Volume 56 Number 10 October 5, 2015

Highlights of the September Meeting and Notations

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SEPTEMBER MEETING by Joyce Patton

The 2015 September meeting was opened by President, Kathie Montgomery with 25 members in

attendance. Refreshments of ham and cheese biscuits, veggie tray, cookies and drinks were provided by

Grace and Steve Smith. Thanks Smiths!

DOOR PRIZE WINNERS

Roy Carlson—Corundum from York County, SC

Skeeter Lee—Hemimorphite from Mexico

McCreery Scholarship 50-50 winner—Charlie Finch, $15.00. The scholarship is now at $1,054.

(Specimen $15.00 for a total of $154.00)

Next Club Meeting

October 5, 2015 7:00 PM

New Garden Friends

801 New Garden Road, Greensboro, NC

Fall Auction

McCreery Scholarship: $ 1,054.00

Specimen raffle $154.00

Next Meeting November 2, 2015

Nov. 2 Steve Adams, “Minerals affecting Color of Stones”

Hospitality Report 2015: Debbie Bechtold

Jan. 5: Mary Barto Feb. 2: Dawn & Shawn Healy March 2: Joe Maguire April 6: Charlie Finch May 4: Gary Parker June 1: Martha Honeycutt July 6: Shelton family Aug. 3: Montgomery Family Sept. 14: Smith family

Oct. 5 Roy Carlson

Nov. 2: Adams brothers Dec.7, 2014 Holiday Dinner

Expenses are reimbursed. Please try to keep cost below $50.00

Piedmont Prospector© Volume 56 Number 10 Page 2

October Birthdays: Pat Maguire Robert Barto Daniel Pilhorn Allen Spizzo

Jonathan Harris Bryan Deel

Visitors:

New Members:

2015 Field Trips Jan . None Feb. 28 Graves Mountain March

April 17-19 Reel Mine By Laurie Adams May June 13 Our Outside Show GDS July 11 Uwharrie Gold w/ Kayla Johnson August Sept

Oct Uwharrie gold w/ Kayla Johnson

Nov Dec:. 7 Club Holiday Special carry in meal

2015 Programs:

Jan. 5 John Sinclair "Meteorites of NC" Feb. 2 Shaun Shelton: “NC Minerals” March 2 Steve Adams: “Structural Geology” April 6 Spring auction May 4 “Show and Tell” and “Meet our Members “ June 1 July 6 Shaun Shelton, Identifying Minerals. Aug. 3 Tim Martin, Regional Fossil Collecting.

Sept. 14 Chris Tacker, State Geologist, on “NC Diamonds”

Oct. 5 Fall Auction

Nov. 2 Steve Adams, “Minerals affecting Color of Stones” Dec. 7 Holiday dinner; “Dirty-Rotten-Santa”

FIELD TRIPS

Kathie has contacted Tim Martin, our presenter last month, to see when he would be able to di-

rect our field trip to the coast for fossil hunting. She is also checking with Kayla Johanson who has

agreed to guide another group on a gold prospecting trip to the Uwharrie area.

New members should know that we have a Diggers email list for those who participate in field trips and

wish to receive this information. It is separate from the normal club email. Contact Kathie to sign up.

NOMINATIONS

Steve Smith, Roy Carlson and John Hiller were voted in as Board members to begin in 2016 and

serve a three-year term.

Current club officers were nominated and agreed to run for another term. They are Kathie

Montgomery, President; Charlie Finch, Vice-President; Joe Maguire, Treasurer; and Joyce Patton, Sec-

retary. Elections are by a ballot that is sent in the newsletter and should be signed by the club member

then returned by mail or brought to the November meeting. Results will be announced at the December

meeting.

Kathie asked for a volunteer to be the Hospitality Chairman. This person will make certain that

the designated volunteer(s) will be able to provide refreshments for the meeting, or else make other ar-

rangements. The Chairman will maintain an adequate supply of paper products and transport them to

each meeting, as well as coordinate arrangements for the Christmas dinner meeting. Following the

meeting, new member Debbie Bechtold agreed to serve in this position.

