Fell Mine. He also visited Cornwall, and the Camborne School of Mines, and Bob recalls having seen specimens donated by Walsh during a visit made by Sally and himself.
In a letter dated 23rd December 1944, Walsh wrote “I am writing [to ask for copies of] for one or two more Govt. Publications on mines in this country if these are available. They are a list of all working ones, coal and metal with Firms’ names etc., and should be useful to plan collecting trips with.”
Bob had a list of specimens (mostly from Cumbria) donated to Leicester New Walk Museum by Walsh, and in 1951 he wrote to George Snowball, the Keeper of Geology, seeking to establish whether the specimens still survived. The reply makes interesting reading
“Thank you for your letter which I assure you causes me no great inconvenience. I am afraid I can give you little help except to say that the whole of Mr Walsh’s collection, both the 99 minerals and the 76 crystals, were delivered to Mr Gregory on 9th August 1949 in accordance with instructions received from Mr Walsh. What has happened to them since I am afraid I have been entirely unable to gather, but I have heard a suggestion that they may have gone to Oxford. I would suggest that a possible means of tracking them down may be through obtaining a copy of Mr Gregory’s will from Somerset House.
The transport of the material was somewhat complicated and I feel that to clear this matter up it would be best for you to come in some time after August bank Holiday as until that time I shall be on leave, as to explain it by letter is almost hopeless!” (One wonders why!).
Letters from Walsh in Bob’s archive, written in 1942, 1944 and 1947, bear a letterhead of Raymond C. Walsh (Architect and Surveyor). The contact came to an abrupt end with a telegram sent by Walsh to Bob “Flying to Johannesburg, South
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 14 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Africa 15th September 1947”. Walsh had apparently decided to go and work in the diamond industry. There is one later letter from 68 Cullingworth Road, Sherwood, Durban, dated 12 December 1950.
After the war Bob was ploughing a field at Newton Harcourt in Leicestershire when a smartly dressed man in a raincoat gestured to him to stop the tractor. He shouted across that he could not stop work (he would lose his job) but that he could meet up later if it was important. In their subsequent conversation the visitor asked Bob if he knew Raymond Walsh and his whereabouts. Bob said that they had lost contact but that the last he had heard was that he had travelled to South Africa to work in the diamond industry. It transpired that the man was from military intelligence and that he wanted to find Walsh. Apparently, Walsh’s documents granting him exemption from military service were found to be forgeries produced in Germany, and Walsh was suspected of espionage. He had been visiting British mines (presumably with Bob) and sending reports to Germany.
Bob’s funeral, and thanksgiving service on 16th October 2013, was conducted by the Reverend Dr. Chris Fletcher (geologist, priest, former student of Bob’s and friend). The occasion provided an opportunity to re-live Bob’s varied and interesting life, and I think that most of the assembled congregation probably learned something at least about Bob which they did not know previously. Chris began his address;
“May I welcome you to this “Thanksgiving” for the life of Dr. Robert Joseph King. I will mostly call him – Bob. Some of YOU shared his family life and knew him at home and in the various communities in which he lived. Some of US shared parts of Bob’s professional life at Leicester University and learned societies. I hope I speak for all of us when I say we shared his friendship wherever and whenever the paths of our lives crossed. I received an e-mail from Indonesia saying “Bob was one of the nicest and most friendly people I have ever met!” and Sally has received so much more. We shall re-call Bob in his various walks of life, under girded for such a long time with the words and music of the Church when he sang as a chorister in Leicester Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey. This is to be a celebration of 90 years of a rich and varied life with memories, pegs on which to hang our own experiences and associations – with gratitude.”
Sally re-counted a story to me which I have embellished to provide the context of what we are doing. Bob made a return to Leicester University some years ago. He went into the Bennett Building where the Geology Department is. He was mooching down the corridor, stopping and stooping to peer through those great plate glass windows through which you could see the cabinets of the Museum, his workplace for many years as Curator of the Collections.
Surely he was recalling so much of his “ages past”. Maybe he was lost in thought, remembering how it was he had arrived here after working on a farm, after the war; after the modest surrounds of H. Block becoming part of this new building, and how they’d had to pour another 9” of concrete into the foundations of his store after he’d calculated the weight of the collections of the future. Perhaps he recalled that near-fateful afternoon when the windows suddenly cracked and Trevor Ford ran for his life uttering unrepeatable expletives as the building began its collapse, and remembered of course, people like Prof., Mac, Trevor, Cliff James, Mike Le Bas, Tony Evans, Aftab Khan – and those who would follow as fellow staff.
He perhaps was thinking of former students – far too many to mention, although Trevor Davenport, Roger Harker, Rudy Obial come to mind, and those here today – each dealt with by him with professional interest. Even myself saying “I don’t think this is graphite Bob – I think it’s molybdenite, but it’s not where it’s supposed to be according to the text books – and his excitement in confirming it for me.
But, I suspect (most of all) he was thinking of happy times, of Iris and their family, Barry and Josephine, before Iris got sick and died at no great age, and that unexpected new life that came about in marrying Sally and having Amy and Daniel, and all the grandchildren.
His reverie that afternoon was interrupted by someone demanding – “Who are you? What are you doing here?” “ I worked here once”, may have been his answer. We shall hear something of all that. I hope we can do him justice. We know we would have been all the poorer for not having known this self-effacing humble man (who avoided the camera as often as possible) so that whilst he may be gone, he is certainly not forgotten – as had happened in the department because, well, time had passed. Bob’s skills live on, his enthusiasm remains, his love continues – though from another place, some of us believe.
So as we listen and sing and pray – and get lost in our thoughts, perhaps, in this “dress rehearsal” for each of us, may we take away something meaningful which was meaningful to Bob, as a final gift from him. And above all, let us be
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 15 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER thankful for having known him.
It is obvious that we, as members of the Russell Society, have particular reasons to be thankful for Bob’s life and his achievements. For those who knew him – and for those who know only his legacy – his passing leaves a gap that will not easily be filled. He will be greatly missed.
Roy Starkey (with contributions from numerous others gratefully acknowledged in the text)
References:
Carney, J. (2006) Bobkingite - the untold story. Mercian Geologist, 16 (3), 203.
Hawthorne, F.C., Cooper, M. A., Grice, J.D., Roberts, A.C. and Hubbard, N. (2002) Description and crystal structure of 2+ bobkingite, Cu 5Cl2(OH)8(H2O)2, a new mineral from New Cliffe Hill Quarry, Stanton-under-Bardon, Leicestershire, UK. Mineralogical Magazine, 66, 301-311.
Starkey, R.E. (2012) The Russell Society - A Personal History. Russell Society Newsletter, 61, 15-27.
Starkey, R.E. (2013) Robert (Bob) Joseph King (1923-2013) [Obituary]. Journal of the Russell Society, 16, 3-5.
A Message - and a request - from the Society’s new Journal editor.
Late in 2012, I had an email from Roy Starkey, saying that Norman Moles was looking to retire from the role of Journal Editor after a decade of sterling service, and asking whether I would consider stepping into the breach. I think Roy was quite surprised to receive a reply from me, almost by return, saying that I’d be delighted!
Now it may seem a little strange that someone living in Australia should jump at the chance to edit a journal of British mineralogy, so perhaps it’s appropriate that I explain a little about my interests and my situation. Firstly, I’m British! I trained as a geologist originally, and then worked as an applied mineralogist in South Africa during the 1980s, which was when I began collecting minerals seriously. Initially, my collecting was focused mainly on southern Africa for obvious reasons but, when we returned to live in England from 1990, my interest in British mineralogy developed very rapidly and, to this day, antipodean residence notwithstanding, my key interests are still British and African minerals. (I will admit to a few Australian mineral specimens in my possession, but I have been here for ten years now and I just couldn’t help myself…).
The timing of Roy’s email couldn’t have been better. I retired from my “day job” in 2012, with the specific intention of putting a lot more time into my interest in mineralogy and, as Roy pointed out to me, what better way to keep in touch with British minerals than to take on the editorial role for the Journal of the Russell Society? With Norman still Editor for JRS Volume 16, I’ve had a whole year in which to work with him and “learn the trade” as it were, and I think we’ve proved that distance is really no object; modern technology – emails, Skype calls, Dropbox etc. – enables an editorial process to be run very efficiently from almost anywhere.
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 16 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Norman, of course, has left me with very large boots to fill. As a Society member of more than twenty years now, I have seen the Journal move from strength to strength, both in terms of content and the style of presentation. The plaudits for this belong, first and foremost, to the contributors; the authors of the papers and notes that make up each volume. But pulling these contributions together and ensuring the high and uniform standards of content and presentation is the job of the Editor, assisted by his network of referees, and the Journal Manager. I think we can all agree that Norman and Frank Ince (Journal Manager) have done a terrific job with this in recent years and I’m delighted (and relieved!) that Frank will be continuing as Journal Manager with the additional task of keeping me on the straight and narrow.
