I’ve made no secret of my belief that excellent black crystals are very cool. But colour is great too, and the latest update has lots! The new DR Congo Update features some amazing hues of pink in beautiful specimens of cobaltoan dolomite from Katanga, some of which have green malachite in association. The update also includes a specimen with exquisite twinned calcite crystals from Mashamba West.

Although arrivals in Rochester were initially greeted by lingering recent snow, with winter’s last breath still upon us, a few signs of spring were beginning to show in this part of the world. And yet once the mineral fun starts, who cares what the weather is doing? [Note to Mother Nature: that is not a dare for next year’s Symposium. I mean unless you want to rain fine mineral specimens.] This post is all about this year’s super Rochester Mineralogical Symposium.

This Malawi Update features a small number of selected, different, specimens from well-known Mount Malosa (the world’s top locality for fine aegirine crystals), and two super aegirine crystals from a recent find at the Mulanje Massif, over 100 km to the south of Mount Malosa.

The specimens in this update are truly special – they are the top quality Thunder Bay amethyst. These specimens are from the collection of David Nicklin, representing the best of all specimens he and his son Ian mined at the Diamond Willow Mine over a period of over 30 years. They are absolutely remarkable. We don’t expect to be able to see a lot like this again in the future.

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!

The new China Update features selected fine specimens – beautiful fluorite crystals of different colours and crystal habits (and some great phantoms), pyromorphite, golden barite, spessartine garnet and more.

This Iran Update includes beautiful top-quality hemimorphite groups in pale hues of blue, subtly ranging from an ice-blue to a hue a bit closer to the warmer hue of seawater. Also in this update is a striking wulfenite with a coating of calcite crystals, and several specimens of vibrant orange mimetite.

This Yukon Update features selected classy specimens of uncommon minerals that are hard to obtain, including kulanite, gormanite, and goyazite, as well as lazulite and wardite. These pieces are from the heyday of famous specimen discoveries at Rapid Creek, in the Dawson Mining District, Yukon, in the 1980s and 1990s.

I’ve posted a small group of great specimens from recent work at the famous Mundo Nuevo Mine in Peru on the website in this Mundo Nuevo Update. This update features excellent sharp tetrahedrite crystals, and nice pyrite as well – unusual for this locality!

The beautiful dioptase specimens in this Dioptase Update were found recently – I acquired them from the team currently conducting specimen mining at Altyn Tyube, Kazakhstan.

Every March, Toronto hosts PDAC, the huge mining industry convention. This year, my former partners at Stikeman Elliott invited me to set up mineral displays for their annual dinner during PDAC. It was not only great to be back and seeing everyone, but fun to spend a night with great minerals under the lights.

New from South Africa, excellent specimens of inesite from a small recent find, a fantastic ettringite/hematite specimen, and gorgeous green fluorites from Riemvasmaak.