This new post is Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy Part 2: The Islands. Superb specimens of many minerals have been found at Two Islands and Five Islands, including world class gmelinite crystals, and great specimens of natrolite, analcime and stilbite. This post offers a glimpse into these classic Canadian localities.

Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy has been famous among mineral collectors for a long time – the area includes some of Canada’s oldest classic localities. Today, fine mineral specimens are still periodically recovered along the Bay of Fundy, making this area one of the most productive contemporary regions for Canadian fine mineral specimens. This article includes many photographs to give a better sense of the localities and adventures behind the beautiful specimens from here.

Just north of Lake Superior, the Thunder Bay District of Ontario is world famous for its distinctive, ancient amethyst crystals. Thunder Bay amethyst is remarkable for its variety – it occurs in all shades of purple and it is often further coloured by red hematite inclusions, the classic look of Thunder Bay amethyst. It is a long journey to the amethyst mines of the Thunder Bay District, and hopefully this article will bring this beautiful region, its history, geology, mines and collecting experience a bit closer!

Many Bancroft Area minerals are classics. Although fine specimens from the Bancroft Area are uncommon on the international market, they can still be field collected. Bancroft mineral collecting continues each year and it is beautiful in the fall. I thought you might like some glimpses of our fall, scenes, wildlife and recent mineral collecting in the Bancroft Area.

High in the Andes, Southern Peaks Mining operates one of Peru’s most famous historical mines, the Quiruvilca Mine. Quiruvilca is one of Peru’s most important mineral specimen producing localities. I was invited to go to Quiruvilca, resulting in an adventure that included some amazing time underground to explore the sulfide veins as they were being mined.

Who could pass up the chance to adventure in one of the world’s greatest mineral countries? Morocco hosts to some of the great contemporary specimen producing localities of our time, in a beautiful region with stunning landscapes.

After the Sahara adventure, it was time to descend into the workings of the world famous Mibladen mining district.

We have all had that moment when looking at a pyrite from Navajún, Spain: “No way are those cubes natural!” Well, if you’d like to adventure to the remarkable place where they do in fact come out of the ground, this post will take you to this beautiful region of Spain, and to the Victoria Mine.