One transistor radio, now with pyrite detector diode (#Fossicked from #MineWaste at Unity Wood mine, #Cornwall). The pyrite seems to work just as well as the standard germanium one, it doesn't take long to fund a working junction on the crystal surface. #OrganisedAtoms

One of the best things I've found - a single, well formed 2.5mm wolfram crystal #fossicked from #minewaste at Wheal Fortune, Great Consolidated Mines, #Cornwall. See it's mindat page for more info: https://www.mindat.org/photo-1292350.html

This was found inside a large mass of well formed quartz crystal which was surprisingly rich in wolfram (tungsten ore) as well as large but not as well formed, and more thinly disseminated chalcopyrite crystals (copper ore).

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

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

"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 single dark, transparent sphalerite crystal #fossicked from #minewaste at East Wheal Maid. This has been a tricky one for me to find (it's name means treacherous because it's hard to identify). An ore of zinc, also called 'black jack' by the old miners.

Siderite - deep brown, iron rich curved crystals #fossicked from #minewaste at East Wheal Maid

Unusually for #Cornwall, chlorite is a mineral found here that humans have no purpose for - it's just greenish, and a favourite of mine. Here are a mass of microcrystals (actually fairly big for chlorite) growing on the face of a quartz crystal. This was #fossicked from #minewaste at East Wheal Maid

Revisiting old samples with the new microscope - twinned pyrite cubes from Nangiles #minewaste. Pyrite is common at this location, but usually more decomposed than this into marcasite or entirely melted away into rust. goethite and sulphuric acid runoff.

Chocolate brown twiggy wolfram crystals #fossicked from #minewaste at Poldice mine, Gwennap district, #Cornwall. In the time since these atoms organised themselves, they have travelled with the sun around the centre of the galaxy one and a bit times.

New microscope! To celebrate, another shot of that fractured cassiterite revealing it's three 'parting planes' as a result of its atomic lattice pattern. Field of view ~5mm (#fossicked from #minewaste at Nangiles mine, Gwennap, #Cornwall)

Wolframite in two 'vugs' (pockets) #fossicked from #minewaste at Poldice. Showing striation and banding patterns as well as a crazy amount of iridescence. Wolfram is the main ore of tungsten and seems to have quite a wide variety of forms, I had to get some expert help (from https://www.mindat.org) on this identification as other specimens from this location look quite different.

Galena - lead sulphide, #fossicked from #minewaste at Poldice, #Cornwall. Famously useful to make diodes from, as it's a reliable semiconductor. This example is fairly weather worn but the atomic patterns are still visible in the hexagonal and square cleavage planes. It's really very reflective too. This is a high grade and dense sample, so at some point I might look for cleaner crystals inside.

This is a shattered face of cassiterite crystal, which has an atomic structure that fractures differently in three directions. Its the super dense ore of tin, which once made #Cornwall rich as the only plentiful source in Europe. This is part of a thick seam #fossicked from the Nangiles #minewaste dumps near Chacewater.

Scratch testing fragments of cassiterite crystal - #fossicked from Nangiles #minewaste tailings. Using a piece of glass to differentiate it from sphalerite, which is much softer than this, and doesn't leave marks on glass at all.

Another lump of microscopic tetrahedral #quartz and cubic #pyrite geometry. These atoms were assembled 280 million years ago, dug up, discarded and #fossicked from #minewaste at #Nangiles mine, #Cornwall. Trace copper bearing minerals have stained the quartz mint green.

Introduction. Was never a Twitter user, but want to show my support for a non musk alternative. I'm a faculty member @MontanuniversitätLeoben in #geology #oregeology with a focus on overlooked sources of precious and technology critical metals #minewaste #sulfide #alps. I'll mostly be using this to post pretty field photos 😁

Another tiny #fossicking report from Nangiles mine, just off the Bissoe trail in Cornwall.

This place was mined for copper and tin from 1808 till the money ran out in 1991 - after which it flooded 50 million litres of toxic water into the Carnon River.

The rainwater here has etched little gulleys in the waste rock 'tailings' in this photo. This has the effect of partially arranging the waste into 'placer' deposits, sorting fragments by density.

#Cornwall #MineWaste

Another tiny #fossicking report from Nangiles mine, just off the Bissoe trail in Cornwall. This place was active from 1808 to 1991, when the money ran out - and it flooded 50 million litres of toxic water into the Carnon River #Cornwall #Minewaste

Chalcopyrite fossicked from mine waste at Great Wheal Charlotte in Cornwall. This is the main ore of copper, and so presumably the main "pay dirt" back in the 1800's. I thought the blue and red flecks might be a secondary mineral, but more likely to be the iridescence of the metallic chalcopyrite itself. This composite image was made by using Hugin software to stitch together images from a cheap USB microscope. #Cornwall #MineWaste #Chalcopyrite #Mineral #Fossicking