Several people have asked me what I would like to change about the Journal and my answer, really, is very little. I think that the Society achieves a remarkably effective meeting place for the amateur and professional mineral communities, and it seems to me that this is very well reflected both in the content of the Journal, and in the standard of articles that are published. I wouldn’t want to change any of that, but I do have a few thoughts on what I might call “gentle evolution” as opposed to outright change.
I went back through the last five volumes of JRS and came up with some interesting statistics. Most contributions to the Journal are locality-based; that is to say they describe a mineral, minerals, or a mineralogical feature from a specific locality or a well-defined region within the British Isles. 38% of the articles over the past five years have been on the mineralogy of northern England; south-west England has accounted for 20%, with Wales and the Midlands each accounting for 15%. Ireland (7%) and Scotland (5%) certainly seem to be under-represented.
Interestingly, in this same five-year timeframe, we have had only two articles that sit outside of this regional classification – one describing the occurrence of adamite and zincolivenite throughout Britain and Ireland, and the other dealing with the Kingsbury fraud. I provide this information really just as food for thought for would-be authors; more articles on under-represented geographies would be most welcome, as would contributions reviewing the British occurrences of interesting mineral species. I note that in the past five years we have had no biographical articles at all (although I’m delighted to say that one has been promised for JRS 17), and we have published only one book review. A gradual redressing of these balances is surely an opportunity for the Society and for individual members.
The more concerning aspect from my analysis is authorship. Of the 38 articles published in the past five years, 24 – almost two-thirds – are attributable to just four persons (either as individuals, or as senior authors) and, referring back to the regional analysis, it will come as no surprise that the domicile of two of them is…you guessed it…northern England!
Now, it is surely the sworn duty of any incoming editor to appeal for contributions to the Journal, and I’ll not waste the opportunity to do that now – PLEASE! True, the one thing that the tyranny of distance might impede is my cajoling and arm-twisting for articles and deadlines, but if we want to maintain the Journal as a respected voice on British mineralogy, we really do need contributions, and we need to encourage them from a broader base of authors.
So if you have material that could form the basis either for a full-length paper or for a shorter notes, please get in touch! I know that formal writing is not everyone’s cup of tea so, where necessary, I’m more than happy to help with preparing a manuscript, or to suggest one or two other people who could offer assistance. As yet we have very little by way of contributions for JRS 17, and it really would be fantastic to see some new authors coming forward with material. The deadline for submission of manuscripts is early June, so if you have a manuscript, or even just an idea for a manuscript, please contact me as soon you can.
Many thanks in advance to this year’s contributors and to the folk who provide an invaluable, yet largely unseen, help with refereeing manuscripts. Lastly, many thanks to Norman and Frank for their patient tutelage as I learned the ropes through 2013. I’m looking forward to working on this with as many members as possible, and I’m looking forward to another fine volume on British mineralogy with JRS 17.
Malcolm Southwood; January 2014
Events to look our for in 2014 and 2015.
Two of the most popular events in the Society’s calender are the AGM weekend and the “Maisemore Event” which is organised jointly by the Cheltenham Mineral and Geological Society and the Russell Society’s Wales and West Branch.
The continuing popularity and success of recent Maisemore events have ensured that there will be another one in 2014. It will be held, as usual, at the Maisemore Village Hall in Gloucestershire on Sunday 19th October. Remember to keep
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 17 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER an eye out for details of talks and other attractions which will appear shortly.
The Russell Society AGM Weekend in 2015 will also be organised by the Wales and West Branch. As usual this will feature a fascinating mixture of talks, exhibits and collecting opportunities. Work is already under way for this and details iof dates, locations and events shoukld be emerging before too long. Keep an eye on the RS website for initial information. You really need to attend this!
Editor.
Russell Society Scavenger Hunt at the 2013 Bakewell Rock Exchange.
The Society organised another “Scavenger Hunt” at the Rock Exchange in Bakewell. With the support of the show organisers, and a team of five table holders the ‘Hunt’ display boxes and labels were out and ready to be ‘found’. Each of the answers was actually on the specimen labels. This year, as usual, the parents and grandparents reported they had as much fun as the youngsters. Those with the patience to read (or be read to) were able to complete the hunt and, although three table holders have joined in the ‘fun’ and put the boxes in hard to find places (under the table for Q 10) many ‘hunters’ still achieved full marks. Taking the usual fifty sets of questions we actually ran out this year and had to adapt sheets for later hunters!!
This year prizes had been donated by David Green, Tom Cotterell, Roy Starkey-The Mary Hyde Collection, and Harry and Christine. Prizes were awarded to every ‘hunter’, each getting a choice from either the lucky dip (for answering at least half Young enthusiasts getting to grips with the Scav- of the questions correctly) or from the books, specimens, and enger Hunt. (Verbal permissions were obtained to collections on the table (for the thirty five who got over half take and use this photograph). correct). Well done to all the Scavenger Hunters.
There was also a deal of interest for membership forms, with some new members actually signing up on the day having been ‘passed on’ to Neil Hubbard in the main Hall.
Thanks to the Show organisers for allowing us to organise the Scavenger Hunt again, to the specimen donors and to those who helped on the day. See you next year.
Christine Critchley
50th Anniversary of Sir Arthur Russell’s Death.
Sir Arthur Russell, after whom the Russell Society is named, died on 24th February 1964. This means that 24th February 2014 marks the fiftieth anniversary of his death. It had been hoped to produce a commemorative DVD compilation of his published papers, scans of archive material, photos of specimens from his collection and miscellaneous other photos and memorabilia. Unfortunately it did not prove possible to “get all the ducks lined up” in a timely manner and so this project is presently “on hold”.
However, as an interim step, Roy Starkey has put together “An Appreciation of Sir Arthur Russell”, which is a sort of “scrapbook” of photos, reference links, published papers, scanned labels contributed by members and some previously unseen family photos. To provide the maximum possible accessibility, this is being made available in electronic form as a PDF download from the Society website. By the time you read this, the download should be available, so please do take a look.
Editor
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STOP PRESS:
Mineral Specimens for Sale.
Dr. David Anderson, a member of the RS Northern Branch, has provided the following information: “Due to downsizing of my collection and concentrating on Scottish minerals I am selling my Foreign and English collec- tion of 200 – 300 quality mineral and agate specimens. For a list please contact David Anderson on email davidander- [email protected] “
A Very Near Miss!
I know some people like to collect large specimens but .... A farm in Northern Italy came very close to “collecting” some very large rocks indeed in January this year when a land- slide sent huge boulders rolling down a hillside. One totally demolished the barn but missed the main farmhouse while another overgrown micromount stopped just feet from the back wall of the house Luckily, no one was hurt in all of this. You can find more details and pictures of this event at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25975251
Now, where did I leave the car?
The recent heavy rains have been causing havoc in a number of ways. Notable among these was a recent event near High Wy- combe, Buckinghamshire, in February where a 15 foot wide and 30 foot deep sink-hole opened up in the driveway of a house and “swallowed” a car parked there. The owner emerged to find their Volkswagen Lupo lying at the bottom of the hole, covered in rubble. They have since been given a replacement vehicle by Auto Trader magazine (!) and the problem of what to do with the hole has been left to Wycombe District Council. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-26010192 for more details.
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NEWS ITEMS:
Further Progress at Hemerdon.
Panoramic view of the opencast workings at Hemerdon. Photo courtesy of Crystal Classics. Things continue to look promising for the proposed tungsten/tin mine at Hemerdon in Devon. A report on the UK Stock Market website reported that Wolf Minerals had been issued a Class A Environmental permit for their Hemerdon Tungsten Project. The speciality metals development company commented that “Wolf Minerals Limited is pleased to announce that it has been issued a Category A Mining Waste Facility Environmental Permit for its Hemerdon tungsten and tin project in Devon, in southwest England. This is a major milestone in the development timeline for the Hemerdon project and is the final major permit required to proceed with development and construction of the project”. Wolf’s UK operations manager Jeff Harrison said: “It’s a significant step forward and one of the last boxes to be ticked. It’s great news”.
The Mining Waste Facility Environmental Permit is the first to have been issued in the UK. The Environment Agency stated that “Our decision follows careful and thorough consideration of the permit application. In reaching our decision we have taken into account all relevant considerations and legal requirements. We are satisfied that the conditions within the permit will ensure that a high level of protection will be provided to human health and the environment. These conditions cover the way in which the facility is constructed and operated, as well as the monitoring of emissions.”
Hemerdon will be the first significant mine to be built in the UK in over 45 years. Together with the purchase of requisite properties around the Hemerdon project site, which was finalised in November 2013, the Environmental Permit was a pre-requisite to the commencement of construction on the project. Construction is now scheduled to commence in January 2014. Set to begin extracting minerals in 2015, the Hemerdon Mine will have a 10-year lifespan and produce 5,000 tonnes of tungsten concentrate and 500 tonnes of tin a year. Once in operation, it is anticipated that the mine will deliver over 200 full-time local jobs.
Editor.
“Encouraging” Initial Results from North Pennine Drilling Project.
Initial analyses of the cores from the Minco drilling project in the North Pennines have been positive. Minco, an Irish- based exploration and development company, has been drilling bore holes into the Lower Carboniferous strata on the borders of Cumbria, Northumberland and Durham. Activity to date has been concentrated largely in the area between Allenheads and Nenthead and several of the drill cores have shown signs of significant lead and zinc mineralisation
Chairman and chief executive John Kearney said: “We are very encouraged by the results of Minco’s first eight holes in this large area which has a rich mining history. We believe these results confirm our initial opinion of the potential of the Northern Pennine Orefield for the discovery of new mineralization both extending laterally around and at depth below historic workings. A new third phase of drilling is planned for the next year, with the planned addition of a second drill machine to further explore this exciting project for Minco.” Apparently some 5 kilometres of drilling is planned to be carried out over the winter of 2013 and into the first half of 2014. The objective being to clarify the extent of the disseminated zinc “halo” and to identify zones that warrant more detailed drilling to establish estimates of potential resources.
It is likely that a major deep mining operation would be required to extract the ore. Even if the quantities and grades of ore present indicate that the project would be commercially viable it is sure to encounter stiff opposition on environmental
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 20 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER grounds. The deposits lie firmly within the boundaries of the North Pennine Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Watch this space – but don’t hold your breath.
Editor.
Scottish Gold Exhibition in Glasgow.
From the 14th of March to the15th of June 2014 a major exhibition of Scottish gold can be seen at the Hunterian Art Gallery which is on the Gilmorehead Campus of the University of Glasgow. There is an admission charge for this exhibition.
“Scottish Gold” features a large selection of items dating from as far back as the Bronze Age and focuses on the occurrences of gold in Scotland and Scottish gold mining. The exhibition constitutes a rare opportunity to learn about gold as part of the natural history of Scotland and its historical uses.
The exhibition brings together items from the collections of the Hunterian and other UK museums as well as from other collections. Featuring a large selection of the finest Scottish gold specimens and objects made and used in Scotland it will include some of the largest known Scottish gold nuggets which will be displayed together for the first time. Gold torcs from the large Iron Age hoard found at Law Farm, Moray in 1857 will also be on display alongside such things as a gold chain and badge of Order of the Thistle, Scottish gold coinage and medals, and superb racing trophies.
Roy Starkey.
Do you have crystalline material from the Foss Baryte Mine?
This is an appeal to Society members who have in their collection mineral specimens from the Foss Mine near Aberfeldy in the Grampian Highlands of Scotland. I am keen to know if you have (or know someone who has) specimens of crystalline material collected from the underground mine or open pits, or from the ore stockpile near the road.
Let me explain why! The Foss Mine has been worked for industrial grade baryte since the early 1980s. Most of the baryte occurs as a marble-like metamorphic rock: technically speaking, it has a granoblastic texture. However, some baryte also occurs as coarsely crystalline masses and fracture-fills. It is this material that I am particularly interested in, having largely ignored it in the 1980s while undertaking research for a PhD on the Foss deposit. Recent research has shown that the granoblastic baryte is depleted in strontium in situations where the rock has been subjected to intense ductile deformation during metamorphism (forming mylonitic textured baryte rock, for the technically-minded). I would like to test a hypothesis that strontium is correspondingly enriched in baryte that crystallised as ‘metamorphic segregations’ in low-pressure zones and fracture-fills during and after the ductile deformation. But I have absolutely no samples of this material!
Therefore, if possible, and without undue damage to aesthetically pleasing specimens, I would like to obtain small fragments for chemical analysis of the baryte, specifically its strontium content. Alternatively if you are willing to loan me your specimens, the baryte can be analysed non-destructively using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, and returned to you intact. Just to repeat, I am not interested in specimens of bedded, granoblastic baryte rock: I am interested only in the coarsely crystalline ‘segregations’ and fracture-filling baryte.
Also of interest are specimens of crystalline celsian (barium feldspar) from the Foss deposit. A few examples of centimetre-sized, green-coloured, well- formed crystals of celsian were recovered in the 1980s from a weathered manganese-rich carbonate outcrop near the end of the mine track to Creagan Loch, about 1 kilometre east of the mine. If you have further examples of celsian crystals from Aberfeldy, I would be keen to receive photographs, or ‘spares’ if you have any such.
Incidentally, if you are enthused by the Neoproterozoic ‘Snowball Earth’ theory, Geological Society Special Publication #393 on ‘Ore deposits in Underground in Foss Mine: footwall an evolving Earth’ due to be printed in 2014 contains a paper describing pyritic cherts with fracture filled by the Aberfeldy baryte deposits and how they provide evidence for the coarsely crystalline quartz and baryte.
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 21 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER environment in this dramatic period of Earth’s history. The title is ‘Abundant sulphate in the Neoproterozoic ocean: implications of constant δ34S of barite in the Aberfeldy SEDEX deposits’. Essential bedtime reading!
Norman Moles.
Absolute Gem: The fabulous mineral collection of a Welsh Countess.
Some you may remember an exhibition which I developed around the historically important mineral collection assembled by Lady Henrietta Antonia Clive, The Countess of Powis. Well the exhibition has been redeveloped and is on display at Wrexham County Borough Museum from January 27th to June 28th 2014.
Agate from Scotland, topaz from Brazil, copper, silver and gold from Siberia, marble from Italy and ruby from the East Indies. What do these precious minerals all have a common? They all appear in the latest exhibition to open at Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives – Absolute Gem: The Fabulous Mineral Collection of a Welsh Countess.
The urge to collect and classify the beautiful, the extraordinary and the fascinating from the natural world around us has been a way for scientists and amateur enthusiasts to expand human knowledge since the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century. Most collectors and enthusiasts in the 18th and 19th centuries were men, but one notable exception was Henrietta Antonia Clive, Countess of Powis. It is her fabulous mineral collection on loan from Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales that will be on display in Gallery 2 at the museum on Regent Street from January 27th until June 28th.
Lady Henrietta’s collection comprised some 1,200 specimens gathered over the course of her lifetime (1758-1830) during her travels in Europe and India and through her many relatives, friends and acquaintances who brought back specimens from around the world.
Her collection has added interest for curators and geologists because she catalogued the collection recording name, location and other background information on each mineral based on the latest scientific practice.
Jonathan Gammond, Access and Interpretation Officer for Wrexham Heritage Service reported “Absolute Gem is the latest in our series of partnership exhibitions involving collections from Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. Lady Henrietta’s collection is a unique example Setting up the exhibition of Lady of a Welsh woman going out, collecting specimens for the sense of Henrietta’s collection. wonder they inspire and as part of her wish to understand the world around her. The exhibition features over 60 priceless specimens, many of which are incredibly rare and also the more so for being catalogued and kept safe for over 200 years.”
The collection was given to Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales by George Charles Herbert, the 4th Earl of Powis, in 1929. Only recently, with the discovery of the original handwritten catalogues, was the true historic significance realised. It is now regarded as one of the most important historic mineral collections in Wales. Despite the inevitable loss of some of the original specimens, over the centuries, the collection is remarkably complete and demonstrates a very good attempt at assembling one of every mineral known during her lifetime.
If you are in the Wrexham area and would like to see the exhibition entry is free. For more information, call 01978 297 460 or follow Wrexham Museums on facebook and twitter.
Tom Cotterell
Rare Earth Elements (REE): A Geo-Techno-Political Conundrum?
To many people the term “rare earth elements” means nothing at all. To others it means just a collection of “weird” metals, united by virtue of their similar chemical properties, in a group that “dangles” from the bottom of the periodic
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 22 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER table of elements. However, in many modern technologies, they are currently essential in a wide variety of applications ranging across the medical, military, scientific, aerospace and consumer sectors as well as growing application in the development of “green” technologies. REE (particularly neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium) alloy magnets combine intense power with light weight and are central to the production of computer disc drives as well as to mobile phones, iPods and the like. They also make possible many of the recent developments in wind power generation and hybrid automobiles. There is roughly one tonne of neodymium magnets in each wind turbine and the equivalent of roughly 2 Kg. of neodymium in every Toyota Prius. Nickel- Metal-Hydride batteries are widely used and feature The Periodic Table showing the Rare Earth Elements circled. significant amounts of lanthanum and cerium in their construction. Other uses include high performance alloys (for example for the aerospace industry), a wide variety of phosphors and as dopants in lasers and optical fibre communication systems.
