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Mitchell County (Read 24389 times)

Dennis Senior Member Offline Beryl is good! Posts: 358 Location: Morganton, NC Joined: Oct 2^nd, 2010 Gender:	Mitchell County Feb 8^th, 2012 at 7:29pm	Print Post
	Here is a nice epidote crystal from Spruce Pine, Mitchell Co.� It's about 1" long and double terminated. The photo on the right is the specimen backlit. Dennis

	SP_epidote_E_halo.jpg ( 49 KB \| 138 Downloads ) SP_epidote_F_halo.jpg ( 47 KB \| 182 Downloads )
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JoeM God Member Offline I Love YaBB 2.5 AE! Posts: 4197 Location: Wake County, NC Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Mitchell County Reply #1 - Feb 8^th, 2012 at 7:39pm	Print Post
	Almost didn't see this post down here, Dennis. Sure glad I did! Great Pictures and Beautiful Specimen!


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Scott LaBorde RHL Administrator Offline "Rock it" science! Posts: 2971 Location: Wake Forest, NC Joined: Sep 28^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Mitchell County Reply #2 - Feb 9^th, 2012 at 1:00am	Print Post
	It's so gemmy it looks like tourmaline. Nice picture and specimen Dennis.

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Raleigh Rockhound Senior Member Offline www.RockHoundLounge. com Posts: 352 Joined: May 14^th, 2012	Re: Mitchell County Reply #3 - Oct 10^th, 2012 at 9:19am	Print Post
	Spruce pine mica book, with hematite, garnet and an unknown inclusion http://imgur.com/MbyQ7


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Dennis Senior Member Offline Beryl is good! Posts: 358 Location: Morganton, NC Joined: Oct 2^nd, 2010 Gender:	Re: Mitchell County Reply #4 - Oct 10^th, 2012 at 4:53pm	Print Post
	Nice specimen. Can you get a close-up on the inclusions? I made out the garnet, but the inclusions are blurry when I enlarged the picture. The coloration of the inclusions at the top right remind me of apatite. If you have a UV lamp try both SW and LW to see if it fluoresces yellow or orange. Mica from most localities in the Spruce Pine District can have any number of neat inclusions. Garnet and thulite inclusions are my favorite from that area. Dennis


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Raleigh Rockhound Senior Member Offline www.RockHoundLounge. com Posts: 352 Joined: May 14^th, 2012	Re: Mitchell County Reply #5 - Oct 10^th, 2012 at 5:14pm	Print Post
	I will try, I have a few other pieces that are thinner so I maybe able to isolate the inclusions easier.� http://i.imgur.com/P22Tq.jpg1
	« Last Edit: Oct 10^th, 2012 at 9:03pm by Raleigh Rockhound »

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Dennis Senior Member Offline Beryl is good! Posts: 358 Location: Morganton, NC Joined: Oct 2^nd, 2010 Gender:	Don't You Love Surprises? Reply #6 - Apr 8^th, 2012 at 1:53pm	Print Post
	Cleaning the garage is not one of my favorite tasks, but some positive things occasionally occur while doing it.� A few weeks ago I found an old friend that I had not seen in many years --- a 10-15 pound piece of pegmatite covered with autunite on one end. I originally found this specimen in the Spring of 1966 on a ledge of one of the Autrey Hollow mines in the Estatoe Community in Mitchell Co., NC.� The Autrey Hollow mines were a series of 2-3 abandoned mica and feldspar mines (one shaft mine and two open pits with mucho dump material) that I visited regularly since I lived across the highway from them (I had a great view of Chalk Mountain from my front yard). Back to the Specimen: The autunite fluoresced brightly when hit with UV (long and short), but the yellow patches of crystals and film was not very visible due to the long time patina and dirt on the specimen. I gave the rock a quick hit of water from the hose, hoping that the yellow crystals did not scatter in the spray.� Some of the caked on soil was removed, but the crystals survived intact.� I decided to cob the piece to remove most of the pegmatite on the opposite end from the autunite.� I split off several nice chunks of the graphic granite, and when I got a little too overzealous the piece split into.� I was left with two pieces, a small (7 inches long) piece and a large (9+ inches long) piece.� The result was more than I hoped for.� I had accidently exposed some fresh autunite that contrasted well with the old weathered portion of the rock.� Here are some shots of both pieces (sides) showing the autunite, garnets, quartz, feldspar, and mica that was exposed. Dennis

	Autrey_autunite_1a_lower.jpg ( 108 KB \| 184 Downloads ) Autrey_autunite_1f_lower.jpg ( 116 KB \| 152 Downloads ) Autrey_autunite_2c_lower.jpg ( 156 KB \| 177 Downloads ) Autrey_autunite_2d_lower.jpg ( 115 KB \| 172 Downloads ) Autrey_autunite_2f_lower.jpg ( 165 KB \| 164 Downloads )
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John Frazier Senior Member Offline I Love YaBB 2.5 AE! Posts: 311 Joined: Jun 15^th, 2011	Re: Don't You Love Surprises? Reply #7 - Apr 8^th, 2012 at 3:04pm	Print Post
	Nice pics........


