A nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and expanding the study of mineralogy and the hobby of mineral collecting. Our mission is to promote and preserve Virginia mineral and mining heritage while expanding the knowledge of minerals more broadly through community programs and partnerships.

Welcome to Friends of Mineralogy Virginia Chapter!

friendsofmineralogyva

JANUARY MEETING Join us on January 29, 2021 at 7:0

JANUARY MEETING
Join us on January 29, 2021 at 7:00 pm ET
Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts (“MORB”)
By: Dr. Allie Gale

Description: While eruptions at mid-ocean ridges comprise ~80% of Earth’s volcanism, they get decidedly less attention than subaerial volcanoes because they are mostly hidden from view. Mid-ocean ridge basalts (“MORB”) aren’t particularly known for their mineral diversity, but they do have a lot of interesting things to say about the composition and temperature of everyone’s favorite peridotite - the mantle. Allie will share her enthusiasm for MORB with all who attend.

About Allie: Allie Gale grew up in Silver Spring, MD and fell in love with geology while getting her degree at the University of Maryland, College Park. While there, she secured a job with the Smithsonian Institution’s Department of Mineral Sciences, and was involved in identifying and cataloging meteorites and rocks. Her passion for minerals and rocks only deepened while at the Smithsonian. She earned her PhD from Harvard University, studying the geochemistry of mid-ocean ridge basalts in detail. For the past 8 years, she has been excitedly teaching students about the workings of planet Earth- first as a professor at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, and now at Minerva Schools at KGI. She is passionate about mineral-collecting and can be found looking for Lake Superior agates in her spare time. She is thankfully still young enough to be a proud member of the Young Mineral Collectors!

NOVEMBER MEETING Join us on November 27th at 7:00

NOVEMBER MEETING
Join us on November 27th at 7:00pm ET
Blanchard Mine, New Mexico
By Erin Delventhal

Description: The Blanchard Mine, located in the Hansonburg District in the northern portion of the Oscura Mountains, Socorro County, New Mexico, has earned its place as a classic New Mexican locality through the production of widely available, high-quality mineral specimens - most notably the “Blanchard blue” fluorite (often associated with galena) as well as the discovery of some of the world’s largest known linarite crystals. However, the rich mineralization at the Blanchard Mine produces a suite of other minerals that appeal to many varieties of collecting styles.

About our Speaker: Erin Delventhal grew up collecting minerals with her family – long road trips were punctuated with detours where she and her brothers could get dirty (and very tired) while collecting minerals. Photography and design took precedence as a hobby and a profession for many years, but a visit to the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show rekindled her love for minerals. She rejoined the mineral community with enthusiasm and has since been an active member in several organizations ranging from local to international, has been involved in mineral museums, symposia, and other educational programs, and has joyously returned to a life punctuated by getting dirty (and very tired) while collecting minerals. Among other things, Erin works as a freelance photographer, photo editor, and graphic designer, serves as a mindat.org manager, and works with Enchanted Minerals LLC in collecting and distributing fine New Mexican minerals.

-NO DECEMBER MEETING-

𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭:

𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐌𝐔 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦

FMVA and the Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society are excited to announce that on November 18th at 7:00pm ET we will have Dr. Lance and Cindy Kearns to speak about the history of the JMU Mineral museum and the new Peter Via collection! Come ask questions, engage with guests across the USA, and learn about the journey that led up to this incredible museum.

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: A look at the historic events that built a new mineral museum at JMU. Entertaining stories about the many ways of mineral acquisition. Follow the details of the JMU folks in bringing home and displaying the amazing Peter L. Via collection. Of course, there will be many photos of world class specimens for you to enjoy.

If you are unable to attend this event then please check out the article and video shared the other day!

Seats are limited to 100 guests. RSVP Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYodOCpqjsiG9Lz1fEexxNR8tCr3plix3gN

October Meeting: Mindat Workshop THIS FRIDAY @ 7:

October Meeting: Mindat Workshop

THIS FRIDAY @ 7:00PM ET

FMVA will be hosting a virtual Mindat workshop this Friday to help update and provide new images, information, and geological data for the Barger Quarry and Scufflin' Acres mineral localities. Scufflin' Acres does not currently have a Mindat page so we will be adding a new one. This is a great way for our organization to give back to the community during COVID-19. We will walk through the current Mindat pages and look for gaps where we can help add new information, articles, and photographs! Bring your photos, stories, and information!

From the Virginia Mineral Project- Check out this

From the Virginia Mineral Project-

Check out this old rare find from the Goose Creek Quarry in Northern, Virginia! This was a rare discovery and one pocket of material was collected. The specimen label identifies this as Stilbite but this could be stellerite as identified later from other NOVA quarries. The hemisphere seems to be growing on a slickenside feature!

Stilbite (possibly stellerite?)
Goose Creek Quarry, Loudoun Co. Virginia
Hemisphere ~1.3cm across

Come watch Leah's talk with FMVA this Friday! Min

Come watch Leah's talk with FMVA this Friday!

Mineral Artwork by Leah Luten

Date: September 25th, 2020

Time: Join at 6:50pm ET, Presentation starts at 7:00pm ET

Description:

Leah Luten talks about her journey to becoming a professional mineral watercolor artist. She shares her artistic process across different mediums and styles and talks about the stories behind her paintings.

