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Back Seeking minerals where you will find certain elements? There are 92 natural elements and several others that are man-made. So, we can start with this group; a periodic table might be helpful to have available when we go forward. Out of 92, I will eliminate 20 because there are NO minerals that contain essential contents of these. Another way to look at this is to say the ideal formula, as we may find in (Back, 2018) does not include a given element. Among the pesky 20, I will include the noble gases. They are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon. The rest are [by symbols] Ac, At, Eu, Fr, Ho, Lu, Pa, Pm, Po,Pr, Tb, Tc, Tm and Ra. So, that’s the ones we don’t care about for now. If you bear with me, we might also decide to pay little attention to 24 more elements because they have 35 or less species each using, again, their ideal formula to determine who makes the cut. Follow along on the periodic table as this list is in order from top to bottom. 21 – scandium has 18 minerals. 31 – gallium has 7 minerals. 32 – germanium has 33 minerals. 35 – bromine has 12 minerals. 37 – rubidium has 3 minerals. 44 –ruthenium has 8 minerals. 45 – rhodium has 15 minerals. 48 – cadmium has 27 minerals. 49 – indium has 14 minerals. 53 – iodine has 28 minerals. 55 – cesium has 24 minerals. 60 – neodymium has 28 minerals. 62 – samarium has 2 minerals. 64 – gadolinium has only 1 mineral. 66 – dysprosium is a problem, it may have one or possibly none! 68 – erbium has only 1 mineral. 70 – ytterbium has 5 minerals. 72 – hafnium has only 1 mineral. 75 – rhenium has 2 minerals. 76 – osmium has 7 minerals. 77 – iridium has18 minerals. 78 – platinum has32 minerals. 79 – gold has 33 minerals. Finally, 90-thorium has 35 minerals. So, you can collect these but I have decided to focus elsewhere as I want to go where we can at least hope to find a specimen available. Let's go to the other end of the spectrum and look at the group I call the Big Eight. They are the most common elements in the earth’s crust and have lots of minerals that are fun to study. The list of eight includes oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium. Many of these have more than 1,000 minerals [again based on the ideal formula] and we might make a special note of oxygen with over 4,000; silicon has over 1,500. Believe it or not, hydrogen has over 3,000 and isn’t even that common in the earth’s crust. It ranks tenth overall. One source says that the Big Eight make up 99.9 % of the crust. One way we see minerals grouped is according to chemical groups. Using a somewhat arbitrary list of 17 main groups, I have found that 13 contain oxygen. The other four are native elements, sulfides, sulfosalts and halides. Among the rest, 12 groups are based on radicals that have oxygen such as carbonate. They also contain carbon too. The Rock-forming minerals may account for over 200 species and most of them are silicates. Here is one example for you to consider. Uranium, number 92, is an element where you might think there are few choices for a collector. Well, it turns out that there are nearly 300 species. that is a bit odd considering the fact that uranium is 50th in terms of rarity in the crust. Further, only 19 elements have more species than uranium. A common example is the species uraninite which may be sold as pitchblende. Autunite and torbernite are a couple of others. We also notice a lot of species may have a little uranium present but again not in the ideal formula. Zircons with this property are called cyrtolites and we see them in pegmatites now and then. Also, certain minerals that are U-rich may also have a little Th, Ra, Pb, and Po present. Beryllium has only about 125 minerals yet it is slightly more common than uranium in the crust; it ranks 44th . The number of species has little to do with the rarity or lack thereof for a given element. Compare arsenic that ranks 47th and has over 600 species. This series will present short articles telling you a bit more about each element and its minerals. - Bill Shelton Back

Mineral Photography Introduction Groups & Resources Equipment Smart Phone Tips Publishing Photos Photographer Locator Smartphone Mineral Photography b y Christi Cramer Reprinted with the permission of The Mineralogical Record Photographing Minerals b y Jeff Scovil Minerals Day 2022 The Mineralogical Society of America Video View Video

Mineral Symposiums Back Jan - Feb / Nov Tucson Symposiums February Tucson TGMS Symposium April Flagg AZ Symposium April Rochester Symposium April-June Sinkankas Gem Symposium Spring Tellus Symposium August Dallas Symposium September Denver Symposium October NW FM Symposium November Penn FM Symposium November New Mexico Symposium TBA Sulfide Symposium

