A 2mm wide gold crystal with a face! Pareidolia! Ex Joan Lamond Collection. Pareidolia is defined as the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. It is the human ability to see shapes or make pictures out of randomness. Think about the...
Coarsely crystalline gold in white quartz. Chris Ah Yee. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
A tiny speck of gold in quartz. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 34 images. This would be one of the deposits/short-lived mines of the village of Moonee Beach. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Iridescent goethite stalactites. Ex Jo Price Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 65 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Box of “Devil’s Dice” of various sizes, most less than 1cm in size. The one in the photo is 45x45x25mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Box of “Devil’s Dice” of various sizes, most less than 1cm in size. Centre one is 14mm wide. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Trigonal hematite crystals that have been completely replaced by goethite, with minor colourless hyalite opal. Ex Barry Schubert Collection. Width of view 8.63mm. Stack of 45 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Bladed goethite on white calcite crystals that are not fluorescent, however the underlying massive calcite is. Ex Margaret Brown Collection. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 40 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Brown globular goethite completely covering quartz crystals. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 85 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Bluish-grey fibrous glaucophane schist. Specimen measures 16x13x8mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Red gmelinite coloured by hematite, with colourless analcime and prismatic natrolite. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 110 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Red gmelinite coloured by hematite, with colourless analcime and prismatic natrolite. Width of view 4.5mm. Stack of 40 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Hexagonal crystal with a white core and a lustrous colourless outer layer. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 30 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
This crystal is coloured by hematite. On colourless analcime. A nearby cavity has a colourless calcite crystal. Width of view 4.5mm. Stack of 90 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Prismatic gmelinite crystals. Width of view 4.5mm. Stack of 50 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Highly lustrous colourless gmelinite crystals. Width of view 3mm. Stack of 30 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Colourless analcime on pink gmelinite. Ex Margaret Brown Collection. Width of view 17.5mm. Stack of 48 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Green balls of glaukosphaerite on a tremolite matrix. Ex Jo Price Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 50 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Green acicular-fibrous crystals. Ex Albert and Marianne Schrander-Hettinga 1/2006. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 45 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Dark green gillardite. Light green gaspeite. Colourless gypsum. Gillardite Type Locality. Ex Jo Price Collection. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 130 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Golden goethite with calcite on quartz. Calcite fluoresces bright red. Ex Margaret Brown Collection. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 70 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Goethite inclusions in quartz. Ex Margaret Brown Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 75 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Orange acicular goethite sprays coming from a base of hematite on palest amethyst quartz. The quartz sits on an agate base. Ex Margaret Brown Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 90 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Golden brown acicular crystals of goethite on amethyst. Width of specimen 13mm. Stack of 150mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Goethite replaced earlier azurite and/or malachite(?) with an overgrowth of malachite. Stack of 80 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Tiny sprays of goethite on an opal lining of a vesicle. Siderite crystals in another vesicle. Ex Joan Lamond Collection. Acquired by Joan in 2002 from Ann and Noel Kennon. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 45 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Colourless crystals. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 60 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Greenish crust. Type Locality. Ex Dakota Matrix Minerals. 42x30x18mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Ex Ruth Coulsell Collection. Ex Val Hannah Collection. 55x33x18mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
XRD Confirmed. Ex Jim Sharpe Collection. Galenobismutite not fibrous, bismuthinite fibrous. 44x28x15mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Pinkish-red friedelite with tiny yellowish-brown pyrosmalite and black ilvaite. Ex Bernie and Margaret Day Collection. Width of view 17.25mm. Stack of 60 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
A mass of silver needles of franckeite with black sphalerite, purple fluorite, tan magnesite, and not in photo, pyrite. Width of view 17.25mm. Stack of 50 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
A mass of silver needles of franckeite with a little purple fluorite and tan magnesite. Specimen measures 55x40x20mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Brown to black tourmaline crystals, probably schorl or fluor-schorl, but could also be foitite based on recent analyses of tourmalines from this area. Specimen measures 22x18x17mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Massive white peisleyite finely intergrown on a μm scale with fluorwavellite. SEM shows that ‘massive peisleyite’ consists of zones of intergrown peisleyite crystals (<3 μm in size) forming mats intermixed with zones of massive ‘wavellite’ (now considered fluorwavellite) with no distinct crystal faces. Ex Jo Price Collection. Width of view...
