CompuServe Thread

Wheatley Mine, Misc.

2 messages in this thread
#144155From: Nathan A. SchachtmanSep 1, 1994 7:31 AM
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
#144177From: jerry dedrickSep 1, 1994 12:59 PM
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