Rockin the Rockies

Rockin the Rockies
Rock Hounding

Friday, June 10, 2011

Amazonite, Rocky Mtn National Park & Leadville

I will post some pictures this weekend.  The amazonite that I collected a week ago is not cleaning up well due to etching by the chemicals in the pocket where it was formed.  After a week of vacationing in Rocky Mtn National Park we stopped by Leadville on the way back.  As many of you probably know Leadville is a famous mining town, where a lot of lead, silver, some gold and other minerals where extracted.  Currently a large open pit mine nearby removes molybdenum.  I found some pyritohedron crystals in an abandoned dump, none much larger than half an inch in diameter, still they are interesting.

1 comment:

  1. Hello, I am a rockhound and in the last several years have begun to get serious about learning what it is I've collected. I collected huge boulders of puddingstone every year when I visited my folks. They range from hand size to 50 lbs.. One stone, however, is so far believed to be Amazonite with reddish dendritic activity. It is "river polished", stunning when wet. Has anyone ever found such a boulder of Amozonite....? 60 lbs...... then, what would you do with it? one large carving, cut it up, etc....?

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