Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
I have just returned from the most awesome Gem Tour I have ever been on. The pace was fast, but the organization was flawless. In addition to touring famous sites of Moscow, like Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral, the Kremlin, Lenin's Tomb and GUM (a spectacular shopping mall built in the late 1800s), we visited the Moscow Kremlin Diamond Fund, Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Alrosa Diamonds, The Assay Office in Moscow, the University of Moscow's Gemological Department and Certification Center, "Golden Room" of the Urals Mineral Museum, Pelepenko Mineral Museum and famous ACTIVE gem mines in the Urals: Malysheva Emerald Mines Lipkova Pegmatites Karkodino Demantoid Mine
A couple pf pics:
Here we are by the entrance to the Crocroite Mine (Type Locality - Berezovsk, Urals). The descent included a 30m ladder climb down a hole. I must admit, after I looked down the narrow, black, damp hole leading to the mine, I took off the gear and remained behind with the camp dogs.
left to right starting and ending in yellow gear:Alistir Tait, Sergey Kropantsev, Barbra Voltaire, Maria Alferova, Louise Johnson, Brian Jackson, Mac Heatlie.
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Alberto wrote:
where's the 2nd??.........where's the others???
Takes a little time to organize.
The trip coordinators were Brian Jackson (Research Curator of Mineralogy, Scotland Natural Science Museum, Edinburgh) and Maria Alferova, PhD (curator and gem-expert at the Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Moscow):
Brian and I at the Karkodino Demantoid Mine
One of the fabulous malachite objects at the Urals Mineral Museum:
Digging through the Emerald Dump....some good specimens were found.
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
I did find an interesting cluster with small demantoids and chromite. BUT, it needs to exit the country via official regulations and will be posted to me later....same with the small emerald and aquamarine xls I found.
I was able to purchase a small cluster of alexandrite xls associated with the emerald schists and bring that home....as well as 2 crocroite specimens from the type locality that were given to me by the mine manager cause he felt sorry for me staying behind with the camp dogs.
Score!
Oh, notice Brian was wearing jeans on Crocroite Day and a kilt on Demantoid Day.
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:13 pm Posts: 5077 Location: Australia
LOL Tim, we'll just call it 'Great minds..." But did you notice Barbra popping her head up over the rubble and the smile on her face in the other pic? Where's Brian at?
Look forward to seeing the crystal pics when they arrive!
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Here is a shot of my crocroite specimen:
Crocroite is a lead chromate, a secondary mineral of oxidized lead veins infiltrated by Cr bearing fluids. Locality: Berezoeff Mine, Urals, Russia (TYPE LOCALITY)
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum