Fieldtrip report:
Ray Mica Mine,
School Fieldtrip Report,
October 14th, 2004
photos and text by,
Steve Penley_______________
Helping the next generation of rock hounds. In September, Mary Beth Hagan called me after finding the M.A.G.M.A. website. She was interested in showing her students minerals that could be found in Western North Carolina. I agreed to take her group of 22 students, (including) a half dozen parents to the Ray mine. We met Thursday the fourteenth ,at the Westgate Mall. Upon arriving in the parking area, Bassey Bennett came out and we made our usual contribution to his remodeling fund. We took a few group pictures with Bassey and proceeded to the mine.
Robert Creason, another club member, had gone up earlier in the morning to dig and assist with the class once we arrived. Robert was already hard at work uncovering treasures by the time we got there. The kids hit the creek bank running. For the next two hours,Robert and I were besieged with a multitude of questions. Kids and parents alike were lined up asking questions about their finds. One of the Dads found a nice specimen of beryl crystals in matrix. One of the boys found some kyanite and then Robert found a nice cluster of beryl crystals in a hefty ten pound rock.
After eating lunch, the boys, (mostly eight year olds) were obviously bored. After much yelling and running (by them) I took part of the group up to the second trench on the Big Ray to hopefully find green tourmaline. I left Robert with the remainder of the group down at the creek.
We found some amazonite and some small amount of beryl and of course the green tourmaline. The boys had a ballgame that afternoon and couldn't stay long, so they left and I stayed up on the big Ray. By the time I came down everyone was gone. Robert told me that at least one of the boys wanted to come back and dig some more at a later date with his dad. The girls too, showed real earnest in what we were doing and jumped right in on the digging. They dug and asked a good many questions too. All in all a pleasant day and experience. Hopefully, some of these kids will continue rock hounding and carry on for us. Mary Beth called the next day to express her thanks for the clubs assistance.
Robert Creason helping a student identify a find.
M.A.G.M.A. and I look forward to future expeditions with similar groups and hope we can encourage others to take up rock hounding . Steven Penley