"Merchandites" Back Future Marketplace of Mineral-themed Gifts, Clothing, & Merchandise Mineral Logo

Dennen's Common Minerals by Bill Shelton If we want to make a list, it could be based on many different approaches. Here, I am starting with an older textbook by Dennen [1960]. Rather than try to “fix” the data with a newer list of species names, I’ll try to reference the ones he used and give more recent names in some cases. For example, Dennen lists the epidote series where we would be likely to give a list of species today that includes epidote. You should use a new book like Back, 2016 or perhaps the IMA list which is available on your computer. I think mindat.org might also be of some help in this regard. Common is at best a judgment call and we can agree or disagree about which minerals deserve to be mentioned. As one example, Dennen lists ice which I would tend to omit because my choices will be biased toward collectible species, especially when they are likely to be available as crystals. Isn’t that what many collectors do –whether or not they think about doing it is another issue. The list itself has 137 entries; of those I have deleted some because there are few examples that fill my definition of COLLECTIBLE. Seen any nice kaolinite lately? Nor have I, so it will not be covered. If we use his exact terminology, we find 24 minerals that are labeled as common which is about 18% of the total of 137. about half of the total are said to be found as crystals but that does not mean all examples will be crystals. I note three groups where the crystals are more prominent than one might realize. They are oxides, sulfides and silicates. We also found there are about 22 where Denned labeled them as widespread and that can matter in terms of field collecting opportunities and perhaps the likelihood of finding them for sale at a mineral show. I think you may want to see a list of the commoner species. They include sphalerite, the tetrahedrite series, bournonite, hematite, pyrolusite, magnetite.goethite, calcite, siderite, cerussite, barite, anglesite, gypsum, apatite series, quartz, orthoclase, kaolinite, muscovite, serpentine, enstatite series, tourmaline series, garnet group, zircon, epidote series, andalusite, and sphene. Also, he indicates plagioclase is probably the most abundant mineral. A few of these do not in my opinion offer much to a mineral collector; pyrolusite is not likely to be very sought after for example. The Denned list includes a few species such as niccolite that are not of special interest to many of us. Crystals are a very big issue for me and perhaps a lot of other collectors. I went through his data and added some minerals I think you can find in crystals to his list. The results show 87 out of 137 is possible; that is 63.5%. Good news for us! One example is sulfur which is not indicated as a “crystal” example but I can easily convince myself that a lot of collectors would say it is easy to find in crystals and ought to be on the list. Azurite is here as well. Can you picture this species as not being a good example for crystals? I went to a book I have always liked: Mineralogy for Amateurs by J. Sinkankas [1964]. Clearly his focus is more aligned with collectors than mineralogy per se. on page 275, he says “ …nearly three hundred species are described.. most likely to be ..collected in the field, placed in collections, …also includes “exceedingly rare” species.. that occur in fine specimens and are eagerly sought for by the amateur’. Perhaps we should consider his selections and bear in mind that it is a collectors list. Many examples ie boleite and crocoite are labeled as excessively rare or very rare according to the author. Dennen [1960] does not list boleite and mentions crocoite as an isotype [under monazite]. But then his focus is “mineralogy” rather than collectible minerals. Also consider the length/space given to an individual entry because Dennen gives each one basically the same space and Sinkankas varies the allotted space a lot to suggest the relative importance of one species over another. Calcite gets 6 pages and babingtonite gets one paragraph of about ¼ of a page. Another less precise measure is market availability. Consider this anecdote: one year I saw an entire room of the “very rare” crocoite and don’t recall seeing hardly any feldspars which are probably among the most common minerals. This has a lot to do with what collectors want and are willing to buy and in no sense reflects the rarity of a given species. so, as collecors we can continue to seek out the species we like and maybe keep in mind that what we purchase may affect the availability in the future. Dennen’s common minerals (Dennen, 1960) Amblygonite diamond melanterite sodalite Analcime diaspore melilite series sphene Andalusite dolomite molybdenite spinel Monazite sphalerite montmorillonite spodumene Anglesite muscovite staurolite Anhydrite enargite stibnite Anthophyllite series epidote series stilbite Apatite series epsomite natrolite strontianite Aragonite nepheline sulfur Argentite fluorite niccolite Arsenic talc Arsenopyrite galena olivine series tetrahedrite ser Azurite garnet group opal topaz Garnierite orpiment tourmaline ser Barite gibbsite orthoclase tremolite ser Beryl glauconite Biotite goethite pectolite uraninite Borax gold phlogopite Bornite graphite plagioclase vesuvianite Bournonite gypsum platinum Brucite prehnite witherite Halite psilomelane wolframite Calcite hematite pyrargyrite wollastonite Cancrinite hemimorphite pyrite wulfenite Carnotite hornblende series pyrolusite Cassiterite humite group pyromorphite/mimetite Celestite pyrophyllite zircon Cerargyrite ice pyrrhotite Cerussite ilmenite Chabazite Quartz Chalcocite jamesonite Chalcopyrite jarosite realgar Chlorite rhodochrosite Chrysocolla kaolinite rhodonite Chromite kyanite rutile Cinna Cobaltite lepidolite scapolite Colemanite leucite scheelite Columbite/tantalite serpentine Copper magnesite siderite Cordierite magnetite sillimanite Corundum malachite silver Covellite marcasite skutterudite Cuprite margarite smithsonite

