Mineral Section

of the Rochester Academy of Science

Our Newsletter: RocKester News

Soliciting contributions for the next issue...
Link to e-mail the editor

List of Items in our Club Library

Our Bylaws

Annual Rochester Mineralogical Symposium

This world-renowned event takes place each April at the Radisson Hotel Rochester Airport at 175 Jefferson Road, Rochester, NY 14623.

Feature Article

If you missed Bob Morgan's talk at the 2003 Tucson Mineral Show or at the section meeting in the spring of 2003 (or just wish to see it again), here is your chance! Bob has graciously made his slides and narration notes available for viewing on the Web. Thanks, Bob.

Amazing Pyrite Shapes of Huanzala, Peru

Other Club Events

Science Exploration Days  This annual event at St. John Fisher College Gymnasium, 3690 East Avenue, Rochester, 14618.  Each May this event provides us with an opportunity to demonstrate, talk about, and give away minerals to area Junior and Senior ) high school students.  
This year's dates are Thursday May 16 and Friday the 17th, 2013.  We will be setting up from 2-4:00 PM on Thursday, and it will be open to the public from 7:00 to 9:00 PM.   Helpers are also needed for the daytime program on Friday from 9:00 to noon, and after lunch to take down our exhibit.

Annual ADK Outdoor Expo put on by the Genesee Valley Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club at Mendon Ponds Park Beach Area. We will have a booth advertising our club to the public. The next event is Saturday June 8, 2013 from 9 AM to 4 PM..

Annual Gem, Mineral, Jewelry & Fossil Show  Details to follow .

Holiday Dinner Meeting  In December each year.  A special year-end get together and pot-luck dinner.

 Articles

The October 2007 meeting featured Dr. David Bailey, Associate Professor of Geology at Hamilton College, who gave an interesting talk about the Kimberlitic Rocks of New York.   For a summary of this talk, click here!

Barton & Hooper Garnet Mine Field Trip

Contacts
Mineral Website
and General Information – mineral(at)rasny.org
Field Trip Coordinators – mineraltrips(at)rasny.org

Officers for 2013
President — Nancy McCann mineralpres(at)rasny.org

1st Vice President — Stephen Busschaert                                       – mineralvp(at)rasny.org
2nd Vice President — John Diaz
Secretary — Open
Treasurer — Paul Dudley

Directors
    Brian McGrath
    Kathy Henrie
    Jerry Colyer

Curator — Open

Recent Additions to our Library:

• Nature's Garden of Crystals
  Edited by Vandall T. King, our November speaker.
  
  
• DVDs of Recent Meeting Speakers:
  October 2012: David Joyce, Collecting at the Engineer Mine in British Columbia.
  
  November 2012: Vandall King, Understanding Pegmatites so you can find Tourmaline and its Friends
  
  

Events Schedule

Monthly Club meetings are generally on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave., Rochester NY.  Our December meeting will be elsewhere, and occasionally we may need to change the date or meeting locations.  This site will list any such changes or updates.

There is no meeting in April due to all the mineralogical excitement created by the Rochester Mineralogical Symposium.

No monthly club meeting in April due to the Mineralogical Symposium on April 18-21.

Tuesday, May 21st - MONTHLY MEETING. 7:00 - 9:00pm at Brighton Town Hall, Downstairs Meeting Room. The speaker will be Harry deLahunta on Geology of the Grand Canyon. Door prizes, refreshments, and visitors are welcome. For more info, contact mineralvp(at)rasny.org or 585-288-5683.

Tuesday, June 18th - MONTHLY MEETING. 7:00 - 9:00pm at Brighton Town Hall, Downstairs Meeting Room.The speaker will be Dr. Barbara Tewksbury from Hamilton College. The title of her talk is "Eyes in the Sky and Boots on the Ground: Combining Google Earth and Field Work to Study Enigmatic (and Beautiful!) Structures in the Western Desert of Egypt."  Visitors welcome. For more info, contact mineralvp(at)rasny.org or 585-288-5683.

2013 Field Trips

A benefit of Mineral Section membership are the club-sponsored field trips.
An advance headcount is required for field trips, and you must be a member to receive field trip details.  

You are only eligible to attend if you have renewed your membership or joined after July 1st of last year. Use the link below to membership form is attached in case you need to renew.

Sat., April 6th, 9:00am - till -- National Limestone Quarry, Mt. Pleasant Mills, Snyder Co., PA.  Children allowed.  Hard hats (children may wear bicycle helmets), safety glasses, sturdy footware, & long pants required. For strontianite, clear calcite, massive travertine, scant embedded purple fluorite, & green wavellite is also found around the rim. For more info, carpooling, & to sign-up, e-mail mineraltrips(at)rasny.org

Sun., April 7th, 11:00am - till (change to earlier time possible)(pending weather conditions) -- Spring Creek, Alden, NY. For pyritized fossils & nodules. Children welcome. For more info, carpooling, & to sign-up, e-mail John Diaz at scarpete2010(at)yahoo.com

Sat., April 27th -- Sterling Mine Fluorescent Event - Ogdensburg, NJ - Go to www.uvworld.org for more info & to register. $20 per person, $1.50/# of material collected. So far, we have 11 people going, and this field trip is filling up fast, so go to website to register ASAP!  After you register, you must Nancy know at mineraltrips(at)rasny.org.

