New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

The Hansonburg mining district encompasses the Blanchard mine group, the Mex-Tex group, the Royal Flush mine, Desert Rose mine, and the Hansonburg copper mine in Socorro County, New Mexico. Many of the minerals from this district are well known in the U.S. and around the world because of their aesthetics and availability as specimens. Fluorite, brochantite, linarite, and spangolite specimens have delighted mineral enthusiasts for decades. There are a large number of other mineral species also occurring within this district that are less well known but are also appealing and fascinating in their own right. That they are less well known is primarily due to the fact that they occur usually as micro crystals or have only been rarely encountered. Many of these species occur in well-crystallized morphologies that have not been seen by most collectors of Hansonburg district minerals. This is particularly true of collectors that may not have an inherent interest in micro crystals or that may not have recognized rare or uncommon minerals in the field.

To obviate this circumstance, the authors will present images of these minerals that we believe will inspire enthusiasm for these underappreciated species. Minerals such as murdochite, plattnerite, corkite, caledonite, fraipontite, jarosite, and pyromorphite, while not rare, do exhibit distinct habits and morphologies that have not been seen by most collectors. Other species, such as otavite, cinnabar, scrutinyite, atacamite, sulphur, cuprite, and copper, have, for the most part, rarely been observed or collected. Many of the images in this program will document the variety of habits shown by common minerals such as wulfenite, brochantite, and the nature of uncommon minerals such as plumbogummite, libethenite, tsumebite, and turquoise. It is hoped that this presentation will acquaint collectors with the rare and uncommon minerals of the Hansonburg district and motivate a more detailed surveillance for their presence. To find and identify them in the field is a thrill!