Bright green crystalline aggregates of this rare selenium mineral. Ex Val Hannah Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 75 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Yellow material labelled as francevillite or carnotite, on davidite-(La). It is most likely carnotite but would need analysis to confirm. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 50 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
White foshagite with yellow-green vesuvianite. Ex Joan Lamond Collection. Ex Museum Victoria. Specimen measures 12x8x5mm. Stack of 45 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Type Locality. Cluster of crude black crystals. Ex Excalibur Minerals. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 60 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
A vein of purple fluorite in matrix. Ex Val Hannah Collection. Ex Ruth Coulsell Collection. Specimen measures 28x22x25mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Tiny purple crystals of fluorite embedded in matrix. Ex Joan Lamond Collection. Collected by Joan in 1997. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 55 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Silver metallic bismuthinite on green fluorite that fluoresces under longwave UV. Specimen measures 13x15x7mm. Click on the images below for a higher resolution version.
Dark purple, almost black botryoidal fluorite. Specimen measures 20x18x8mm. Stack of 40 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Pale green fluorite with a darker core, preferentially coated with drusy quartz crystals. The pale green fluorite fluoresces more strongly than the darker core. Specimen measures 46x30x14mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Tiny colourless fluorite crystals with red minium in a void that would have originally been a galena crystal. Also present, colourless to white acicular (calcium-rich?) pyromorphite crystals. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 100 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
A small ore specimen comprising purple fluorite (fluorescent), chalcopyrite, and small amounts of galena and sphalerite. Specimen measures 22x20x20mm. Stack of 50 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Hackly silver-rich gold in fluorite. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 40 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Hackly silver-rich gold in mostly grey fluorite with a hint of purple. Width of view 17.25mm. Stack of 100 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Colourless fluorite cubes that fluoresce blue under longwave ultraviolet, partially coated with siderite. Tiny pyrite crystals also present. Width of view 11.5mm. Click on the images below for a higher resolution version.
A bit of layering here. The bottom layer is quartz crystals, and they are completely covered in goethite. Next is white dickite. On top of the dickite are colourless-grey fluorite cubes (not fluorescent). These in turn are covered by fibrous malachite and then dark green atacamite. Width of view 5.75mm....
A cluster of rounded fluorite crystals with blue to yellow zoning. Fluorescent under longwave ultraviolet, but not strongly so. A hint of green fluorescence in patches under shortwave ultraviolet. Ex Val Hannah Collection. Specimen is 30mm wide. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Lots of chalcopyrite crystals on small purple cubes of fluorite and red-fluorescing double-terminated calcite crystals. A few small yellow barite crystals also present. Even smaller pyrite crystals are sprinkled on the barite, and to a lesser extent, on fluorite and calcite crystals. Width of view 17.25mm. Click on the image...
Light purple over some green fluorite octahedral crystals to 10mm with quartz. The green fluorite exhibits blue fluorescence under longwave ultraviolet, but not the purple fluorite. Specimen measures 59mm wide. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Dark purple over green fluorite octahedral crystals to 8mm with quartz. The green fluorite exhibits blue fluorescence under longwave ultraviolet, but not the purple fluorite. Specimen measures 53mm wide. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Dark purple fluorite octahedral crystals to 25mm with iron-stained quartz. The fluorite exhibits blue fluorescence under longwave ultraviolet. Specimen measures 52mm wide. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Dark purple fluorite octahedral crystals to 20mm with iron-stained quartz. The fluorite exhibits patchy blue fluorescence under longwave ultraviolet. Specimen measures 50mm wide. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Light purple cubes of fluorite do not fluoresce under longwave UV, but do fluoresce green under shortwave UV. Calcite is best seen under longwave UV as red patches. Balls of opal fluoresce pale green under longwave. Ex Jo Price Collection. Width of view 5.75mm. Click on the images below for...
A small crystal lined agate geode with purple fluorite octahedra with a pale blue-grey surface on amethystine quartz. The fluorite does not fluoresce. Also present, golden sprays of goethite. Ex Joan Lamond Collection. Acquired by Joan for $3 from Bob and June Gleeson in 1998 at the Gawler Gemboree, South...
Purple fluorite crystals in a small cavity adjacent to smoky quartz. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 110 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Colourless cubes with a white core of fluorite crystals that glow green under shortwave ultraviolet light. Judging by the colour, it is likely that the fluorescence is due to uranyl ions. A small amount of green pyromorphite, and brown oxidised siderite also present. Ex Jo Price Collection. Width of view...
Ex Joan Lamond Collection. Acquired by Joan in 1996. Ex Museum Victoria. Width of view 11.5mm. Photos are white light, longwave ultraviolet and shortwave ultraviolet. Sellaite is cream to white and glows greenish under longwave, more cream to yellow under shortwave. It also looks like it is intermixed with muscovite...
Iridescent botryoidal goethite on on face of the specimen. Specimen dimensions are 35x24x22mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
This is the first time I have seen this colour on a Broken Hill specimen! Spectacular under shortwave ultraviolet light. The smithsonite glows yellow under longwave, pink under medium wave and violet red under shortwave. Sphalerite is visible orange under shortwave and brighter under medium wave. It also appears to...
