[Rockhounds] Question

[Rock Currier]

should we give in to the money side of the hobby, at the expense
> of not bringing more minerals to the public, which are infinitely more
> beautiful than anything cut or polished?



Perhaps to a very small minority of people, minerals are infinitely more 
beautiful than anything cut and polished, but to the vast majority of people 
they are not. One has to look no further than to what people choose to wear 
as jewelry to understand the truth of this. Most minerals are pretty ugly 
and to pretend otherwise is ignoring reality. Should we then have mineral 
shows where only the few very pretty minerals are shown? Should we try to 
force our views of what is beautiful and desirable on the people who attend 
our shows?



Concerning mines that produce wulfenite crystals.

I have been trying to think of any localities that have produced good 
specimens of wulfenite that are not underground mines and can't think of 
any. I would be interested if anyone could point out to me a locality that 
produced good wulfenite specimens that was not an relatively shallow (less 
than 1000 feet) underground copper/lead/zinc mine in a deposit of oxidized 
minerals. The Red Cloud Mine in southern Arizona was originally such an 
underground mine though many fine specimens were found within 100 feet of 
the surface. The Red Cloud was mined by open pit methods in recent years and 
more good wulfenite specimens were found in and near the old underground 
stopes and tunnels. But other than that instance I can't think of another 
open pit mine that has produced good wulfenite specimens. Of course it also 
depends on what you define as a good wulfenite specimen. I think micro 
wulfenites and poor wulfenite specimens have been collected from certain 
outcrops but most would not call them good wulfenite specimens. As with most 
minerals, fine specimens of their crystals do not well survive the near 
surface erosional forces of our planet.



Rock