[Rockhounds] Smelter Nickel

[pmodreski at aol.com]

Larry,

As far as I know, Sudbury, Ontario, is the only (?) place in North America that mines and smelts nickel ore.? A famous ore deposit.? But I may not know everything...

I've never seen what any of the smelted material from there looks like; visited there once underground years ago, I've only seen the ore (pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, pentlandite, and other sulfide minerals).

Pete

-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Rush <larryrush at worldnet.att.net>
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 1:34 pm
Subject: [Rockhounds] Smelter Nickel


OK...this time I DO have a real puzzle..................?
?
In the 1980's, I used to attend a swap session every summer in New Hampshire. For several years there, a gentleman would approach me (he did not have a booth), and offer to trade me a Nickel specimen. These came out of a smelter somewhere, and were attractive, being kind of globular, and kind of dendritic, and shiny metallic. It was maybe 4x8cm in size. No label, and I wasn't sophisticated enough to ask for one.?
?
I re-traded one of these (don't remember what happened to the rest) to a friend in Arkansas. That owner died and this particular one recently showed up on an auction site on the web, and was sold to another collector. Since it had my label on it, he contacted me for locality information. I know nothing about the specimen or the person who originally had it.?
?
Is there any member who knows anything about this trader? Would anyone know where Nickel might have been smelted in the 1980's, and how it might have got out into the hands of a mineral trader? I would like to be able to add something to the label besides the specimen (and my) name.?
?
Thanks.....Larry Rush?
?
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