PRESENTATION: 10 New Diamonds from North Carolina

By Chris Tacker, Ph.D., P.G., Research Curator of Geology, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sci-

ences

There have been 13 diamonds found in the state of North Carolina since 1893, the largest of

which was 4.33 carats. Most of them were found as a result of panning operations for gold or monazite.

One of these is in the Geology Collection of the Museum of Natural Sciences. It came from Burke

County and was part of the collection of J.A.D. Stephenson, the man who discovered emeralds (aka hid-

The Piedmont Prospector © Volume 56 Number 10 Page 3

denite) in Alexander County.

So Chris was really surprised last year when he received a box containing what looked like 13

more NC diamonds from Jeff Moyer, a gold prospector and amateur exploration geologist. Jeff was the

most gifted amateur geologist Chris ever met. Jeff had consulted records from the old Charlotte Mint and

took time to learn the oral history of the areas where he worked. He designed and patented his own

equipment and then modified his equipment to trap diamonds as well as gold. And when Chris tested the

stones, the scanning electron microprobe showed that the stones were diamonds with traces of iron, sili-

con and aluminum on the surface, consistent with a natural origin.

The diamonds were also a variety of crystal shapes. Synthetic stones tend to be all of one crystal

shape. Diamonds Direct Crabtree, a North Carolina based diamond company then confirmed that the

stones were natural diamond. The Museum purchased 10 of the diamonds. The diamonds include a do-

decahedral diamond crystal, and both a modified and a perfect octahedron. Chris showed beautiful pho-

tos of the stones. These diamonds are small (on a millimeter scale), but Chris says it means we are one

step closer to finding the source of diamonds in North Carolina. It also means that there is a scientific

treasure trove waiting to tell us about the mantle far below North Carolina.

Chris went on to discuss the types of geological formations that result in diamond-bearing Kim-

berlites or Lamproites. The primary melts of Kimberlites and Lamproites are derived from different

types of mantle. Unfortunately Kimberlite is found in the stable interior of a continent, which does not

include the United States, so any diamonds found will be from Lamproite. If trying your luck, Chris says

to look for a circular depression that might have been cone shaped underground, odd minerals in a

stream, and strange color clay. Looking in streams is the best bet but any found would probably be small.

When Jeff Moyer searched at night he used a UV flashlight. Any shiny stones that fluoresced

would be zircon. Any others might be diamond.

Chris also discussed the Bowens Reaction Series and phase diagrams that allow a geologist to pre-

dict what minerals will be formed in igneous rocks depending on the temperature, pressure and time of

formation. In the case of diamonds, Chris pointed out that cheap diamonds will contain visible strings of

graphite because of slow formation. In fact he says for a diamond to be pure it must come to the surface

extremely fast—like a Mach 2 speed as in an erupting volcano.

Our thanks once again to Chris for another informative presentation. Club members have come to

look forward to a great talk from him each year.

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OCTOBER MEETING ——- Fall Auction

In addition to the usual minerals and household items available at our Fall auction, there will be some

extra special items:

Tim Martin not only presented a great program about fossils last month, but generously donated

some fossil specimens for our Fall Auction:

Two Pairs of Fossil Cycadeoids and Ferns—Gulf, Chatham Co. NC (Lake Triassic-Pekin Formation)

Fossil Fish (Knightia ecocaena)—Fossil Lake Kemmerer, WY (Green River formation)

Fossil Trilobite (Elrathia Kingi) near Antelope Springs, UT (Cambrian Wheeler formation)

Two Fossil Fern (Alethopteris sp.) Saint Clair, PA (Pennsylvanian-Llewellyn formation) both about a foot

long

In addition there are seven remaining specimens from the Bernard collection that will be for sale. The

reserve price will be half of that shown below on the original listing:

#3 Reddish dogtooth calcite--Mexico R=$50.00

#6 White calcite R=$25.00

#14 Chrysocolla, azurite, malachite R= $800.00

#16 Dogtooth calcite w/ dolomite R=$200.00

#17 Marcasite w/ quartz Ohi--Mexico R= $400.00

#18 Fluorite, calcite, galena--Hardin Co. IN R=$750.00 #21 Double term dogtooth calcite--TN R=$1000.00

*************************************************************************************

October Birthstone : Opal; Multi-colored

October's birthstone treats the eye to an explosion of shimmering colors, not unlike those of a

magnificent rainbow following a summer rain. The Opal derives its name from the Latin word

"opalus," meaning precious jewel. Prized for its unique ability to refract and reflect specific wave-

lengths of light, the Opal was called "Cupid Paederos" by the Romans, meaning a child beautiful as

love. One legendary explanation for this gemstone's origin is that it fell from heaven in a flash of fiery

lightning.