Bill's Element College by Bill Shelton Back Introduction Commonly sought minerals Helium Lithium

Rochester Mineralogical Symposium To Site Back 2022 Introduction - Ray Macdougall "Crystals I've Known" Joyce What's New - Scovil What's New - Betts What's New - Macdougall What's New - Jacobson What's new Audience (Rakovan) Peter Lyckberg Tech Session - Introduction Tech Session - Mounce Tech Session - Murchland Tech Session - Doell & Robak Tech Session - Grundel & Richards Tech Session - Morgan Tech Session - Leung Tech session - Buchholz Tech Session - Ahmadi Tech Session - Doell & Fraser Tech Session - Starkey Tech Session - Alexander Tech Session -Falster Tech Session - Hanson Tech Session - Lovering Closing - Ray Macdougall 2021 Introduction - Ray Macdougall "Diggin' in a Hole" Joyce What's New - Scovil What's New - Betts What's New - Jacobson What's New - Macdougall Tech session intro - Hanson Tech Session 1 - Dr. Piilonen Tech Sesson 2 - Simmons Tech Session 3 - Stefano Tech Session 4 - Murchland Tech Session 5 - Rakovan Tech Session 6 - Betts Tech Session 7 - Rakovan Tech Session 8 - Rutherford Tech Session 9 - Richards Concluding Remarks 2020 Intro - Ray Macdougall What's New - Scovil What's New - Jaszczak What's New - Betts What's New - Macdougall What's New - Jacobson Tech Session Intro - Rakovan Tech Session 1 - Fink Tech Session 2 - Emproto Tech Session 3 - Mounce Tech Session 4 - Rutherford Tech Session 5 - Murchland Tech Session 6 - Anderson Tech Session 7 - Rakovan

Back Why Mineral Nation? Hello worldwide members of the Mineral Nation. The recent pandemic years have been difficult and we all deserve something inspiring! We are happy to invite you to be part of a new mineral website experience. The Mineral Nation Project. www.MineralNation.com has been developed specifically for the needs of ALL mineral enthusiasts. It provides a new intuitive interface to centralize a wide scope of online mineral resources. It is not a new database, or a new dealer, or a new forum. It is a mechanism to connect all of these existing worlds in a way that we deserve. The end result will create efficiently linked paths to online mineral community websites related to collecting, displaying, specimen preparation, reference, periodicals, books, education, sales, webinars, symposiums, social media, online forums, museums, clubs, universities, photography, art, mentoring, historic preservation, and philanthropy. Mineral Nation will help connect the dots in the web’s confusing “lattice structure” and thus create order for the user. There are so many great mineral-related links, websites and social groups out there. Unfortunately, search engines are limited and many relevant (but sometimes obscure) sites are missed. We want you to find them! This will help provide better hobby exposure for the rising collector as well as the established population that created this Golden Age of Minerals. Also tucked "interstitially" in our structure will be unique content that we felt wasn't being offered anywhere else and deserved a place to be seen. We want you to find what is actually out there and maybe even stumble across something interesting that you weren't actually looking for. It will allow you to discover new things or be inspired to create something of your own. Our priority is providing you with an accessible tool to efficiently gain/pass knowledge in support of your varied mineralogical pursuits. We also want to encourage and facilitate the preservation of the related history, stories and experiences from our established community. Plans are already underway to integrate our younger collectors, increase international inclusivity, maintain accessibility for our older collectors, and support historical initiatives. Lastly, collecting inevitably involves the transfer of mineral-related goods and services. Many in our retail community have expressed dissatisfaction with current web advertising opportunities (most notably overpopulated web pages or cost vs. return ratios). We understand that frustration and promise to look into creative solutions to give exposure to all levels of dealers who are digging (physically and metaphorically) to create new pathways to feed the collector pool. Most importantly, it’s YOUR nation too. We absolutely want your input to help grow the site. Bottom line, if it’s all about minerals – we will find a home for it. Please email us your ideas! Let us welcome the beginning of this online mineralogical renaissance. Be part of it…… Respectfully,