These interesting metals tend to occur together in a small number of mineral ores, once known as “earths”, which tend to be disseminated throughout the Earth’s crust rather than concentrated in rich ore deposits. It was the apparent rarity of these “earths” that gave the group its name but most of the elements are not particularly rare in terms of their crustal concentrations. For example cerium (65 ppm), lanthanum (39 ppm) and yttrium (33 ppm) compare reasonably with copper (41 ppm) and lead (12 ppm) which are regarded as relatively common. A number of REE ore minerals occur in the UK, including monazite-Ce (many locations), euxenite-Y (Kinlochbervie, Scotland) and xenotime-Y (Cornwall, Yorkshire, Scotland) – but not, alas, in significant amounts. [N.B. The post-script –Ce or –Y indicates the most abundant REE present in the mineral; there are usually several].
Despite their relative abundance, there are a variety of “flies” in the commercial and political REE “ointment”. Worldwide, the major REE ore deposits on land are in China. Also, the processing of REE ores is difficult. Due to the presence of complex REE mixtures in the ores the process has to be precisely designed & optimised for each specific REE ore deposit. The processes are complex and give rise to highly toxic and radio-active waste streams. For this reason processing is usually done at the mine site and a combination of low labour costs and lax environmental laws have meant that REE processing is really only viable in China. This lead, at one point, to a situation where greater than 95% of world REE production and supply was in Chinese hands.
This had the effect of enticing a variety of high-tech manufacturing companies to transfer their operations to China in order to be sure of their raw material supply. Some types of REE magnets are now only made in China. The US Government, which has long had laws prohibiting any “foreign” components in American weapons systems, was considerably embarrassed recently to discover that such magnets had been incorporated into various systems of the new F-35 fighter plane. There have also been occasions in recent years where China has made use of its near- monopoly position by restricting exports of REE. This drive prices up and caused great anxiety and heartburn to a number of manufacturers.
This situation may gradually change. Recent discoveries of “vast” REE deposits on the ocean floor around the Hawaiian Islands could eventually undermine the Chinese position and the USA and other countries are looking at re-starting their own REE mining operations, driven out of business years ago by China’s economic advantage. The problem with this is, of course, the huge costs implicit in having to adhere to western standards of environmental compliance. Attention is also being given to more extensive and intensive recovery and recycling of REE from, for example, obsolete electrical equipment. A number of countries, including the USA, are also actively encouraging the development of technologies that would require a lesser content of the problematical REEs.
Nobody knows how the situation will play out but, notwithstanding any of the above, it will in all likelihood still be easier and cheaper to obtain REE based materials from China for many years to come. Watch this space – it’s bound to be interesting.
Editor
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 23 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER - - Organiser/Site for Information: http://www.oxfordshow.co.uk/ http://www.bolognamineralshow.com/ http://www.mzexpos.com/ http://www.minerant.org/minerant.html http://www.oxfordshow.co.uk/ http://www.mzexpos.com/ http://www.freiberger-mineralienfreunde. de/boerse-2013.html http://www.sainte-marie-mineral.com/ an_index.php http://www.oxfordshow.co.uk/ http://www.mzexpos.com/ http://www.sotonminfoss.org.uk/smfss how.htm http://www.mzexpos.com/ http://www.oxfordshow.co.uk/ http://www.denvermineralshow.com/ http://www.rockexchange.org.uk/the-rock- exchange-2014 http://www.mineralientage.com http://www.mzexpos.com/ http://www.sussexmineralandlapidarysoci ety.org.uk/Home/Show http://www.oxfordshow.co.uk/ http://www.rockngem.co.uk/ Location: Exeter Hall, Kidlington, Oxford. UK. OX5 1AB Gino Cervi, 2, 40033 Casalecchio di Arena, Via UNIPOL Reno, Bologna, Italy. Denver Colorado, Ramada Plaza Hotel, 4849 Bannock Street, USA. Antwerp, Rijswijcklaan 191, 2020 Antwerp Expo, Jan Van Belgium. Exeter Hall, Kidlington, Oxford, UK. OX5 1AB Ana, California, Airport, Santa Holiday Inn, Orange County USA Huebnerhalle, Dörnerzaunstrasse, D-09599 Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. Alsace, France. St Marie aux Mines, Exeter Hall, Kidlington, Oxford, UK. OX5 1AB Better Living Centre, Springfield, Massachussetts, U.S.A. Hampshire, UK. Community Centre, Lyndhurst, Lyndhurst SO43 7NY Denver Colorado, Ramada Plaza Hotel, 4849 Bannock Street, USA. Exeter Hall, Kidlington, Oxford, UK. OX5 1AB Avenue, Denver Merchandise Mart Expo Hall, 451 East 58th Denver Colorado, USA. Lady Manners School, Bakewell, Derbyshire, UK. DE45 1JA Fair Centre, Munchen-Riem, Munich, Germany. Trade Ana, California, Airport, Santa Holiday Inn, Orange County USA Sussex, UK. RH16 3DN Clare Hall, Haywards Heath, West Exeter Hall, Kidlington, Oxford. UK. OX5 1AB Locations Various MINERAL SHOWS IN 2014 MINERAL International Freiberg Mineral Show th Event: Oxford Mineral Show Bologna Mineral Show Colorado Spring Mineral & Fossil Show “Minerant 2013” Antwerp mineral Show, Oxford Mineral Show Coast Spring Gem & Mineral West Show 64 Exposition Internationale Mineral & Gem Oxford Mineral Show East Coast Gem, Mineral & Fossil Show Hampshire Mineral Show Colorado Fall Mineral & Fossil Show Oxford Mineral Show Denver Mineral Show Bakewell Rock Exchange Munich Mineralientage Coast Fall Gem & Mineral Show West Sussex Mineral Show Oxford Mineral Show Rock ‘n Gem Shows Date: 09 March 2014 07-09 March 2014 18-20 April 2014 May 2014 10-11 May 2014 11 16-18 May 2014 17 May 2014 26-29 June 2014 14 July 2014 08-10 August 2014 06 September 2014 12-14 September 2014 14 September 2014 12-14 September 2014 October 2014 11-12 25-27 October 2014 07-09 November 2014 15 November 2014 30 November 2014 Dates in 2014 Various
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 24 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER SHORT REPORTS & PAPERS.
A new location for vésignéite in Leicestershire: Longcliffe Quarry, Shepshed
In June 1988 members of the Russell Society visited Longcliffe and Newhurst quarries. Whilst we were in Longcliffe Quarry [SK 493 171] a specimen was collected from a fault breccia in the North Charnwood Diorite. The specimen possessed very small rhombs of colourless to brown calcite and a few thin pinkish calcite veins, small patches of a white ?clay mineral and some yellowish-green powdery material incorporating a number of circular features that appear to be fractured hollow ?hemispherical aggregates of microcrystalline material (see photo; field of view 15 mm x 10 mm). On the basis of wet chemistry (positive for copper and vanadate), the yellowish-green mineral was provisionally identified as volborthite, Cu3V2O7(OH)2·2H2O; however, it was not investigated further until 2013 (when I was making a new catalogue of my collection). In October 2013 an XRD analysis at the National Museum of Wales (NMW X-2894) indicated that, rather than volborthite, the yellowish-green mineral was vésignéite, BaCu3(VO4)2(OH)2 (Tom Cotterell, personal communication); evidently the barium had been missed in the wet chemical analysis.
Vésignéite has been reported from three localities in Leicestershire: Newhurst Quarry, Bardon Hill Quarry and New Cliffe Hill Quarry:
• King and Wilson (1976) described the first UK occurrence of vésigniéite from Newhurst Quarry, Shepshed, as “tiny rosettes (up to 2.4 mm in diameter) of thin tabular yellowish-green crystals” in a “highly oxidised hypogene bornite system…showing a boxwork structure of malachite and goethite, with relict bornite and the original quartz gangue” collected from the bottom level of the NE face of the quarry; see also King (1973) and Ince (2005). • Hubbard and Green (2001) reported the identification of vésigniéite from Bardon Hill Quarry, Coalville. It occured in two distinct environments that are close to the Precambrian-Triassic unconformity (Ince, 2007): 1. In cavities in the quartz-rich areas of the major east- southeast trending fault and/or shear zone that crosses Vésignéite from Longcliffe Quarry, Shepshed. the quarry. The vésigniéite was associated with quartz, calcite, baryte or pyrolusite and, whilst most of it occursed as aggregates of thin greenish yellow hexagonal plates (XRD: Monica Price, personal communication), some of the plates were relatively thick, dark green in colour and associated with quartz and calcite. 2. As powdery crusts or aggregates of small very thin greenish yellow hexagonal plates in small cavities in pale grey-green Triassic breccia. • Hubbard and Green (2001) and Hubbard et al. (2005) reported the occurrence of well-crystallised yellowish-green to olive-green vésigniéite in the remarkable suite of supergene minerals at New Cliffe Hill Quarry, Stanton under Bardon.