Ancient monarchs treasured Opals, both for their beauty and for their presumed protective

powers. They were set into crowns and worn in necklaces to ward off evil and to protect the eyesight.

These gemstones were also ground and ingested for their healing properties and to ward off nightmares.

The Opal dates back to prehistoric times. It is a non-crystallized silica, which is a mineral found

near the earth's surface in areas where ancient geothermal hot springs once existed. As the hot springs

dried up, layers of the silica, combined with water, were deposited into the cracks and cavities of the

bedrock, forming Opal. This gemstone actually contains up to 30% water, so it must be protected from

heat or harsh chemicals, both of which will cause drying and may lead to cracking and loss of irides-

cence. Opal must also be guarded from blows, since it is relatively soft and breaks easily.

Most of the world's Opal deposits are found in Southern Australia. Other sources of this gem-

stone are Brazil, Mexico, Czechoslovakia and Nevada. Quality Opal is very expensive, made more so by

the caution that must be exercised in cutting, polishing and setting it into jewelry.

A gift of Opal is symbolic of faithfulness and confidence. And the powerful energy radiating

from this fiery gemstone will surely illuminate any occasion!

The Piedmont Prospector © Volume 56 Number 9 Page 4

The Piedmont Prospector © Volume 56 Number 10 Page 5

Alternate Birthstone

An alternate birthstone for October, Pink Tourmaline has the seemingly magical property of py-

roelectricity. Scientifically speaking, this means that when heated, the gem takes on a static electric

charge, making it capable of attracting lightweight objects. No wonder this gemstone was revered for its

mystical properties centuries ago! Considered the "stone of the muse," it was believed to stimulate the

creative process of its wearer. Pink varieties of Tourmaline range in color from pastel pink to ruby red

and are mined in Brazil, Afghanistan, Burma, and India. A gift of this stone is symbolic of hope.

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Hi Everyone,

I hope you have settled into the new school year. Below are some offerings for the Earth and

Space sciences:

Events

September 27, 2015 - This Sunday - Lunar Eclipse (Thanks Tim and Fred)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgzwODDUTEs

Lunar Eclipse Calculator

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/LunarEclipse.php

November 12-13, 2015 - NC Science Teachers Association Professional Development Institute including

a Literacy Workshop

Benton Convention Center - Winston-Salem, NC www.ncsta.org

In addition to the all of the science sessions and exhibitors there will also be a poster session for

current research and…A Literacy Workshop - we are offering a 2 day workshop especially designed to

show K-6 classroom teachers the best practices for strengthening literacy skills through the use of

STEM activities. Our workshop presenters will exhibit strategies that will be immediately transferable

to the classroom.

Earth Science Resources

Earth Learning Ideas

http://www.earthlearningidea.com/ Literally hundreds of earth science activities for various grades.

Interactive Periodic Table

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chemistry-the-elements-revealed-interactive-periodic-

table/ Why a chemistry link? Geology is loaded with chemistry from the make-up and uses of minerals

to groundwater!

Science On a Sphere – NOAA (Thanks Tony)

The Piedmont Prospector © Volume 56 Number 10 Page 6

http://sos.noaa.gov/SOS_Explorer/

“NOAA released a nice resource last week that you might find useful in the classroom. You may have seen NOAA's "Science on a Sphere" exhibits in science museums (NC Aquariums, Smithsonian, etc.)

which display rich datasets from climate on ocean studies. NOAA recently released a desktop version

which displays those same datasets: It's a hefty download but looks to align well with Earth and Envi-

ronmental Science curriculum. Currently available datasets for interactive display on the globe include

areas like sea floor age, earthquakes, volcanoes, sea surface temp, sea ice concentrations, and hurricane

tracks over history. More are being added. Most of the data sets are temporal and can be played back

over some very wide time periods showing significant changes in climate and the lithosphere. Some have

additional tooling that allows for deeper inspection.”

