The Kawartha Rock & Fossil Club
Located in Beautiful Peterborough, Ontario
Collecting at the Silver Crater Mine May 4th
What a great trip it was. We did not have to carry anything in . Bill brought his ATV and loaded it up. Chantel,Rob, Bill and I had a good time. We got Betafite,Apatite,Amphibole and a bit of Fluorite. The blackflies were out but not biting and the sun was warm .On the way in we met the owner of the Silver Crater and he is very collector friendly. Everybody was happy.
The mineral in the picture is Betafite
Collecting Beamsville May 11th 2013
The three of us,Sue Kehoe,Bill Cripps and I left Peterborough at 5 am.We arrived one hour early and had a warming coffee at Tim’s . At 8.30 am a big group of collectors including Bob Beckett (surprise) signed in and after safety talk we drove in convoy in the Lincoln Quarry .Soon there was the sound of hammers ,saws and people turning rocks over. We had a lot of fun .We collected Dolomite, Calcite, Sphalerite ,Selenite and nice Galena. One very lucky collector found 2 groups of galena crystals at least one inch across.At 1.30 pm we got tired and left for Peterborough .Pictures attached : Bill looking in a pocket and Bill’s nice Galena .We hope to go again to Beamsville in the fall.
Collecting at Malone Marble Quarry April 27
The trip in the Malone Marble Quarry was joint by 3 different clubs. 6 members from Kawartha, 4 from Picton and 4 from Kingston club. We was lucky,the gate was open and we could drive all the way to the back dump . A lot of rocks was busted and material checked out for minerals .Minerals collected: Epidote, Vesuvianite, Axinite
Barite and Calcite. The Minerals are mostly in Calcite and have to be etched out with acid. So a lot of rock was loaded to be prepared at home. We are very thank full to the property owner for the permission to collect.
The attached pictures are Axinite and Vesuvianite from last years trip and the small group Vesuvianite is from this year April trip. I think we was all tired in the afternoon and I hope that all trip members got good mineral samples.
Dallas Texas Visit to Rob Lavinsky
I’m in Dallas for a conference… so I decided to visit Rob Lavinsky’s Arkenstone Gallery. Dr. Lavinsky is arguably the top mineral dealer in the world.
He has a large warehouse in Richardson Texas, just outside Dallas, filled with displays of exceptional minerals and many more drawers and cabinets filled with more exceptional minerals. He also has a vast facility for mineral photography, online sales, mineral and mineral stand preparation and shipping. Furthermore he has a great library of mineral books.
I spent most of my time perusing his selection of rare minerals, especially those from the amazing Herb Obodda collection and the Fioravanti Giancarlo collection.
Definitely a great experience. Thank you Dr. Lavinksy!
Collecting at the Speed Skating Oval Lakefield April 20th
On the 20th of April 5 of us braved the cold wind and a few snowflakes,to collect fossils at the speed skating oval in Lakefield.
Lots of fossils there.Stan Nowicki got the permission for us to go there .It was a good trip, 5 trilobites found .One Ceraurus and four Flexicalymene senaria .Part of a Cephalopod,loads of Bryozoans and Brachiopods.We had lots of fun and heavy buckets. After 4 hours we was tired of the sharp wind ,quit and went home.
May 14, 2013 Meeting Information
R. N. Betcher M. Sc. P. Geo.
Hydrogeologist
Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority
BIO
Bob Betcher is a Manitoba native who has recently moved to southern Ontario
to take up a position as the hydrogeologist with the Ganaraska Region
Conservation Authority, fulfilling a promise he made to his wife 37 years
ago that they would eventually settle in south-eastern Ontario near their
cottage on Mississippi Lake. He has been a practicing hydrogeologist since
1974, working first with the province of PEI followed by 3 years in Pinawa
Manitoba working in the high level nuclear waste disposal program with AECL
before spending the last 30 years working for the province of Manitoba where
he headed up the Groundwater Management Section. Bob is enjoying his time
here working with well owners to help solve their problems although he is
still adjusting to our “unusual” landscape with all its hills and valleys!
MAY 14 TOPIC
The talk will provide an introduction to the science of hydrogeology which
deals with water below the surface of the ground. We’ll discuss the
occurrence of groundwater in the pore spaces of the subsurface, aquifers and
aquitards with specific reference to the types of aquifers which occur in
the area from Peterborough south to Lake Ontario, concepts of groundwater
flow systems which describe how water moves from recharge areas to discharge
areas, groundwater quality and contamination, and surface water/groundwater
interaction. Although the topic may sound dry (a poor pun!), the talk will
include lots of interesting pictures and stories, most from my time in
Manitoba.
Can you name the mineral and where it comes from?
Mark did this a some of the club meetings. Let’s try it online!
Including all members
I think that this message board is a good idea and that there is great potential to use it to increase the level of communications between all members, outside of our monthly meetings. And with proper administration it will reduce the amount of regular business that has to be covered at our meetings, freeing up time that can be used for speakers, presentations, discussions and other fun things.
While we have to encourage everyone to make use of this message board on a regular basis, I an left wondering how we can include those members who do not have access to a computer. At this week`s meeting, there were two members there who do not have access to the internet, and I do not expect they will be getting online in the near future. How can we keep them included in the conversations?
No Fulgurites today!
With today`s ice storm there is a lot of tree damage in Norwood, especially on the street where our Auction Centre is located. Just up the street from us there was a major event earlier when a main hydro feeder line went down. Lots of noise, smoke, flames and arcing. Good chance of a man made fulgurite, or “hydro melt“, but the darned firemen wouldn`t let me get close. I circle around later when the smoke clears and check it out.
April Club Meeting
Great meeting this week. As soon as Don started to talk about the periodic table and a bunch of dead scientists, I expected that I would have trouble staying awake. I was wrong – he made his presentation really interesting. He kept throwing in pictures of the minerals that were named after the scientists, and followed up with a really great group of radioactive samples. Excellent presentation.