Last Saturday, 2/18/12, the TarHeel Gem and Mineral Club
was the first club to be allowed entrance to this minerally
notorious quarry location in about 20 years thanks to the
determined efforts of the clubs Fieldtrip Chairperson.

This was an opportunity that I, and many others, have been
looking forward to for quite some time. I have been looking
at specimens of gemmy mica, smokey quartz, etc from this
quarry for years and have always wanted an opportunity to
actually get in there and have a look around for myself.

Due to the "hometown" locality and reputation of this quarry
we did not want to overwhelm our hosts with too many
people at one time, so we put a cap of 50 members on the
number that would be allowed to participate. Fortunately,
we did not have to turn anyone away, but we did manage
to reach the cap of 50.

Our hosts, Hanson Aggregates, really rolled out the red
carpet for the club. Coffee and doughnuts at sign-in and
they shuttled everyone back and forth from the bottom
of the quarry. I didn't even try and get on the first shuttle
into the quarry. The coffee and doughnuts were too good
to leave.

Due to the time spent eating doughnuts, drinking coffee,
and being shuttled back and forth, I did not take the time
to take many pics, but here are a few. Sign-in and a quick
panorama from the bottom.

The material we were seeing is not "exactly" the same as
what I've seen collected from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. The
veins/pockets were not as large. This may be because of the
area they are now working, or just what we were allowed
to access.
Even tho smaller, much of the mica was still very gemmy and
translucent. The suspect crystals that have been called
Ankerite, then Siderite, and now possibly Dolomite come in
some interesting different colors, and vary from opaque to
translucent.
Here are a few pics of the green to white specimens.

Joe,
I picked up what looks like a large almandine garnet (about two inches in diameter  ) at the crabtree.  Need to show it to you so you can post some good pics of it.  Kenny was not even sure if it was garnet or monazite.  Had a great time at the quarry and could not believe the welcome they rolled out.  Dan

John,
I may try to get you a pic tomorrow if the weather and camera cooperate.  I also feel somewhat guilty about fibbing about the size of the "garnet".  It is only 1.75 inches in diameter.  Dan

Thanks for the pics, Dan. Sure looks like a garnet to me.
I didn't see any garnets at the quarry, but then again, we didn't have a
whole lot of time. Good find!

(Are those your feet in the pics?)
Joe

Hey Rebecca,
Yes, this is what I'll be looking for at the NAEM, too.
Hopefully they'll be 10 times bigger!
It will be great to see you!
Joe

Great pictures and trip report, Joe.  You do a great job at describing everything!!!