NC Geoscience Education

http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/lr/earth-science-outreach

Here are downloadable earthquake activities and geoscience activities for the elementary activities .

EarthSciTeach listserv

If you would like to stay up-to-date on the latest Earth Science research and information related to mid-

dle and high school you can sign up for the Earth Sci Teach listserv http://lists.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/

mj_wwwusr For more information contact Fred Beyer fbeyer@nc.rr.com

State Reorganization – new website are coming

With the passing of the state budget there have been changes to the organization of some departments

in NC state government with associated changes to websites coming soon. In particular, the Depart-

ment of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is now called the Department of Environmental

Quality (DEQ). The Museum of Natural Sciences , State Parks, State Aquariums and others have been

moved to the newly named Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) formerly the De-

partment of Cultural Resources.

Randy Bechtel, CEE

Project Geologist, Geoscience Education and Piedmont Field Mapping

NC Geological Survey

1612 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-1612

919.707.9204

Randy.Bechtel@ncdenr.gov

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Jewelry Bench Tips By Brad Smith in your club's

Please include the following attribution with each publication:

"Bench Tips for Jewelry Making" and "Broom Casting for Creative Jewelry"

are available on Amazon

Many thanks, Brad www.BradSmithJewelry.com

The Piedmont Prospector © Volume 56 Number 10 Page 7

DEBURRING A HOLE

When you drill a hole, there's usually a burr produced on the underside of the metal.

Typically, burrs are removed by filing or sanding the area smooth, but doing it this way

will put scratches on your piece that will have to be polished off.

A quick way to remove the burr is to grab a drill that's two or three times larger than your hole.

Simply twist it in the hole to cut off the burr. I usually do this twisting by hand, but if you have many

holes to do, it's easier on your fingers to put the drill into a holder like a pin vice.

CLEANING STEEL SHOT

Steel shot in a vibratory or rotary tumbler works great to burnish and shine your finished silver

pieces. But a common problem is how keep the shot clean. Carbon steel shot can get rusty if exposed to

the air, and even stainless steel shot can sometimes develop a blackish coating that's hard to remove.

My solution of choice to clean the shot is Classic Coke. Just pour an ounce or two over the shot

and let the tumbler run for an hour or so. A bad case might require a second cleaning. Some folks like

to let the bubbles in the Coke dissipate before using it so that gas pressure doesn't build up in the tum-

bler barrel. I've heard that it's the phosphoric acid in Coke that does the trick. While you're waiting

for the shot to clean up, just settle back and enjoy the rest of the Coke. ********************************************************************************************************

Earth’s Most Abundant Mineral Finally Gets a Name

Meet bridgmanite, which is found deep beneath the planet's surface.

By Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic

PUBLISHED Wed Jun 18 19:05:00 EDT 2014

Identified in a meteorite that fell to Earth 135 years ago, the abundant min-

eral finally gets a name: bridgmanite.

The most abundant mineral on Earth has just received a name:

bridgmanite.

Scientists have known about the mineral for decades but were only able to examine it up close in

the past few years. The mineral is normally found deep beneath the surface, but was identified and

studied in a meteorite that collided with the Earth 135 years ago.

Formerly known by its chemical name, silicate perovskite (Mg,Fe)SiO-3, the mineral was named

bridgmanite this month to honor Percy Bridgman, a physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1946.

The name recognizes Bridgman's "fundamental contributions to high-pressure physics," Chi Ma, a

mineralogist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, tells National Geographic.

Ma characterized the material with Oliver Tschauner, an associate research professor at the University

of Nevada-Las Vegas, who led the effort.

The Piedmont Prospector © Volume 56 Number 10 Page 8

"This fills a vexing gap in the taxonomy of minerals," Tschauner told the American Geophysical

Union. Likely the most plentiful mineral in the Earth, the mineral had been indirectly studied for dec-

ades by measuring changes in earthquake waves as they travel through the planet. The mineral is

thought to be found from the bottom of the transition zone of the Earth's mantle down to the planet's

core-mantle boundary, at depths between 416 and 1,802 miles (670 and 2,900 kilometers).