About:

Leah Luten is a Texas-based mineral artist that started painting minerals in 2015. While drawing minerals digitally, she connected with Dallas mineral collectors and started her journey into fine mineral collecting and doing commissioned watercolor artwork for collectors across the country. While her primary medium is watercolor, she also paints minerals in oils, and most recently, tattoos. Her work has a heavy focus on precision and realism. She painted minerals full-time in 2019 and now works as a professional tattoo artist in the DFW area. She has displayed her artwork and live-painted minerals at the Denver and Tucson shows. She is also an avid thumbnail collector and a member of the Mineralogical Association of Dallas and Young Mineral Collectors.

REGISTER HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIld--uqDwpHNbksmQOwx7xLGBoeFh5jgSO

Colorado Gems by Brian Kosnar Date: August 28th, 2

Colorado Gems by Brian Kosnar
Date: August 28th, 2020
Time: Join at 6:50pm ET, Presentation starts at 7:00pm ET

Description:
While his home state is well-known for its various mineral deposits, Colorado rarely gets much attention for the variety of gems found within its borders. From pegmatites to kimberlites, there is a lot to see and share about faceted stones from the Centennial State.

Speaker Bio:

Brian Kosnar is the owner of Mineral Classics, a Colorado-based mineral and gemstone business which has been operating for 50 years. The company was founded by Brian’s father, Richard Kosnar (the namesake for the species Kosnarite) in 1971, and Brian has been running the business full-time since the age of 17. You can find Brian at major mineral shows around the world, including Tucson, Denver, Munich, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines and Tokyo. Brian is an avid mineral collector and world traveler, visiting many countries over several continents searching for specimens and gems. Brian has a deep mining lineage on his mother’s side of the family, going back to his great-great-grandfather, who was a tin miner in Cornwall, England, and every subsequent generation was involved in either hard rock mining or gold mining in Colorado.

RSVP: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEuc--hrjkrHNIqKvum2DgnZrfg233mKZDj

𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐌𝐕

𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡: 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞, 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐳 𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬

From incredible fossils, to old Civil War salt mines and Native American history, Saltville and the surrounding area of Chilhowie has been a treasure trove to collectors. For many years, clubs would travel to the area and walk the freshly tilled fields looking for complex double terminated and reverse scepter specimens scattered throughout the soil. Many of the specimens retained carbon inclusions within the crystal giving a black dot in the middle. We were fortunate enough to find an outcrop which produced high quality specimens over the last five years! We will share our stories and what it is like to collect in the area from field photographs, in situ pockets to cleaned up specimens.

Join us this coming Wednesday for a virtual presentation on the Saltville area and the incredible quartz crystals discoveries over the last five years!

Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsceGuqjkpE9FH2y5qukw6_WiFIICrZYCR

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐧

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 - 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: Wednesday, May 6th
𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: Join at 6:50pm, Presentation starts at 7:00pm

Learn about the new statewide Friends of Mineralogy Chapter! This is a great opportunity to learn about new programs and engage with the broader mineral community! We will have a full team of incredible officers and people dedicated towards promoting our state's mineral and mining heritage! Everyone is welcome!
𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞
3.2𝒄𝒎 𝒙 2.4𝒄𝒎 𝒙 2𝒄𝒎
Haymarket Quarry, Virginia
George Reimherr Collection
VMP Photograph

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲!
A beautiful specimen of plume agate. The dark plumes are Romanèchite, a manganese oxide, surrounded by a light chalcedony. The specimen was labeled "near Ida, Page Co.," but according to Dietrich 1990, Romanèchite was only reported from Warren and Wise County. The piece looks super similar to the Runion Agate mine specimens (reference shown in the comments), but pieces of this material are rare to come across. There is a specimen I put out on display at Virginia Tech which was listed "near Luray" which also looks similar but that is Shenandoah County. Unfortunately the only photos out there are black and white... I've seen about four pieces total since I have been traveling and visiting with folks. More photos in the comments below!

Do you have any specimens of this material? If so, share in the comments below!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲

On September 1st, 1991, at the Old Dominion Mineral Treasures Festival, Richard Seaver unearthed one of Virginia's most famous mineral discoveries at the Rutherford Mine in Amelia County.

A beautiful cherry red and orange etched spessartine garnet, weighing in at 2,800 carats, was discovered while digging in the mud the day after a large rainstorm had hit the area. While people began looking around the freshly washed tailings, Seaver went over to a spot and began digging looking for "heavies" which indicated that you had found something unique with a higher specific gravity than the typical feldspar and albite of the pegmatite.
Seaver ended up finding a large heavy object, around the size of a baseball, in the mud which he knew was special. The anxious digger got up from his hole and went over to the wash bucket to rinse of the specimen. As Seaver began rinsing, his smile became larger. Pictured in the original newspaper article, you can see Seaver with his fresh find and one of the largest smiles preserved forever in Virginia's mineral history.

The Rutherford Lady is the largest documented spessartine garnet ever found from the Rutherford Mine. The second image is a rare photograph of the Rutherford Lady taken by Lance Kearns at JMU shortly after the discovery. It is the only photograph available of the specimen.

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