The vésignéite from Longcliffe Quarry is poorly-crystallised when compared with the well-crystallised material from Newhurst Quarry, Bardon Hill Quarry and New Cliffe Hill Quarry. It appears to have more in common with the yellowish- green powdery material from Bardon Hill Quarry.
I would like to thank Tom Cotterell for carrying out the XRD analysis of the Longcliffe Quarry vésignéite.
References
Hubbard, N., Burchmore, S. and Green, D.I. (2005). A remarkable supergene suite from New Cliffe Hill Quarry, Stanton under Bardon, Leicestershire. UK Journal of Mines & Minerals, 26, 42-51.
Hubbard, N. and Green, D.I., 2001. Vésigniéite from Castletown Mine, Lochgilphead, Argyll and Bute, a first Scottish occurrence. Journal of the Russell Society, 7, 93.
Ince, F. (2005). The mineralogy of Newhurst Quarry, Shepshed, Leicestershire. Journal of the Russell Society, 8(2), 47-65.
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 25 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Ince, F. (2007). The mineralogy of Bardon Hill Quarry, Coalville, Leicestershire. Journal of the Russell Society, 10, 27-39.
King, R.J., 1973. The Mineralogy of Leicestershire. Unpublished Ph. D. thesis, University of Leicester.
King, R.J. and Wilson, R.N. (1976). An occurrence of vésigniéite in Leicestershire. Mineralogical Magazine, 40, 533-535.
Frank Ince
Vitamins are good for you! - and for removing iron stains.
As you should know from previous Newsletters, I am very wary about aggressive cleaning of minerals because it can remove an important part of the paragenesis. Usually, I only clean aggressively if I would otherwise dispose of the specimen. I do make an exception of iron stains where these are not pseudomorphic after original phases such as siderite. In the past I have used hydrochloric acid, which works because the pH is low enough to dissolve goethite (FeO.OH). Obviously this is only suitable for very inert minerals such as quartz. Oxalic acid is also often effective and although only a weak acid it works by attacking the iron on two fronts in a process called chelation. When using oxalic acid it is important to be certain the specimen is carbonate free or nasty deposits result and you must remember it is very poisonous. I have also used sodium dithionite with citric acid. This works by reducing the mostly highly insoluble ferric (Fe3+) valency state of iron to the generally more soluble ferrous (Fe2+) state, but sodium dithionite has a most unpleasant odour and is probably toxic.
It was, therefore, with considerable interest that I noted from British Micromount Society Newsletter No 89 (July 2013) that David Roe uses ascorbic acid to remove iron stains. He thought he had got the idea from David Moulding, but he in turn says he only used it for manganese stains. Without knowing where the credit should go, I decided to try for myself. Ascorbic acid in its ‘L’ form is better known as Vitamin C, and plays an important role in the body in iron transport and its use in blood and is obviously much more innocuous than any of the above materials. In our local town there is an independent chemist shop, which has not been gobbled up by Boots and they obtained 100 g. for me at a cost of £7.50. I then rang David Roe, who like myself is an industrial chemist, to get details on how to use this magic iron stain remover.
I was told to put the specimen in a cup, cover with water, sprinkle on Vitamin C and agitate for a few minutes. I did as I was told with a slightly stained fluorite, but salvaged my scientific integrity by using a chemist’s spatula to do the sprinkling. It worked, so I followed this up with more heavily stained fluorite, which I had to leave overnight, but again it worked. Finally I had a go with a heavily stained (encrusted?) Hilton baryte, which I have nearly thrown away several times. I had to leave this soaking for several days, as the goethite slowly dissolved, but the final result was amazing. Shown here are “before” and “after” photographs, which I think are quite impressive (the scale rod is 5 cm long).
Hilton Mine baryte - Before Cleaning. Hilton Mine baryte - After Cleaning.
Having successfully cleaned the baryte I put a piece of calcite into some of the solution from the cleaning. Alas, it became etched but, worse than that, the reaction with the calcite caused the breakdown of the iron-Vitamin C complexes and all the iron precipitated out as a brown sludge. So do not use this technique on specimens containing calcium carbonate and be wary of other calcium/magnesium-bearing carbonates as well. However, when you can use this technique, as David Roe pointed out, this method is so innocuous you could probably drink the final solution and it might do you good if you are at all anaemic. However, I do not think either of us would suggest that you try!
Trevor Bridges
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 26 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
Branch Meeting and Field Trip Reports
Sunday 30th June 2013: North West Branch Visit to Braich Yr Oen [SH 614 516]. Leader: Ian Dossett. Reporter: John Davidson.
A small group of us broke away from the rest of Wales and West weekend trip on the way back from Lliwedd Copper Mine [SH 634 531], to head up to Braich Yr Oen on the way up to Snowdon on the Watkin Path. This proved to be a harder walk in places, after being out for most of the day collecting. On the way up to the mine can be observed the old mine building that was part of the Hafod-y-Llan mill that processed the ore from the mines in the area. The old tramways can also be seen while walking up the path and the old sleepers are still evident in places. It is thanks to the hard work of copper miners and the quarry men extracting the slate further up the valley that the tramways exists at all and these have been used by millions of walkers to get to the top of Snowdon via the Watkin path.
Just below the main mine dump can be seen an open adit that has collapsed after about one hundred feet. You could get round this to get into the bottom of the open cut but there are several timbers that have fallen from the roof of the adit. Coming out of the adit we walked up the side of the main dump and observed the large open cut where the reporter found a large lump of quartz with what proved to be cosalite running through it. A few other samples were located by Ian and Graham and with that we made our way back to the cars and the drive home.
Our thanks must go to Ian Dossett for organising the trip and to Dave Smith - National Trust Snowdon Ranger and Bob Matthews - Countryside Council for Wales for permission to collect at a RIGS site.
Saturday 27th July 2013: Southern Branch Visit to Virtuous Lady Mine, Buckland Monachorum. [SX 473 698]. Leader: David Aubrey-Jones. Reporter: Steve King.
The trip to the Virtuous Lady Mine was the first of the collecting weekend and seven members descended from their prior evening abodes to the picturesque village. We arranged to meet at the Church - possibly hoping for some divine intervention in our collecting? In any event we were blessed with fine weather despite the weather report having suggested storms.
After asking a passing lady cyclist to take group photos we began to make our way down to the mine, taking in the beautiful Devon scenery on the way. On arrival at the site we were immediately struck by a large excavation to one side obviously made by a previous ignorant collector. This was admirably refilled by Barry Pitt - after thoroughly checking for any undiscovered specimens. He was rewarded with a fine specimen of botryoidal siderite. After a short period of initial scouting I was astonished to pick up a large piece of highly iron stained quartz matrix, which had three box epimorphs after fluorite, the largest to 4cm. After the initial derisory comments from some members (all in jest I would add) David verified the find. What luck! After this I just sat down and enjoyed the sun!
This activity was coupled with the sounds of frantic digging and Specimen carrying box epimorphs after fluorite hammering, as Chris adjusted a large block of decomposing from the Virtuous Lady Mine. quartz containing a large amount of well-formed and good sized pyrite crystals. During this time Steve Plant had discovered a large block of massive arsenopyrite at the water’s edge, estimated to weigh 100 kg, which had been made accessible due to the low level of the River Tavy after an unusually warm summer. When broken up it contained a rich vein of massive chalcopyrite, perfect for Steve’s ore sample collection.
John Burgess had collected some complex pyrite crystals and small quartz epimorphs together with a small amount of chalcopyrite. Rob Tripp had also collected well-formed pyrite cubes to 1 cm. Meanwhile, David’s digging in random areas had paid off with an array of different minerals including a siderite floater in a botryoidal siderite vugh, small anatase crystals on a chlorite matrix, twinned pyrite cubes and a capped quartz specimen.
After we had all wrapped the fruits of our labours and a few specimens for hopeful home cleaning, we filled any holes
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 27 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER and tidied the area. The walk back up from the mine is generally a warm one and it was no different this year as it was very humid and threatening to rain as suggested earlier. On loading the cars we discussed the route to our next proposed site via a Cream Tea stop at Princetown (not the Jail).
Many thanks are due to David for organising and leading the visit as we are all too aware as to how difficult it is to gain access to historic sites.
Sunday 28th July 2013. Southern Branch Visit to High Down Quarry, Filleigh, North Devon. [SS 653 290]. Leader: Chris Finch. Reporter: Steve King.
