Having a chat inbetween the times when new material is dumped at the site of the processing plant in Oberwolfach.
Then you might be lucky to have your "find of the day". |
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Jeez !! This is a heavy one!
Even during winter time there are some people who can't get their hands off the Clara mine. Even at -5 degree C. But the finds prove that it is worth freezing a bit!
And when is snows you just make the best out of it - a snowman (-woman)
with malachite eyes.
Special finds made during the winter camp in february 1996 included
nice silver on crysocolla and excellent tyrolite
crystals.
And when us collectors are sick of collecting, we just go to the well-done
local mineral museum of the "Verein der Freunde von Mineralien und Bergbau
Oberwolfach e.V." (Club of the Friends of Minerals and Mining Oberwolfach),
to admire the small and large beauties from the Black Forest.
Apart from "fixed" exhibitions, from time to time small exhibitions
of specimens from club member collections are organised.
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For instance, here am I (RBmineral) showing a small part of my collection.
Besides hand specimens of pyromorphite/mimetite and bariumpharmacosiderite,
rarities such as rankachite (type locality) or a nice vanadinite specimen
from the old Friedrich-Christian Pb-Zn mine
near Wildschapbach are on display.
Other activities of interest for the advice-seeking mineral collector include the
identification service:
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RBmineral identifying minerals at the museum.
"Identification day" is always the last Saturday each month, except
for November (no identification service).
Important note: We try to identify a mineral visually with the
help of a stereomicroscope with an attached video camera.
In some cases we succeed, in others we don't.
There is an awful lot of minerals at the Clara mine which appear very
similar to each other. This is especially valid for the crandallite and
beudantite group minerals. In such cases, it is only possible to state
that one is dealing with a mineral of that group, and that an exact identification
will be only possible by more sophisticated methods
such as X-ray powder diffraction and/or chemical analysis (EDX, EPMA)
and/or optical studies.
Of course, we can be wrong, despite decades of experience!!!
After all, being wrong is only human!!
By displaying models of the mine at the museum, the dimensions of the
underground workings and
the method of mining are explained to the visitor.
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