Field Trip Report:
End
of June field trips!
June 21st, 24th, and 25th
Diamond Hill, S.C.
Abernathy Mine, N.C.
Ray Mine, N.C.
Another mineral collected is the apatite. Some of the material from this site can be very gemmy, it is also fluorescent under a short wave UV light.
Apatite in matrix.
Apatite under short wave UV. By mid afternoon, the sun was beating down and we converged in front of the old mine to cool off. The air blowing through the mine stays at a constant 50's degree range, it is like having an air conditioner out in the middle of nowhere. I like to sit in front of it and eat lunch when i'm digging at this site. After a brief sit we headed back down the tracks and home to get ready for the next days trip to the Ray Mine.
Saturday morning we met at our usual meeting place, the Silver Armadillo. MAGGIE had been crying that she never gets to go out, so I brought her along for the trip. Bridget said she would like to get a military issue Hummvee to cruise around. I invited her to ride along with me in MAGGIE to get an idea of how much fun these things can be! Some of the members rode in the back to the mine, it was like a hay ride for rocks. When we got there Bassey Bennett thought he was being invaded.
When we arrived, Ed Wagner was ready to head up to the mine. We were joined by several new members, Josh Gardner and his family, Dave and his Son, Ernie Hollingsworth and Jim and Bridget joined us again for the day. Gene Jeffers and his wife had arrived earlier and were already up at the mine.
I brought along a couple of copies of the Rock and Gem Mag with my Ray Mine article in it. I gave one to Bassey and got him to sign the other one for me, a priceless copy for my collection! Bassey said it was great of me to talk about him in my article and now he's nationwide! Bassey deserves the recognition and I was glad to give it to him.
Ed loading his arsenal of weapons for the days assault on the Ray Mine. |