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JoeM God Member Offline I Love YaBB 2.5 AE! Posts: 4197 Location: Wake County, NC Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Don't You Love Surprises? Reply #8 - Apr 8^th, 2012 at 9:29pm	Print Post
	Yes, thanks for the pics and the report on the mine, Dennis. It's risky business cobbing those pieces down alright. I know I've destroyed more than have come out well. Glad you are satisfied with the results! Two pieces are always better than one.!


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Scott LaBorde RHL Administrator Offline "Rock it" science! Posts: 2971 Location: Wake Forest, NC Joined: Sep 28^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Don't You Love Surprises? Reply #9 - Apr 11^th, 2012 at 8:11am	Print Post
	Excellent story and great pictures Dennis. Yeah, cobbing nice specimens can either be wonderful or disastrous. It is something that has plagued man since the days of knapping rocks for tools and weapons. I'm glad it worked out for you. That was great find. I'd love to see it under UV. Scott

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amguy Ex Member	Re: Don't You Love Surprises? Reply #10 - Apr 11^th, 2012 at 1:02pm	Print Post
	Scott LaBorde wrote on Apr 11^th, 2012 at 8:11am: Excellent story and great pictures Dennis.� Yeah, cobbing nice specimens can either be wonderful or disastrous.� It is something that has plagued man since the days of knapping rocks for tools and weapons.� I'm glad it worked out for you.� That was great find.� I'd love to see it under UV. Scott LOL...."something that has plagued men"... You got that right. many a good specimen has been lost due to cobbing not going the right way. Great story and picture, Dennis! Can I clean out your garage next time?


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Dennis Senior Member Offline Beryl is good! Posts: 358 Location: Morganton, NC Joined: Oct 2^nd, 2010 Gender:	Re: Don't You Love Surprises? Reply #11 - Apr 11^th, 2012 at 4:21pm	Print Post
	Thanks for the nice comments, everyone.� The above specimen needed some help because the patina and residual dirt would not come off, unless I blasted it with water.� I'm sure that would have removed a lot of the autunite crystals in the process, so I felt like I had little to lose.� I was happily rewarded by cobbing the piece and exposing fresh crystals. I have certainly destroyed my share of specimens over the years trying to get just the right amount of matrix material removed.� I remember well cobbing the large rock that contained incredible orange-yellow beryl crystals I found at the Hoppus Mine.� I was forunate to get a few very nice cabinet specimens, but I did end up with crystals that popped off others I tried to make more desirable.� The same goes for garnets in matrix that I would find in old mica mine dumps, and garnet crystals included in mica sheets that popped out when I removed too many sheets to expose them.� I could go on and on.....it seems I never learned my lesson well.� I haven't had to worry too much about it in recent years, since I haven't found anything that I thought needed cobbing, until the pegmatite with autunite above. Scott, I'll try to get a photo of the autinite under UV and post it. Dennis


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Raleigh Rockhound Senior Member Offline www.RockHoundLounge. com Posts: 352 Joined: May 14^th, 2012	Re: Mitchell County Reply #12 - May 19^th, 2013 at 1:46pm	Print Post
	Autunite and Torbernite - Chalk Mountain

	autunite_sw.jpg ( 15 KB \| 158 Downloads ) autunite_1.jpg ( 50 KB \| 161 Downloads ) autunite_closeup.jpg ( 56 KB \| 167 Downloads )
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Dennis Senior Member Offline Beryl is good! Posts: 358 Location: Morganton, NC Joined: Oct 2^nd, 2010 Gender:	Re: Mitchell County Reply #13 - May 19^th, 2013 at 3:19pm	Print Post
	Nice specimen, RR! Did you collect it? I'm partial to these uranium minerals. Chalk Mountain was very visible from my front yard when I lived in Estatoe in the 1960s. I found tons of hyalite opal on Chalk Mountain, but never autunite or torbenite. Almost all of my really good specimens of uraninite, clarkeite, samarskite, torbernite, and autunite came from an old mica mine across the road (US 19E) from my house. That old mine has since been reclaimed. Dennis


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Raleigh Rockhound Senior Member Offline www.RockHoundLounge. com Posts: 352 Joined: May 14^th, 2012	Re: Mitchell County Reply #14 - May 19^th, 2013 at 3:54pm	Print Post
	No, i purchased this piece from rick at a magma dig.


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