Wheatley Mine, Misc.
2 messages in this thread
Hey Jaydee,
Good to hear that you were lost and found! At least my directions to the
Wheatley lode weren't the cause of your getting lost.
So you found the elusive green crusts, eh? The Brookdale dumps (which are by
the the old engine smoke stack) still produce some nice deep green
pyromorphite. I have found two (yes, count them, two) wulfenite crystals on
the Brookdale dumps. The wulfies are definitely harder to come by. Also,
anglesite, cerrusite, limonite, some not so bad quartz crystals, and sphalerite
hangs out there. On my last trip, we found chalcopyrite, galena, and some
pretty malachite sprays. Keep checking the vuggy quartz for micros.
The Phoenix mine is also on the lode, but just outside the golf course
property. The pyromorphite there is actually a little prettier, being a deep
forest green color, with slightly larger crystals. Some mimetite as well.
This summer my family and I returned, again, to Bancroft. We just never get
tired of the place. There's always a few new roadcuts to explore. This time,
we added the Genessee No. 2, the Rare Earth No. 2, and the Desmont Mines to our
collected list, along with about 4 new road cuts. The prizes this year
included uraninite crystal (cubes modified by octahedra) from the Monck Road
roadcut. We also found really nice scapolite crystals, beautifully terminated
with allanite crystals on a cut, on Hwy 62, just outside of Maynooth, Ontario.
Anyway, more on Bancroft later. It's good to see you on the forum again.
Nathan
Hi Nathan!!!
GOOD directions. Without them, I'd *still* be driving the streets of
Phoenixville! We got there right after a thunderstorm and picking was fine!
From the sounds of it, I was in the Brookdale dumps, by the smoke stack. A
piece of graphite (!!!???!!!), one mimetite, anthracite (of course not
native…), LOTS of pyromorphite. One with nice large crystals. I can believe
you found wulfenite there! And the vuggy quartz is nice, grading into citrine.
Good for a few pairs of earrings and tietacks!
>We just never get tired of the place. There's always
>a few new roadcuts to explore.
Well, I know exactly what you mean! I've done Bancroft about 5 times now, and
am just beginning to sort out last summer's haul. In the tumbler right now,
purple fluorite/white calcite. (Some apatite, but that will of course wear
away.) Also, bronze corundum, which oddly enough is coming out looking for all
the world like steel! I hit the Desmont Mines last summer. Good picking!
Uraninite on Monck Rd.???? Sigh. Oh, well, I guess I got to go back to Bancroft
(G)….. You never find what you think you are going to, but you ALWAYS find
something good there…. JayDee