Georgia Mineral Society FIELD TRIP

Standard Mineral Company
Glendon, NC
Saturday, October 20, 2007
8:00 AM till Noon

Trip:  The Georgia Mineral Society has been invited along with several other clubs to participate in one of the best and most interesting field trip opportunities in the southeast.  The Glendon pyrophylite mine is an open pit quarry that has produced many perfect pyrite crystals up to 4 inches on a side and 6 inches long!   Generally you can find cubes reaching 2-3 inches or so and a bunch of others in all shapes and sizes below 2-3 inches. 

If you are after matrix material and loose cubes, you will need to locate the pyrite seams in rock down a foot or two in the bottom of the quarry floor.   Using a metal detector makes this process less of a hit or miss proposition!  Also, as you dig into the pyrophylite soil, everything is coated with a light gray goop making it difficult to identify the pyrite crystals.  The process to locate those loose crystals in the spoil piles goes a lot faster by using a metal detector.  Now, having said all that, a metal detector is not mandatory for success.  When I was there two years ago, the largest 6" cubes were not found by anyone with a detector!  In fact, everyone found a lot of pyrite crystals with scratching tools and a sharp eye for a cube or brick shape.  On that trip, there was only one detector present but the owner did carry out two 5 gallon buckets of crystals!  You may also find small green fluorite crystals in some of the larger boulders strewn around the quarry floor. 

Collecting: pyrite cubes, pyrite cubes in matrix, green fluorite, and micro-minerals.

Bring:  You will need hard rock equipment for mining the quarry floor.  Bring a shovel, pick, rock hammer, small sledge, chisels, eye protection, etc.  Surface collecting with scratching tools and a small pick can be just as productive and a lot easier.  Don't forget your gloves, sturdy shoes, hat, sun screen, something to munch on and plenty of fluids.  This quarry with its very white pyrophyllite soil can be warm even in October!  Best advice for success! - METAL DETECTOR (if you have one).  A wheeled cart can be very useful for moving HEAVY pyrite cubes back to your vehicle! 

Travel Time:  About six hours and 340 miles from the I-85/I-285 interchange in Atlanta. 

George Libby, GMS Field Trip Chair