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Posted by: MikeS Dec 21 2015, 06:51 PM

Here are some pictures of the Calcite finds that Dave and I found this last weekend in southeast Colorado.

Unknown mineral found in a Calcite vein. It it very fragile and made of tiny red cubes. Our best guess is Hematite after Pyrite.

Posted by: Crusty Dec 21 2015, 09:52 PM

Love it! I finally hit a big pocket and got a few nice big pieces, but had to leave a few behind... made 2 trips to the truck and was too pooped to make a 3rd run in the dark. That is an amazing spot... wish it wasn't 3 hours away, I'd go back there in a heart beat!

Here is a pic of the little shell fossil plate I got (there are a LOT more of these!)

Posted by: Crusty Dec 21 2015, 10:04 PM

Here are a few pics of the stuff that was left behind! I did take a couple of y'all's sloppy seconds in my first trip back to the truck, before I hit my pocket.

Posted by: Auger Dec 21 2015, 11:51 PM

Awesome finds! I have a few pieces like the white one but not the little cubes. There are pretty clean so looks like just soap and water will do nicely but if you needed to clean them more would you use SIO for any of that? Some of them have that pyrite/hematite and that could get damaged with SIO and you cannot use acid since it will eat the Calcite, right? What do you do for more vigorous cleaning to make em look really nice?

Posted by: Crusty Dec 22 2015, 12:53 PM

Just weighed my pack with my second load in it... 70 pound... plus a bucket with these 2 pieces weighing 46 pounds and a few smaller pieces. I could have done a little surgery and pared them down a bit, but it was dark already and having them still attached to a large chunk of matrix is pretty cool.

Washing them up now with a little soap and water.

Posted by: swizz Dec 22 2015, 01:10 PM

Pretty amazing find you guys, great looking stuff!!

Posted by: Mrs.CP Dec 22 2015, 02:13 PM

Love the pictures! Definitely some fantastic finds guys!!!

Posted by: Crusty Dec 22 2015, 08:12 PM

Had some macro fun with my finds today... here's a teaser!

THis is a piece I adopted from M&D's discard pile, with the nail head crystals

Posted by: Crusty Dec 22 2015, 08:16 PM

Posted by: MikeS Dec 22 2015, 11:26 PM

Calcite is a carbonate and will not bode well with acids. Soapy water, textile gun or ultrasonic cleaners seem to be effective.

Posted by: Auger Dec 23 2015, 12:33 PM

Thanks Mike. Great pictures you guys.

You made me jealous to miss the trip so I went outside of Pueblo Reservoir and collected a good amount of calcite out of about 4 nodules. Two of them were about 2' in diameter and 2 were over 5' in diameter and then I collected some random pieces from some nodules that rolled out of the side of the hill and broke up on the way down. All in all I gave myself back problems but I didnt pick up anything near as good as the ones you guys brought back. That's high quality.

Posted by: swizz Dec 23 2015, 12:43 PM

Excellent macro shots Crusty! You should submit one of those for the monthly homepage.

Posted by: MikeS Jan 5 2016, 01:15 AM

I didn't get many still shots this last trip but I did get an hour of video. I chopped it down to 14 min. Starting with Nate's large Calcite crystal and Jason's Selenite crytsals. Then I show myself opening my birthday present. Most of my birthday was spent picking at nodules that were already picked at and unproductive. After dark I pulled out the headlamp and noticed some shiny crystals that were not calcite and realized they were selenite crystals. I forgot about the nodules and started digging to find the source of selenite which led me right to an untapped nodule. It took all night and next day to dig it out of the hard clay just in time to crack it open.


https://youtu.be/Q0dUZVjnYOI

Posted by: Crusty Jan 5 2016, 06:21 AM

Dude, how could you be so calm when you cracked open that amazing pocket? I'd have been hollering like a crazy man!

Headed back to this location this morning to rockhound for a few more days. Thanks for putting together the awesome video; really shows off the diversity of what we're finding there! And HUGE thanks for doing the research, prospecting the site, and inviting fellow members of the Colorado Prospector Club to dig with you at the location!!

Posted by: EMac Jan 5 2016, 11:57 AM

Really cool guys; thanks for sharing!

Posted by: CP Jan 5 2016, 05:19 PM

WOW super nice finds everyone!! Those nodules looked to be pretty big ones....what fun!
One of the best birthday presents you guys could get, a day out in the sun with some great friends and killer finds to boot!

Great vid Mike thanks and super pics I agree, several good ones for the home page submissions!

Posted by: MikeS Jan 5 2016, 08:14 PM

if you listen close I do gasp a little when I see the first part of the nice Calcite. lol.

Posted by: Crusty Jan 6 2016, 08:53 AM

Good day digging yesterday. Everyone found some stuff. I did the one near yours (left facing up the hill); found a HUGE pocket... Tons of stacks, but it was compromised. Think the yellowy muddy stuff will clean off? They are kinda delicate; some of the stacks just fall off.

