New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

Mineral collectors have been very active in Utah over the past decade, resulting in many new species and new discoveries at old locations. New species resulting from this collecting activity include gillulyite, fangite, tooelite, and haynesite. In addition, there are several other potential new species currently being characterized. Many more species new to Utah have also been discovered.

Traditionally Utah has been famous for the topaz, bixbyite, and red beryl that occur together in the Thomas Range and the gem-quality red beryl in the Wah Wah Range. The Thomas Range has recently produced the rare mineral durangite, red beryl with a rosette habit, and large lustrous garnets (5 cm or more). One or more new species are being described from the area.

New material and resurfacing old material has reached collectors from the famous mining sites of the Bingham open-pit copper mine (faustite, wavellite, okenite, and zeolites) and Park City (pyrite and tetrahedrite). Processing of the old ore dumps in the Tintic district is yielding many micro- to thumbnail-size specimens of arsenates, including some new species. Likewise, the Gold Hill district is still providing arsenates and other material to collectors, including a new locality for phillipsburgite and the new mineral tooelite.

Claimholders in the Dugway geode beds have excavated many geodes recently, showing that there are significant quantities of material still available, albeit too deep for most individual diggers. Another geode locality in Utah is along the east side of the San Rafael Swell where agate nodules in shale are often found to contain crystals of celestite, barite, and quartz.

Other traditional localities for Utah collectors such as the iron mines near Cedar City, the uranium mines of southeastern Utah, and the jasper-bearing gravels from Green River to Moab are still producing specimens.

An illustrated article on recent collecting can be found in Rocks and Minerals (Richardson et al., 1993) and a new book on collecting localities in the state will be available soon (Wilson, in press).
 

References:

1. Richardson, P. D., Wilson, J. R., and Wilson, P. N., 1993, An overview of recent mineral collecting in Utah: Rocks and Minerals, v. 68, no. 6, pp. 381-393.
2. Wilson, J. R., in press, The collector's guide to rocks, minerals, and fossils of Utah: Utah Geological Survey, Miscella??neous Publication, Salt Lake City, Utah.