Minerals.net

We have undertaken the task of rewriting all the carbonate minerals in our guide. The content was written many years ago, and will benefit from a complete overhaul, including updated introduction details, locality information, and larger 3D crystal sketches. We are also adding many additional pictures to each mineral we go through.

We started first with the Calcite group, with the following mineral now completed:

• Calcite
• Magnesite
• Siderite
• Rhodochrosite
• Sphaerocobaltite
• Smithsonite

The nitrates group of minerals are seldom represented in collections, and they generally do not make good mineral specimens. Nevertheless, we wanted our guide to have a representation of all the groups of minerals, hence we included these minerals. Futher, the nitrates have been economically important and are therefore known for their industrial applications.
 

Here are the new nitrate minerals we added: 

• Nitratine (Soda Niter)
• Niter

I attended the Franklin, New Jersey, mineral show this past September. Although this show is relatively small and local, it usually does have several public display exhibits of interesting local minerals, especially Franklin and Sterling Hill minerals. At this show, there were two display exhibits dedicated to Zincite which I found interesting.

Zincite is an unusual mineral, and is found in a natural state only from the Franklin mineral district. I photographed the Zincite specimen cases, as well as some of the individual minerals in the case. This post demonstrates an interesting variety and diversity of colors and habits of this mineral.

This post shows the minerals of New York City at the New York Museum in Albany. New York City has a surprising variety minerals, with 130 species confirmed. Many of the mineral finds have occurred in the vast construction projects, especially in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This post is a continuation of the previous post on the individual minerals on display in the New York State Museum in Albany. There is no particular order to the photos other than the sequence that I took the photos in as I approached the displays.