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Claus Hedegaard

Minerals and mineral localities

It is a privilege to work with minerals and all the people interested in preserving them for posterity. I spend a good deal of my time traveling the World to visit mineral deposits, purchase specimens and bring them back. Below you find descriptions of minerals, mineral localities and an assortment of groups and properties. These were made for different uses and audiences, so there is no line or particular purpose, however, many have enjoyed the texts, so I decided to make them available on the web. If you only have specimens, but know nothing about them, you have a pile of rocks - a nice pile of rocks, but still a pile of rocks. If you add information, knowledge, you understand why some minerals are rare, some are common, where they occur, why they are important to us, etc. That again may ultimately affect how you understand our relationship to other nations, business and environment - mineralogy and geology are surprisingly important to our daily lives.

Minerals

Each of these texts describes a mineral and some of its properties. There is no grand plan - these are just texts I happened to write in another context.

Mineral localities

I have had the privilege to travel to many countries and visit some interesting and many boring mineral deposits. In these pages I try to convey my own impressions, list important literature, and give a few words of advise. I should, like to tell about what I saw, what was fun and perhaps what may easily be overlooked if you don't know. This is not an alternative to or a summary of the literature - it is a supplement. Reading the literature is the essential part of preparing for a trip, and this site will not prepare you to go to Namibia (or wherever), but I hope it will make your preparations easier and your trip more enjoyable. If you don't go, you can at least share some of the laughs. This is still very much in its infancy so suggestions & critique are most welcome!

Localities are listed alphabetically as "Country, locality name" and I apply the locality name normally used by mineral collectors (e.g., 'Tsumeb' rather than 'Otaviberge', 'De Wet Shaft', etc.).

Bolivia, El Desierto The El Desierto Mine in southern Bolivia is a new source of Sulfur crystals and a specimen mining project will bring them to a show near you! My apologies if you showed up for the announced October 20 launch and saw nothing.
Denmark, Greenland, Ivigtut. Look how fast intentions change! Ivigtut in Greenland is the world's foremost locality for unusual fluoroaluminates (Cryolite, Weberite, etc.). This is NOT a description of the locality, but actually a quick & dirty guide on how to identify minerals from there.
India, Maharashtra, Wagholi. India is a remarkable country, and I was fortunate enough to visit the village of Wagholi in summer 2000, shortly after a new find of remarkable Cavansite.
Namibia, Tsumeb. Tsumeb, Namibia is the source of the worlds most spectacular Azurite, Dioptase, Cerussite and Mimetite specimens, and a host of rare species like Schneiderhöhnite, Queitite, Andyrobertsite, .... it is also the last place you want to go to get any of these!
Sweden, Bergslagen, Båtberget. Mostly photos from Båtberget, a little known locality for Andalusite crystals in Sweden.
Sweden, Riddarhyttan, Cerit Gruva. Mostly photos from the famous Cerit Gruva in Bastnäs near Riddarhyttan.
Sweden, Bergslagen, Harstigen. Mostly photos from the remarkable locality, Harstigen, suffering from being near Långban ...
Sweden, Bergslagen, Kaveltorp. Mostly photos from Kaveltorp, a major skarn deposit, pretty much in the center of Kopparberg city.
USA, California, San Benito Co., Gem Mine. A single photo from Gem Mine in San Benito Co., California - the famous deposit of Benitoite, Neptunite, etc.
USA, California, San Benito Co., Melanite locale. Mostly photos from Melanite locale in San Benito Co., California an old source of 'shop rock' black garnets, that is still fun to visit.

Mineral groups and properties

Below you find general information about groups of minerals, certain properties, how to keep a collection, etc.

Copyright, etc.

All the information on and linked from this page is covered by copyright (obviously, it exists). If you find any of it useful, you are welcome to print or down-load a copy for your personal use at no charge and with no other permission, but you can not copy, print or distribute it in any way without prior permission (likely to be granted, by all means). If you wish to link to any of this, please notify me and link to the front page (http://www.hedegaard.com/) - so I may shuffle the structure of my site without breaking your links.

This page is written and maintaned by Claus Hedegaard