Friends Of Mineralogy Pennsylvania Chapter Symposium To Site Back 2020 Session 1 - Jeri Jones Session 2 - Joe Marchesani Session 3 - Dr. Peter Heaney Session 4 - BIll Stephens

Atomic # 2 He Species = 0 Helium I think it is important to notice the number here (2) is the atomic number. It is the first member of the column labeled VIII; this group is known as the noble gases. Reading the periodic table from left to right, the numbers go in order across the rows and return, one row later, on the left to continue. Helium, on the extreme top right, is indeed element #2. It is also a gas and in terms of the universe accounts for 23% of the mass. This seems to leave us at a standstill, what with hydrogen being 76% and helium at 23% we have only 1% left. The earth, of course, does not reflect the composition of the universe. The presence on earth of the Big Eight is clearly in sharp contrast. The earth has about 5 parts per billion of helium in the atmosphere. We find helium is the 71st most abundant of the 92 elements according to Emsley; in other words rather rare. HCP data, above suggests it is 74th but at that level, we have next to nothing either way. Bear in mind that it is the second most common noble gas. What can be said about minerals? Essentially there is not much to tell but there are reports of beryl with helium present in the interstitial areas. Sinkankas, 1981, notes helium in beryl; one studied piece was collected at Acworth, New Hampshire prior to 1908. Lord Rayleigh, 1933, found helium in beryl at Balingup in Western Australia. Helium and argon have been reported in uraninite as in Gaines et al, 1997. Dietrich, 1985, reported helium traces in schorl. DHZ, 1998, indicates helium is present in a monazite from Norway. Emsley, 2001, said “helium is present in some minerals”. Additional sources indicate helium has been found in cordierite, diamond, halite, hematite, kaersutite, thorianite and tourmaline. So, this is nothing new certainly but it may be a real surprise to some mineral collectors. The prospect of having a mineral to represent helium still seems like it might be a real problem. A sample can be displayed but you might be challenged to prove it has helium despite the alpha particles due to decay noted for Th and U rich minerals. The first period, with only two elements, could not have a pair of members that are more different. In mineral terms, we go from 3,018 species for hydrogen to none for helium!

Back The Spice must Flow...... Collecting inevitably involves the transfer of mineral-related goods and services. During the initial Covid era, this market grew exponentially into online spaces with lots of content in many different places. Traditional Search engines are not capturing those options for the buyer. This also limits product exposure for dealers. Subsequently, a better search mechanism for online mineral sales is still somewhat elusive. We are trying to do better... The future content of this page will discuss the current physical and virtual options for acquiring minerals. It will also serve as a pointer to get you to those options without having to search more than necessary while still enjoying "The Chase". Many dealers have expressed dissatisfaction with current web advertising opportunities (most notably overpopulated web pages or cost vs. return ratios). Some have very successful sites built on years of name recognition - others struggle to get started. Problems can be related to poor market exposure, technical abilities, time commitments, and a shift to physical shipping and various non-cash transactions. We recognize these frustrations and are actively collaborating with our dealer population to create better exposure to all levels of dealers and create new pathways to feed the collector pool. This will involve some simpler short-term solutions as well as more unique concepts. This will not be a quick fix and no one embraces a long list of random dealers that all proclaim to be your one-stop place for fine minerals. We all deserve a better platform. More to come, Back

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