Cassiterite – Day 5 of the Mineral Advent Calendar

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Hazel

This holiday season, why not get a mineral every day instead of chocolate? Today’s mineral is Cassiterite find out more about it below..
One of the most obvious signs of the season is the number of church based carol services that you get invited to – and if you are in a church you are probably enjoying the dulcet tones of a full pipe organ.

Even the fox at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) is excited about the holidays!!

Organ pipes provide the backing to some of our favourite seasonal music! (Image from Wikipedia)

Organ pipes are made with tin, a metal that you get from the mineral ore cassiterite. In one of the best museums in Devon, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) you can come and handle museum specimens found locally and talk to volunteers like me! We have a lovely sample of cassiterite at Local Finds table that you can come and have a close look at!

Lovely Casserite specimen sample from the Royal Albert Memorial Musuem’s Local Finds handling table.

Cassiterite:

Chemical formula: SnO₂
Colour: Black, yellow, brown, red or white.
System: Tetragonal
Hardness (Mohs): 6 – 7
Can you find it in the UK? Yes

Location of Cassiterite in the UK from the MinDat Website

Cassiterite is such an important mineral for the UK that large portions of the nations wealth were based up on it in the last thousand years. Tin streaming, a mineral collection activity practiced throughout the human occupation of Britain, developed into tin mining mainly based in Cornwall and was a one of the central sources of the county’s income. There is even a saying based around the importance of tin and copper mining:

Cornishmen are fishermen, Cornishmen are miners too.
When all the fish and tin are gone, what are Cornishmen to do?

For more information about Cassiterite please visit the MinDat website.

Bauxite – Day 4 of the Mineral Advent Calendar

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Hazel

This holiday season, why not get a mineral every day instead of chocolate? Today’s mineral is Bauxite, find out more about it below..

Wherever you go at this time of year you can’t turn around without being presented with delicious baked treats! Cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger are EVERYWHERE and they smell deeeeelicious!

ALL THE CHRISTMAS COOKIES! (Image from Wikipedia)

But in order to shape these yummy delicacies you need cute snowflake, gingerbead men and star shaped cookie cutters. The best cookie cutters are made with aluminium and to find aluminium for the cutters you need an ore like Bauxite.

Bauxite photo from the MinDat website, taken by Chris Auer.

Bauxite:

Chemical formula: Al(OH)₃
Colour: Shades of brown, pink and orange
System: Amorphous
Hardness (Mohs): 1 – 3
Can you find it in the UK? No

Bauxite is not actually a mineral, but, similar to Monazite, the term describes a group of minerals that represent the primary ore of aluminium. These minerals include Gibbsite, Bohmite and Diaspore and although it is not a particularly attractive mineral is extremely valuable commercially. Unfortunately it isn’t found in the UK (as far as I know – please correct me if I’m wrong!), but you can find it in nearby France!

For more information about Bauxite please visit the MinDat website.

Cerussite – Day 3 of the Mineral Advent Calendar

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Hazel

This holiday season, why not get a mineral every day instead of chocolate? Today’s mineral is Cerussite, find out more about it below..

One of my favourite things about this time of year is tucking up under a nice blanket with a hot chocolate and a seasonal film! And there are so many to choose from:

I love seasonal movies – have you watched Elf yet? WHY NOT!?! GO watch it as soon as you have finished this post!

But in order to watch these cinematic gems (*excuse the pun) you need a nice shiny LCD television (or similar). If you want your TV functioning in full technicolor (even if you are watching a classic like ‘Christmas in Connecticut’) you need lead – and you get that from minerals like Cerussite.

Gorgeous Cerrusite (this photo is from Wikipedia), many more gorgeous images of Cerussite are available on the MinDat website!

Cerussite:

Chemical formula: PbCO₃
Colour: Colourless, white, gray, blue, or green
System: Orthorhombic
Hardness (Mohs): 3 – 3½
Can you find it in the UK? Yes

Locations registered for Cerussite in the UK, from the MinDat website.

Cerussite is a lead carbonate mineral and is commonly formed as a result of weathering of Galena and other lead ore minerals. Cerussite can be found in several locations across the UK, but is not commercially mined in this country.

For more information about Cerussite please visit the MinDat website.

Monazite – Day 2 of the Mineral Advent Calendar

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Hazel

This holiday season, why not get a mineral every day instead of chocolate? Today’s mineral is Monazite, find out more about it below..

Yesterday we looked at the first thing we see that makes us think of winter-joy, but today I’m going to talk about the first thing you hear, and that of course is the ubiquitous Christmas Songs Playlist, that seems to be on loop in practically every store from the end of October.

I love some seasonal music, but how would I listen to it if my speakers didn’t work!

Now personally I have always been more of a fan of this kind of music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo4hI0LdsFg

or this:

Than this kind of music, which is more of what you hear in the shops…

But regardless of which kind of seasonal song you like, you wouldn’t hear them at all without minerals like Monazite and that is because Monazite contains Neodymium – a Rare Earth Element (or REE) that makes all your speakers do their jazzy, seasonal thing.

A picture of Monazite (Nd) from MinDat website, taken by Enrico Bonacina

Monazite (Nd):

Chemical formula: (Nd,La,Ce)(PO₄)
Colour: Orange brown, yellow to pink
System: Isometric
Hardness (Mohs): 5 – 5 1/2
Can you find it in the UK? Yes

Locations registered for Monazite in the UK, from the MinDat website. The crystal in the sea between Cornwall and France, should actually be on Cornwall!

Monazite is actually the name of a group of minerals with similar chemistry and features that have different amounts of various REE in them. Monazite can be found in Cornwall and Skye in the UK, but is not commercially mined in this country.

For more information about Monazite please visit the MinDat website.

Wolframite – Day 1 of the Mineral Advent Calendar

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Hazel

So it’s December the 1st and across the nation people are opening the first window of their advent calendars. But instead of chocolate, why not get a mineral every day?! Over the next 25 days I will post a new mineral related to an aspect of the holiday season for your enjoyment.

After all, what says mid-winter more than sparkles!

Everyone likes sparkly lights in winter, but they wouldn’t work without tungsten – and for that you need Wolframite.

To kick us off, I’m looking at the first thing that most of us notice about the season – sparkling lights! It wouldn’t be winter without strings of glittering lights everywhere, but those lights wouldn’t function without tungsten, a metal found in the mineral Wolframite.

A photo of a specimen of Wolframite form Drakelands Mine in Devon, taken by Paul De Bondt from the MinDat website.

Wolframite:

Chemical formula: (Fe²⁺)WO₄ to (Mn²⁺)WO₄
Colour: Greyish-black
System: Monoclinic
Hardness (Mohs): 4 – 4 1/2
Can you find it in the UK? YES

Locations registered for Wolframite in the UK, from the MinDat website. Does not yet include new mine site just outside of Plymouth – Drakelands Mine.

Wolframite is one of the UK’s currently mined minerals, thanks to a new mining development that has recently started production just outside Plymouth in Devon. Tungsten is considered so valuable because of it’s resilience to high temperatures, which makes it ideal for use in many new technologies – including lights!