Sat., May 4th, 6:45am - noon -- Penfield Quarry Open House, 746 Whalen Rd., Penfield, NY. All ages welcome - open to the public! Hard hats (children may wear bicycle helmets), safety glasses, sturdy footware, & long pants required. Expect to find fluorite, calcite, selenite, sphalerite, dolomite, gypsum, galena & fossils. For more info, mineraltrips(at)rasny.org

Sun., May 12th – Ace of Diamonds, Middleville, NY. – Postponed.  To be rescheduled.

Sat., May 18th – Possible Fieldtrip to be announced if/when it is confirmed.  Details forthcoming.

To sign up for field trips, or if you have an idea for a field trip, contact mineraltrips(at)rasny.org.

If you are not currently a member here is a link to the RAS membership form

2012 Field Trips

Sunday, June 17th, 10:00am - FIELD TRIP to Ilion Gorge & Fayetteville, NY for travertine and ribbon selenite. Well-supervised children OK. For more info & to sign up, scarpete2010(at)yahoo.com.

Sunday, June 24th, 10:00am - FIELD TRIP to Spring Creek, Alden, NY for pyritized nodules & fossils, and septarian nodules. We'll visit Dick & Jeanne Phillip's rock garden in Tonawanda at 4:00pm. For more info & to sign up, mineralpres(at)rasny.org or 585-395-1713.

Sunday, July 8th - FIELD TRIP to Spring Creek, Alden, NY for pyritized nodules & fossils, and septarian nodules. For more info & to sign up, mineralpres(at)rasny.org or 585-395-1713.

Saturday, August 4th - FIELD TRIP to Lewis Mine near Willsboro, NY for wollastonite studded with diopside and garnet. Drive on Friday, stay overnight to visit quarry 8:00am – ‘til. Well-supervised teenagers allowed. Must have hard hat, safety glasses, sturdy footwear, long pants. For more info & sign up to attend, mineralpres(at)rasny.org or 585-395-1713.

Saturday, August 18th - FIELD TRIP to Barton Garnet Mine CANCELED. Unfortunately the roadway up to the upper pits where we would have gone has been washed out and no collecting will be allowed there this season.

Saturday, August 18th - FIELD TRIP to the Lafarge Lockport Quarry.

2011 Field Trips

Saturday, April 9, National Limestone Quarry, Mt. Pleasant Mills, PA for clear calcite crystals, strontionite, wavellite, and fluorite veins in rock. For more information, mineraltrips(at)rasny.org.

Sunday, May 1 - Marmora Quarry Field Trip, 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Stirling-Marmora Rd., Marmora, Bancroft, Ontario, Canada. Late arrivals OK. Well-supervised children & power tools allowed. Reflective orange or yellow vest or shirt required. Must have passport or enhanced driver's license. For more info, please e-mail mineraltrips(at)rasny.org

Saturday, May 14 – Penfield Quarry Open House.  For dolomite, calcite, gypsum, sphalerite, fluorite, and galena.  7:00 a.m. to noon.  Penfield quarry on Whalen Road between Atlantic Ave. (Rt 286) and Five-mile Line Road, Penfield.

Saturday & Sunday, October 8 & 9 – Walworth Quarry Open House.  Arrive at 6:45 a.m.   Off Atlantic Avenue (Rt. 286) east of Penfield and just west of Rt. 350.  Entrance on Tiffany Road. .

Some Previous Field Trips

Penfield Quarry (Dolomite Products Co., Inc.), Minerals that may be found here are Fluorite, Selenite, Dolomite, Calcite, Sphalerite, Celestine, Gypsum & Fossils.

Herkimer "Diamond" Mine, Herkimer, NY for quartz crystals..

"Diamond" Acres, Fonda, NY for quartz crystals.

Crystal Grove "Diamond" Mine & Campground, St. Johnsville, NY for quartz crystals.

Bancroft, Ontario, Canada area.  

Marmora Quarry (Aecon Corp.), Stirling-Marmora Rd., Marmora Township, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada.

Barton Garnet Mine, North River, NY and the abandoned Hooper Garnet mine. Garnet, gneiss, feldspar, hornblende.  

Lafarge, NA at Lockport (Quarry) -  Minerals usually found there include: Pink-tinged dolomite crystals, calcite crystals, celestine, gypsum (selenite & massive), anhydrite, and marcasite.

Spring Creek, Alden, NY depending on people's preference, for fossils, pyritized fossils & nodules and septarian nodules.

Lewis & St. Lawrence Counties.  Tourmalines, titanite, diopside, graphite, blue calcite, and more.

Bower Powers farm for uvite, quartz & apatite, Pierrepont, St. Lawrence Co., NY.

Meckley's Limestone Products, Inc. Quarry in Mandata, PA

National Limestone Quarry, in Mt. Pleasant Mills, Pennsylvania for wavellite, calcite & strontianite.

Dolomite Products Co., Inc., Walworth Quarry, Walworth, NY. for dolomite, calcite, gypsum, fluorite, sphalerite, marcasite.

For more information on field trips, contact mineraltrips(at)rasny.org