TWENTY YEARS IN MINERALS
A special edition of the UK Journal of Mines and Minerals
celebrating our 21st issue.
In 2001 we celebrate the twenty-first issue of the UK Journal of Mines
and Minerals wth a backward look at the last twenty years in minerals.
In the following pages, developments in collections-related mineralogy
are charted, focussing on collectors and collecting, museums with mineral
collections, mineral-related societies, and topographic mineralogy in
Britain and Ireland. We describe and illustrate (in four separate articles)
some of the important specimen discoveries in the British Isles in the
past 20 years. The volume of text in these articles grew rapidly until
it exceeded the compass of a single issue. We have therefore decided to
publish them over two issues. The first two articles, which describe Scotland
and Ireland, appear here in issue 21, while the remainder will be published
in issue 22. To be included in one of the descriptive articles, a discovery
must be of importance for the quality of the specimens (taking their geological
or geographical context into account) or for their rarity.
Diligent exporation over the last 20 years has produced
remarkable specimens, particularly in remote and isolated areas of Britain.
The photo above shows climber-collector Mike Wood examining a vesicular
Tertiary basalt on the west coast of the Durinish pennisula, Isle of Skye.
What he will do if he does find a large and remarkable specimen is not
at all obvious! Photo: David Green.
Twenty Years in Minerals:
SCOTLAND
David I. Green
J. Gordon Todd
The past 20 years have seen a renaissance in Scottish mineralogy. Collectors
have invested time and energy exploring, particularly in the Highlands,
and a dedicated few have spent their leisure time seeking out the classic
localities described in the nineteenth century by the doyen of Scottish
mineralogists Matthew Forster Heddle. Scotland has occupied the attention
of professional mineralogists, who have mapped many deposits containing
both precious and base metals. The national museum has been actively field
collecting at important localities, and several new mineral species have
been described. In all, a great deal that is unusual, new and remarkable
has been discovered.
Moonen Bay has produced some of the finest apophyllite
found in the British Isles. Many specimens came from a single cavity discovered
by Mike Wood in 1993. This pale green apophyllite, 15 mm in length, on
fibrous mesolite, is from this cavity. Photo: David Green.
Twenty Years in Minerals:
IRELAND
David I. Green
Stephen Moreton
Ireland is undoubtedly the most mineralogically neglected of the areas
described in these reviews, and yet it shelters many of the most intriguing
mineral localities in the British Isles. Nowhere is there greater potential
for the enthusiastic collector-mineralogist to make important discoveries.
It is probably fair to say that there are only a handful of dedicated
collectors of Irish minerals. As a result there are very few important
Irish mineral collections, held either privately or in institutions. Hopefully,
this situation will be remedied in the twenty first century.
A fine 50 mm tall galena specimen from the Mogul Mines,
Silvermines, Co. Tipperary, which shows rounded cubo-octahedral crystals
with gemmy yellow sphalerite in massive pyritic matrix. It was purchased
from an unknown miner by Richard Barstow, and has a coveted Barstow white
label indicating that it was part of his personal collection. Photo: David
Green.
Filiform Pyrite from the Prince Edward
Mine, Dolgellau Gold-Belt, Gwynedd
John S. Mason
Ken W. Williamson
Complex aggregates of filiform pyrite have been found during a recent
sampling program undertaken by Cambrian Goldfields Ltd at Prince Edward
Mine, Gwynedd. Their occurrence is though to be related to remobilisation
of vein pyrite emplaced during the Rhobell Fawr volcanic episode by aggressive
Variscan hydrothermal fluids.
Filiform pyrite aggregate ca. 0.3 mm across collected
by JSM from Prince Edward Mine, Gwynedd. SEM Photo by Mike Rothwell.
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