Posted by: James and Cyndi Jan 7 2016, 05:14 PM

So after working my way through about 5 feet of solid nodule finally hit a narrow pocket of honey calcite, I deemed the honey butter pocket. Also had a small pocket with some very small optical calcite.

Here is a part of the honey butter that i think looks like a Giraffe.




Even stands up.

Posted by: James and Cyndi Jan 7 2016, 06:11 PM

optical calcite

slab of honey butter




honey butter mandible

Posted by: Crusty Jan 7 2016, 06:44 PM

Mmmmmm butter!

Just got home; will post pics soon!

Posted by: swizz Jan 7 2016, 06:47 PM

Wow.... excellent specimens James! Love the Giraffe, mandible, and that last one with the large crystals. Very nice.

Posted by: James and Cyndi Jan 7 2016, 07:06 PM

Thanks, the last one is just another view of the mandible. And the giraffe lost its head, but at least got a pic before the beheading.

Working on more pics.

Posted by: MikeS Jan 7 2016, 11:58 PM

The compromised cracks and cavities of crystals may clean up some but Calcite slowly dissolves in water especially acidic water. Most of the compromised crystals will never recover the original luster or clarity that the sealed ones will have. Nate's crystal was likely shiny and intact before the weather entered the crack. Calcite in the sealed seams of the nodules are shiny and clean. There is nothing to clean from my last find. The last piece of the cavity is still there sitting in the rain. That nodule should have more too for whoever puts in the time to dig her out. I know there is more seams in there I just couldn't crack it.

Posted by: Crusty Jan 8 2016, 08:27 AM

I gave up on trying to salvage the yellowed material.

James took on the challenge of your sloppy seconds and did some more damage to yours and found a couple nice small pockets. After he left I got in line for really sloppy thirds; you're right, that thing was HARD! I beat on it for almost 30 minutes before I got a seam to split. I found a really small pocket lined with that pink stuff, but it was empty. Then I got to another smallish one and it had some nice little stuff in it, but it was irregularly shaped, so I couldn't get it out intact, but I did get the whole side wall of it intact. After that, it was too damn hard again... but there is still plenty left. I do have a gad now, so I'm ready to roll for next time!!

Posted by: swizz Jan 8 2016, 08:40 AM

What about using a cordless hammer drill in addition to your current arsenal of hand tools? From my years of demo these things are handy. You can use various chisel bits to pinpoint what you're trying to open up.
http://www.harborfreight.com/18-volt-12-in-cordless-variable-speed-hammer-drill-with-keyless-chuck-68851.html

Posted by: Crusty Jan 8 2016, 08:51 AM

I like the way you think!! That and a couple extra batteries and it might be good for a few days if you only use it on the tough spots!

Posted by: MikeS Jan 8 2016, 06:39 PM

The GAD points are generally designed to split after a hole is drilled or several holes. Or exploiting existing cracks. Dave has a few star drills (hand tap-drilling). But a good hammer drill might work well.

Posted by: CP Jan 10 2016, 05:07 PM

The gad points work especially well when Mike's got the high speed chipper going on it too. Anyone else notice that in the vid? He's going at that nodule like a squirrel on a nut!! MikeS is officially the gad operator.

Thanks for the great pics and reports ya'll, what a great winter dig!!

Posted by: Mrs.CP Jan 11 2016, 02:59 PM

Fantastic finds you guys!! Looks like so much fun, I really enjoyed the vide MikeS. Do the specimens glow under a UV light?

Posted by: MikeS Jan 11 2016, 04:47 PM

We have not seen a distinct glow under the UV for the Calcite itself. Most of the Calcite has a layer under it in the rock that does glow yellow under the UV (most likely a Barite layer). Which gives me hope that one of us may find nice Barite crystal down there some time. There are supposed to be nice clear and lavender colored ones on the Calcite, although they are somewhat rare.

Posted by: James and Cyndi Jan 20 2016, 05:16 PM

Here are a few more pics from the last trip down south. My camera doesn't do closeup shots well. My UVC blub burned out, but the UVB is pretty cool on a few pieces. The nodules themselves look pretty cool under the UV. Having difficulty getting a quality pic for yalls. The headless Giraffe from earlier is now called the Bear.

I believe these are little Hematite balls on a bed of Calcite. if you look close there is Calcite growing over them and a couple over grown.

more butter




and some sloppy 2nds from MikeS' bday pocket. the pocket being open to the elements for a few days oxidized it a little, but still beautiful.

Posted by: swizz Jan 20 2016, 07:10 PM

awesome specimens! That second pic..... cube-shaped Calcite?

Posted by: James and Cyndi Jan 20 2016, 07:26 PM

Yes, that piece came out of the same pocket as the mandible from earlier. The biggest cube on there is about 1.5 cm. So cool how diverse Calcite colors and structures can be.

Posted by: MikeS Jan 31 2016, 11:37 AM

It looks like it could be Hematite or Marcasite formations on your Calcite James. Both are iron minerals and get rusty looking on the surface.

Here are some pics of the Calcite I have found the last few weekends while hunting for Barite.

Posted by: James and Cyndi Jan 31 2016, 11:55 AM

Neat little specimens guys.