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A sphalerite find in Saint-Pons, French Alps (2019)
25
May
2021

A sphalerite find in Saint-Pons, French Alps (2019)

August 2019. Deprived of two of our mates, Quentin and I decided to leave for prospecting the ‘Black Lands’ in the Barcelonnette valley, southern French Alps. This well-named formation refers to a thick black marl series bearing several calcareous layers, aged approximately 160 millions years. On...
Smoky Quartz pocket from « Les 2 Alpes » ski resort!
25
May
2021

Smoky Quartz pocket from « Les 2 Alpes » ski resort!

Here is a little story about one of our latest finds we made this summer in the Oisans mountains, French Alps. Quentin and I already had prospected few well know areas (« La Fée », « La Toura ») for 5 days under capricious weather, without finding anything worth mentioning. Thus we decided to...
A ‘gem’ calcite pocket in Saint-Pons, French Alps (2019)
25
May
2021

A ‘gem’ calcite pocket in Saint-Pons, French Alps (2019)

Looking back at one of our last nice discovery we did this summer. After days of backbreaking work surrounded by the hot and sticky black marls of the Saint-Pons area (French Alps), we finally hit back a mineralized zone. 40cm further deep we hit a crack that opened up in a pocket of white,...
Kosovo: an exceptional new bournonite find in Trepča Stan Trg (2020)
25
May
2021

Kosovo: an exceptional new bournonite find in Trepča Stan Trg (2020)

From late March to mid-June 2020, the mining fronts of the northern area in the 11th horizon of the Trepca Stan Terg mine, 745 m below the surface, went through an extraordinarily bournonite-rich zone, with very sharp cogwheel-shaped crystals (cyclic twins) of good size. The species had been...
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