Formed Under Intense Heat and Pressure Bridgmanite is formed from intense heat and pres-

sure, as is found inside the Earth, which causes its atoms to arrange in a unique pattern.

In 2009, Tschauner and Ma started looking for it in the well-known Tenham meteorite, which hit

Queensland, Australia, in 1879.

The high-pressure mineral ringwoodite ((Mg,Fe)2SiO4) was first discovered in the Tenham me-

teorite in the 1960s. Since then, scientists have been investigating high-pressure minerals in the meteor-

ite and others like it, says Ma.

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Putnisite: New Mineral Discovered in Australia Apr 22, 2014 by Natali Anderson

Published in Geology

Tagged as AustraliaMineral

A multinational group of scientists led by Dr Peter Elliott of South Australian Museum and the

University of Adelaide has described a new mineral from the Polar Bear peninsula, Southern Lake

Cowan, Australia.

Crystals of putnisite (purple) . Image credit: P. Elliott et al.

The new mineral is named putnisite after Drs Christine and Andrew Put-

nis from the University of Münster, Germany, for their outstanding contribu-

tions to mineralogy.Putnisite occurs as isolated pseudocubic crystals, up to 0.5

mm in diameter, and is associated with quartz and a near amorphous Cr silicate.

It is translucent, with a pink streak and vitreous lustre. It is brittle and

shows one excellent and two good cleavages parallel to {100}, {010} and {001}.

“What defines a mineral is its chemistry and crystallography. By x-raying a single crystal of mineral

you are able to determine its crystal structure and this, in conjunction with chemical analysis, tells you

everything you need to know about the mineral,” explained Dr Elliott, who, along with colleagues, de-scribed putnisite in the Mineralogical Magazine.

“Most minerals belong to a family or small group of related minerals, or if they aren’t related to other minerals they often are to a synthetic compound – but putnisite is completely unique and unre-

lated to anything.”

Putnisite combines the elements strontium, calcium, chromium, sulfur, carbon, oxygen and hy-

drogen: SrCa4Cr83+(CO3)8SO4(OH)16•25H2O

The mineral has a Mohs hardness of 1.5–2, a measured density of 2.20 g/cm3 and a calculated

density of 2.23 g/cm3. It was discovered during prospecting by a mining company in Western Australia.

“Nature seems to be far cleverer at dreaming up new chemicals than any researcher in a laboratory,”

The Piedmont Prospector © Volume 56 Number 10 Page 9

Dr Elliott concluded.

P. Elliott et al. 2014. Putnisite, SrCa4Cr83+(CO3)8SO4(OH)16•25H2O, a new mineral from Western

Australia: description and crystal structure. Mineralogical Magazine, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 131-144; doi:

10.1180/minmag.2014.078.1.10

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Earth's mineralogy unique in the cosmos Science News

Date: August 26, 2015

Source: Carnegie Institution

Summary: New research predicts that Earth has more than 1,500 undiscovered minerals and that the

exact mineral diversity of our planet is unique and could not be duplicated anywhere in the cosmos.

Butte, A rhodochrosite specimen from Butte, Mont.

Credit: Robert Downs

New research from a team led by Carnegie's Robert Hazen predicts that Earth has

more than 1,500 undiscovered minerals and that the exact mineral diversity of our

planet is unique and could not be duplicated anywhere in the cosmos.

Minerals form from novel combinations of elements. These combinations can be facilitated by

both geological activity, including volcanoes, plate tectonics, and water-rock interactions, and biological

activity, such as chemical reactions with oxygen and organic material.

Nearly a decade ago, Hazen developed the idea that the diversity explosion of planet's minerals

from the dozen present at the birth of our Solar System to the nearly 5,000 types existing today arose

primarily from the rise of life. More than two-thirds of known minerals can be linked directly or indi-

rectly to biological activity, according to Hazen. Much of this is due to the rise of bacterial photosynthe-

sis, which dramatically increased the atmospheric oxygen concentration about 2.4 billion years ago.

In a suite of four related, recently published papers, Hazen and his team--Ed Grew, Bob Downs, Joshua

Golden, Grethe Hystad, and Alex Pires--took the mineral evolution concept one step further. They used

both statistical models of ecosystem research and extensive analysis of mineralogical databases to ex-

plore questions of probability involving mineral distribution.