After a hearty breakfast at our accommodation (and solving the world’s problems during coffee) we bid farewell to the rest of the group and made our way cross country to the village of Filleigh. As the Sat-Nav seemed to be still asleep we relied on good old fashioned Map-Map, Chris seems to make a better job than Garmin (who has since been retired from active Service).
As it was only the pair of us, parking was fairly easy in a nearby gateway leaving plenty of room for access to what appeared to be a pheasant rearing area. We were quite looking forward to exploring the site as neither of us had been before and our first impressions were “where do we start?” The area is extremely overgrown and resembles a small version of the jungles of Borneo.
After applying some logic and a little experience we found an area which seemed to warrant some extra attention and before long we were finding some attractive sprays of wavellite on the cleavage faces of the black chert layers. The occurrence was quite confusing at times as the sprays of crystals seemed to appear contradictory to the faults in the chert. Although we never found any of the spherical crystal forms, the samples when washed were remarkably clean and free from the iron staining which seems so common on material from the quarry. Although not verified I believe a few samples had small variscite spheres on them (perhaps wishful thinking). All samples Specimen of radiating wavellite from High when checked at home displayed a strong fluorescence under long, Down Quary. medium and short wave ultra-violet.
As the site is a SSSI many thanks are due to David for gaining permission and organising the visit.
Saturday 10th August 2013. Central Branch Visit to Breedon Hill Quarry, Breedon on the Hill, Leicestershire. [SK 408 230]. Leader: Neil Hubbard. Reporter: Steve Warren.
A full complement of twelve members turned out on a dull but dry day for the visit to Bob King’s famous wulfenite locality1. Breedon Hill Quarry cuts through the eastern side of a hill on which the Grade 1 listed Priory Church of Saint Mary and Saint Hardulph is perched, forming a dramatic landmark in views from the A42. The quarry works a thick succession of strongly dolomitised, well-bedded limestones of the Dinantian series (Lower Carboniferous system) and is well known for its self-binding gravel surfacing products, for example Breedon Golden Amber Gravel, which graces historic sites across the UK, including Chatsworth House and the Sandringham Estate.
After the usual wait for a certain member (who shall remain nameless) we were given a safety briefing by our host, John Morrison before moving down to Level A. Although the phrase ‘adrenalin pumping’ is hard to equate with RS Members, the three hour timescale for this visit definitely brought some focus to the event. We inspected a recent blast pile but little was showing other than empty dolomitic vughs. John pointed out shallow horizontal stepping on the quarry walls and explained that the upper levels of the quarry were worked using road planing techniques to avoid structural damage to the listed church.
Descending to Level B large vughs in the face of the west wall showed beds of calcite with scalenohedral crystals exceeding 50 mm but mostly these were weathered and covered with iron oxides. Some minor excavation yielded cleaner specimens and a good group of smaller crystals (to approx 20 mm) with chalcopyrite were recovered by Adrian
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Wyatt. Peter Briscoe and Chris Finch also found nice sharp calcite with chalcopyrite and sphalerite. Other calcite groups showed stepped epitaxial growth around central brownish coloured scalenohedra whilst some showed the attractive iridescence seen on crystals at the neighbouring Cloud Hill Quarry. The piles of flint and other decorative aggregates on Level B left some members thinking that the geology of Leicestershire is indeed diverse – until our host explained that the quarry is also used as a distribution depot for products from other quarries.
Finally, we arrived at Level C and went straight to the area where a small party had found galena and wulfenite in situ the previous year. Although the working space was quite constrained all members were quickly ‘hard at it’. Baryte lined vughs, in limestone breccia, attractively studded with cubic galena crystals up to 25 mm were soon found. The galena mainly had an alteration surface of bright crystallised cerussite with a dull, dark green coating below, exposed where the cerussite layer had become detached. Use of a hand lens soon revealed wulfenite, ranging from the odd crystal to quite dense groups perched amongst the cerussite. Wulfenite crystal size ranged up to 3mm with habits including blocky cuboid and bipyramidal single crystals and more complex intergrown groups. Finding the galena and wulfenite in-situ formed an interesting complement to Bob King’s finds, which comprised loose, weathered galena blocks in cavern fill1. Specimen of wulfenite on corroded cubes of galena from Breedon Hill Quarry. After what seemed like no time at all we packed up and slowly moved up and out of the quarry. I noticed that one of our younger members, Martin Bastable, was struggling with the incline – not the result of a heavy Friday night out but the weight of a rather large block of calcite …….
Our thanks go to Breedon Aggregates for their kind permission to visit the quarry and to John for taking the time to show us around.
1. “Lead-molybdenum mineralization in an ancient cave in North Leicestershire”. R. J. King, 1991, Journal of the Russell Society, 4:1, 9-12
Thursday 5th September 2013: North West Branch Visit to Greystones Quarry [SX 365 806] Leader: Ian Dossett. Reporter: Adam White.
Upon arrival at the quarry office we were warmly greeted by the staff and shown a display of dramatic macro specimens of manganese-stained quartz, calcite, ankerite and rock impregnated with large pyrite cubes, all recently hauled out of the quarry. It seems that these were from a recent small area of mineralisation which has now been exhausted. In the office we also noted the beautiful polished rhodonite that had been collected in the past. Seeing all this raised our expectations significantly.
To oversee the whole quarry, we were driven to the viewing area furnished with its own geological notice board and weathered picnic table. The interesting area of lead mineralisation in the far right hand corner beckoned us. But this was not to be, we were driven to the old dumps designated for the attention of geology groups. This material had been well aged; each large rock seemed to be crowned with its own kind of offering from previous parties of “thanks, but no thanks” quality!
Aside from the ubiquitous quartz and galena Sheila and Steve amassed a heroic variety of micro- specimens that included linarite, aurichalcite, malachite sprays, anglesite, cerussite and vauquelinite. It transpires that the more sinuous and grainy form of galena found here is of the Greystones Quarry from the viewing area. richly argentiferous variety. I spotted a quartz-rich area
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 29 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER concealed by a curtain of dirt and iron stains on the underside of a massive boulder, which Alan helpfully levered free with crowbar and quadriceps. The whole underside was lavishly spread with quartz which seemed to wrap itself round hollows and promontories in the rock. We were not heavily equipped, so freeing specimens was like dispatching an eel with a toffee hammer! After a while some of the party acknowledged defeat and resorted to sunbathing or catching up with their sleep, whilst those with sufficient energy still kept diligently searching.
Our thanks go to Graham Hicks of Aggregate Industries Ltd. for permission to visit and access to the dumps - also for his help and kindness in replacing a wheel on one of our vehicles which was damaged during arrival.
Friday 6 September 2013: North West Branch Visit to Hingston Down Quarry [SX 400 720]. Leader: Sheila Harper. Reporter: Alan Thorogood.
Six of us met up with our enthusiastic leader, Sheila, at the quarry offices and, after kitting up and receiving the usual safety briefs, we were escorted into the quarry by Jerry, the quarry Under Manager. The quarry exposes a deep section through the south western corner of the Gunnislake granite and associated mineralised zones.
We began our search on a bench visited back in April, an area that had proved rich in sulphide minerals. Since our previous visit a considerable amount of material had been removed and there was little to find. Green and blue staining was then noted and, on investigation, a large boulder of mainly sulphide minerals was located and quickly reduced to rubble. Many good specimens were collected of wolframite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite (’peacock ore’), covellite, sphalerite and pyrite along with schorl and langite crystals up to 2 mm. This rock seemed to have originated from a vertical vein in the face, now unfortunately inaccessible due to its being behind a bund. We then made our way down to the bottom level where fluorite, siderite, more chalcopyrite and light blue apatite crystals up to 3 mm were found. Specimen of wolframite from Hingston Down Quarry. On further examination at home small pale creamy yellow balls of wavellite were found along with scorodite. Also present are occasional suspected crude individual crystals of jeanbandyite.
After a very rewarding trip for all those present we made our slow trip back to the vehicles. Our gratitude and thanks go to Jerry of Hansons for permission to visit the quarry and to Sheila for her leadership and her time. We then moved on a short distance to our next locality.
Friday 6 September 2013: North West Branch Visit to Old Gunnislake Mine, Gunnislake, Cornwall. [SX 433 721] Leader: Ian Dossett. Reporter: Alan Thorogood.
Gunnislake Mine was a large copper mine, near Gunnislake village, which formed part of the Callington mining district. Four of our number accessed the mine via a wet, ochreous, muddy adit just near the Tamar road bridge. The adit is driven in killas and just inside on the walls there was much evidence of secondary mineralisation by blue and green copper minerals.
