Collecting at the Lincoln (Nelson Aggregates) Quarry, Beamsville OntarioBy: Michal Adamowicz, rockhoundHail all. Here is a short account of my collecting adventure at the Lincoln Quarry outside of Beamsville, Ontario. This was a unique trip for me as it was my first large scale operational quarry that I have ever visited. Most of the sites I visit are overgrown, & abandoned small mines. This was quite a change.First of all the quarry unfortunatel..

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Collecting at the Lincoln (Nelson Aggregates) Quarry, Beamsville Ontario
By: Michal Adamowicz, rockhound

Hail all. Here is a short account of my collecting adventure at the Lincoln Quarry outside of Beamsville, Ontario. This was a unique trip for me as it was my first large scale operational quarry that I have ever visited. Most of the sites I visit are overgrown, & abandoned small mines. This was quite a change. 

First of all the quarry unfortunately is not accessible to most people, as it is still fully in operation & specific safety percussion s & liability issues need to be taken in consideration. The trip to the quarry was organized by the Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies (CCFMS). You must be part of one of their affiliated clubs in order to be able to visit the quarry, or be a guest of one. The trip usually occurs on a Saturday in May & September. 

When I arrived at the designated meeting point i was not expecting a large crowd to appear at the quarry as the day was mostly cloudy & expecting rain but to my surprise as I waited for the entrance time to the quarry, more and more cars were appearing. Soon there was a large number of cars parked along the road, with rockhounds wearing the required safety gear including hardhats, reflective safety vests, steel toed boots, & safety goggles. As a group we looked like a bunch of quarry workers on strike, at least to someone driving by we would have! After everyone scheduled to be there arrived we had a safety talk & we entered the quarry following our trip leader in convoy fashion to the designated collecting site. After driving around massive conveyor belts & huge dump piles we arrived to our first site. We were given detailed instructions where we could go & not go & what hazards we should be aware of and stay away, such as the unstable quarry walls. We slowly dispersed around the dump piles searching for those well formed crystals of dolomite, galena, sphalerite, calcite, & fluorite. 

I was impressed with the size of the quarry, if you had time you could do a lot of collecting. It was also good to talk with fellow rockhounds. 

Overall I found mostly white Dolomite, clear Calcite, some red & yellow Sphalerite, & a few micro Galena. No fluorite though, but other rockhounds found a few that day. 

Here be some photos of the quarry:

Quarry machinery near the entrance. 
 

New fresh blast material (September 2009).
 

Conveyor System.
 

West Quarry wall.
 

South end of the Quarry.
 

Now here are some mineral pictures from the quarry:

Loose Sphalerite cluster. (1.5 x 1.7 cm)
 

Clear Calcite, yellow Sphalerite, white Dolomite, & a small Galena. (image is about 4 cm long). 
 

As always, advantages & disadvantages:

Advantages:
1.) Close to main cities & GTA. About an hours drive from the GTA.
2.) Lots of material present, new material occurs every year. 
3.) Large site size. 
4.) Easy to locate site.

Disadvantages:
1.) Access is only possible for CCFMS club members & their guests.
2.) Trips are arranged only twice a year on a Saturday.
3.) Full safety gear is needed (hardhat, green patch steel toed boots, reflective safety vest, safety goggles, gloves)

So here you have it. A great site if you are a CCFMS member & can come on one of their trips. There is a great deal of material to find & more becomes available every year as it is an operational quarry. Hope you enjoyed the read. Rockhound Safe & with Determination.

Michal.