They discovered that the probability that a mineral "species" (defined by its unique combination

of chemical composition and crystal structure) exists at only one locality is about 22 percent, whereas

the probability that it is found at 10 or fewer locations is about 65 percent. Most mineral species are

quite rare, in fact, found in 5 or fewer localities.

"Minerals follow the same kind of frequency of distribution as words in a book," Hazen ex-

plained. "For example, the most-used words in a book are extremely common such as 'and,' 'the,' and

'a.' Rare words define the diversity of a book's vocabulary. The same is true for minerals on Earth.

Rare minerals define our planet's mineralogical diversity."

Further statistical analysis of mineral distribution and diversity suggested thousands of plausible

The Piedmont Prospector © Volume 56 Number 10 Page 10

rare minerals either still await discovery or occurred at some point in Earth's history, only to be subse-

quently lost by burial, erosion, or subduction back into the mantle. The team predicted that 1,563 min-

erals exist on Earth today, but have yet to be discovered and described.

The distribution of these "missing" minerals is not uniform, however.

Several circumstances influence the likelihood of a mineral having previously been discovered.

This includes physical characteristics, such as color. White minerals are less likely to have been noticed,

for example. Other factors include the quality of crystallization, solubility in water, and stability near

the surface of the planet.

As such, Hazen and his colleagues predicted that nearly 35 percent of sodium minerals remain

undiscovered, because more than half of them are white, poorly crystallized, or water soluble. By con-

trast, fewer than 20 percent of copper, magnesium, and copper minerals have not been discovered.

Further expanding the link between geological and biological evolution, Hazen's team applied the bio-

logical concepts of chance and necessity to mineral evolution. In biology, this idea means that natural

selection occurs because of a random "chance" mutation in the genetic material of a living organism

that becomes, if it confers reproductive advantage, a "necessary" adaptation.

But in this instance, Hazen's team asked how the diversity and distribution of Earth's minerals

came into existence and the likelihood that it could be replicated elsewhere. What they found is that if

we could turn back the clock and "re-play" Earth's history, it is probable that many of the minerals

formed and discovered in this alternate version of our planet would be different from those we know

today.

"This means that despite the physical, chemical, and biological factors that control most of our

planet's mineral diversity, Earth's mineralogy is unique in the cosmos," Hazen said.

The four papers are published in Canadian Mineralogist, Mathematical Geoscience, American Mineralo-

gist, and Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Carnegie Institution. Note: Materials may be

edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:

Grethe Hystad, Robert T. Downs, Edward S. Grew, Robert M. Hazen. Statistical analysis of mineral

diversity and distribution: Earth's mineralogy is unique. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2015; 426:

154 DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.06.028

Cite This Page:

MLA

APA

Chicago

Carnegie Institution. "Earth's mineralogy unique in the cosmos." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26

August 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150826113615.htm>.

2015 SCHEDULE Jan. 5: MEMBERSHIP MEETING 2015 Dues Due Feb. 2: MEMBERSHIP MEETING March 2: MEMBERSHIP MEETING Board of Directors, membership roles updated. April 6 : MEMBERSHIP MEETING Spring Auction May 4: MEMBERSHIP MEETING June 1: MEMBERSHIP MEETING June 13 Our second annual outdoor show

July 6: MEMBERSHIP MEETING Aug. 3: MEMBERSHIP MEETING Board of Directors and Nomination Committee Sept. 14: MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Oct. 5 MEMBERSHIP MEETING Nov 2: MEMBERSHIP MEETING Ballot in Newsletter, mail or bring to meeting. Dec 7, Holiday dinner, “Dirty-Rotten-Santa”; Awards; Election results; Meetings are held the first Monday of each month (except holidays ) at 7:00 PM at New Garden Friends Meeting

Friendship Hall, 801 New Garden Road, Greensboro, NC,.

Phone (336) 288-7452 or e-mail Joe_maguire@prodigy.net.