A small cluster of apophyllite crystals. Specimen is 10mm wide. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Given the name “Lost City of Bischoff” when I first found it, this is one side of a ferroan magnesite crystal that had grown up against stepped fluorite that is no longer there. The core of this specimen is a fairly thick seam of fluorite that fluoresces strongly. Click on...
A lot happening on this specimen. In the white light photo, you can see tabular pale blue hexagonal fluorapatite crystals with muscovite mica, and brown areas appear to be goethite coating cassiterite. In the longwave UV photo, the apatite crystals are pink zoned with a hint of orange. There is...
Tiny pale baby blue crystals of fluorapatite. Yellow plates of saleeite also present on the specimen. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 100 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
A single colourless hexagonal prism of fluorapatite. The greenish yellow mineral is cyrilovite. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 140 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Click on the image below for a higher resolution version. Individual images: White Light… Longwave UV… Shortwave UV…
A brownish-green single fluorapatite crystal with a small amount of attached galena. Shown side lit. Crystal measures 22mm tall. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Small speck of gold in iron ore. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 50 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Blocky apophyllite crystals on calcite. Ex Bernie Day Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 100 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Small sharp apophyllite crystals and balls of goethite on parallel-grown quartz crystals. Ex Bernie Day Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 120 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Slightly yellowish tabular crystals of hydroxyapophyllite-(K) on colourless phillipsite. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 150 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Lustrous cassiterite crystals and luinaite on and in quartz. Tiny rosettes of tan siderite on the cassiterite. Ex Mark Hallam Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 110 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Scheelite on ferberite, 32x30x20mm. Shown under shortwave (left), white light (centre) and longwave (right).
Pinkish-yellowish blocky fluellite crystals with sugary pale greenish turquoise. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 90 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Blocky fluellite crystals looking brown due to transmitted matrix colour, white acicular wavellite and colourless flat-lying prismatic crystals of minyulite. Width of view 8.63mm. Stack of 40 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Grey hexagonal tabular crystals of finnemanite with long prisms of willemite, and metallic chalcophanite. Ex Barry Shubert Collection. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 70 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Purple axinite crystals with green ferro-actinolite or actinolite(?), felted brown ferro-tschermakite, and pale tremolite(?). Also present, lemon-green andradite. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 120 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Brown prismatic ferrosilite crystals with tan andesine, platy ilmenite, and acicular fluorapatite needles. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 60 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Three small crystals without matrix. Ex Jim Ferraiolo. Crystal in photo is 7mm long.
Creamy white pearly ferroaluminoceladonite with blue beryl and grey sellaite on a skeletal quartz matrix. Width of view 32mm. Stack of 75 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Tiny prismatic sprays of dark green-black crystals. Width of view 8.63mm. Stack of 50 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Yellow-green ferrimolybdite with probable orange jarosite on quartz. Width of view 8.63mm. Stack of 90 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Small white tufts of ferrierite on colourless heulandite. Ex Val Hannah Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 80 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
A spray of white crystals with a yellow core. Ex Bernie Day Collection. Ex Jack Nelson Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 68 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Tiny yellow crystals. Ex Excalibur Minerals. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 35 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
White crystalline groups on slate. Collected by me in 2003. Width of view 17.25mm. Stack of 60 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Globular creamy-white coating on slate. Width of view 17.25mm. Stack of 32 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Pale blue botryoidal faustite with a few tiny glassy colourless wardite crystals, and metallic hematite. Ex Jo Price Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 70 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Pale sky blue hemispheres with white cores of copper-bearing faustite. The outer portions may grade to zinc-bearing turquoise. Width of view 5.75mm. Stack of 65 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Pink grains of eudialyte or manganoeudialyte with/in andradite, and phenocrysts of sanidine in a green groundmass. Other species likely present but would need analysis to confirm. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 75. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Eucryptite and albite as massive white crystalline material. Pale pink may be cookeite. Specimen measures 75x55x30mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Deep dark red prismatic crystals of erythrite. Ex Bernie Day Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 160 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Pink erythrite (look closely, some crystals are bent), blue lavendulan and olive-green cobaltaustinite. Cobaltite crystals are present, enbedded in the matrix, but not in this image. First photo: Width of view 7.66mm. Stack of 85 images. Second photo: Width of view 6mm. Stack of 22 images. Click on the images...
A few pieces. Erythrite occurring as a pink alteration of cobaltite crystals, which are embedded in fluorescent calcite. Ex Bernie Day Collection. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 55 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
A mass of deep pink erythrite crystals. Also present (in matrix and not shown) is tan smolyaninovite pseudomorphing a cobaltite crystal. Gift from Bernie Day, December 1992. Width of view 11.5mm. Stack of 120 images. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Long prismatic pink crystals, one with a distinct bend in it. Width of view 5mm. Photo published in Australian Journal of Mineralogy 21(1). Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