The course of the vein was then followed right through to where it enters the granite. Towards the end of the drive there is a large stope and a flooded shaft to lower levels. At this point the vein is seen in the wall and roof and consists of chalcopyrite, wolframite, purple fluorite and quartz. Minerals visible included minor arsenopyrite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite and fluorite. At home under Unidentified secondary copper minerals on a the microscope chalcophyllite, tyrolite and pharmocosiderite specimen from the Old Gunnislake Mine.
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Thanks go to Ian for leading a very interesting trip.
Saturday 7th September 2013. North West Visit to Lockridge Mine [SX 438 663 & SX 438 665], Bere Alston, Devon. Leader & Reporter: Ian Dossett.
At the road junction between Furzehill and Whitsam a party of five set off down the valley towards the Lockridge mine dumps. Within woodland could be seen opencast workings on the N-S cross-course lode. The mine tips are a SSSI.
A partly collapsed adit and numerous grassed-over tips and collapsed shaft(s) were in evidence near the bottom of the valley. Mineralised blocks scattered the site including one large lump of massive green fluorite which had been used as a surround for a camp fire. Lode filling material within the cross-course mineralisation is quartz/chalcedony with bands of sphalerite, fluorite and galena with occasional siderite infill. Samples of this material were fairly common amongst the undergrowth. One such sample revealed bands of chalcedony, fluorite and sphalerite with minor galena and another bright silvery-looking ore which is probably tetrahedrite. Occasional imperfect tetrahedra could just be discerned with the lense.
The dump by the stream yielded further green fluorite, sphalerite and galena. No wurtzite was observed on this occasion. Four of the group then moved on to the main area of mine workings adjacent and south of the Lockridge farm road. The dumps here are heavily vegetated and some excavation was required to reveal fresh spoil. Limited digging revealed abundant fragments of blue-green fluorite. Good crystalline cubic or octahedral fluorites were uncommon; however inter- banded seams of chalcedony occasionally revealed beds of cubo-octahedral green fluorite crystals to 10 mm when split. Sphalerite was the most common ore mineral with subsidiary galena. One corroded galena specimen, on later examination with a microscope at x35 magnification, revealed the presence of 4-5 honey-coloured pseudohexagonal crystals coating galena suggesting the presence of leadhillite or susannite.
Our thanks for the visit are given to Mr P. Wiseman of Michelmore Hughes who are the estate managers and also to Simon Tame of Natural England for permission to examine the mineralogy and to collect a few samples for study.
Saturday 7th September 2013. North West Branch Visit to Wheal Emily [SX 540 498], Wembury, Devon. Leader: Ian Dossett. Reporter: Steve Plant.
Wheal Emily is a small, remote lead-antimony-silver mine situated on the western bank of the River Yealm, approximately 8 Km SSE of Plymouth. It is on National Trust land and is a SSSI. There is virtually no historical information about this mine in the literature although a pre-1859 mine plan is known to exist.
A shaft, situated in a field bordering the south side of a steep wooded valley, communicates with a shallow adit situated approximately 55 metres above the River Yealm. The deep adit was driven at the base of the valley bordering the River Yealm. The shallow adit was driven through Devonian slates following a SW crosscut to meet the NW- SE lode. During Sir Arthur Russell’s visit here in 1949 a small ore pile existed near the shallow adit mouth in which he records the following minerals: semseyite and jamesonite in a matrix of siderite with pyrite and quartz and, more rarely, bournonite, galena and anglesite. During our visit it could be seen that some exploratory work has been undertaken recently by a local mining group. Adjacent to the re-furbished mine shop was a set of rails leading into the shallow adit. The entrance was gated behind which resided a mine tram. Much vegetation at this time of year resulted in very little dump exposure. A few blocks of mineralised veinstone were found scattered Members collecting at the site of Wheal Emily. about the site. Chocolate-brown siderite containing veins up to 1 cm thick of a complex grey ore were recovered. This has not yet been analysed but probably resembles the
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 31 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER semseyite/jamesonite ore mentioned by Russell.
Many thanks go to Simon Garner of the National Trust for permission to access the land and for Lorna Sherriff of the National Trust for escorting us on the day. She was very tolerant with the person who got their car stuck down the track on the day. Thanks also to Simon Tame of Natural England for SSSI permissions.
Sunday 8th September 2013. North West Branch Visit to Haven Cliff, Seaton, Devon [SY 252 899] Leader: Ian Dossett. Reporter: Graham Thornes.
Seaton Bay is at the mouth of the estuary of the River Axe. On the east side of the estuary, which was of interest to us, are the red mudstone cliffs of the Triassic period capped with younger layers of foxmould or gault, upper greensand and chalk from the Cretaceous period, whilst on the west side are the white chalk cliffs again of the Cretaceous period. This stretch of Devon coastline was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001 and is known as the Jurassic Coast which displays a sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock features.
Due to various commitments the party was now reduced to just leader and reporter who arrived at Seaton on a fine Sunday morning. Driving east along Harbour Road to cross the River Axe, good parking was to be found just after the Golf and Country Club. Walking south, then east following the river through the harbour we soon reached the pebble beach at the mouth of the Axe. The outgoing tide over the sandbar threw up some challenging waves for the Sunday morning dinghy racers. With low water being at 14:23 we could follow Haven Cliff east for approximately 1.5 miles without trepidation.
It was not too long before we started to find banded red and white calcitic nodules. These needed to be cracked open very carefully. We had been advised that they can be full of strontianite (occurring as tiny balls, that would spill everywhere), but also occasionally, they can contain crystals of blue celestite, some quite large. The nodules themselves are lined with calcite crystals. Although we found a few nice, large calcite-lined cavities, on this occasion the only other minerals present were one pink crystal of celestite and what was possibly the remains of weathered strontianite. We were however spoilt for choice over which of the attractive Ian Dossett with part of a large calcite lined cavity. calcite filled specimens to collect, being constrained mainly by size and weight! We both opted for the largest piece we could actually carry (destined for the bottom shelf of the cabinet) with rucksacks packed with smaller but equally precious examples. It was an arduous march back over the pebbles requiring several ‘breathers’ to rest our arms.
I am sure the whole party will join me in expressing many thanks to Ian for organising such a well planned and very fruitful trip.
Sunday 13th October 2013 North West Branch Visit to Grovebeck Mine, Swaledale, [SE 028 483]. Leader: Ian Dossett. Reporter: Keith Lee (N Branch)
The other member to attend was John Davidson of the NW Branch. A short walk in a chilly north easterly breeze brought us to the extensive dumps of the mine. Localised areas of the dumps yielded calcite and a little baryte with galena which were noted but not collected. The same areas produced one specimen of witherite consisting of a crystalline crust lining a 10 cm cavity, abundant botryoidal hemimorphite of a dull brown colour, probable smithsonite (to be confirmed) and possibly the smallest ever sample of aurichalcite. The productive rock was brown and heavy with numerous cavities.
Just after lunch the weather deteriorated to horizontal rain, so with no further variety of minerals being found we left rather earlier than usual. We thank Grinton Estates and the National Parks Authority for granting permission to visit the site.
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 32 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Sunday 20th October 2013. The 2013 “Maisemore Event”. Maisemore Village Hall, Gloucestershire. Reporters: Tom Cotterell and Marashean Parker.
The annual Maisemore meeting, hosted by the Wales and West Branch and the Cheltenham Mineral and Geological Society, had Carboniferous Coal Measures as a theme. This was the first time that we had used such a broad geological subject and as such the South Wales Geologists Association members (SWGA) and the Newent University of the Third Age group (U3A) were invited to join on the day. A total of 55 people attended which is one of our highest yet.
Three talks covering aspects of geology from the geological history of the South Wales Coalfield, Carboniferous plant fossils, and the mineralogy of the South Wales Coalfield were presented during the day.
Tom Sharpe, Curator of Palaeontology at National Museum Wales, presented the opening talk – a thoroughly captivating review of the geological history of the South Wales Coalfield. Dr Chris Cleal, Head of Botany at National Museum Wales, gave a comprehensive account of the vegetation of the Carboniferous Coal Measures and its study and related this to modern plants. In the afternoon Dr Stephen Plant presented a pictorial guide to the minerals of the South Wales Coalfield, specifically those found in clay ironstone nodules, using slides provided by Ian Jones.
There were various displays, including a suite of minerals from Nant Helen Opencast Coal Site and plant fossils from the Forest of Dean, provided by Tom Cotterell. Alan Thorogood provided a display of British minerals with some very large quartz crystals from Nant Helen Opencast Coal Site. Keith Aston brought along a range of plant fossils which he had collected from the Forest of Dean over many years. John Cooper added to the display with some fine Forest of Dean minerals.
Although in no way related to the Carboniferous Coal Measures, Adam White’s almost complete Ichthyosaur, which he has been painstakingly excavating and piecing together over many years, was worthy of any display.
