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Post by pegmatite on Jul 25, 2008 15:40:51 GMT -5
I plan to send Rick a field trip report tonight for a recent trip my family made to the Franklin Mineral Museum and Buckwheat Pit dumps in Franklin, New Jersey. You'll see the place is still producing awesome fluorescent material.
Steve
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Post by pegmatite on Jul 25, 2008 16:41:13 GMT -5
Here's a not so great photo of an average specimen with calcite (red) and willemite (green) under shortwave UV light.  Steve |
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Post by koolaid on Jul 26, 2008 16:28:02 GMT -5
Franklin minerals are alway so bright and pretty. I read where there is 105 truck loads (5.9 million pounds) of new minerals dumped at the Buckwheat Dump. It was donated by the Bergen Engineering company and according to tax rules on donations the material cannot be opened to the public for 3 more years. It is secured by a fence.
Dennis
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Post by pegmatite on Jul 26, 2008 17:13:04 GMT -5
There is definitely a large pile of material inside a security fence at the Buckwheat Dump. Fortunately the amount of quality material in the regular dumps is pretty amazing. I'm planning a marathon collecting trip to the Northeast next year and the Buckwheat Dumps will defintely be on the itineray. I'm hoping to time things so I could also make one of the monthly night trips run by the Sterling Hill Mineral Museum. It's not far from Franklin at all. Of course I may not have any room in my vehicle after a week in Maine.
Steve
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Post by reverenddeb on Jul 26, 2008 17:57:04 GMT -5
The non-fenced in area still has some wonders in it: in the past 12 months I have found rhodonite Crystals, Franklinite Crystals, the fluorescing willemite and Calcite, 100 pounds of the blue fluorescing hardystonite, yellow fluorescing esperite, blue white margarosanite, cuspidines, sharp andradite garnets, bright microclines, big tremolite xls, fluorescing feldspars, small spinels, large augites, malachite, azurite, rhodocrosite, native copper (tiny) and uraninite. The informed collector on a long day should come out of there with the calcite, willemite, franklinite, garnets, norbergite, feldspars, microclines, rhodonites, and a few others to boot. I basically sit in one or two spots and look at each and every rock. I don't dig, too creaky for that. This ain't bragging - you can do it too, really! Go for it.
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