How to get to the meeting: Get off Interstate 40 ( I-40 ) at Guilford College exit, Go north towards Greensboro. You will cross railroad tracks at Market Street; Continue north another 1.1 miles to the second traffic light, this is Friendly Avenue. The meeting is at the next light so get into the left lane. Continue north one tenth of a mile to the next traffic light and driveway entrance. Turn left into the meeting property and park in the back. Have your Family and Friends “Like” us on Facebook: Greensboro Gem & Mineral Club See us on the web: www.ggmc-rockhounds.com

Year 2015 Officers:

President & Chairperson Vice President Treasurer (TEMP) Secretary Program Chair Charlie Finch Joe Maguire Joyce Patton Chief Executive c/o Club address c/o Club address c/o Club address Kathie Montgomery charliefinch@ joe Maguire@prodigy.net c/o Club address bellsouth.net kbmonty@triad.rr.com _ Board of Directors for 2015: Debbie Livingston '15 Gary Parker ‘16 Ed Deckert ‘17

Joe Maguire '15 Shaun Shelton ’16 Charlie Finch ‘17 John Hiller '15 Dawn Healy ‘16 Joyce Patton ‘ 17

Honorary Life Members: Dr. Cyril H. Harvey & Judith W. Harvey Joe Meadows Steve and Grace Smith Joe & Pat Maguire Steve Adams Laurie Adams Dr. Jean & Kevin Bonebreak Joyce & Kelly Patton Mac & Marie Anderson-Whitehurst Dr. Tim & Elaine Biggart Russ Holshouser Debra Livingston Dr. Joseph & Maria Mountjoy Ed Deckert John Hiller Kathie and Jim Montgomery Gary Parker Program Chair: Kathie Montgomery Hospitality: Kathie Montgomery Membership: Joyce Patton Editor: Joe Maguire Historian: Joe Maguire Show Chair: Charlie Finch Librarian: OPEN Web Chair: Shaun Shelton Faceting education: John Hiller Trip Chair: Shawn Shelton/Gary Parker Auctioneers: Steve Smith / Gary Parker Publicity: OPEN Special events/Geodes: Steve Smith McCreery Fund: Club Treasurer Holiday Chairperson: Debbie Bechtold Wire wrap & Silver education: Debra Livingston Show Hospitality: Joyce Patton & Grace Smith

October Dates: Items of interest: (Something going on? Let us know.)

An invite from Laurie Adams:

I am having an Open House at my rock shop over the weekend of Friday October 2nd through

Sunday October 4th. I will have many open tables set up outside of my shop for anyone wanting to sell

or trade minerals. Door prizes, shop specials, and excellent camaraderie with great NC collectors. Pre-

vious open houses were a great success, but parking problems ended the event. However, assuming

huge numbers of folks don't come, will not be a problem, many extra spaces available in yard. Free

specimens for kids, all will be done to encourage kids and get them on the road to appreciating miner-

als. No charge at all for tables or spaces. I will let you know if you need to bring your own tables, de-

pends on response. I'm sure several trips to local collecting sites would be available. I will have many

specials in shop, and a large number of excellent wholesale flats for dealers. You will have to put up

with my music! Previous open houses have had up to 18 dealers! Let me know ASAP if you will be at-

tending. 336-859-3471. 268 Cedar Springs Rd., Lexington, NC 27292

16-18—FRANKLIN, NORTH CAROLINA: Retail show; Gem & Mineral Society of Franklin, NC,

Robert C. Carpenter Community Building; 1288 Georgia Road; Fri. 10 am-5 pm, Sat. 10 am-5 pm, Sun.

11 am-4 pm; Adults $2.00, Children under 12 free!; 25th Annual Leaf Lookers Gemboree featuring

rough and cut gemstones, minerals, beads, supplies and demonstrations. Dealers from across the United

States. Creating, repairing and setting done during the show. ; contact Linda Harbuck, 425 Porter

Street, Franklin, NC 28734, (800) 336-7829; e-mail: lindah@franklin-chamber.com; Web site:

www.visitfranklinnc.com

October 5, 2015

Vol. 56, No. 10

The Piedmont Prospector©

2012 Honorable mention Large Bulletins

2002 winner AFMS Large Bulletin

The Greensboro Gem and Mineral Club, Inc. The Piedmont Gemcutter's Guild c/o GGMC Editor P.O. Box 13087 Greensboro, NC 27415-3087

.