Sahatany Valley is one of the mostfamous and important pegmatite fieldsand sources of gemstones and specimens,especially for tourmalines, inMadagascar and the whole of Africa forthat matter. Important diggings formulticolored and red tourmaline gemstonesand specimens have been documentedsince the beginning of the20th century. Decades of mining, whichremoved most of the easily accessibleparts of the pegmatites, have left modernday miners only ..

　　When Kenneth was asked “Howin the world you did you manage to lower the specimen from the cavityentrance several meters up on thewall?”, he replied simply “When I reachedthe vertical wall I turned aroundand walked down the wall holding thespecimen in my arms and put it intothe back of the truck”. It is amazingwhat can be done with the adrenaline ofdiscovery and success!Calcite specimen known as the “Rocket”..

Kenneth Holmgren inside the Butterfly Twin Pocket. P. Lyckberg photo.　　During the next week Kenneth duga 3 m long and 70-80 cm wide tunnelthrough solid magnetite with the idea ofaccessing the flower face on. He wasthen going to drill around it with a diamonddrill in order to remove the specimenintact. The last day he was so tiredthat he left the specimen unprotected atthe wall. Unfortunately, he mentionedthis find to a completely inexperiencedm..

Large specimen of fluorite with stilbite from the Emerald Pocket, 15.7 cm wide. P. Lyckberg specimen. J. Scovil photoFLUORITE POCKETS OF 1982　　In 1982 an exceptional find of emeraldgreen fluorite octahedrons wasmade in a meter sized pocket at the topof a tunnel in the Baron ore body. A secondpocket was later found in the wallnear the discovery pocket. The firstpocket yielded fine large green octahedronsin association with quartz, orange stilbit..

The author in the Butterfly Twin Pocket, 1989. Malmberget mine, Sweden.　　One of the least known finds ofworld class minerals in Europe wasmade in an iron mine in the polar regionof northernmost Sweden two decadesago. The Malmberget mine located nearG?llivare, Lappland, Sweden has produceda number of well crystallized mineralssince the end of the 19th century.　　Since the 1980’s, numerous exceptionalspecimens have been found, and the auth..

Classic Strezgom paragensis – smoky quartz, albite and microcline, 4 cm high. Andrzej’s Pocket. J. Gajowniczek collection. J. Scovil photo.　　A second cavity was discoveredabout one week later, and this time Andrzejwas in the right place at the rightmoment. After the bad experience withlast pocket, he spent all of his free timein the quarry trying to control the situation.　　Unfortunately, during opening ofthe second cavity which wa..

Fluorite with albite, microcline and stilbite, 6.5 cm wide. Fisher/Kureczka collection.　　Strzegom (Lower Silesia, Poland) isa classic European locality famous forpegmatites, which host collector-qualitycrystals growing in miarolitic cavities.　　Pegmatites occur here in Carboniferousage granite intrusions. Pockets occur frequently,but the vast majority of themlack quality specimens. There are over40 active quarries in the area, and withsuch a l..

Color variations　　Gold from the Round Mountain mineexhibits two distinct colors. To date,about half of the specimens sold by thecompany have a nice, rich buttery yellowcolor.Contrasting this, the other specimensare lighter yellow color typified byhigh-silver content gold. The two lookvery different, and one would assumehave grossly differentcompositions. Inreality, the only difference is surfacial.　　All of the more yellow colored golds weremi..

Twinned gold crystals forming casts after calcite. Size 5 cm. Ex Miner’s Lunchbox, now in private collection. J. Scovil photo.Cubic crystals　　Gold being in the isometric systemmight be expected to form as nice cubes.　　Unfortunately, in nature, cubic crystalsare exceedingly rare. The presence ofabundant cubic crystals at Round Mountainis what makes the gold so uniqueand desirable. Most of the cubic crystalsare in the 1-2 mm range, but cu..

Exceptionally large octahedral spinel lawtwins forming lustrous leaf. Size 6.7 cm.K&M Proctor coll. J. Scovil photo.　　While gold is the principal ore mineralof the deposit, trace amounts of nativesilver as well as silver sulfosalts,sulfides, and tellurides have been encounteredsuch as mckinstryite, stromeyerite,and pyrargyrite. Unfortunately,no published data is yet availabledetailing this mineralogy.　　Gold in the Round Mountain depositis sil..