|
Foundation Collects at Bagdad Mine
Field Trip Chairman Chuck Kominski arranged for us to tour and collect at the Bagdad Mine on April 12, 2008, but he couldn’t go with us. We met at the parking lot east of the Museum at 5:45 a.m. and headed for the mine office in downtown Bagdad. After we signed a release form and donned safety glasses, hardhats and fluorescent vests, Brent Callen, the Chief Geologist, explained the hazards of entering a working mine. We loaded everyone up in two company vans. Brent drove one van, and Robert Delgado, Tour Guide, retired miner and curator of the Bagdad Museum, drove the other to an overlook where the deep pit was visible. A lot of questions flew about how fast the trucks ran and when the next oxidized zone (with conichalcite, malachite, azurite and other beautiful copper minerals) would be excavated. Brent thought it might be in just a few years, so we should mark our calendars for a return trip then! |
|
We hopped back in the vans and went to a pile of quartz monzonite that was set aside to keep the crusher running during shift changes. It was full of sparkly pyrite, but for the first hour or so of rock cracking, no really special crystals came to light. Then at the very smallest end of the stock pile a lucky collector found a boulder with a vein of pyrite showing on the surface. A few smacks of the crack hammer revealed beautiful iridescent bornite crystals on quartz with pyrite. Lots of people came up and cracked nearby rocks and found more nice crystals. We drove to the geologists’ office on site and saw many cool specimens there, including a prickly pear cactus turned to stone and many lovely copper minerals. Brent brought out specimens of molybdenite that had been collected by the previous Geologist and gave them to anyone interested. Brent placed orders for lunch with the Steakhouse, and got enough hamburgers, steak salads, and chicken sandwiches for everyone. We (Continued on page 4) |
