"It could have been different, I know, -- Qfwfq remarked, -- you're telling me: I believed so firmly in that world of crystal that was supposed to come forth that I can't resign myself to living still in this world, amorphous and crumbling and gummy, which has been our lot, instead." - Italo Calvino, t zero, "Crystals"
Iridescent #quartz #fossicked from Poldice #minewaste tailings, Gwennap district, #Cornwall.
mindat.org minID: 1KG-P08
FoV: ~2mm
A giant mass of #arsenopyrite (FeAsS) crystal, fossicked from #minewaste at Wheal Fortune, Great Consolidated Mines, #Cornwall
This was found in the soft decayed remains of a much larger rock which had melted away in rainwater, leaving the relatively stable arsenopyrite crystal behind. Smells very strongly of garlic.
mindat.org minID: 5W7-RGQ
FoV: 6mm
A dense layered mix (from top to bottom) of dark red bubbly #goethite, silver crystalline #arsenopyrite, golden yellow #chalcopyrite and lighter red country rock with minor clusters of green #chlorite throughout. Fossicked from #minewaste at Wheal Fortune (Great Consolidated Mines), Gwennap, #Cornwall.
This is a typical mix of Cornish mining minerals. You don't want to drop this one on your toe, it's really heavy for it's size.
mindat.org minID: LXJ-DP6
specimen size: 75 mm x 50 mm x 40 mm
Dave Griffiths