There was much interest in the large number of free specimens from the late Mary Hyde, who was a member Members scanning the many boxes of interesting of both the Russell Society and the Cheltenham Mineral material available at Maisemore Village Hall. and Geological Society, which were laid out on tables.
A superb lunch was put together by Marashean Parker and Carole Allaway Martin who also organised a raffle. Thanks to all who helped on the day, especially Margaret Ince for her persistence in selling raffle tickets.
Please make a note in your diary to join us at Maisemore on the 19th October 2014 for another sociable but educational day.
Saturday 30th November 2013. Wales and West Branch visit to the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. Reporter Tom Cotterell.
13 members attended this, our first visit to view the historic collections at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI). Matt Williams, the Collection Manager responsible for all of the collections held at the BRLSI, provided us with an overview of the history of the institution: to summarize, the collection is not on display and has not been for a very long time, but the collections are historically very important.
The earliest specimens date to the time of the Bath Agricultural Society founded in 1777. The Bath Literary and Scientific Institution (the ‘Royal’ name came later) was founded in 1824 as a partial amalgamation of several failing societies. The institution moved from building to building during the early part of the 20th century and consequently parts of the collection became disorganised with many of the original labels separated from specimens.
Sue Cowdry, Russell Society member from the Southern branch, carried out a reorganisation of the mineral collections
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 33 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER as a volunteer during the 1990s. Her work has proved invaluable in placing the collection in a state suitable for study. Some work still needs to be done to improve the collection but remarkably, considering its chequered history, many of the specimens are still in good condition.
For our visit Matt had laid out somewhere in the region of one hundred specimens from the mineral collection, preselected during a visit I had made earlier in November. Particular highlights included a range of beautiful secondary copper minerals from Cornwall provided by Lord De Dunstanville in the early nineteenth century amongst which a very fine large specimen of chalcophyllite, superb, lustrous, bottle-green pharmacosiderite crystals and a large display quality specimen of olivenite stood out. Also from Cornwall are a number of attractive specimens of blister copper (a variety of chalcopyrite) and a large cabinet specimen of cerussite [almost certainly from Pentire Glaze Mine]. Continuing with a West Country theme there are well-formed black tourmaline crystals from Bovey Tracey in Devonshire (This occurrence was discovered in around 1817) and a large ‘lady’s slipper’ siderite epimorph after barite (or perhaps selenite) also from Devonshire [These were discovered at the Virtuous Lady Mine in about 1833].
The North of England is also well represented, with several specimens of green fluorite from Weardale, which show features [bevelled edges of the crystals, rusty sandstone matrix and fading of colour from green to pale purple or colourless] indicative of the Middlehope Shield Level, circa 1818. Cut and polished banded yellow smithsonite from Cumberland is Specimen of acicular cerusite, almost almost certainly from Alston Moor. Several large, but damaged, tabular certainly from Pentire Glaze. baryte crystals from Dufton, Cumberland are also present.
Small chalcopyrite crystals on botryoidal baryte from Derbyshire are almost certainly from Ecton Mine on the Staffordshire/ Derbyshire border and there is a nice orange-brown aggregate of strontianite from Strontian.
Foreign highlights include a specimen of crocoite from the unusual locality of Gorjabeira, Brazil and a large, display, specimen of calcite crystals enclosing sand from Fontainbleau, France and many examples of aragonite on sulphur from Sicily.
The main disappointment, for me, was the distinct lack of historic local material. There are a few examples of ‘dry- bone’ smithsonite from the Mendip Hills and a suite of manganese oxides from Merehead Quarry, but very little else of note. Indeed amongst the manganese oxides from Merehead the classic lead oxychloride assemblage of mendipite, mereheadite, chloroxiphite is poorly represented.
Our thanks go to Matt for giving up his Saturday to allow us to visit the collection. Time constraints limited us to seeing only a small fraction of the whole collection, but what we viewed was of great interest.
Friday 10th January 2014. NW Branch Meeting and Presentation “What’s Old in Minerals” by David Green. Reporter: Harry Critchley.
David has been doing his usual ‘What’s New in Minerals’ for several years, following on from Mike Rothwell in fact, but this year has been a little ‘different’. He reported the new finds of rauchite and metarauchite from Needles Eye in Dumfries, adding that specimens labelled zeunerite needed to be looked at closely. The bright ‘copper’ green probably was zeunerite but the pale ‘nickel’ green crystals could be rauchite or metarauchite. This aside, the talk this year was to be “What’s OLD in minerals!” David confessed that the whole of the British Isles would be too big for one presentation, so today he would concentrate on the North of England, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
The tour started with Whitwell Quarry, where DG started collecting in the late 1980’s. He showed photos of phosphohedyphane, descloizite, vanadinite, anglesite, cerussite and scotlandite with discussions about species that are ‘usual’ and ‘unusual’ from carbonate hosted ore bodies. Our next stop was a matlockite from Bage Mine then a Don Alderson baryte from Dirtlow Rake. A Blue John fluorite crystal found in 2007 from Treak Cliff was unusual as the mineral has, for over 200 years, only presented as banded crystalline fluorite. Not to be outdone Lancashire has also, recently, produced specimens of ‘Blue John’ type fluorite, from Withigill Quarry near Clitheroe (though the quarry is now a filled
ISSUE NO. 64 - Page 34 - March 2014 RUSSELL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER slurry pit!), David showed a massive and a cut section piece.
Then we travelled to Yorkshire and Coldstones Quarry which David had visited since 1979, before Bob Orange was the manager and members only needed to phone or call for permission to ‘nip in’ for an afternoon... those were the days. He showed photos of fluorite, galena, baryte, hemimorphite, nail head calcite (the most common form found here), aurichalcite, anglesite, cerussite (with some discussion of the formation of these at low and high pH respectively), cinnabar, smithsonite, smithsonite epimorphing calcite, and pyromorphite. Hungry Hushes was our next stop with both green and brown pyromorphite specimens showing excellent crystal structure. Then two smithsonite specimens, one from Buckden Gavel Mine and the other from Middlesmoor Bellpits. Wet Grooves was next with baryte, fluorite, calcite, barytocalcite and gypsum with some finds being very recent. Then we were to visit the very small dump of Seata Mine for fluorite, smithsonite, sphalerite, greenockite and quartz. More fluorite, this time from Waston Hall Mine and some Yorkshire oddities including caledonite from Procter High Mark; hemimorphite from near Phosphohedyphane after cerussite from Kettlewell and gearksutite and ktenasite from Hard Level. Then to Whitwell Quarry. Collected in 1987. Arkengarthdale with a super specimen of baryte pseudomorph after witherite, with a pause while the ‘oohs’ died down!
Boulby Mine was discussed, David showed trembathite from the 1970’s, boracite from 1993 and volkovskite from 2013 along with very recent finds of polyhalite and hydroboracite. Our tour for today ended in Leicestershire with a trip to Cloud Hill Quarry for galena, calcite, chalcopyrite and baryte and then on to the nearby Breedon Quarry for cerussite on galena and wulfenite on galena in hand specimens! The talk ended with an ex Sheffield University Specimen, rescued in 1980 from a skip, of scandium potassium sulphate with a delightful story of its ‘formation’ attached.
All present were very grateful for yet another wonderfully illustrated presentation from David. Many, many thanks.
Sunday 12thJanuary 2014. South-East Branch Report for 2013 and Branch AGM. Reporter: Peter Wallace
For the South East Branch 2013 was a successful year. Our monthly lectures continued to be quite well attended with twelve to fifteen members attending; although it would be nice to see some new faces.
We covered a wide range of topics in our lectures, which included “Medical minerals and gems” by Chris Duffin. Again by Chris Duffin a presentation on “Lapis Lazuli”, again by Chris Duffin, a talk recently added to his long list of lecture subjects. Anne Padfield also gave a talk on “Angles on Anglesey”; this lecture contained some very well explained geology as well as some mineralogy. To finish the year Jolyon Ralph, in spite of problems with our projector, gave a presentation on “Minerals of Morocco” - a report of a field trip organised by mindat.org
On a personal note I would like to thank the branch committee, particularly Vicki and Carole for all their help during my ten years as chairman and Events Secretary. I now feel a change is due because I have not got the time to do justice to the branch that these jobs require. Thank you all.
The Branch A.G.M. was held on January 12th 2014
The Chairman’s annual report was presented (see above) as was the Treasurer’s report, both of which were accepted by the members present. In spite of Vicki Packard, assisted by Carole McCarthy, contacting most branch members by e-mail or post with a ballot paper we received very few replies and there were no candidates for the Chairman or Events Secretary positions. After some discussion the members decided that our Sunday lecture meetings should be discontinued until further notice.
Following the business of the meeting we held our mineral competition, which was won by Peter Wallace with a display of calcite from various localities. The photographic competition was “a non-starter” only two pictures entered, both by the same person.
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